Hello!
It's been a little while, so I feel a little anxious about writing.
That's just me, though.
People make me anxious, even when I can't see the people. LOL Do you ever feel that way?
This month I've been participating in my first Teachers Pay Teachers conference. What a blessing that it was held online this year! It would've been hard for me to participate otherwise, though I would like to eventually make it to a live event. I'm sure that atmosphere of it is everything I imagine it to be and more.
Watching many of the presenters speak, however, has encouraged me to start blogging again. Let me tell you why.
I started my Teachers Pay Teachers and blogging journey originally as a way to share ideas and resources with teachers. I never expected either would become my full time career (and I still don't). Somewhere along the way, though, I got busy with things, and I didn't think my small space on the internet was making a big enough difference to make it a priority.
In some ways, that's ok, because I have a personality that shies away from being in the spotlight. Can you relate?
I've decided to challenge myself to post once a week, though, over the next 3 months. I like writing, or, at least, I used to. Perhaps I've chosen the worst timing to start this challenge: a new school year is starting Wednesday, I've added myself to 2 committees this year (a math one and a literacy study one), and there's still so much uncertainty about the start of this school year. Maybe all the busyness will give me plenty to talk about, and this will be a good outlet for sharing.
So, stick with me or not, but I'll be here. Just sharing a little bit of my world.
Today, I wanted to share something I learned this month, thanks to #TPTForward2020
My goal in attending the conference virtually this year was to learn little improvements I could make to my store. The right little improvements can sometimes make big differences.
I wanted to make my store more aesthetically pleasing. I decided to add a quote box GIF that rotates different messages to my guests. I watched Jen's video (from Teach Travel Learn), but it took me 3 tries to get it right. Hopefully, I can help you get it right the first time!
Here's how I did it:
First, in PowerPoint open a blank slideshow. The video mentioned a pixel size. That wasn't helpful to me, so I'll just tell you... you'll need to change the size of the slide to 4.17 x 1.39. (To do this, click on the Design tab > Slide Size > Page Setup.)
I decided I wanted four slides to share my message with my visitors. Next, you'll design your slides however you want them to look. Remember, if you're going to make yours a GIF also, keep the message short on each slide, because your store visitors won't have much time to read it before it changes to the next slide.
If you decide you want your quote box to blend in with the box around it for a more seamless look, I would recommend changing the background color to FFFFFF or changing each of the RGB sliders to 255. (Right click or control click on a slide > Format Background > paint can > More Colors.)
Then, when I was finished, I exported my slides as PNG images. I didn't do this originally, but in one TPT Forward session, I learned that PDF2PNG.com is a better way of making images that aren't a little bit blurry. If you want to try that site, export your slides as a PDF and then upload it on that website to get images.
Ok, now you're ready to make the GIF. I ended up using giphy.com to make my images rotate. I uploaded the images and turned off the 'public' toggle. I kept my transition time at 3 seconds (which was the default). When I went to save the GIF, I discovered after a couple of tries that it was best to download the 'small' version.
Now you can add the GIF to your TPT store quote box. In your TPT store, just edit your store profile. In the quote box area, you'll select 'image' in the drop down options. You can preview your GIF, and don't forget to save it.
Here's a video I made that walks you through the giphy.com site and posting it to your store:
I hope this tutorial was useful to you, and you were able to freshen up your store.
Hope you're doing great!
