How To Add Blog Side Tabs

Décor and the Dog blew up yesterday.  Our Stylelist Home feature made it’s way onto AOL’s headers.  I couldn’t find the link but from the snarky comments left on Stylelist Home it appears that the post was labeled something like “Most Incredible House Tour Ever”…which led some to be mighty disappointed. Thanks to those of you that left nice comments and are sticking around.

Luckily, I had cleaned up my blog a little this past week-end.

I had some requests for directions on adding tabs to your side bar.  My tabs are linked to blog post labels. (You have the option of adding a label to each blog post in Blogger.) You could modify this to link to any address that you would like.

Get ready to be a fancy pants blogger!

You will need to make a rectangle that contains your text.  I did this step in Photoshop Elements but I am sure you could accomplish the same thing in Picassa or possibly PicMonkey.  You will need to export your tab to ~190-200 pixels (depending on the size of your sidebar dimensions).

Upload your tabs to PhotoBucket.

Head to your Blogger dashboard and go to the  “Layout” tab. Click "add a gadget".

Select "HTML/Javascript”.

Head back to PhotoBucket and copy the “HTML code”.  Paste into the “HTML/Javascript” window that you opened in Blogger.  Do this for each tab.

Click the "Rich text" button so that the images appear. (On the right in the image above.)

Highlight the image and click the “hyperlink” button. (Pointed to with an arrow below.)

Insert the address you want the tab to link to.  If you want it to link to the labels you have added to your blog posts, you will use….  http://www.yourblog.com/search/label/NameofyourBlogLabel

My address looks like this… http://www.decorandthedog.blogspot.com/search/label/BuildIt

The label that I use in my blog posts is “BuildIt”.  I did find that it has to be exactly like you labeled it in the post.  “buildit” would not link correctly.

Repeat for each tab and save.

Check out your fancy pants blog!

I decided to limit my labels to the main topics I cover on the blog.  Not every post will be labeled but I feel like it may be easier for readers to navigate.  I have also updated the tabs at the top of blog.  Not every post will make it to the top tabs but I like to make things as easy to find as possible around these parts.

Any questions?  Do you label your posts?  I didn’t start until last week and I’m still working on it.  Start early newbie bloggers!!

I Want a Rain Barrel

I worry about myself sometimes.  Okay, all of the time. 

Like yesterday when the toilet bowl cleaner that contained bleach slipped from my hands as I was going down the stairs.  There are now a few bleach spots on the stairs and my new shirt is also bleached.  Amazing.  I am never cleaning toilets again.

Or the other night when I was watering flowers.  I was thinking to myself that a rain barrel would be super helpful beings I am watering my flowers EVERY STINKING NIGHT.  At least I would be using a natural source of water.

via gardeners.com

And then I remembered that the reason I am watering is because we are in a drought and rain barrels aren’t exactly helpful without rain. 

Yeah.  My $100,000 education will only get me so far.

Nate isn’t pro-rain barrel.  He thinks they are for hippies.  I’m a wanna-be hippy.  Hippies are awesome.

On another water/yard related note, I finally talked Nate into moving our sprinklers.  (See, Nate is no hippy.  He waters our yard. Just not well.) 

He wouldn’t listen to me when I told him that the reason we have a dead spot in our yard is probably because it isn’t getting watered.  Upon further investigation, I was proven correct.  I just don’t get why he wouldn’t listen to me originally.  Oh yeah, the rain barrel thing.

Our poor yard.  I like having the blog as a diary of sorts.  This will help me remember the hotness and driest summer ever.  It thundered a lot the other night.  No rain.  Poor yard.

Do you have a rain barrel?  Where’d you get it?  Who is ready for some rain?  Who loves when they can prove their husband wrong?  (To clarify, that’s totally not me.)

Stylelist Home Feature

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from the editor of Stylelist Home.  She wanted to know if they could feature our home and do a short interview.

I really didn’t know much about Stylelist Home before I received the e-mail.  The site has great decorating and DIY tips.  They have previously featured bloggers like Emily A. Clark and Hi Sugarplum. 

After freaking out, I agreed to the interview.  A phone interview from New York City, none the less.  I’m so glad I did.  Shana was really easy to talk with and she handled my awkwardness with ease.  Come to find out, their readers love articles containing pets.  Ike steals the show again!

The article was posted yesterday.  You can read it here!

Look at the stylish fluffy dog.  The fame has totally gone to his head.  As you read this, he is wearing a silk robe and talking to agents.

This interview was a great experience for me.  There was a lot of self doubt.  A lot of “my house is not good enough”.  My blog is “not good enough.”  A lot of “this is way beyond my comfort zone.”  I can’t do a phone interview.  I’m too awkward and don’t think well on the spot.  But I did it.  And I enjoyed it.  Who cares if I don’t have the best house or the best blog?  I’m proud to call both of them mine! 

This blog has brought me so many fun opportunities.  Thanks to all of you that read and encourage my nonsense!!

Are you a Stylelist Home fan?