Don’t Get SNIPPY with ME!

Did your mom every say that to you?

*sigh*

My mom said that to me…often….

I just would get a little….well, ya’ know, snippy.

My snotty words would rip into someone, like bullying big brothers or annoying little sisters.

Now that I’m a big girl, I’m still really snippy.

But, it’s a good kinda’ snippy,  not with my tongue, but with Microsoft’s Snipping Tool.

OK, I lied.

True confession, I haven’t mastered the snippy tongue thing, but I’m getting better????

But, I’m loving snipping snippets with the Snipping Tool instead of snipping snottily while in a snit.

Never heard of it? It comes with Windows. If it’s not pinned on your toolbar, drop down the dialogue box from your Start button and find it.

If it doesn’t pop out and scream “Here I am!” then use the search functionality.

Found it yet? Why not?

I wasn’t kidding.

Go find it if you don’t use it already.   I mean, please go find it, this is a tutorial, after all. Yes, I’m serious.  Sheesh Louise, you sound like my kids.

Got it?

OK, we were waiting for you.  Patiently, of course.

It should look like this. Ain’t she sweet?

She has four options.  It’s like having four pairs of scissors.  Fabric scissors, paper scissors, thread scissors and hair scissors. Only my kids use my fabric scissors to cut wire, paper scissors to cut their hair and they drop the little thread scissors between the couch cushions. And  my cosmetologist daughter would haughtily inform me hair scissors are “shears” not scissors, but this is my blog.  Scissors they be.

Anyhoo, back to Snipping  Tool and her four lovely options for cutting.

First use Free-form Snip. The little Scissors come out and you just cut out what you want from your picture.  I like the little scissors in the Snipping Tool because my kids can’t take them.  They’re attached.  Permanently mine.  Forever. And Ever.  Amen. I don’t even have to hide them. They’re mine.

Good thing the snips don’t have scratch and sniff functionality.  I had very bad coffee breath AND I hadn’t washed my hair. 

It’s like using an Etch-A-Sketch, but I think Practice Makes Perfect, or so I keep hearing on annoying kids Sing-A-Long tapes.

Aww, fer sweet! Not me, the tool.

Look, I’m a star.

Now you try it.  Seriously.  You can even cut me to pieces and paste me on your blog or your letterhead.

Done already? It’s like asking a kid if they washed their hands after they went potty.  Kinda’ doubting ya’ here, but 26 years of  parenting makes a woman slightly skeptical.

But, moving on in complete trust that you snipped something to pieces using the Free-Form Snip,  we’ll move on.

This is easier.  Rectangular Snip.  Remember sitting through Geometry class thinking “Why do I have to know this stuff, I’ll never use it?”  We’re using it now.  What is the definition of a rectangle?  If ya’ don’t know click on the link.  We’ll wait for you like we did last time.

Just just point the little X where ya’ wanna start and expand the rectangle.

Snip.

Snip.

Now you try.  Have the hang of it yet?  Feel confident with that little scissors in your hand?  Let’s venture out into the real world.

I snipped this from a website I was perusing for Snipping tips, but will protect the guilty. I rarely use anything from another website, and if I do I ask permission and give a link.

Do you see what I see?

Somebody needs an editor!

Anybody who has lived in Kansas knows it’s “good ol’”…

I snipped this awhile ago, finding it interesting.  If 94.6% of us don’t trust Facebook, why do we continue to give them 94.6% of our personal information?

A blog post without visuals is boring.  Trust me.  I learned the hard way.

I Survived My First Earthquake in 2009. I lived to tell about it and blog about it. Sure, there was some witty banter, some statistics, and I kept it short, but it was boring to look at.

Just eight paragraphs of unbroken text.

What if I’d added a clever visual?  People might remember that I’d survived my first earthquake.  Nobody cares and nobody remembers, because I didn’t make them remember.

If you don’t have a photograph to illustrate a blog post, get creative.  I’ve snipped word definitions and Bible verses I’ve typed out on a Word document.  I’ve snipped parts of my computer screen for tutorials. I also prefer creating my own visuals from my own materials so I don’t have to worry about copyright infringement.

 

Get Snippy!

 

Just not with your tongue.

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(Read Part Two of this tutorial by clicking on the above icon)