For a lot of people out there, a tiny bit of artwork now and then is all they need from time to time. For example, paying someone to adjust your default WordPress blog header is a shame, because it’s just so easy to do yourself, using a tool every Windows User has – Paint.

And if you’re staying with the default design (or doing a quick jobby for a friend to get her or him up and running fast), one easy and quick mod I recommend is to add an image to the top – very simple, and guaranteed to jazz up your design!

The only problem is the curved frame around it – but that can be fixed with an easy trick in Paint (and most other art programs) – transparent backgrounds.

Just follow these steps exactly:

1. Open MS Paint (you can use any paint program of course, but these steps are for that program). Usually it’s in the Accessories section of the Windows menu.
2. Open the frame pic kubrickheader-frame.png – click here to view it, save it on your hard drive, and then open that.
3. The red is going to be cut out by making it a transparent background – click on the eye dropper icon with your left mouse button, then click on the red color of the image with your right mouse button.
4. Copy the whole image – Select All then Copy (menu option Edit then Select All, and then Edit;Copy to do the job).
5. Add your artwork. Use Edit;Paste from File and then grab the image you want from your hard drive. The part you want to peek through the frame should be about 200 pixels high by 760 pixels wide (the header image size). If not, then you should first get your art into shape – load it separately into Paint and use the Image;Stretch/Skew option to change it, adding percentages to shrink or enlarge the height and width (don’t forget to save it).
6. You’ll get the image covering the original header. Just click and drag on it to move it around and place it the way you like. Note that the dotted line from the previous step needs to be there, or the image won’t be trimmed to fit.
7. Now, paste back the frame you copied in step 4. (Edit;Paste menu option). 
8. Now the magic; the red can be made transparent by clicking on the icon below the art tool list – the bottom one for the transparent background:
9. At this point, the red disappears, the art shines through, and your header is good to go!
10. Now, save it – you don’t want to use the original name, because WordPress won’t be looking for this file. Instead, save it as kubrickheader.jpg (menu option Edit;Save As) and select JPEG format from the list of options shown:
     
11. Upload the file. Your default header should be saved at
    /wp_content/themes/default/images/kubrickheader.jpg
    (Be careful of spelling – Windows likes to make some files uppercase, but the name MUST be lowercase entirely to work!)
12. Refresh your blog page a few times. You should be looking at a nice new blog image- your photo with the default frame around it.

That should do it – now your default design will sport a picture instead of the colors, and you’ve added a bit of distinctiveness to your blog!

Later of course you’ll probably want to try something new, and get real distinctiveness. Try the ABTheme, am SEO-ready WordPress design that lets you select colors, change the number of columns, adjust your design easily, and much, much more, all from the Admin panel – and it’s free.