get resources straight to your inbox!

A Teeny Tiny Teacher

Desktop Organization

It’s Sunday.

I don’t understand.  It was just Friday night and I had the whole weekend in front of me.

And tomorrow is Monday and it is not a holiday.

Excuse me?  What is the meaning of this?

Shake head.

Sit up straight.

Get on with it.

Okay, so yesterday I was working on my presentation for the Southern California Kinder Conference and getting distracted by Teen Mom and Facebook and Blogs and Pinterest and neighbors and all other manner of Things More Fun Than Work when I became obsessed, I mean, obsessed with getting my desktop organized in a way I had seen months ago but didn’t know how to do.

The hubby said, “Don’t get sidetracked by that right now.”

I said, “I have to do this.  It is taking over my life and I will not rest, I shall not rest, until I figure this out.”

Well . . . I couldn’t figure it out and then we had a birthday dinner for a friend and then I had to rest because I just love sleep and have ranked it in my Top Five Favorite Things To Do Of All Time.

And then this morning, while on an early morning walk with Murphie before church, it hit me.

And I raced home, raced meaning I huffed and puffed and wondered how in the world I could get the walk home not to include a hill or the sun in my eyes or any kind of pain, and when I finally made it home, I sat down at my computer and guess what?

I figured it out.

And I am so proud of myself, if I do say so myself.  And I say so.  I am proud of myself.

Just look:

People, that is called Desktop Organization at its finest.
And, it’s cute.
And, it has chevron.
And, it is pink.
I found this through Annie of the Moffatt Girls who found it from Color Me Kinder.  
Just Color Me Happy I Am In Love With My New Toy.
I posted a pic of it on Istagram and people kind of went nuts.  Much like me.
So if you don’t know how to do it, I’m going to try to give a short tutorial.
First up, I use a Mac.  I am a Mac girl.  I love my Mac.  So if you’re on a PC, I have no idea if this will translate.
Second, I used Keynote because there’s a choice for slide size and you can pick 1024×768 which means it is a high resolution or some such fancy thing and so it won’t be blurry.  Maybe Powerpoint has this option, but I didn’t know where to look.
I just played around with my template.  I inserted a square, filled it with Pink Chevron, and then played around with the little frames to layer on top.  You could use any type of shape — circles or hearts or whatever — or any clip art of frames or borders you already have.  You could also insert actual clip art images such as dogs or stars or kids or wine — it’s whatever you want.  I opted not to use clip art because I was going for the Uncluttered Look.  
Then I took a good hard look at The Messiest Desktop Around I Can’t Find Anything I Hate My Life This Is Too Hard Situation and figured out what I wanted my labels to be for each of my cute little templates.
Then I saved the file to my desktop.  
Next, in Keynote, under File, I chose Export —then Images from the drop down menu.  In Power Point, you can just save the slide as a JPEG.  Same thing.
I closed out Keynote.  Found that very same image on my desktop, right clicked it, and down at the very bottom of the menu, it said, “Set as Desktop Picture.”
So I did.
And it was HUGE.  Gigantic.  Enormous.  It scared me, actually.
It was sad.
So I cried.
And then I gave up.
And then, by a miracle, as I said, I was walking Murphie this morning and it hit me upside the head that I was an idiot and forgot the last step.
I forgot the last step!
You have to go to your “System Preferences”.  This is under the apple.  Maybe there’s a more technical term for it, but if you ask me, if it looks like an apple and someone took a bite out of it, it’s an apple.
Then you have to click on “Desktop and Screen Saver”.
Last, you have to choose “Stretch to Fill Screen”.  Mine was checked as “Fill Screen” which is why it was of epic proportions and making me tho thad.
Voila!  It’s done!  
I moved stuff around and now it is just absolutely beautiful.  Let’s take a look at it again, shall we?
Oh, I am obsessed.
When I get bored with this one, I’ll just make a new one.
Now, I have no idea if you can use mine or if this will even work for you, but I uploaded my template to Google Docs and you can have it and try it out.  But I am not an expert.  Remember I forgot the last step and I cried and I gave up.  
I do not claim to be a computer expert.
I just look like one when I’m wearing my glasses and talking about System Preferences and High Resolution thingamajigs.
If you want my template, click {HERE}.
If you want the Keynote template so you can make changes, click {HERE}.
Also, Color Me Kinder has a template on her post, too, but I like pink.  And hers wasn’t pink.  So I will not feel bad if you don’t want mine because you like purple or polka dots or your children.
I will feel bad if you want it and uploading it didn’t work.  Because I most likely will not be able to help you because I am not an I.T. guy.  
I just act like one when I’m wearing my glasses and uploading templates to Google Docs.
So there you have it.
My new toy.
🙂

Comments

  3. Amber O. says

    Beautiful! I recently tried to clean up my desktop, but it's just plain chevron with a monogram at the bottom…I absolutely LOVE the frame idea! Thanks for posting this, Kristin!!! I shall give it a try:)

  4. Shar W says

    Love, love, love- and I don't have a MAC, but you will be happy to know that I was able to open it up on my pc 🙂

  5. Jennifer Reynolds says

    I am just going to admire your desktop from afar, and "pin" this post to refer to over spring break when I have time to try the steps and hopefully not cry over one…..because technology usually makes me cry! From one pink chevron fan to another, thank you for sharing!

  6. Amanda Pauley says

    This is great! Thanks. Do you by chance remember where you got those frames from that you are using on your desktop? I really like them. I know I have seen them before, but couldn't remember where…..maybe Print Candee?

    Amanda
    Mrs. Pauley’s Kindergarten

  7. Jane says

    Would you share your keynote file for those of us who just need to tweak the labels?

  8. Stephanie says

    I was able to use it on my mac! Thank you so much!!!

  9. CaseyJane Cooper says

    I am so glad I found another project to help me procrastinate!!! I can't wait to get started on my own desktop organizer… and then someday get back to my TPT product.
    WigglingScholars

  11. Amy Harris says

    I went to your Five for Friday post, but somehow ended up here, and I am so glad. I will probably be doing this right now, even though I have 10 things left to do before bed, already. I must do this now. Thanks so much for sharing! My desktop is in a sad, sad, state. Have a great week!

    Amy

    Always Adapting

  12. Bobette Gore says

    Oh my! It's going to be a late night now because I HAVE to try this! 🙂

  14. Jeanne says

    Ha! I did it! Well, it took a while but thanks for sharing! What is the font you used?

    • kristinoldham@yahoo.com says

      KG Eyes Wide Open!! LOVE IT!! 🙂 You can download it on TpT. FOR FREE!!! (But if you're going to use it in a product, you need to buy a license for it)

  15. ifyoumustacheiheartteaching says

    I love it! I love it! I will be doing this to my work Mac and my home Mac.

    Another excuse to create!

    Right now I have a folder that say "junk" and houses God knows what!!

    p.s- Your posts are hilarious. I love how you manage to fit wine in almost every one!!

    Happy Monday

Latest on Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

Latest on Facebook

[custom-facebook-feed]