How to create Printables ... Posters ... Photos -- Part 1

Good morning, all -

We'd REALLY like to see spring come soon here in New Hampshire.  I have friends calling "UNCLE" all over Facebook.  That being said, I made a springy project I will call a "poster" - as it makes me think of the posters I used to collect back in the day.

I have been dying to know how people make the printables, posters and cool photo pieces I've been seeing on Pinterest.  So, I Googled it!  I ran across a site called PicMonkey.  Oh, man... it's great, super easy, FREE and so much fun.  **There are effects you need to join to use, but there are plenty available in the free version.

To start with, you need to open a picture using the "OPEN" button on the top gray bar.  It opens your computer and you just need to select the photo you want to start with.  I started with this picture of forsythias I took last spring and opened it in PicMonkey.

 

Here's where you get to play.  On the editor on the left, there are oodles of options you can play with.  TRY THEM!  You can click on each of the cartoons down the side to open different things you can do.  I started with the bubbling beaker, which are the "Effects" - If you click on one of the colorful options, it will automatically change the photo.  Don't like it?  Just cancel.  Like it a bit, but not quite, play around with the intensity with the slide bar/bars that come with each.  I used "Frost" to get the white edges and the bit of fading and "Soften" to blur it and lighten it as well.  Combining them helped the text pop a bit.

Ready for text?  Click on the "P" and a text box opens ON your image.  Select the font you want to start with and start typing.  I took a saying that I thought matched the photo, and typed it into the box.  The box starts in the center of your image - you can change the box size and move it around once you have your text.  WAIT till then as I found that if I moved the box and then added text, it centered on where I was then, and I had to move it again.  You can shrink the box and slide it to the side, as I did, to get the text running down the side.  Play around with font, text size and color, if you'd like.

I am going to play around some more (hence "Part 1" in the title) and I'll let you know what else I discover.  I will also post the ones I create and you are more than welcome to use them!

Have a wonderful, creative day, folks!
Carrie