How To Digital Scrapbook in PicMonkey

I'm so excited to share this with you today!  Have you ever wanted to try digital scrapbooking but don't know where to start?  It can be a little overwhelming at first but its so fun and when you are done you have a beautiful way to share your favorite memories.  I'm going to be sharing some tips and tricks over the next few weeks to get you started (you can use these same tips to make your own printables as well!)

There are many programs you can use to make your own pages and prices and complexity vary.  I  use My Memories (I shared about it here and have a coupon code)  about 90% of the time.  It has some limits but for the most part I can do what I want and its very easy. There are several options like this.  You can also use programs like photoshop and have complete control over your design.  It would be awesome but I don't know how to use it and it is expensive.  If you already own it and know how to use it this could be a great option for you.  Today I am going to show you how to make a page with a FREE Option-PicMonkey. 

I use PicMonkey all the time to edit photos, make collages for my blog, make printables, and add my logo to my pictures.  You can do most things on PicMonkey for free but there are some options that you have to pay for.  I do pay for the yearly subscription but for this you can get away with using the free options. 

So here we go! Just a heads up there are going to be a ton of pictures to walk you through this.  Its not complicated just a little hard to explain unless you can see what I'm doing :)

You can apply these same steps to make printables-(just leave out the adding photo step).  I'll be adding a printable specific post in this series.  Watch for it!  Hopefully this will help you out until then.

When you get to PicMonkey this is the screen you will see.  Click on design at the top.

You will be starting with a black white page that just happens to be the right size for a 12x12. You can resize it to 3600x3600 if you want. 

First we are going to add your pictures.  Click on the little butterfly logo (overlays) on the side.  Then add your own.

 Select my computer or where ever you store your photos you want to use.

 Add however many you want.  Move them around adjust the size etc.  (remember you can always move them later)

 Now for the background.  1st option: I used this cute background I had saved to my computer.  You can find lots of free ones (search pinterest).  Save them to your computer and upload just like you did your photos.
(I'll be sharing a post on my favorite places to to find products and how to save them to your computer very soon)

 Option 2: you can leave it white or use a solid colored background.  Go to the wand icon.  Click on canvas color and it will change your background color.  (if you use this option you can skip the next few steps)

If you used option one you will size your background paper to cover your entire page.

 right click and hit send to back.

 This is what it should look like now.

 Now for the fun part-adding the embellishments. Still in the overlay section there are a ton of option.  Click on any of them and drag them where you want them.  I used one from the great outdoors and 2 from nautical (all 3 are free)

 I wanted to use a banner as a text box (still in overlays-towards the bottom).  I clicked on the first one and moved it into place.

 I wanted one end under my picture so I right clicked and hit send to back.  (you can use send backwards but it was taking forever).

 This is what I ended up with.

 Remember that background paper?  Right click on the background paper and send it to the back.

 Your banner should now be behind your picture.

 Size it and change the color.

Next Head over to the text box.  Hit add text, pick your font and start typing.  You can size and change colors.

 I added text to the circle and the banner.  I used the fonts Black Jack and Bruno Book.  Once you are done save it to your computer.  *Once its saved you can not go back and change things.  That is probably my least favorite thing about using this program to scrapbook.

 Here's my finished project.  It took me about 5-8 minutes to make.  Most of it was choosing the embellishments :)  You can upload to your favorite place and print.

There are some limitations with PicMonkey but you can create really fun and beautiful pages with it.  Its a great place to start to see if it is something you enjoy.