PicMonkey Mondays: Using Overlays

Okay so you know how to use PicMonkey to insert text onto photos, and you are are creating custom collages from standard templates. Moving right along this week we’re going to talk about how to use Overlays to enhance your design. In this tutorial we will also cover how to use your own Overlay as a custom watermark.  First you will want to open up PicMonkey and select “Edit a Photo.”

Along the left sidebar you want to click the 5th tab down (it looks like a cluster of 3 stickers/badges).

This brings up the Overlay menu options.

There are many Overlays available so be sure to go take a peek for yourself. You will find everything from basic shapes and symbols to arrows, labels, and comic bubbles. Scroll further down for fun Overlays like facial hair, pushpins, emoticons, lips, and more. Just remember that when you see the crown symbol that means the effect is not included in the free service. If you see something that you absolutely need to have you can purchase a 1 month membership for $4.99. Here are just a few of the Overlays to get you started.

Each Overlay can be manipulated; you can change the color and size, rotate it, fade it, flip it, duplicate it, layer it, etc. Today I’m showing you how I used Overlays to add a background to my text on these Nutella Oat Breakfast Cookies. I selected the Banner Overlay menu and added the first banner:

Move your Overlay into place.

Stretch the overlay to enlarge.

INSIDER TIP: Think outside the box (or picture) literally! As you can see I enlarged this banner and half of it hung outside the picture frame. I liked the final look so I kept it that way.

Adjust the color and fade.

I won’t take you through step-by-step for the rest of the photo. You can see how I then added text and another Overlay + text to the bottom of the photo. Here I want to point out the “Your Own” option at the very top of the Overlay menu. Use this to grab any image previously saved to your computer. This option is very helpful when creating your own graphics (which we’ll discuss in depth next week).

If you have a PNG file of your header or your blog name saved to your computer you can insert your own custom watermark. Adjust the color and fade and you’re all set. As an alternative you can of course just type your blog name and insert your watermark as text like we talked about in week 1.

Here you can see the final image. I actually put all three weeks of tutorials into play here: Inserting Text, Creating a Custom Collage, and Using Overlays.

There are so many things you can do with Overlays. I thought it might be fun to see some Overlays in action! These images are being used with permission as examples. Please follow the links if you get hungry and want to grab these fabulous recipes!

Karly from Buns In My Oven used an Overlay to offset her recipe title and make it really stand out. {Grab her recipe for Buffalo Chicken Meatball Sandwiches}

Shelly from Cookies and Cups created this Overlay to show that each post was part of a larger theme: Caramel Apple Week. Notice how she has multiple layers, clipart, and text going on.  {Grab her recipe for Caramel Apple Popcorn}

Dorothy from Crazy for Crust uses 2 Overlays in this picture- first you can see she inserted her header as a watermark Overlay. Second, she used a faded white rectangle to put her recipe title into. {Grab her recipe for Peanut Butter Cookie Cheesecake Bars}

Jocelyn from Inside Bru Crew Life used this black rectangle that falls off the sides of the photo to make a banner to place her recipe title in. There’e no guessing what this fudge is all about! Also note how she inserted her watermark as text on the top right. {Grab her recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Fudge}

Jenny of Picky Palate used a large, faded rectangle here to place her recipe title into. She also added a second Overlay (the dotted line) to separate her recipe title and her blog name. This is helpful because the reader not only immediately sees what is inside this delicious cookie but also who created it! {Grab her recipe for Red Velvet Milky Way Cookies}

As always I welcome and encourage your feedback in the comments. Please let me know if I can clarify anything for you. And come back next week for the final installment of this 4 part series. We’ll be covering how to use PicMonkey to create your own custom graphics.

Don’t forget to check out all of the tutorials in this 4 Part series.

Inserting Text    |    Creating a Collage    |    Using Overlays    |    Creating Graphics

Disclosure: I told the awesome people at PicMonkey.com that I was putting this series together and they gave me a free Royale membership and said good luck.  All opinions are 100% my own (and I had actually already bought and paid for my own membership because I heart PicMonkey so much). Everything I’m showing you in this 4 week series can be done for free without access to any Royale effects.

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