Photo Editing Made Easy-A PicMonkey Tutorial

If you are a Blogger, you use photos...A LOT of photos.

Camera phones don’t quite ‘cut it’ for the kind of picture quality you want on your blog, so you

probably use a digital camera. That means you also need to do a little photo editing before you upload those great photos to your blog.

Why?

• digital photos are huge and take up A LOT of memory on your blog server
• uncropped photos are ‘busy’ and not as visually appealing
• a lot of lighting mistakes can be fixed with editing

Plus, with a little creativity and a good photo editor, you can..

• make blog buttons, follow buttons, sidebar buttons/boxes
• create logos and headers
• add watermarks of your copyright directly to onto photos
• add text directly onto your photos..maybe your blog address or event / project name
• add arrows onto your to point out specific areas of the photo/project

… I can hear you all from my house …

”my photo editor doesn’t do that!”.. “photo editors are too complicated”.. “what’s a photo editor?”

Let me introduce you to my best bloggy friend…

PicMonkey makes photo editing FUN and EASY!

I’m going to show you how to Resize and Crop your digital photos. If you are wanting to add copyright to your photos or make logos, look to the bottom of this post.  Quite honestly, it’s just too much to cover in one post, so I have included links to some great tutorials for doing those things. 

The first thing you should know is that PicMonkey is FREE to use. 

You can register and you have the option to purchase Royal membership to receive exclusive content..but it is not required. This powerhouse is totally FREE for all of us.

Ok, so first of all you are going to travel to http://www.picmonkey.com/

At the top of the page, you have 4 options..Edit, Touch Up, Design or Collage.

“Hover over the “Edit” button at the top of the home page, and photo storage places appear beneath it

(your computer’s hard drive or a Dropbox, Facebook, or Flickr account). Click one to select your photo.”

PicMonkey uploads your photo and launches the Editor with the Basic Edits tab open. 

It’s going to look like this with your photo on the screen just  to the right of it.

Click Resize. It is the last option in the list, if you do not see it right away, scroll down till it appears.

Change the size to...I use 600 or 900 as my first number and PicMonkey will change the 2nd number for you. CLICK APPLY.

*Your picture won’t look any different yet.

A note about sizing... 

That large number is what makes your internet slow down when uploading pictures.  My email software won’t even send a picture of this size. If you are paying for your space on a server to host your blog..a great deal of that space is going to be taken up by these large images. So you need to "Resize" them.

How do you know what size to make your pictures? 

Always use this rule..”you can make a large picture smaller and not lose quality of the image but you cannot make a small picture larger without it looking wonky”. 

Start out with the max size you might need.

Blog pages are 600-900 across.

Headers/Banners are 900-1200

Average Sidebar Button width is 200

Small Sidebar Button is 125x125

Action Buttons are 100

If you absolutely know that you are making a wide banner, start with 1200. 

I use 600 for most of my pictures because they are destined for use inside blog posts or as Sidebar Buttons.

Next scroll to the top and select Crop.

A movable Grid will appear over your picture like this:

Click and drag the corner circles to enlarge the grid..everything inside the grid is what you are keeping. Click APPLY.

This is what my picture looks like after I finished Cropping it.  See how much nicer it looks already?

Guess what..we are almost done!

See the large box at the very top of the Editing Tab that says “Auto Adjust” (just above Crop)? CLICK IT.

WOW..PicMonkey does all the hard stuff for you! 

No decisions to make..just CLICK Auto Adjust.

See the difference in the picture now? Much better!

PicMonkey is fool proof too. 

See the arrows above your picture..you can UNDO anything you did that you wish you hadn’t with the click of an arrow.

Finally, let’s save this fabulous picture to your computer.

Just click SAVE located directly above your picture and follow the prompts to same or download to your computer.

THAT’S IT!

Your picture is now ready. You can now use PicMonkey to make it whatever size you want. Do you remember how?

Now, I believe I promised you some Links to other PicMonkey Tutorials!

Create a blog button, link up button or a button to promote something you have going on, using PicMonkey. http://www.thesitsgirls.com/blogging/blog-button-picmonkey/

Easily Create a Blog or Etsy Banner for Free Using PicMonkey http://www.whileshenaps.com/2013/12/easily-create-a-blog-or-etsy-banner-for-free-using-picmonkey.html

How to Create a Watermark (add your copyright) Using PicMonkey  http://www.blogher.com/how-create-watermark-using-picmonkey-dark-room

Inserting Text Onto Photos  http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2013/02/picmonkey-mondays-inserting-text-onto-photos.html

Creating a Collage http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2013/02/picmonkey-mondays-creating-a-collage.html

Crafting The Mohawk Hat

Crafting The Mohawk Hat

Are you a fan of the Mohawk hats? 

Yes, they were a trend that came and went as so many awesome things do...however, they are also a style that continues to be fun and popular with just about any young person.

And, I'm speaking from experience folks...I've made more than a few of these awesome toppers.
Cute as kittens on the little ones and a touch a rebellion and individuality for those just a bit older...then a touch of fun again for younger adults. They all love 'The Hawk' and actually wear the crap out of them! LOL

Crochet Geek has a really terrific video on You Tube to show you how to make the Crochet Mohawk Hat. My method and hers are essentially the same but I work 3 strands at a time and she uses one.
I really recommend watching her video then checking my Tips for Trimming below.

Yarn Lengths:

I work with strands of yarn the length of my crochet hook..this allows enough length for trimming.
I use three strands at a time for each 'stitch'.

Creating the Front and Back:

Fold the hat in half and loosely whipstitch / sew a 'guide' at the fold.
This also creates a 'ridge' which I believe helps with the shaping of the hat.

There is a definite 'Front' and 'Back' to a Mohawk. Begin creating the 'hawk 3 rows up from the edge of the hat in Front and continue the 'hawk all the way down the back to the last row to create the Back.

Creating the Mohawk Stitch:

This illustrates the method for creating the 'Mohawk Stitch' up the ridge of the hat. Check out the video by Crochet Geek to see this in action.

Work your way up the ridge, using the stitched guide to keep your 'hawk line straight. You don't have to use the 'guide' but mine get crooked when I don't. Plus, I really do believe the ridge it creates helps with the shaping of the Mohawk.

As you move up the ridge, you will notice gaps between your stitches. You will need to go through and place stitches between these spaces to fill in the Mohawk.

Also, your Mohawk will get a bit sparse at the crown without much space to place fill-in stitches. This is where using Crochet Geeks method will come in very handy for you. You don't want your Mohawk to be flat or thinning on top.

For Toddler and Baby sizes, I only make one row down the center...
but for Adult sizes, I make a band of 3 rows going down the center from Front to Back.

Trimming the Mohawk:

Add caption

Ultimately, your Mohawk will require a good trimming to finish it off.
I like to trim a bit as I go..Starting after the first 3-5 stitches are placed.

Look at the first photo above...You don't want this yarn hanging into your face, so you will need to trim it.

• Start by holding it like in the photo and trimming the yarn straight across and level with the edge of the hat. 
• Next pull the ends together and even them up. 
• Then I put a bit of an angle to the front. 

Yours should now look like the last photo above.

Continue trimming about every 5 stitches just to even up the edges. You can wait till last and do this all at once if you like.

Important Note 
Experiment with the length of your yarn strands to obtain different looks for your Mohawk.

The shorter you trim the yarn, the more it will 'stand up'.
The longer the yarn, the more it will 'lay over'.

The advantage of starting with a length of yarn the size of a crochet hook.

Really short strands are hard to work with when creating the stitches for the Mohawk. Anything longer is really just wasteful and unnecessary. 

For this little one, I only found it necessary to make one row down the center...
but I do want to let you know that for my Adult Mohawk hats, I make a band of 3 rows down the center.

Weaving in the Ends .. Making it FUN & EASY!

Weaving in the Ends .. Making it FUN &  EASY!

It's time consuming and nobody really likes to do it.  Probably because it's tedious and has nothing to do with the creating of our our beautiful projects.
We usually save it for last, then spend hours hiding those little pieces left after connecting our squares or motifs.

I don't mind it anymore! 

As a matter of fact, I enjoy the task now that I have started using a large needle to 'weave in the ends'. 

Yes, I used to avoid that needle like the plague because it was such a PAIN trying to work the yarn through the eye of the needle. 

Last Halloween, I looked at a discarded candy wrapper and inspiration struck. I cut a strip of the wrapper and folded it in half, placed the yarn in the crease, closed the fold and BAM...threaded the needle quick and easy for the very first time!

Using the large needle actually makes it much easier to hide the tails and here are a couple of tips for making certain they stay hidden too!

Use Long Tails

I woman I spoke to who specializes in repairing and restoring crochet and knitted pieces says "PLEASE, use long tails"  Not only does it allow original material to work with if someone eventually needs to work a repair, but long tails rarely come un-done..short tails are more likely to come un-knotted with time.

Weave Back and Forth, Up and Down

This is the best way to make sure that your tails don't come loose.  It is pretty common for us to grab the tail and pull it through a length of stitches to hide it. That's easy, but it also comes out of that single row easy too. Using the large needle, makes it easy and even fun to do a little more. Weave those long tails to the right, to the left, up and down. 

Tracy's Not So Magic Circle

Tracy's Not So Magic Circle

My personal method for 'closing the opening' of every Crochet Circle.

Don't you just hate that open circle left in the middle of your crochet in the round?...like in the Crown of Hats or center of Flower Granny Squares?

I definitely do. I have never felt ok just leaving it that way.
So years ago, I worked out my own way to close the opening space.

Then the Crochet Magic Circle came along and I thought AWESOME!..until I tried it.
 It doesn't work for me the way it is supposed to and I get frustrated.

I'm so glad that I have my own way to deal with that pesky open space.

I'm thinking that maybe I'm not the only one who doesn't like the Crochet Magic Circle? 

If that's a Yes, then give this method a try.

If it works for me, maybe it will work for you too!

Chain 3

DC in 3rd chain from your hook

Crochet half of your beginning round stitches to the right of the knot
If your pattern says to crochet 12 DC in the circle, work 6 

Crochet the remaining half of your beginning round stitches to the left of the knot
Crochet this 2nd half of stitches over the tail.

Count your stitches and Slip Stitch into the first

Turn your circle around to the back...this is what it will look like.

Pull the tail .. this will draw your circle close

This is what it will look like...this is still the backside

Thread the tail into a large eye needle and hide the tail in the first round of stitches.

This is the front side of your beginning circle
 showing the opening in the center completely, and neatly, closed.

Great job right!?
You can hide the tail using whatever method you like. I never used to use a large eye needle because it was a pain to thread the eye with yarn...then I discovered an easy way to do that too and I actually like using the needle better than anything else!

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Febuary 2014Oombawka Design