Button Design using PicMonkey

Hello lovely people! My name is Stefani and I blog over at Simply Stefani. I love talking about pretty things, music, and being a mom of one crazy little toddler girl. And...I love designing. I'm so excited that Amy invited me to participate in design week and share some awesome stuff with you!

Today I'm going to show you how to create a button with PicMonkey. If you haven't been to this site, you should probably head over there...right after you read this post, of course. It's a lot of fun and let's you edit photos and create designs for free. Even though I have software that I use for designing now, I still use PicMonkey when I need to create something quick and cute. 

So here is my process - remember, though, design is about creating something that's your own! So don't worry about following exactly what I do here - use the framework and have some fun. 

I start out making a button by scanning through Flickr, or just photos I have on my computer, and finding a picture with a texture I like. You won't have to use the whole picture, just a very small part of it. For this demonstration, I used this picture:

You'll want to pull up PicMonkey and click "Edit a Photo." Upload whatever photo you chose and begin by cropping the photo down to whatever size you want your button to be. For this tutorial, we're doing a 200x200 button. 

Don't forget when you do this to select "Scale Photo." When you select this, you can select the area of the photo that you want to crop your button to. I chose a portion of the white paint at the top of my photo. 

Next step is to add the text! You'll click on the little "P" in the sidebar, select whatever font you'd like, and then click "Add Text" to type something on your button. Don't be afraid to mix fonts, change sizes and colors, whatever you'd like. Make it fun!

What's next is totally up to you. You can add textures, shapes, frames...whatever you'd like. For my button, I added a paint texture, a heart overlay, and a simple frame around the edges. You can also have fun with the photo effects, which will change up the coloring of your button. To do this, you'll click on the beaker in the sidebar and then choose an effect to use. I used Orton for mine. 

After you've added all you want to add...you're done! Click save at the top to save your little masterpiece.

One quick note, though. Make sure you check the dimensions of your button before you save it. Sometimes if you add a frame or something, the dimensions will change slightly. See how mine is 218x218 now? All you have to do is click "Change" and size it back to whatever you'd like it to be. 

There you have it! A simple way to create a button in PicMonkey. Have fun and create something beautiful!