Want to make blog buttons to advertise your site? Here is a DIY for picnik.com and YOU CAN DO IT TOO!
And I don’t want to hear “but I’m not artistic..” Not an excuse. In just a few minutes you can have cute, professional, KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF blog buttons that everyone will envy and all you have to do is tell them “Oh, hai, it was easy! I made them myself!”
You need a few things.
A computer. I’m guessing you have that.
Lets start with a 125×125 button, because that’s the easiest. First decision, what color to make the background? You have several options. You can open up a free program like paint.net, gimp.org or seashore if you are a mac user.
Colors, backgrounds, pictures oh my!
If you want a plain colored background then create one with those dimensions and save it as a jpg, png or gif file. Don’t know the difference?
- jpeg’s are usually for photos and can’t have transparent backgrounds.
- gif’s for large solid backgrounds, and logos and anything animated.
- png’s for images with blended backgrounds or transparent backgrounds (say an image you want to add to a header) or for print ready hi-resolution material.
and if none of that made sense, you can try saving in different formats and you will quickly see the difference!
You can choose the color you want, play around with stripes, dots, etc…
Have a picture that you want to crop and use? Perfect! You might try changing the opacity (or the intensity of the image that shows) so that the font will show up clearly and POP.
But we are trying to make this easy, right? Those programs are great, and you can add your text here, layer some images… but we are going to move to Picnik to make this super easy (because you know I LOVE Picnik!)
If you digi scrapbook, you know that there are tons of scrapbook pages out there and most of them are square. This is an awesome background for your button.
Find one or several that you like on a site like DigiScrap. Open one of the papers up in picnik. It’s going to be HUGE. First you want to resize it to 125×125 pixels. (Resize, enter 125 as the numbers) Now you may need to work with the zoom, enlarged so you can see placement of text and graphics (it may look blurry, but only while in this view), but make sure you always go back to 100% to see the image in real life size.
I’ve taken this scrapbook paper with butterflies and reduced it to the 125 size. Now lets pick out text. Play with different ones. You want it to be readable at 125 size. Adjust your color and place the text where you want it.
In some cases, text is enough. If you have the premium subscription, you have some pretty awesome choices added in. You might want to keep the font simple for a 125 button because the fancier fonts may be hard to read in that small space. Save them for your header where you have lots of space!!
Add your own personal FLAIR
If you want to add a little flair, check out the stickers. Be creative! Play around with the colors so you can match it or contrast it. You could even add a pattern to your background with some of the stickers by adjusting the opacity. The one I made above is fun and whimsical. (each patch of grass is added on top of each other and varied in size)
I just added text and some fun stickers and it couldn’t be easier.
Want something a little fancier? Picnik can do that too! I’ve started with scrapbook paper again. I like that because there is some texture to it. Try some of the effects like boost, gritty, or orton-ish and see what that does to the paper. You can create a whole different feel to it, and it’s like creating a whole new palette.
I wanted to make this print all fancy. I did each word in a separate line, placing each one carefully so I could fit them in closer together. The image you see in the background is a whitish color and has a high degree of fade and is off center so it doesn’t take over the image. I could have made that the entire image’s pattern, but I wanted the design more simple.
I added the Matte effect (just a little) and in a slight pink color to the outside. Now you have an advertising button that isn’t like everyone else, and will stand out in the crowd.
And did I mention it is free?
Still time to enter my contest for the 6 month premium subscription too~!
Wow, thanks for the instructions, but you know what would make it soooooo much easier?
Yeah, if you did it for me! LOL
No, but really, I may have to try my hand at making one. I’ll definitely share if I do.
YEA THX LILTHANG
Yahooo! I love the Picnik! I made my own on there yesterday! And, they aren’t too difficult to read either!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krystle_rae/3590634071/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krystle_rae/3591376426/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krystle_rae/3590531341/in/photostream/
Oh Lord. You lost me at “You need a few things”. While I may have been able to makeover my blog, I’m lost on this button issue.
Speaking of blogs, is Blogger on it’s period again today? Mine isn’t loading correctly.
If I can do it you can do it…
I left blogger for a reason. I think it’s worse then a period…try full on menopause…
Thanks for the step-by-step instructions! I’ll have to give this a try (and cry when it doesn’t work for me… lol).
Ok, I’ve made my button, but now what? How do I get the code to post under the button that will link back to me if my button is clicked on someones blog page?
Did that make any sense? Help!! =)
I actually used a myspace scroll box generator (googled it) but there are also posts at http://goodandcrazypeople.blogspot.com/2008/05/meme-tute.html
and also at http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2009/05/how-can-i-make-a-scroll-box-for-html-code/
wow..I will definitely have to give that a try. But truth be told, I break everything even with great instructions – (embarrassed to say how long it took to get a working tweet me button on my site…and the share button and my twitter background still aren’t working right). Still it looks so pretty I will have to at least give it a try. Thanks for all the detail you gave!!
I needed to do this, and I didn’t know where to start, and this fell into my lap on twitter – thank you SO much
LOVE this – and need to try it when my new site is up. Thanks!
You are making me really really want that premium membership at picnic but gosh IDK. You make photo editing look EASY or maybe that’s picnic
Thanks for this post!!
Thanks for this post. I have blogged about it too!
http://www.mommyenterprises.com/2009/06/want-to-make-your-own-buttons-for-your.htm
This is why I have friends like you… so I don’t have to figure it out and do it myself LOL! But seriously, this looks fun. You did a great job. I always love your fun designs
.
HEY! I have someone right now asking for help with a button and some background for her blog… um.. help??
and geez, thanks for the shout out there in the comments, you rock!
Is the scrapbook stuff you mention free and useable for blogs/commercial?
for blog, yes, but only some is for commercial (as in you would sell it) use. when in doubt, check with the designer.
Thank you , I will be trying this!
THanks for the great post. I think that I finally figured out how to make and post my button. I haven’t tried it to see if will actually link back, but at least it is up and that is a huge step. Sorry if I am writing all over your blog–it is just a GREAT blog!
http://www.granolamom4god.com
What do you think of my button? I did it at picnik!
I am going to try this as well. I was on Piknik yesterday and for some reason I get really confused on there. I am going to try a button now. Do you load the digiscrap page into Picnik or are there scrapbook pages in Picnik? Well let me look around first ad then come back with questions LOL.
Thanks – I am going to bookmark this post!
Ya gotta love Picnik, right?! Awesome.
Oh My God, -Waaaaayyy too complicated for blondes. thanks though.
Needed this! Thanks.
thank you so much!!! thank you!
Great lesson & wonderful graphics! I cannot wait to make my button–after the kids are in bed!!
Thank goodness I found you! I had heard of Picnik but couldn’t figure it out on my own. This was very descriptive and helpful. I just made my first button! Thanks so much
Hey well this is dum cuz you wont even tell us how to make one so your stupid so what ever you jerk
Great resource and information. Had not heard of piknic until now! Thank you so
much for taking the time to share. Will try this tonight!! Yay!
Fabulous article! I’m a Picnik lover myself and used it to make little Christmas box inserts as well as a background for a Christmas letter this past holiday season. I just love the creativity in this article. Well done!
i want to make a blog
Hi, thank you for your insightful tutorial. I am a novice at this. I created a button that I am happy with. Now how do I link it to my site?
Okay, so I went to picnik and made my button – how do I attach my link to the picture? How do I make one of those “Grab my botton” things for the side of my blog? This is all so confusing!
Thanks!
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Glad I found your tutorial — had not heard of Picnic. Seems easier than PhotoBucket editing.
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Thank you so much! Easiest tutorial EVER!
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Thank you, for this! I have tried so many other editing sites, and I could not figure them out. This is exactly what I was looking for!
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Thank you so much for this tutorial—-wonderful!!!!!!
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