Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Make a Color Palette with PicMonkey


Autumn Nest

I have yet another online app to tell you about. Alright, yes I’ve been spending a lot of time online goofing off. Ok? I admit it. Now, If you have spent much time online you have probably heard about PicMonkey.  PicMonkey is a free online photo editing tool that I have just started playing with; I usually use Pixlr to do my online photo editing. However I keep seeing color palettes created using photos popping up all over blog land, so I investigated. Here's one below that I made from the picture above using PicMonkey. And it is very easy when you know the steps and what the tools are for.



 Autumn Nest Color Palette


What could this be useful for? Well my first thought is for painting and decorating your home; interior or exterior. Do you have a photo or painting that you love? Paint and decorate a room to match it. My next thought would be perhaps to use in scrap booking, crafting or sewing, enabling you to easily stay within a color palette that coordinates. Choose a photo, picture or painting you love and then create a color palette to work off of. You could even use fabric or scrap book paper instead of a picture. Photograph or scan them into your computer to use.

  • A good rule of thumb is to always make a copy of your photo before you start to work on it in any app. That way if you mess up, you still have the original intact.
  • On the PicMonkey page, click Edit a Photo and upload your photo. 




  • On the far left side, choose Overlays. I chose Geometric shapes for this picture. I clicked on the oval and an oval appears on my photo. It is movable and sizeable. I decided I wanted a row at the bottom so after I placed it where I wanted it I simply re-clicked the shape to add more of them; then place them where I wanted. If you click too many, select the shape you want removed, right click and choose 'delete overlay'.




  • After I had a row of ovals placed as I liked I clicked on my first oval then took my cursor over to the rainbow color bar that appeared. I clicked on the color bar (anywhere will do) and another small bar appears to the far right.
  • Click on that and you now have a dropper. Move the dropper over to the photo and the overlay shape will turn the color that the dropper is on. Click to keep the color you like best.
  • Click on the next overlay shape and again return to the far right color bar, click for your dropper and return to your photo for you next color choice. If you don’t like what you end up with, it is easily changed out.
  • Continue until you are satisfied you have the color palette you want.




Spring Birds Nest 1

Let's say you choose this birds nest picture as your starting point for decorating a room. You want the room to be mostly about pinks so you choose all the pinks in the pictures range. 


Spring Birds Nest 2


Or if you want it to be about neutrals with a touch of pink, then choose those colors from your picture.

If you are like me, more is more with this app, so I often add more overlay shapes to my photo so I can have even more colors! Oh this is so fun and addicting for me! I LOVE color! Maybe I will start making color palettes on a regular bases and post my favorites here.

Will you try it? What would you use a color palette for?

I linked at these parties. 

Grandma's Briefs GRAND SocialSkip to my LouCraft-O-Mantiac, Jellibean JournalsOganizing Junkie,  The Graphics Fairy,    The Dedicated HouseNaptime ReviewMy Favorite Finds Mamal Diane , Sugar Bee CraftsCornerstone ConfessionsLadybug Blessings, Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCozy Little House Today's Creative BlogCherished BlissThe Kurtz Corner,  A Lettered Life, Tip JunkieDragonfly Designs, Love Bakes Good CakesA Bowl Full of Lemons  , Not Just a HousewifeHim and Her, Sew Much AdoThe D.I.Y. DreamerMy Girlish Whims,  JAQS StudioWhite Lights on Wednesday, Handy Man Crafty WomanThe Thrifty Home Someday Crafts,Wow Us WednesdayFree Pretty ThingsPractically FunctionalThe Life of Jennifer Dawn,  Bear Rabbit Bear,   The Brambleberry Cottage,   Bloom DesignsMichelle's Tasty CreationsMom On TimeoutHubby Made Me Something SwankyHave a Cup of Mrs. Olsen,  A Glimpse InsideSweet Bella RoosIt's A Hodgepodge Life Craft Junkie Too,  While He Was NappingMy TurnLadybird Ln,  Chic on a Shoestring Stuff and Nonsense, The Shabby NestFrench Country CottageSun Scholars (kid items only), Thirty Handmade DaysSimply Sweet Home,  Nap Time CraftersAt The Pickett FenceCraft Envy Funky Junk Interiors , Too Much Time on my Hands,  Tater Tots and Jello, Grandparent's Say It Saturday, Bowdabra BlogCheerios and Lattes,Living Life IntentionallyThe Gingerbread Blog, I Heart Nap TimeNifty Thrifty ThingsPetite Hermine  The Girl Creative,  EtcetorizeCraft-O-ManiacFlour Me With LoveUnder the Table and DreamingSew Can DoSerendipity and Spice , Sew Many Ways, Funky Polkadot Giraffe


I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

17 comments:

  1. I had no idea you could do this with PicMonkey! Pinned this for future reference!

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  2. Me either Jamie! Great posts, very helpful, thanks

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  3. I love PicMonkey but I didn't know about this feature! I need to try it! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Thanks for the tutorial. I have been meaning to explore PicMonkey but always seem to get interrupted! I goof off a lot on the computer too. So much to do and so little time. Pinned this for future reference also.

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  5. I, too, am a huge fan of PicMonkey but had no idea you could do this. Pinning as soon as I'm done here. Thank you!

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  6. I've been wondering how to do this! Thanks for sharing at Pin It Thursday- I featured you here http://www.sweetbellaroos.com/2012/09/29/pin-worthy-featured-links-3/

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  7. Looks like a great idea!

    Thanks for sharing.
    --Katie

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  8. Way cool! I use Picmonkey a lot for some of my photo editing but I never knew that was how you got that color picker dropper to appear. Thanks for sharing at The Fun In Functional!

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  9. Wow! That is incredible! I need to play with PicMonkey more. I just saw the Halloween filters this weekend.

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  10. An addict to Pic monkey for altering photos and images, but never thought of doing something like this! Thanks!

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  11. What a great idea! I love pic monkey. :)

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  12. This is so fun! I have used pic monkey for collages, frames, and wording but his sounds like a great tool. I just need more hours in a day to explore it more. thanks for sharing with SYC.
    Hugs,
    Jann

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  13. Super cool idea! Great tutorial. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you share this week! Have a wonderful week.
    Michelle

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  14. I love PicMonkey and I've never thought of doing something like this with it. Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

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  15. Great idea! Love PicMonkey. Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

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  16. Wow! This is great. Thanks for the tutorial!!!

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Thank you SO much for taking the time to leave a comment!