Friday, July 19, 2013

How to create a blog header with a transparent background (using PicMonkey)

Happy Friday, yall!

I’ve been working on my blog design for the past week or so, and I came across a total game-changer yesterday! This is too good not to share.
I’ve seen so many tutorials on how to make fabulous blog headers using pictures or backgrounds, but I really wanted something simple and white—and seamless! I can’t tell you how many white rectangles I downloaded for my header and I could always see the border against the white background of my blog. They never looked crisp and clean.

I saw this tutorial on A Typical English Home yesterday which introduced me to PicMonkey. I love the tutorial and website, but I don't want pictures in my header, so I started doing some hunting around the site. I found this blog post from their site on tips and tricks, and one was transparent backgrounds—bingo!

This tutorial is really easy and makes for a sleek looking blog header.

Start by clicking “Create a collage” on the homepage.
Select “Create your own” at the top. It will have one square that fills the entire area.

Go to the background tab by clicking the paint tray on the bottom left.



Check the box next to “Transparent background." The image box should turn gray to match the background of the website.
You can save this for later use, so you don’t have to repeat these steps if you want to make another header, buttons, page tabs, etc.

After you save it, it will take you back to the main screen so you can continue working. Press the edit icon.
You can start by adding whatever you like. I started with text, the P icon on the left.
Add your text. Change the fonts on the left and the colors and sizing on the right.
 If you want to add another text box, just click “Add Text” again at the top left. If you want your text to have the same exact color, write down the number in the top right and type it in that area in your next text box.
There are tons of extras that you can find in all the tabs on the left. I wanted a seal around my monogram, so I went to the word bubble tab right below text and found what I wanted in the “Nautical” section.
I changed the color to match my blog design. The inside of many of the shapes is white, which shouldn't be a problem if your blog background is white. Right click the object and send it to the back, so your wording shows up on top.
Arrange everything how you want it.
At this point your image is a square. Most blog headers are a rectangle, so you can go back to the top atom looking icon and crop your image to a rectangle.
You can also rezise in this tab by clicking the resize button at the bottom. I resized mine to 900 pixles, but it will depend on the width of your blog. You can edit your widths in the blogger template. Make sure the box next to “Keep Proportions” is checked (it should be automatically checked).
 Save your new image by clicking the save button at the top.

Upload your new header to your blog, and you’re done! 


You’ll notice that the colors changed a little bit. That’s because in the editor everything has a shadow, but when you save you image, the shadow disappears and your image will be flat and crisp!


Linked to:

The 36th Avenue











18 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for posting this! I too hate the little white box that comes with white background pictures/buttons.
    Thank you for sharing this. I've already saved my transparent background for future use.

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  2. Great tutorial! My header has a white background that I matched to the white background of my blog ... thankfully. If there had been some discrepancy in the color, it would have driven me crazy! I love your header; very cute!

    Julia @
    It's Always Ruetten

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  3. I've been searching this forever thank you,

    Www.kissinq.blogspot.com

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  4. Thank so much for posting this! I always wanted to try and create my own header for my blog and I finally managed to do so!

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  5. Thank you so much for the explanation of the transparent background. That helped me so much!

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  6. it's exactly what I needed. Thank you! :)

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  7. Thank you so much! I have been going crazy trying to figure this out.

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  8. This is the best thing! I've been trying to make a header in picmonkey but the white keeps showing up gray. This is perfect as I want that seamless white blog too! Thanks so much!
    Elizabeth @ Real Inspired

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  9. LIFE SAVER!!!! Thank You! Thank You!

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  10. Thanks, this really helped, I have made several designs using this technique now! xxx

    Katie,
    beautyandkatie.blogspot.co.uk

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  11. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I've tried and it's looking great :-)

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  12. Thank you so much ! this was really helpful!

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  13. A big thank you for this post!

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  14. Thanks for the tutorial!! It helped me so much!!! I'm starting to like how my blog look, thanks to you!! :)

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  15. thanks for your post! Even when I use the transparency it saves on my computer just fine but when I upload it to blogger it changes to an off white color so my image looks like it's in a box. Does that make sense? Any idea how to fix that?

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