How to Create Free Wall Art and Home Decor with Picmonkey

Maybe I should title this post as “A million and one ways to decorate your house for free.”  Because that really is the number of possibilities this post is going to have for you by the time you’re finished reading it.

For months now, some of y’all have been asking me how I design some of my printables.  I have a nice little library of them now, and I’ve said over and over I’d show you guys how to do it, but bad blogger me is JUST now getting around to introducing y’all to my best little helper, Picmonkey (or Canva, if you’re more a fan of that graphic design site instead).

This isn’t an affiliate link or sponsored post or anything like that; just a great resource I felt like passing along.

I’ve made SO much wall art and home decor using this online image editing site. (And it’s free… woo to the hoo!)

Like these apothecary jar labels I made that are perfect for filling with fresh flowers in spring and summer:

This Irish Blessing sign I designed and had printed as an engineer print for about $10 at Staples:

And these playroom storybook signs:

All kinds of cute little signs to stick in frames for the changing seasons, like this winter one I whipped up in January:

Place cards for Easter table settings:

And templates to make my own stencils like I did for this DIY Farmers’ Market sign:

See?! So much decorating potential!

I whipped up a quick printable to share how easy it is if you’re like me and need a visual guide.

How to Create Wall Art and Decor with Picmonkey:

1.  Go to www.picmonkey.com and click the “design” icon on the home screen.

2.  Open a blank canvas in the size you want (or click “custom size” if the size you want isn’t listed).

3.  Make your canvas color white and hit “apply” on the left toolbar.

4.  Rotate your blank canvas, if needed.  You can also crop to a certain size or shape if you want in that same “basic edits” toolbar.

5.  Click the “Tt” tab on the left toolbar to add text to your blank canvas.  There are two versions of Picmonkey, a paid account and a free account.  (The free one is still awesome.)  If you have a paid account (around $5 per month), you’ll have access to all of the fonts and you can upload your own if you want to get extra creative. But even with the free account, you can use most of the fonts already on the site.

I like downloading fonts from dafont.com for some fun and funky ones. (If you plan on using them on your blog or in your shop though, be sure to check the licensing of those fonts to make sure you have permission to use them for others to download.)

6.  Type the text you want, resize your wording, and move/rotate your text box around as you’d like using the circles in the corners of the box.

You can change the color of your font and put effects on it in the pop-up “Text” menu too.

7.  Once you’re happy with your text position, click the bottom left icon on the “Layers” pop-up menu to lock it in place.

8.  This next part is totally up to you, but if you want to add images, click “Overlays” (the butterfly) icon on the left toolbar, and you can upload your own graphics from your computer or from other sources.

I like finding graphics on Creative Market, The Graphics Fairy, and Etsy from graphic designers if I want to do something really specific.  (But like fonts, check licensing on those graphics if you will be giving access to others as a download so that those graphic designers are awarded for their hard work.)  Or Picmonkey has overlays already on their site that you can use.

9.  Upload the image overlays you want.

10.  And like you did with the text boxes before, move your image, resize, and rotate using the circles in the corners.

11.  Move overlays around and adjust to your little heart’s content.

12.  Then, save (I usually save in high resolution to avoid pixelation) and print!  I typically print them right from my own printer or send them off to Staples for projects that I want to be oversized.

You can do a very similar process on Canva to design printables too.

I made this printable just for fun to show how to do the steps, but wouldn’t it look so cute in a colorful pastel frame in a little girl’s room?!  So much sweetness.

If you want to download this “What if you fly?” sign to print for yourself, you can access it over in the Printable Library. (If you’re already a subscriber, the printable should already be in your inbox along with the library password.)

If you’re not a subscriber, just click here for access:

Are you super stoked to try out designing some of your own now?  I love how versatile it is!  Make cute organization labels, checklists, menus, invitations, cards, frame-able art, signs, gift tags, place cards, calendars, banners, sooooo many goodies.

Have you made any printables for yourself before? Or have any tips with some great sites to use pretty graphics or fonts?  Gotta love that $0 price tag.

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