2/4/18

Making Postcards 101

 
 Are you all ready to head to Paris for Valentine's Day??
Before we get started with class today,  we have had a couple of questions regarding exactly what people should post for the Postcards from Paris Blog Hop.

First...you can make a Post Card showing yourself enjoying the day alone, with a furiend, or with your Valentine! Just post the picture and link on up to the Blog Hop!

You can also do a post showing how you are spending your time while in the City of Love, and include your Post Card(or snap shot) at the beginning or end of your post.
 
  Just be creative, have fun with it and we can't wait to see what you come up with!
 


Now...on to our tutorial!
Disclaimer from Pawfessor Jakey and Mama:
When we started this tutorial we didn't realize how much Basic Pizap had changed. It now requires an "Account" to save your pictures. We understand if this isn't something you want to do, but we wanted to let you know it is possible to delete the account after you have saved your picture. We(Jakey and Mama) haven't had any issues with Pizap spamming us, but we are Pro members. We did create a temporary account in order to do this tutorial and haven't had any issues either.

With that said, let's get started!
 
First, head over to Pizap.com






Click on the Design icon




Let's check out the New Pizap Beta program!




We're going to use the post card template
(but feel free to experiment with any template)




Now let's add a background image!




By picking the Free Stock Images we know the images we use are legit and not used without pawmission




Now this is the fun part. We searched Paris(upper right red arrow) and found a bunch of beautiful places to use as a background for our post card.




We decided on a pretty picture of the Arc de Triomphe! Check out the Zoom slider at the bottom. Make sure to play around with it until you get the look you want. 


After you have the background the way you want it, let's add our subjects! Click the Cut Out icon on the left.
We're going to cut out a picture of Rosy Sassy Pants first.




We're going to use the custom option






 Now let's go find Rosy in our computer.



 We keep all our blog pictures in one place and found a picture of Rosy we could use. We highlighted the file and then clicked enter.



 Hit next to crop your photo
(you can also skip this if your photo is already a good size)



 Our Rosy picture was already cropped pretty well, but if you need to you, you can use this to make sure you are the only thing in the photo.



 Now, let's cut out Rosy!



 Drag and click, drag and click, drag and click....that's what Mama did all around Rosy until she ended up back at the beginning.



 Next, we'll make sure Mama did a good job and fix anything she might have missed.



 See those little squares, those are all the places where Mama clicked. Can you see where she missed a spot at the lower left hand arrow? She just clicked and dragged the square in to fix the boo boo! Once she was done, we clicked on Finish!



 And Ta-Da!! There is Rosy!



 We can make her bigger or smaller by clicking and dragging the gray dots and by clicking and dragging her, we placed her in just the right spot before clicking on the green check mark!


Now...We are going to use a slightly different way to add Arty! We keep cut outs of our pack to use in different Blogville events, this time we are going to add our own cut out.
 Click on the Stickers icon on the left side, then on the Use your Own blue button. Then the computer button and in search of Arty!



 We found Arty's cut out(it has a PNG extension), highlight him  and click open.



 Ta Da!! There is Arty! We want to turn him around so he is facing Rosy, so we clicked the horizontal flip icon the red arrow is pointing out to flip him around!


 Then we sized him up and positioned him....



...and Voila! Arty and Rosy in front of the Arc!
We also added text to let everyone know where we are!
We clicked the Text icon on the left side.



We clicked the blue Add Text  button




 An then added the text in the white box!
We used the Emily's Candy font, but if you click on the Font box, Pizap has bunches and bunches of fonts to choose from!



 We chose a pink color to match Arty and Rosy's beret



 You can click and drag the gray bar outwards..



 ...to make it a single line like we did if you want to.
Then you can adjust the size of the font with the little toggle buttons next to the font size.



 Next we wanted to add a little bling to our post card. Click on the Stickers icon



 We looked at the hearts, since it is Valentine's Day, but make sure to take a look at all the cool stickers they have!!



 We looked at the hearts and found one we liked...



 We used it on either side of the text for decoration. We flipped one around using the little horizontal flip icon!


 Now it's time to save our masterpiece!
Start by clicking Save at the top of the screen.



 Here is where we had to create an account. We logged in with Google. But you can choose any option you would like.


 After you create an account it will bring you to this screen
 We named our project and clicked Save to computer



 We made sure the Save file and then click OK


 and then OMD IT DISAPPEARED!!! Luckily...Mama realized where it went. It was in the "Downloads" folder.



 This can be found close to where you see ours above, in our browser AND/OR in as a folder on your computer. Once you find it, you should be able to move it to a place where you or your assistant will remember.
 We have a MAC, so Mama opened the post card by double clicking the Arty Rosy Post Card file


 The file opened in our Preview App. We clicked file, and then export...



...and then exported it someplace where Mama would remember.  For easy access, this time we saved it to our desktop!





Easy Peasy, right???


Still confused? Ask questions in the comments or email us and we will do our best to answer them! Mama and I(Jakey) would also be happy to make a post card for you and email it back to you in time for the blog hop!

For those who would like to schedule their Valentine Day post, we should have the Linkytool added to our Hoppity Page later this afternoon or tomorrow!

28 comments:

  1. Mom Kim here - just an fyi - I do not have any account with them but I am able to save my pictures to MY computer - just don't mark the "save to PIZAP". That has worked so far.

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  2. We need to get to work on our post cards!

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  3. da hardest part is to save it in a folder the mama will remember LOL therefore my dad will make the card for me today ;O))))

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  4. Hari OM
    Fabulous work Jakey! this looks similar to my Fotor program - the only thing I can't do in that is the cutout function, which I have been attempting to do in Paint - but it doesn't have the fine-feathering option this has - so I may go and investigate!!! Like Kim and the beagles, I a pretty sure it should be possible just to save the file without necessarily doing so in Pizap itself - with Fotor I over-ride the 'account' thing, so will let you know if I agree with Kim on this. Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

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  5. Hari OM
    Okay, I'm back! tried with the 'beta' version you show here, Jakey and that definitely requires a signup in one form or other. For those not willing to do this, opt for the 'classic' Pizap. There is not quite the same flexibility the newer version has and the background options are quite different - you need to be a bit more creative yourself - but you can definitely save to computer without having to signup in any way. Have fun efurrybuddy!!! Yxx

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  6. Hari OM
    THIRD OPTION; use the beta version of Jakey's lesson here; then PRT SC (print screen button at top of your keyboard) and then 'control V' that into Paint (or similar) and crop to the image you have created on Pizap - I did this, because getting the Paris image is imperative for this event! Yxx

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  7. Oh this is soooooo exciting, going to PARIS wiv CHESTER!!!!!
    I am hopping from paw to paw!
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

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  8. Wonderful tutorial! We used to use PicMonkey all the time for their fonts, but now you have to subscribe there too, and Fotor has really limited what you can do without an account. All the free programs are tightening up I think.

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  9. What a great tutorial! Thank you!

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  10. I have not been in pizap in months, just went in and i could use classic and the free stuff, but there is very little free stuff left and save, but not the beta.. that is a really good price for a year, but i already have 2 others i paid for... there is a way to make post cards in PicMonkey if anyone has a membership there.

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  11. Jakey you are the bestest Professor I've ever had and we thank you for your hardwork putting this tutorial together for us!
    Hugs madi your bffff and mom

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  12. What a great tutorial Jakey. We will have to get our mom working on our postcards soon.

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  13. That was a great lesson, y'all sure are talented!

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  14. Great lesson Jakey!
    hugs
    Hazel & Mabel

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  15. Jakey, you make it look so easy. Mom will give it a try and see if she can be smart and clever like you!!!

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timber

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  16. Great tutorial! You make it look so easy!
    Cammie!

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  17. Great tutorial, Jakey and Assistant. I find Pizap harder to work in than PicMonkey, but probably just because I use Picmonkey so much. You have inspired me to work more in Pizap and learn it better! Also, I read the comment about a postcard option in PM but didn't see it. WIll have to go back and look again.

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  18. Great tutorial Pawfessor Jakey & Mama. Our Mama usually uses da photoshop buts dis website looks pawretty neat!

    xoxo,
    Matt & Matilda

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  19. Pawfessor Jakie! Great tutorial. You did a great job of taking us through all the details so that all of us can do it!

    Do you know what? For weeks, I kept wondering why my feed labeled "Da Boyz..." had no posts. I didn't notice that a new feed called "LLB" had appeared. So, I've been absent from your blog, and I missed it! I'm so glad that I figured out this mystery!

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  20. Thank you for all the time you put into this tutorial. It must have taken a lot of time and patience. You did a great job

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  21. I will save this tutorial to use later. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of packing and moving so I barely have time to blog and visit. Maybe Blogville will do something fun for Easter or spring and we can join in the excitement.

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  22. What a great tutorial guys!
    I always wanted to make my own postcard!
    Thanks!
    Purrs
    Marv

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  23. OMD, Jakey, that was a FABulous tutorial!!! Very good instructions and no confusion at all! I do loves the Pizap!
    Thanks Jakey!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥
    pees: Ma was doin' some happy dances last night...heheheeeee

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  24. Seriously the BEST tutorial EVER!!! Your mama should be a teacher! Thank you for sharing...haven't used PiZap in a really long time...so had some fun with it!

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  25. I'm ready to go ~ I got my postcard and post DJing done and my Valentine and I are ready for LOVE. Paris here we come.
    Sweet William The Scot

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