So long Picnik, hello PicMonkey.

I didn't even have time to shed a proper farewell tear to Picnik before I was rescued with PicMonkey. As most of you already know, Picnik will be closing their doors April 19th and most bloggers were sent into a mild panic.

PicMonkey has just opened up their website AND already it is leaving me thinking, Picnik who.

Much like Picnik, PicMonkey offers a wide variety of free photo editing options.
So, here is a mini tutorial, welcoming PicMonkey into my life.

Open up a browser for PicMonkey. You may as well go ahead and save this to your list of favorites because I know you are going to love it even more than picnik.

Pull in a picture or upload it from your computer.

You'll find yourself in the Basic Edits screen.  You have 6 editing options {crop, rotate, exposure, colors, sharpen and resize}.   Each step is easy to navigate allowing you to adjust your photo giving it a little bit of a boost.

Want to add sometime simple like an arrow. Easy...click the thought bubble icon on the left side. Click on an arrow and it will appear on your photo.  You can turn it, move it, enlarge it and or change the color.

Maybe you want to add text.  Click on the P on the left side, type what you want to say, chose the font and, again, you can change the location, color and the size.

Or do something similar with thought bubbles {thought bubble icon} and adding some text {P icon}.

For all my tutorial pictures, I add a header or title bar. PicMonkey allows you to do this as well. Click on the thought bubble icon, select geometric and chose a shape. I use rectangles and simply expand them to fit across the picture.

Then, select P and type in an appropriate header:
And they lived happily ever after...

Then there are the effects {test tube icon}, which are really fun to play with. They offer the basics like turning your picture to black and white or sepia BUT they also offer other interesting effects.

Dark edges effect.

Boost effect.

Lomo effect.

Posterizing effect.

I think the {pic}monkey says it best, whatever your photographic needs: 'Your photos could be awesome...just sayin'. Head on over to PicMonkey and find out for yourself!