Easy ways to create printables for your blog
Printables are amazing for projects, holidays or simple decor. People are always asking how to make them on so many blogging groups and forums!
Creating a professional-looking printable can be a little tricky – but today, you’ll learn how to do just that.
Start off by brainstorming a design or idea for a printable; this tutorial features one for Valentine’s Day. You can use Canva, PicMonkey, or a combination of the two. Never heard of these online tools? Here’s the scoop:
PicMonkey
It is a great, free online resource for creating and editing photos and images. It also works well for adding watermarks to your blog images. You can choose your own fonts from your computer, crop, edit in different filters and even gives you a wide selection of overlays. These are basically stickers you can use to create a personalized image.
Canva
It is another free online resource that gives you so many different size options and image choices. This site is typically better for creating images rather than editing photos. There are many options to choose from but they do not give access to your computer’s fonts. It also doesn’t have a crop option. Canva is amazing for two reasons:
1) They offer different layouts to choose from for inspiration; and
2) They allow you to save your project as an image or a PDF. The latter is how we get our printables in a downloadable file!
How to Make Printables Easily
1. Using PicMonkey, create a simple image.
2. Go to Canva and choose which size you would like your printable to be. The most popular size is typically 8″x10″, a bit smaller than a standard sheet of paper. After you choose a size, save the project and upload it to Canva. This printable was finished using Canva’s tools – the finished version is below.
3. Go to the top of the page and select “Download”. You can save it as an image or as a PDF. The best bet is to save it as both (use the image on your blog, and the PDF for the next step).
4. Upload the PDF to Acrobat.com. Their free version allows you to share the PDF with your viewers, enabling them to easily download the printable. Simply upload your PDF via their little cloud button. Once your PDF is uploaded, select the file and choose the option to share it. Acrobat does require a monthly fee for the option to email to individual people. If you’re looking to have your printables only available for your e-mail subscribers (or for a fee), you’ll have to dish out some dough for this.
This screen above is what your visitors will see, allowing them to download your oh-so-awesome printable.
And there you have it. Super simple, right? This printable we created for this tutorial isn’t “ooh-la-la”, but it did it does the job. We’re sure you’ll come up with some pretty printables!
Author’s Note: There are other programs to create printables, like Google Drive, but this is simpler and less time-consuming. You could also use Adobe Photoshop or Corel PaintShop Pro. However, this tutorial is a great option if you’re not a whiz at either program.
