Neighborhood Clip Art

Picmonkey has become my go-to site for photo editing, blog design, collages, and clip art!  Here's how to make your own neighborhood clip art perfect for stationary, invitations, or any other purpose you can dream up...

1. From the PicMonkey site, click "Edit a photo".  Select any photo to edit.  You can resize it to your liking under the basic edits icon.  To create a blank background, stretch a white overlay across the photo.

2. Begin the first building by layering rectangle and ribbon overlays.

3. Smaller, rectangular overlays make perfect windows.

4. Lowercase l's become window panes.  I used the font Didact Gothic since the l's do not have any flourishes.  If you right click on any overlay or text box, you can easily duplicate it.  Overlays and text boxes will also easily resize and pivot as you drag on the outline around the overlay.

5. Rectangles and triangles can be pieced together to create a fence.  The cute little owl is a "Cutimal" overlay on PicMonkey.

6. A rectangle and triangle together can become a house--just like when you drew them as a kid.  To create a flat roof, a white overlay can be used to cover-up the top part of the triangle.

7. Rectangles can be turned into windows, shutters, a door, and chimney.  Circles, ovals, and rectangles can be used to make trees.

8. Continue adding shapes to make the buildings.  All can be colored, flipped, and changed from the edit box that appears when you click on the overlay.

9. PicMonkey has a great assortment of ready-made flowers and animals that I used to add detail to the neighborhood.

10. Banners and labels can serve as the backdrop for your text.

11. Add a text message.

12. Use your PicMonkey creation as a card to announce a move to a new home, housewarming, party, or other event.  Blog design, stationary, cards...

The sky's the limit!

For tips and tricks on making animal clip art, click here.

Happy clipping and creating!