10 qualities of human beings
Thankful Thursdays

10 Things About Being Human that you are Thankful for | #ThankfulThursdays week10

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

“Life itself is a teacher, and you are in a constant state of learning” – Bruce Lee.

Life is something to be thankful of, isn’t it? Given the situation of the world today sometimes I think I should be thankful I was allowed to get born or be thankful my country is not getting bombed and I’m not in the constant fear of losing my life from an air-strike!

Life is to be cherished in whatever way you can.

Let’s celebrate life and give you our #ThankfulThursdays prompt for the week

Thankful human qualities to be thankful of

The journey from being an ape to human has been long. It’s equally a long journey from being homo sapiens to being human!

There’s so much out there that shape you up to be a human. Today at 31 I am a little wiser to introspect and write about life. So what actually makes us human beings? Two legs? Two eyes? Larger brains than most animals? A heart? The intellect? What exactly? Actually there isn’t a single point. Do people remember you for the job you did or how much money you had in your account? Probably you will be remembered more for your humane side.

So what  are the 10 things about being human that makes you thankful?

1.Love

A soul without love – love for family, love for friends, love for people or animals – is as cold as ice. How does one survive without love? Love, not necessarily for the opposite sex, is essential – love what you do, love yourself.

“Love recognizes no barriers, Love jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination – Full of Hope” – Maya Angelou

2. Courage

If humans didn’t have courage they wouldn’t have evolved into humans, in the first place. Without courage you can’t create anything. Without courage I won’t be where I am today,

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” ~ Maya Angelou

3. Compassion

I practice this from the heart. It’s our sense of compassion that makes us human. We’ll all dissolve into the soil one day, why not have compassion when you are alive and still have the power to show compassion towards others?

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

4. Faith

Having faith in the super power is a choice for many. But having faith in yourself, in your abilities is your true power. I have promised myself I’ll never lose faith in myself, nor will i let anyone take it away from me.

“Your faith in yourself is all you will ever have.Don’t let anyone take it away from you, ever.” – Holly Marie Combs

5. Imagination

We won’t be where we are if humans missed this virtue. Neither could we have the computer nor the internet. If it was not imagination, there won’t be my series of fictions or the design works that I do.

“The power of imagination created the illusion that my vision went much farther than the naked eye could actually see.” – Nelson Mandela

6. Gratitude

The attitude of gratitude is the best attitude to have in life. I live in gratitude. It is a good habit to have.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving,turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings” – William Arthur Ward

7. Responsibility

Accept responsibility for your actions. Be accountable for your results. I learnt that very early while doing several projects and internships. I am never afraid or shy to take responsibility of my actions. And if I do a mistake I take ownership of that. It’s only through mistakes that we learn in life.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today” – Abraham Lincoln.

8. Honesty and Integrity

Honesty is holier – everyone knows that – but to me the most important thing is to be honest to myself. The day I start lying to myself, I’ll lose my self esteem.

“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”—Warren Buffet

9. Being Creative

There are two ways of doing something – the way you know, or doing something you dont know in a way no one knows! It’s not just my profession which calls for being creative in paper and thought but it’s also a state of mind for  me.

“Creativity is just connecting things. … Creative people … [are] able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”—Steve Jobs

10. Urge to Learn

The day one thinks ‘I know everything’, is the day you will cease to exist. I am constantly in the learning mode. I learn from everyone around even from my 1 year old – how not to sit even for a minute!

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”—Albert Einstein

So what do you think are your reasons to be thankful for?

Week 9 Winner

#ThankfulThrsday Week 9 winner is Manisha Garg from Zara Hatke Blog. Congratulations Manisha. Manisha of zarahatkeblog.wordpress.com

Read her winning post here

So if you are practicing Thankfulness then join the bloghop #ThankfulThursdays with Tina and Amrita every Thursday.

How to Participate in #ThankfulThursdays?

  1. Follow @twinklingtina and @misra_amrita on Twitter
  2. Prompts will be announced every Wed 20:00 hrs IST
  3. Write the post and Link Up with Tina or Amrita
  4. Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party Pro Tip – Networking and commenting is good for your blog’s health and ranks.
  5. Use #ThankfulThursdays in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
  6. Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit

Grab the Badge

 

Tina Basu

So wait no more. Be Thankful, Write a Post, Link Up Here. We’ll visit everyone

 

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Fiction & Writing#FridayFotoFiction100 Word Fiction

Flash Fiction – #FridayFotoFiction Week 7

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

Last few weeks I have been MIA – not by plan though. I had thought I would be able to post, but you have loads of people in your family and social circle you can hardly do anything else! So after a teeny tiny year end break Tina and Mayuri are back with her another week of exciting #FridayFotoFiction

Did you forget it already? Here’s a quick recap.

  1. We give you a photo prompt
  2. You write a 100 Word Fiction on it
  3. Link your post with us in the linky

Week 7 #FridayFotoFiction Prompt

Keys to your own home

Image Credit – WDnet Studio

The Keys – #FridayFotoFiction week 7

He had asked for money for his little house in the city.

He had said I would stay with him.

I didn’t think twice before selling off my little patch of paddy.
I have sat on the bench in the park, I have spent days in the rain, I have even gone hungry – he didn’t come once.
This world doesn’t even pity a homeless man.
I was waiting for my end under the bridge when the wise man came dangling these.
A little something for you – home for the homeless.
He must have been a God – he gave me a home!

 

How to participate in #FridayFotoFiction

  1. Every Friday we’ll give you a photo prompt
  2. Follow @twinklingtina & @Mayuri6 on twitter and wait for the prompt
  3. Write a 100 Word story on the photo prompt
  4. Use the badge at the end of your posts
  5. Link up with Tina or Mayuri
  6. Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party Pro Tip – Networking and commenting is good for your blog’s health and ranks.
  7. Use #FridayFotoFiction in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
  8. Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit

Grab the Badge

Tina Basu

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Thankful ThursdaysLife, Musing & Anecdotes

10 Reasons I Am Thankful For Being a Blogger | #ThankfulThursdays Week 9

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

Hello hello, Happy New Year people. May this year be better than the previous and you rise and shine more than you have expected. I am finally back after a long vacation at my hometown. In case you have forgotten completely about me I am that twinkling blogger who writes a lot of stuff and hosts some link parties. Amrita has been telling me people are wondering why I am AWOL – I love this abbreviation now after she told me – Absence Without Official Leave! Is it okay to vanish from the scene sometimes? I guess it’s fine sometimes! AM (that’s what I call her) saved my back because she posted all the #ThankfulThursday posts while I was holidaying (visiting restaurants mostly). AM was on a vacation too for a while but still she managed all the posts – and I was a lazy sloth!

No let me re-frame that – I was being un-social on social media and socializing face to face, for a change! Yeah this way it sounds better I guess.

Okay enough of it.

Here’s #ThankfulThursdays Week 9 prompt

10-reasons-i-am-thankful-for-being-a-blogger-thankfulthursdays

This is such an apt prompt actually for everyone who enjoys blogging – or for the ones – like me- who has taken up blogging seriously and full time! I have told you this earlier that I have been blogging in different blogs since college – so that makes it almost 10 years now (that’s a lot of time actually) but I am doing some serious blogging since a year I guess. But I have always loved what I have done. There are tons of reasons why I am happy that I was introduced to the world of blogging.

For the Love of Writing

While I was in school I loved writing – creative writing, essay writing, poetry almost everything. I was a regular contributor at the school magazine, I had written for the Rotary club magazines and some more. But then while I was doing my graduation I almost didn’t write anything. [You know where you priorities lie when you are in a college for the first time!!]. It was weird that I had stopped writing. While doing my post grads I thought let’s make a blog and that first blog was an online diary of sorts and sometimes I used to write poetry.

Then in 2011 I launched The Sunny Side of Life – my writing blog on Blogger, with the intention to write more on social topics, on travel, food, culture – almost everything under the sun that I liked doing!

For the Love of being Published

I was writing fiction regularly at The Sunny Side of Life – which has been renamed and revamped to this current version. All those short fictions, micro fictions and poetry led me to become a published author! How freaking nice is that? I went on to write a short story on social drama for the Blank Space Anthology, a romance fiction for A Little Chorus of love and the Sci-Fi – The Awakening for Six Degrees which I co-authored with my team.

For the Love of Reading

Not just reading books, I enjoy reading various blogs and sites. I love reading food stories, Lifestyle blogs, beauty blogs, life hacks, social and political satire – if I wasn’t a blogger myself I would have probably not read as many blogs I read now.

For the Love of Socializing

These days we socialize differently – you can have 500 followers on twitter but may not have 5 close friends in your life. I take this Social Media Socializing very differently – I like to meet and know people, I like observing people. I like talking. I am forever present on FB and twitter chats. If not for blogging I would have been a Twitter user with no interaction with anyone!

social media socializing

For the Love for Friends

I have made friends – like real good friends because we started writing and interacting together. The Game of Blogs introduced me to group blogging which I guess was a fab idea. I made great friends there. And have found great friends in my girl gang too. Love to all.

For the Love of Working

Blogging for me recreational – doing freelance writing and working with brands is WORK. When I decided to quit my 7 year long career I was sure of one – I can’t become a person who doesn’t work. Blogging is serious business for me and I like that.

For the Love of WFH

I am a mom and I don’t go to an office – does that make me a SAHM? When you come across these mom blogs and mom groups these two abbreviations SAHM and WM are the most common ones. I cannot be someone who is a Stay At Home Mom looking just after the baby or doing household chores! Not me at all. I love the fact that I can Work From Home, write posts, design stuffs and get things credited in my account!

I write mostly at nights after Bluey has slept – peace for him, peace for me.

For the Love of Interacting

I used to visit these Bloggers Meets often. I loved the interaction between bloggers. You find all sorts of bloggers in these meets – the star bloggers, the wannabe bloggers, the serious bloggers, the bloggers like – you-are-too-small-for-me bloggers – it’s nice to see the dynamics of bloggers.

For the love of Knowledge

Some people like sharing the knowledge and some like hiding or guarding theirs. I am the old school one in this regard – unless I am sharing (whatever I know) I might even know if things have moved on from there. What is the harm in sharing knowledge (unless you know how to make a Nuke!)

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Finally For Being the Wise Me

Life and experiences have made me wiser than what I was. This is a learning process. All of the points mentioned above have contributed in some way or the other in making the person that I am now. If I can boast of something – like a wise thing I do – I can keep my cool in many adverse situation. That my friend is a life skill too!

I am not writing on the featured blogger section for this post because frankly, I have not read any posts in the last few weeks. But I am going to behave and get back into my blogging shoes this year.

So if you are practicing Thankfulness then join the bloghop #ThankfulThursdays with Tina and Amrita every Thursday.

How to Participate in #ThankfulThursdays?

  1. Follow @twinklingtina and @misra_amrita on Twitter
  2. Prompts will be announced every Wed 20:00 hrs IST
  3. Write the post and Link Up with Tina or Amrita
  4. Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party Pro Tip – Networking and commenting is good for your blog’s health and ranks.
  5. Use #ThankfulThursdays in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
  6. Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit

Grab the Badge

Tina Basu

So wait no more. Be Thankful, Write a Post, Link Up Here. We’ll visit everyone

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Thankful Thursdays

Thank You Technology – #ThankfulThursdays Week 5

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

Hello there, it’s a beautiful Thursday again and we have already stepped into December. I sometimes wonder how the 11 months passed away so soon! We celebrated last December Holidays with my five month old in Kolkata with family and now suddenly its December again and my bub is 16 months old already!! Time is flying in supersonic speed.

But I am thankful that time passes by fast, just imagine if it was the other way round. You are waiting for a month to get over! No I can’t be that, never! That reminds me to dive into gratitude. Did you know, Gratitude is Attitude? Gratitude in a way develops our personality. When you live with gratitude – you become more optimistic, less materialistic, more spiritual – which in a way makes you a happier being. Give that a thought – isn’t that right?

Showing gratitude or being thankful for little things is the first step of thanking the creators and realizing the importance of these things in your life. That brings us to the prompt for Week 5 of #ThankfulThursdays.

Here’s the Prompt for this Week

thankful thursdays week 5 prompt

Sometimes I wonder how people managed their work in the 50s or 60s!! I am all for making life simpler and allotting work to machines. I am hugely dependent on gadgets for home, for work, for almost anything I do. I have no idea how I will survive if there’s a day without any electricity or back up! And that starts with the lift. I stay on the 12th floor and the day I have to climb up all those flights of stairs will be a nightmare! So which are the 3 most important gadgetsfor me?

The Constant Buddy – My Phone

Can I survive a day without my phone? I don’t think I can. And I am not talking about checking facebook on Phone! I think I can survive without Social Media for a few days and take a break but can I seriously stay sane without my iPhone? No I can’t. Simple.

Remember when you actually knew your friends’ phone numbers?

When I was in school I remembered my best friend’s number by heart, most of my family members phone numbers were also etched in my mind. But now, I can barely remember my own number. Just thinking about – what if I lost my phone – gives me an anxiety attack. I am sure it’s same with many of you as well.

iPhone, thankful thursdays

It’s not just phone numbers or talking / texting people most of my blog reading, commenting, ebook reading, learning, research happens on my phone. I feel handicapped when the phone runs out of charge and I have to charge it for some time to fire it up!

All photos for my food blog are clicked on the iPhone. So you can imagine what would be my situation without it.

The phone has been a constant friend during the recent demonetization frenzy in the country. From recharging mobile wallets to paying for cabs it has all been done through the phone.

Life Saviour – The Washing Machine

While I was studying and staying in the PG the hardest time was not cooking for myself – it was in fact washing clothes! Anyone who asked me what you do over the weekends would have invariably heard me answering – Doing Laundry!

laundry washing machine thankful thursdays

There was a semi- automatic washing machine in the PG. But then when multiple people are using it you either don’t get your chance to use it over the weekend or get an empty clothes line! Some even woke up early in the morning at 5 or 6 so that they could finish their laundry and hang their clothes! Imagine waking up at 5 on a Saturday do wash your clothes!

The first thing I did when I moved in an apartment was buying an automatic washing machine to deal with all the soaking, washing and drying stuff. I completely hate this kind of useless chores. I even secretly hate putting the clothes on the line for drying after the dryer has done its stuff or even ironing clothes for that matter.

If I had to do all that work manually, I’ll probably get new clothes!

Best Friend in the Kitchen – The Oven

Being an ardent foodie and a baking junkie I have known one thing – unless you get your hands on a good oven you can’t enjoy the goodies. When I got married we had moved into a fully furnished rented apartment – one that came with all appliances and fittings (even the spoons and forks were there). That kitchen had a basic microwave but no oven. The kitchen was compact too without a space for an extra oven. In a few months, however, that microwave was fried and the owner didn’t want to replace it. I felt lucky that day. I went ahead and bought the latest microwave with convection. It was a new launch by Samsung – The Talking Microwave. The only reason to buy that was the convection and grill mode.

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I am not comfortable with a kitchen that doesn’t have a decent oven. I like baking my cakes, muffins, bread rolls, pies, pizzas and everything. Baking is like an everyday activity for me. My Convection Microwave is my best friend in the kitchen and I can’t think of not having it up and running.

 if I had the space and means i would actually build a fire-wood oven! Nothing can beat the rustic taste and aroma of real fire wood oven!

love-quote

Now that’s a quote for all the gadgets that I am dependent on. The kind of maid problems I face, I have a wish to get a robot to do these useless household chores! Let’s see if that can be possible sometime in the future.

Week 4 Winner

Last week we had a Thanksgiving Prompt and saw wonderful entries. Since I am travelling and was having very bad connectivity I asked Amrita to pick the winner and she picked up the very talented Preethi as our Week 4 Featured blogger. I am elated with that. She is such a wonderful positive being always there to help you.

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preethi-indian-author

If you didn’t know Preethi already let me tell you she is the author of an Amazon Bestseller Without You. You can read the review here. This Civil Engineer turned Language Geek did her MA in literature after having worked as a civil engineer in Dubai. That’s the love for the language. She has been published in various anthologies. She stays in Bangalore with husband and a lovely son.

Read her winning post here.

How to Participate in #ThankfulThursdays?

  1. Follow @twinklingtina and @misra_amrita on Twitter
  2. Prompts will be announced every Wed 20:00 hrs IST
  3. Write the post and Link Up with Tina or Amrita
  4. Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party Pro Tip – Networking and commenting is good for your blog’s health and ranks.
  5. Use #ThankfulThursdays in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
  6. Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit

Grab the Badge

 

Tina Basu

So wait no more. Be Thankful, Write a Post, Link Up Here. We’ll visit everyone

 

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Fiction & Writing#FridayFotoFiction100 Word Fiction

The Battle – Flash Fiction #FridayFotoFiction Week 5 

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

My 1 year old has started a new antic – the moment I sit with the laptop he insists on closing it down. He doesn’t even stop at that he goes to the spyke buster and turns it off!! Someone tell me a kid of that age can’t do all that!

Anyways welcome to another week of writing some awesome fiction. Last week I shared 5 Tips on writing Flash Fiction. I hope you enjoyed that.

Have you ever thought of fiction as something therapeutic?

You can always wander and get lost in the world of fiction when things aren’t going great in real life. I do that sometimes to divert mind. I do not like screaming at people or venting out my anger on anyone (I burst out very rarely). And when I am in this kind of a mood I pick up a feel-good story to completely divert my mind. I guess that is a fairly good trick. That brings me to this weeks prompt

Week 5 #FridayFotoFiction Prompt

friday-foto-fiction-week-5-prompt-photo-prompt

Image Credit – Saumy Nagayach

The Battle – #FridayFotoFiction

Ryan Ryan Ryan, chanted the enthusiastic crowd.
The arena was packed and everyone was enjoying the night.
His fans reveled in the reverie and waited for Ryan’s next hit number.
There’s so much noise yet there is an uncanny silence. 
All my life I have wanted this – all the adulation, all the fanfare and all the popularity. 

I don’t hear their screams, nor can I feel their warmth. The lights are on me but I don’t feel anything. 
Today I’m alone under the spotlight. I am nothing without him! I’m alone after having lost my only son’s custody battle.

Word Count – 100

#FridayFotoFiction Week 4 Winner

Last week we had wonderful entries for #FridayFotoFiction and both me and Mayuri came to a unanimous decision of picking up Amrita from Health Wealth Bridge.as our Featured blogger and winner. *Drumrolls*.

qlqc8anu_400x400When she is not writing to help everyone through her blog she is a busy doctor, mom to beautiful Rai and a popular blogger. She definitely is our fave mompreneur.

Here is her winning Post

 

 

 

 

Congratulations Amrita. We’ll DM you about the prize.

How to participate in #FridayFotoFiction

  1. Every Friday we’ll give you a photo prompt
  2. Follow @twinklingtina & @Mayuri6 on twitter and wait for the prompt
  3. Write a 100 Word story on the photo prompt
  4. Use the badge at the end of your posts
  5. Link up with Tina or Mayuri
  6. Read, comment, share on host and co-hosts posts and at least two more posts linked in the party Pro Tip – Networking and commenting is good for your blog’s health and ranks.
  7. Use #FridayFotoFiction in your post and share in social media using the same hashtag.
  8. Every week we will have one featured blogger who is the best reflection of this community spirit

Grab the Badge

 

Tina Basu
So people wait no more. Write a 100 word fiction on the photo prompt and link up here. Happy Writing!

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how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-feat
Blogging Tips & TutorialsSaturday Tutorials

How to Design a Logo for your blog | Contest & Giveaway #SaturdayTutorials

by tinabasu
written by tinabasu

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-feat

Hello people. How is the Saturday morning treating you? This post was originally slated to get published last Saturday but I was down with a flu. For two days I felt like a patient napping through the day and surviving on hot soup, hot chocolates! I didn’t even open my laptop for a few days, but all that napping is making me crabby, so I guess I should be back at what I like to do – create wonderful things.

So what do we have for #SaturdayTutorials this week – *drumrolls *Your Custom Blog Logo – Shapes! Woot Woot.  Are you excited? And there is a tiny contest and giveaway too at the end of the post. So wait for that.

Your blog is your brand, your blog is a part of you – your identity. It is always good to give identity to your blog as someone would give identity to a product. Human mind retains visual cues better and longer than just text. If it is me, I remember what I see more than what I hear or read. It is same for the identity of your blog.

Why do you Need a Logo?

Logo creates your image or brand identity – it represents you

Logo is one of the most powerful marketing tools for your blog – flaunt your logo in all your social media accounts

Logo enables you to claim ownership of your blog – when you and your blog (or service) is popular enough register your logo and get a Trade Mark.

Designing a Logo

There are many ‘logo-maker’ kind of sites out there where you can edit names and get your logo made for free. But none of them would be a custom made one. Which means two or more people can have the same graphic as their logo with may be some different text. Would you want that for your logo? Definitely NO.

Simple colors, simple fonts, simple elements goes a long way. What you need to ask yourself first is how you want your blog to be known? Are you a woman blogger who want the blog to look all girly? Are you a food blogger? Are you a photographer? Do you write only about blogging? Basically what is the niche and what comes to your mind first when you think of your blog?

Twinkling Tina Cooks is my food blog and my logo is not what you will find in a regular food blog. No fork and spoon, no leaves and spices. It rather has cupcakes, candies, chocolates – in short for all things sweet. And in general I post tons of desserts.

twinkling-tina-cooks-logo

Whereas this one is a lifestyle blog and I write about a lot of things – I didn’t want too much complicated imagery nor did I want a regular label. That’s why I got a floral wreath – more on the olive wreath lines. [yeah ok, I crowned myself that!] But this one is more of a blog header and not the Logo. There is a difference between a logo and header and I’ll explain that in next week’s tutorial.

tinabasu

Types of Logo

There are a zillion ways of making a logo – text based logos, typography logos, illustrations, imagery, icons blah blah blah. You can’t understand everything in one day. It is an industry in itself. It is not just a design there’s a lot that goes behind it. And you can’t create everything using the free tools. But keeping all that aside we’ll design something easy yet nice that is perfect for your blog.

There’s going to be a series of tutorials on logo with text, illustrations (though the scope with free tools is very less), cliparts etc. So watch out for the #SaturdayTutorials on Twitter and Instagram.

Logo with Shape

Today I am going to make and share some simple shape logo using Picmonkey to give you an idea what all you can create.

Open a 700 x 700 px canvas. Always work on transparent background while designing logo.

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-1

Click on Overlays and pick up shapes to design your logo.

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-2

Under Overlays you will find loads of options of shapes, ribbons, pins, banners, arrows etc. Choose whatever shape you want for your logo.

Here are some examples that I made with shapes available under Overlays

Tina Says

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-3

I made this simple call out logo Tina Says using a comic bubble and some texts. The best part of these free tools is there are many fonts to choose from and you can try out different things.

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Use the central handle for rotating the elements (text/ shape)

Pro Tip – Choose one dominant color and one subdued color unless you want your logo to look like a rainbow!

Even if you like to play with a lot of colors avoid too many bold colors at one place – it’s like killing the eyes of the other person. Just to show you how color combinations can go wrong here is a n example.

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-7

You might like Blue, red pink, yellow and loads of bright colors. But putting too much in one single logo can go horribly wrong even if they look bright.

The No-Nonsense Round Logo

A simple round logo can be clean yet chic. With subtle hues and clean fonts you can create something pretty like the one below.

the-simple-blog

Pro Tip – Even if you like Script fonts and the fonts that looks like handwriting, calligraphy etc don’t over use them. Mix and match with bold sans serif fonts.

More than Two Overlays

When you start fidgeting with the overlays more you will find these tiny illustrations that are free to use in your artwork. That’s how I made a little tweeting logo.

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Saving a Logo

The main reason to choose Picmonkey over Canva for designing a basic logo is the transparent canvas. This is required when you have to place your logo somewhere – letter head, PPT with different background. You don’t want a white patch behind the logo! Save the logo in .png format.

how-to-design-a-logo-for-your-blog-using-picmonkey-saturday-tutorials-5

What this does is it makes you place the logo on a colored background easily without having to think about how to remove the white from behind.

Something like this.

how-to-design-a-logo

Limitations of Free Tools

While the free tools are good for beginners because they are FREE –obviously and also anyone can use them. You don’t need to know any design skill – well almost. But for someone like me who has spent about seven years in the branding industry it is like using a Nokia 1100 against an iPhone. – okay don’t hate me for that analogy!

The free tools are pretty slow.

Picmonkey has made half the things as Royal which includes a membership. Though it has a 7 day free trial you need to put in your card details and you will be charged after the seven days. So you can’t use all the fonts or all the overlays or effects.

Even in Canva a lot of the shapes and images cost and is not totally free.

Afterthought

As an afterthought I think I am going to do my next series of Logo Designing Tutorials using Photoshop and Illustrator and have some freebies too. Good ideas for now.

Contest & Giveaway

Now that you have learnt how to do a basic shape logo, create something nice and fun using a free tool and show me. I will select the one that I find the most attractive and the winner gets a 12” x 8” Canvas Print (worth INR 576/-) FREE courtesy Canvas Champ. We love everything chic. So why just get a photo printed when you can get a customized photo or your digital art printed on canvas! Excited!

tutorial-contest-and-giveaway-canvas-champ-tina-basu

Giveaway Rules

(1) Follow @canvaschampindia and @tinabasublog on Facebook

(2) Subscribe to my blog

(3) Post a comment on this post ( to confirm you have done 1 and 2)

(4) Post your designs on Twitter or Instagram tagging @twinklingtina & @CanvasChampIn

(5) Add the hashtag #SaturdayTutorials

(6) Contest closes on 30th Nov 2016. Extending the contest and giveaway till December 9 2016.

Will announce the winners Next Saturday. Excited???? Stay Tuned guys

Subscribe Here to get 5 FREE Logo Shapes. Add your text and you are done. They are already in .png format. How cool is that!

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