HI! Jess here! SURPRISE! Because I totally have Ash tied up in a closet and have commandeered this week’s Just The Tip. KIDDING. We all know Ash could kick my ass around the block and back. But I’m here because I happen to know more about today’s Just The Tip than she, ahem, does, and I’m pleased as peaches to be here. (And this is where I’d curtsy if I were that sort of gal.)

BUT BACK TO BUSINESS.

Unless you’re blind as a bat, (assuming the bat is incredibly blind), and cut off from all social media, you’ve seen waves of those cutesy little shareables floating around, flowing through your Facebook stream and spreading like the wildest of fires on Pinterest. (They’re so popular that they even got us to say the word shareables.)

Heck, we even do it over on the TMF Facebook page. It’s a great way to highlight your message, and if you can make them look legit? It can turn a passable quote into a show stopping stunner–without even having to flash anyone.

And in case you haven’t noticed, I am not a graphic designer. I’m a writer. And also Batman a lover of all things cheese, but that’s beside the point. The bottom line is that it’s just not always feasible for us to bang on the door of our outstanding design pro and have her craft up quotes for us that we randomly think of in the middle of the night. (She’s a very busy woman, and also we’d have to fly across the country to actually bang on her physical door in the middle of the night.) But nevertheless, we still need ’em to turn out bright, bold, and in-your-face-fantastic.

So for our words of wisdom, I always head straight to PicMonkey, a pretty powerful, (and super user friendly) web-based photo editor that’s free for the basics with a few frills thrown in, and only $33 a year for the entire kit and caboodle, complete with fancypants effects and tons of options.

Is it better than Photoshop? Well…uh…no. Obviously. Photoshop is like the Grand Daddy of wow-dom, and this is like…the Grand Daddy’s really adorable and well-trained Yorkshire Terrier, complete with pink satin bow and a need for dog treats. And while PicMonkey doesn’t come equipped with all the bells, whistles, grenades, and confetti cannons of Photoshop, it’s great if you have no idea what you’re doing and only have a few basic needs, like shareables, because it’s really user-friendly, and a ton of fun to play in. (<—A literal ton of fun. An entire ton of enjoyment. That’s 2,000 POUNDS of entertainment, y’all, because science.)

Quick side note: If you need to learn how to DIY your website & hack your way to professional looking graphics, and not just some cute sharables, you’ll want to stick with Photoshop, so pop on over and check out Brandgasm 101, complete with Photoshop how-to’s for your website and some copy lessons, too.)

And so, in the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to show you just how much damage I could do when I was hopped up on NyQuil, (because it’s more like Cough-tober, am I right?!) and had an hour to spare. A single hour, you guys. That’s how simple PicMonkey is to use.

BEHOLD.

The TMFproject Team of Terror

*Cue maniacal laughter.*

See? It’s an absolute hoot and a half.

So put on your blue suede shoes, (assuming you’re channeling Elvis), go play in PicMonkey, and have the best Halloween. (<—That’s an order.)

But a quick rule of thumb–

If you find yourself wanting to do something that a scantily-glad girl would do in a horror movie? JUST SAY NO.