One Million Visits! / Jan 4th

Big news here at Picnik World HQ, where on Friday, our crack team of server specialists sat holed up in their Top Secret Server Lair high above the rooftops of downtown Seattle, their thumbs a mere blur on the Official Picnik Tally Counter, as on January 2, for the first time ever, we had one million visits in one day!

Ringing In 2009 / Jan 1st

Happy New Year, Picnikers! Now that it’s about 2pm on the Pacific Coast, most of you should have recovered from last night’s revelries and be ready to start Picniking all those photos you took. Well, let us help make even the tamest soirée look like your own private Times Square (even if Ryan Seacrest couldn’t make it) with our new New Years shapes!

El grupo de Picnikeros de Flickr: ¡Las fiestas alrededor del mundo! / Dec 29th

Rápidamente se llena nuestro mapa del mundo con inscripciones para el concurso del diciembre para los picnikeros. Puedes ganar un año gratis o tres meses gratis por quedar en primero lugar o segundo lugar respectivamente. La fecha límite es el 5 de enero y se nos está acercando rápidamente. ¡Todavía no hay ni una inscripción del mundo hispanohablante! Las tenemos de Norteamérica, de Europa, de Asia y hasta de las Antípodas. ¡Apúranse la península ibérica y el resto de las Américas! Queremos ver dónde celebran las fiestas en este año. El tema es “Las fiestas alrededor del mundo” y queremos ver los monumentos famosos locales con unas decoraciones de las fiestas.


View Larger Map

Animamos a los usuarios a hacer este concurso para saber dónde están todos los usuarios. Crea una cuenta de Flickr, te une al grupo de Picnikeros de Flickr y toma parte en el concurso. ¡Disfruta!

Dreaming of a White Picnik / Dec 24th

Our friends at Flickr have a timely reminder that it’s not too late to send holiday cards this year!

Especially those of you who, like us, are stuck in the snow-bound Pacific Northwest region and haven’t been able to find their cars let alone go downtown for last-minute shopping (even if the roads were open, which they’re not), using Picnik to “holiday-up” your own photographs to send to family and friends (see the Flickr examples above) is quick, easy, guaranteed on time, and requires absolutely zero winter driving skills.

An excellent place to start is in our new Premium collection of Fancy Collages from the talented people at Plain Digital Wrapper. And don’t forget to light a menorah candle and spin a dreidel with our new Hanukkah shapes!

the Picnik kids play in the Seattle snow

And lastly, do Santa a favor in all this wintery weather and help lighten his load with Picnik Premium stocking stuffers for everyone on your list! Just $24.95, it’s the gift that keeps on giving photo editing joy all year long.

Rainy Picniks and Snowy Cities / Dec 22nd

I’d like to apologize to all of our users for the stability problems we’ve had over the past few days.  Picnik has experienced tremendous growth over the past months and we’re starting to see the limits of some of our network gear.

Mike and I have braved the Seattle Snowpocalypse, trudging across Capitol Hill and Madrona to be in the office today to work on resolving the issues. We’re hoping to unclog those pipes very soon. Stay tuned…

Update: We’re back at 100%. Many thanks for your patience!

Clone Tool: Out of the Sheep Paddock and Into Your Browser / Dec 19th

Behold below the latest Power of Picnik! With our new Clone tool, now you have an almost god-like (or mob-like) ability to make things disappear! It can also be used to multiply what is already there, for instance the army of Batmans storming Hadrian’s Wall in the photograph below.

Currently Premium only, Clone tool is found in the Advanced section of the Create tab.

Featured Picniker - Stacy Leson / Dec 12th

Vancouver-area high school student Stacy Leson is our tenth Featured Picniker. Currently in grade 10, her Facebook albums are full of swim meets, frisbee games, and IHOP. Mostly swim meets, though, and lots of medal shots of her on top of podiums. Another Picniker carrying on the tradition of living in way more interesting places than most of us will ever visit, she was born in Calgary, Alberta, and has lived in Texas and Indonesia.

She tells us that she’s looking forward to taking a photography elective next semester, which means that she’s this good a photographer without ever taking a class. Indeed, her Flickr stream dates only as far back as September, yet still manages to reveal a wonderful eye for composition and color, and her use of Picnik has left the Picnik offices in consensus that she’s way deep for her age.

Read the rest of this entry »

Picnik Gifty Goodness / Dec 11th

Picnik’s gift generator has gotten a massage to make it even easier to give your favorite someone the gift of Premium awesomeness for a whole year! Perfect for everyone on your list, click here and you’re guaranteed to have your gift code before Christmas! In fact, you’re guaranteed to have your gift code before you can say “Well that was easy!” Either email the happy news to your happy recipient, or print out a custom card for a little extra physicality.

Picnik Gift Card Super Cool Folding Instructions

For just $24.95, the gift of photo-editing awesomeness to your friends, family, teachers, in-laws, and secret crush gives them access to all of Picnik Premium’s features and content for a whole year. Not to mention, it’s light on packing materials!

Flickr Picnikers Group: Holidays Around the World! / Dec 2nd

Brenda, our Community Liaison in Charge of Flickr Operations and Antipodean Branch Office Manager, has announced the December Flickr Picnikers Contest topic: Holidays Around the World! This month is special because, as she says, the photos need to be of “recognizable or unique landmarks in your part of the world,” but with a Christmas twist! We want to see where you’ll be celebrating the holidays this year, either in reality or in spirit.

Plus, follow the instructions, and your photo will be featured on the map Brenda put together, and on the one below! As always, the winner will receive a whole free year Picnik Premium, and the two runners up free 3-month subscriptions of Picnik Premium.


View Larger Map

We want to encourage all our users to take part in this contest to really get a sense of where everyone is. So we’d like to encourage all our users who haven’t yet to create a Flickr account, join the Flickr Picnikers group, and take part in the contest!

Also, we’d like to congratulate the winners of last month’s contest, “Picnik Yourself”, with a two way tie for first place:

Goldscale’s “i live for that look” konabluee’s “Watch the World Go By”


And in 2nd and 3rd place:

Day 23 DSC05397
nahomie123’s “Day 23″ jennwyers’ “DSC05397″

‘Tis the Season for Fancy Collages / Nov 30th

That’s right, people. It’s greeting card season.

If your fingers are cowering in your pockets for fear of paper cuts, cramping, and ink poisoning, then it’s time to coax them out! This year holiday cards no longer require stacks of envelopes, semi-current address books, or a bucket of stamps…

Fancy Collages to the rescue!

Fancy Collages to the rescue!

Spare your fingers, save yourself the cash, and earn your Earth-friendly merit badge this holiday season. Go green with Picnik and send your holiday greeting cards digitally! It’s the easiest way to say you’ve gone green without ruining your bumper.

Check out the customizable designs in the Start menu under the Library tab. Enjoy!