Aviary Blog

@Avigeee proclaimed on Twitter her amazing invitations and crafty cards she created using Aviary.



Here is her incredibly cool wedding invitation:


And her one-of-a-kind procession card:


She got both the invitation and procession card printed at Publicide Website, where you can check out her work as well as some of the other letterpress and offset printing jobs they’ve done.

Have you used Aviary for invitations? Send us an invite to your next party!]]>

Apple’s latest device, I thought it would be great promotion if we held a draw for a free iPad!
Did I say draw for a free iPad? I meant we should draw an iPad for free.

In Aviary’s latest tutorial, I’ll be showing you how to create an iPad illustration in Aviary’s free online Vector Editor.



Click to read the full tutorial

Try it out yourself! A free iPad illustration tutorial that anyone can try on almost any system that supports Flash. (Sorry iPad owners.)]]>

emails that Aviary user CureThriftShop is creating using Aviary tools.



According to Bianca Caampued, who runs PR & marketing for the Cure Thrift Shop, “Cure Thrift Shop started using Aviary because while other email templates were confusing, Aviary was easy to figure out. We are planning to do a lot of editorial type layouts and emails like this for our site CureThriftShop.com.”

We are really excited to see what else they create!

This is exactly the kind of stuff we love to hear about Aviary! So what are you using Aviary for?]]>

Leslie Hamer created some awesome banners for her shop using Aviary’s image editor. Excerpted from her blog with permission:

Customize any of these Etsy banners with your shop name and info quickly and easily using Aviary in four simple steps:

1. Click the “Customize this banner”; link under the banner you liked to launch Aviary.


2. Select the text you wanted to edit in its layer on the right, and use the text tool (the letter A icon in the left hand toolbar) to type your new text. You can also edit fonts and change the text colors if you please.

3. Select ‘File < Export Image’ and follow the steps to save the image to your desktop.

4. Then, on Etsy go to “Your Etsy” and then “Appearance.” Upload your newly created banner for all the world to see!

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Customize this banner

Want to make your own etsy banner using Aviary? Follow this handy tutorial.

]]>

Twitter.

Edit: As of late last night, our bandwidth provider informed us that things should be back to normal!]]>

But hold the phones! This isn’t just any old e-card! That’s right, you can send personalized e-cards using Aviary’s suite of image editing tools!

Here is a collection of free e-card templates for you to use and send to all your lovers this Valentine’s Day.
To send one, select any of the following cards, then click the “Send to Friends” link found on the right hand side of the page to send it to your lover! (Separate email addresses with commas to send to multiple lovers.)

“I picked you” by meowza on Aviary

”Tweet Nothingness” by meowza on Aviary

”Zombie Love” by meowza on Aviary

You can also use select the “Open in Image Editor” link to edit the card to your heart’s content.
To add your own text to the card, simply disable the Text layer and type in your own custom message using the Text Tool.



Or, select the File > Import File function to import your own photographs into the templates for maximum personalizing fun!

”His heart” by meowza on Aviary

”Her heart” by meowza on Aviary



Here are some more free templates for you to use, generously provided by Aviary user, jeffdoute.
“Will you be mine ecard” by jeffdoute on Aviary
”Valentine Hearts” by jeffdoute on Aviary

Or make your own from scratch using any of Aviary’s free online tools!

Go on, show that special someone that they’re not too bad this Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines!]]>

As of today, we have decided to make using Aviary’s suite of editing tools FREE for everyone.

At Aviary, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to powerful creation tools. We therefore chose our company mission to be We make creation accessible to everyone. Our powerful set of tools helps fulfill this mission by enabling small businesses, students, artists & creators across different genres.

As a business, we did need to bring in revenues to cover our costs and development and to accomplish this we created a tiered pricing plan for certain types of uses. Although this was financially successful for us, the side effect of this was that our tools and their features (in their full capacity), were not truly accessible to everyone.

We have long felt that to better serve our core mission our complete feature set needed to be in the hands of everyone – not just those who could afford it. Fortunately, our recent round of funding (by Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions & others) enables us to finally achieve this goal as we shift revenues opportunities to other exciting areas that don’t limit individuals in any way. We are excited at the opportunity to stay true to our mission. Not many companies are so fortunate.

What does that mean exactly? Now everyone can:

* Save private files on Aviary.
* Add your own automatic watermark or go watermark-free.
* Access all tutorials.

Existing subscribers who signed up in the last 30 days can request refunds. [refund@aviary.com] For all other past Blue plan members, we will cancel all future recurring payments directly. You will remain on indefinitely as our legacy Blue Supporters (recognized by the blue badges wherever they appear on Aviary’s site) and you will continue to gain first access to all alpha products we release (rumor has it that a new one is floating around). And of course, we can’t thank you enough for supporting Aviary’s growth and development. That means the world to us.

Thanks for your continued support and we looking forward to seeing what you create.

What you waiting for? Go create something AWESOME !]]>

our flock to include a couple of new faces and one face that’s very familiar to Aviary users.

In order of addition, welcome to Mike Peutz (mpeutz), Ana Rosansky (ana) and Ralph Hauwert.

Mike Peutz, otherwise known as mpeutz in our forums was easily Aviary’s most prolific user. We like to think of him as Aviary’s Mozart. He showed us ways to use Aviary’s tools that even we didn’t think were possible. Check out some of the top creations by Mike, to get a sense for his complete mastery of Aviary. So when it was time to bring on someone who could help round out Aviary’s user experience from an application detail perspective we knew that Mike was the only real choice we had.

Ana Rosansky, (Ana in Aviary), joins us from IAC where she worked on CollegeHumor (internally, one of our favorite sites to waste productive time on) and other IAC properties doing market analytics and user experience. Most recently she worked with Vogue on their digital marketing strategy. She will direct Aviary’s marketing strategy going forwards and work on crafting a site that is easier to use and navigate for everyone. Additionally, she will help unite the Worth1000 and Aviary brands more closely.

Lastly, Aviary’s success has always been about the depth of its engineering team. Today we are excited to announce another All Star to our roster: Ralph Hauwert, one of the first members of Papervision3D, a frequent speaker at top Flash conferences and frankly, one of the most respected names in the Flash space will be joining us to lead development on some of our top-secret initiatives. His work (several awesome demos of which are viewable on his web site) is enormous and in great demand. We are absolutely thrilled to have him join the Aviary flock.

We will be profiling these new members of the Aviary flock in individual blog posts shortly. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming them to the Aviary team!]]>

Magnetic Poetry kits? You know, those novelty products featuring words adhered to magnetic tiles which you can arrange to form lines of prose on your fridge?

If you don’t, today I present to you a template from which you can create these fascinating refrigerator poems in Aviary!

And if you do remember them, today I present to you a template from which you can create these fascinating refrigerator poems in Aviary!



To begin, launch the Refrigerator Magnet template.

The application is very simple to use. When you launch the template, you’ll be presented with a graphic of a refrigerator, with a series of words surrounding it.



To compose your poem, simply click then drag your desired words onto the fridge.



Then, it’s just a matter of arranging your chosen words on the canvas to create your very own poem!
Simple, isn’t it?

Sometimes, the challenge of making a creation comes in the form of limitations you’re presented with in a particular setting. In this challenge, the goal is to make your own lines of prose, poetry, one-liners, philosophical meanderings, using only the words and word fragments presented in the application.

What may seem like a simple challenge at first may throw you off down the line, as you find yourself scrambling for words outside of the present inclusions!

When you’re satisfied with your poem, click the “Save As” button in the top right corner and follow the on-screen instructions to save the image to Aviary.
Additionally, you can save a flattened copy of the graphic to your computer by selecting File > Export > Export Bitmap.



Once your poem is saved, you can go to your creation page and select the “Send to Friends” option in the right hand column to send the poem to anyone you desire.



Go on try making some poems yourself, using Aviary’s Refrigerator Magnetic Poetry generator! And you won’t even need to get up to go to the fridge… unless you want a Coke.
Next blog post, Brewing Homemade Cola in Aviary. I may need to sleep on this one.

Here are a few examples:
Old Man Poem.egg by meowza on Aviary
Abe.egg by meowza on Aviary

Try making some of your own!
You can post them as comments here, or participate in the forum thread.
I’ll include my favorites in this blog post.]]>

In this example, I’m going to show how to create and place your own personalized image on a coffee mug that you can order online.
Personalized products always make great gifts for friends or loved ones or friends that you love.

What better way to say “I care” than with a gift of a personalized… “mug”!


There are a number of online shops that allow you to order custom products. For my example, I’ll be using Zazzle.

To begin, open Raven, Aviary’s Online Vector Editor.



Using Raven’s powerful vector drawing tools, you can create fully scalable art, suitable for printing on various products.



New to Raven? Here’s a tutorial on the basic functions of Raven to help you get started creating vector art. Or, check out the Raven Documentation for further information on the application.

When you’re satisfied with the image, you will need to download the image to your computer.
To do so, Select Export > Export Bitmap from the Menu, select your file extension from the pop-up (I would recommend the PNG format for the least destructive compression), then select “Generate Image” to download the image to your computer.



Once your image is downloaded, launch Zazzle’s custom mug creator.

Select “Add Image” and add the Raven creation you had previously saved to your computer.



Then it’s all a matter of moving, resizing and positioning the graphic where you want it oriented on the mug.



When you’re satisfied with the graphic and orientation, go on and purchase the product, park your seat in front of the mailbox, and wait for your very own personalized mug to arrive!



Additionally, you can even post your mug for sale in Zazzle’s marketplace to earn yourself some serious money for every sale you generate from your design!

To open and explore the vector file used in my example, click the image below to launch the design in Raven, Aviary’s online vector editor.

Octodrink.egg by meowza on Aviary]]>