Express yourself with Holiday Cards
A personally crafted holiday card can be a heartfelt gift, but it isn’t necessary to actually make your card by hand. You can create a quality card with your own computer, as long as you have a printer on a nearby Kinkos.
It takes little time and opens up all possibilities for your design options for the card. When you design a card on the computer, you’re free to use any font and picture you like, as opposed to scramble thru the countless pre-made ones at the store.
Things needed to create your first holiday card
- Computer
- Printer (or Kinkos)
- Paper (preferably heavier card paper)
Setup your graphics application
by starting Microsoft Paint (or the graphics program of your choice, like Adobe Photoshop) and click the “Paint” option at the top left corner. Click the “Print” option on the drop-down menu and select the “Page Setup” option that appears on the right. Set the paper orientation for your card. The “Landscape” orientation option tends to work best, so that when you fold your card, the crease will go widthwise across the paper instead of lengthwise.Click the “Fit to” option on the page setup window and select the document to one page by one page. If you do not scale the pages correctly, your card may print out on several pages instead of just one.
Close the page setup dialog by hitting the “OK” button at the bottom. Click the “Paint” option and select “Properties” from the drop-down list. Click the “Inches” button on the window that appears and set the width and height to 11 inches, 8.5 inches respectively.
Click “OK” on the “Image Properties” window for your changes to take effect. The blank template will change its shape to look like a regular piece of printer paper turned horizontally.
Draw a line
down the center of the blank template using the “Line” option from the “Shapes” section. Keep an eye on the information in the lower-left corner of Paint to ensure you are at the center of the template (the first number should say 5.50). When you print the card and fold it over, this line is where the crease will go.
Copy/Paste Pictures
or drag them into the right side of the blank template or draw your own designs and pictures from scratch using the Microsoft Paint tools. You can use holiday-based images, such as a happy family photo or well-recognized symbols for the holiday (for example, if your card is for Easter, consider putting some eggs on the card). Do not let your pictures cross over the line running down the middle of the card.
Preview Your Card
your work by selecting the “Paint” option and hover move to the “Print” option on the drop-down menu. Select “Print Preview”. A new window will appear, showing you what your card will look like once you print it. If the image meets with your approval, click the “Print…” option at the upper-left of the program screen, or hit cancel to go back and make changes accordingly.
Print Your Holiday/Birthday Card
if you don’t have one already. Check out the Canon PIXMA iP4820 Premium Inkjet Photo Printer. It got stellar reviews and sells at the time of this writing at a 25% discount. Alternatively, you can use the Kinko online print service, save the file onto a USB memory card and run over to the nearest location and have them print it out for you.
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