How to Make Playing Cards With Grandma's Pictures

Create your own deck of cards on your computer.

When your memories of growing up include afternoons of Go-Fish with grandma, reminisce about those days gone by with a deck of playing cards made with grandma’s pictures. Make the playing cards using scanned copies of the pictures so you don’t ruin the originals tucked away in a photo album. Sturdy card stock, a computer, a printer and sticky tape are all that accompany the pictures to make these personalized playing cards.

Things You'll Need

• Scanner
• Computer
• Straight edge paper cutter or sharp scissors
• Word processing software
• Color printer
• Cardstock
• Double-sided tape

Instructions

1. Select the pictures you intend to use to make the special playing cards. Scan the pictures into your computer. Some printers are scanners and printers all in one.

2. Open the scanned pictures to display them on your computer. Size them down to fit on a 3-by-2-inch card.

3. Cut the pictures using a straight-line cutter or a pair of sharp scissors.

4. Create 3-by-2-inch labels using your word processing software on the computer. Type a number into the center of each label. Number the labels two through 10. You need to make four labels for each number. Use a different color for each number and each consecutive number. For example, you need four yellow numbers two through 10, four blue numbers two through 10. Create four labels with a large “Q”, “K”, “J” and “A”. Again, make each letter in a different color to correspond with the numbers.

5. Print the labels on cardstock using colored ink.

6. Cut out the labels using the straight edge paper cutter or scissors.

7. Place the pieces of cardstock with the numbers or letters facing down on a flat surface. Apply double-sided tape to the cards with one thin piece along each edge.

8. Press the backs of the pictures onto the sticky tape. Smooth the pictures with your fingertips so there are no air bubbles or lines.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don’t have access to a scanner, you can make copies of the pictures and cut them down to fit small pieces of cardstock.

• You can always write the card numbers and draw the symbols yourself. Smooth stickers work well, too.

• Use a glue stick if you don’t have double-sided tape on hand.

• While not really needed, you can make jokers for the deck of cards if you desire.