How to Make Your Own Easter Cards at Home with MS Word

How can I make my own Easter greeting cards? Follow these easy instructions and you can make a customized card with envelope for less than the cost of the stamp to send it!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Microsoft Word software
• Internet access
• Inkjet printer
• Inkjet printer note cards (5-1/2" x 4-1/4", 60 Per Box, Matte White with Envelopes approx. $16 - that's 27 cents per card!)

1. 
    

   Open MS Word (I'm using Microsoft Office Word 2003 for this example). Open a new document and Save it to your hard drive.

2. 
    

   From the File menu, choose Page Setup.

3. 
    

   Set the top margin to .90 and the rest of the margins to .25. Choose Portrait as the Page Orientation.

4. 
    

   From the Insert menu, choose Picture/Clip Art...

5. 
    

   In the Clip Art pane that appears to the right of the document, type "Easter" in the Search box, and make sure that "Search in:" is set to All collections and "Results should be:" is set to Selected media file types/Clip Art. Click on Go, and the Clip Art choices will appear below.

6. 
    

   Scroll through the choices and click on the one you like to insert it onto your document. Close the Clip Art pane by clicking on the "x" in the top right-hand corner.

7. 
    

   Right click on the picture and choose Show Picture Toolbar.

8. 
    

   On the Picture Toolbar, click on the Rotate icon 3 times until the bottom of the picture is facing the left-hand side of the document.

9. 
    

   Right click on the picture and choose Format Picture.

10. 
     

    In the Format Picture dialog box, click on the Size tab and be sure that the Lock aspect ratio and Relative to original picture size are checked. Set the Height to 3.77 (the Width will set automatically). The Rotation should already be set to 90 degrees.

11. 
     

    With the font set to Times New Roman 12, click on the paragraph marker at the lower right-hand corner of the picture. Return until there are 9* paragraph markers showing beneath the picture. (*see Warnings)

12. 
     

    Right click on the picture and choose Copy.

13. 
     

    Scroll down and place your cursor on the last paragraph marker. Right click on the picture and choose Paste.

14. 
     

    This will place a second identical picture on your document and allow you to print two cards at one time. Your document should now look like this sample.

15. 
     

    Place your note card paper in your inkjet printer, choose the best quality settings, and print. You can now separate the two cards on the perforated line and fold your cards. Write a personal note inside and your are ready to send it!

Tips & Warnings

• This activity looks complicated but is really very quick and easy. It's a great thing to do with your kids, then they have their own Easter cards to mail.
• The picture chosen on this sample required 9 paragraph markers...you may need to adjust this to be a greater or lesser number in order to center the second picture on your note card.

[ruth0046]

on 4/7/2009 Excellent article with all the steps written out very clearly. 5*

[drjen]

on 4/4/2009 great step-by-step tips on making an easter card -- 5*

[ho1969]

on 4/3/2009 Thanks for the timely and well written article on How to Make Your Own Easter Cards at Home with MS Word. I have a wonderful photo my daughter took last year and I was thinking what a great card it would make and now I know how.

[docjenny]

on 3/24/2009 Wow, what incredible detail in this article! 5*!!