How to Create Your Own Greeting Cards With Pictures For Free
Make your own greeting cards with free pictures, for a stylish, professional look. You can find the visual that seems tailor made for your message. Original, custom-made cards are very special, and yet you can make them for free. The secret is simplicity: One or two pictures, one theme, one verse and a clean design.
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Things You'll Need
- Adobe Illustrator or other graphics software
- Pictures
- Card stock
- Printer
Instructions
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Choose your pictures. If you are using your own photos, download them to your computer and save them to your Pictures file. If you need a special photo you do not have, go online to a free picture source such as MorgueFile (see References), and do a search. Download the photo you choose and save it to your Pictures file.
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Open a graphics software program such as Windows Publisher or Adobe Illustrator. In Illustrator, go to "File," click "New from Templates," then choose "Blank Templates" and click the "Invitation Blank" template. This template will set up a single-fold card for the outside front and back.
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Go to "File," then "Place." In the dialog box that opens, go to your "Pictures" file and choose one of the images you downloaded. For instance, choose a picture of a little girl holding a bouquet of flowers. Click "Place." The picture will appear in the template. Scale the image to fit the right half (or front) of the card; right-click it, then click "Transform." Choose "Scale" and shrink the picture to fit by percentage in the "Scale" dialog box. You can also use the "Selection Tool" in the toolbox on the left side of the screen to shrink the image with the arrows at the corners. Leave enough space below the picture for text.
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Click the "T" in the "Toolbox." Draw a text box on the card under the picture and type in your message, such as "A bouquet for you."
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Add a background color. Click the Eyedropper tool and drag it to a coordinating color, such as the color of the girl's blouse. Click the Rectangle tool and draw a rectangle as big as the card. It will fill with color. Right-click it and choose "Order." In the dialog box, click "Send to Back." Now your background is behind your picture and text.
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Click the "T" again and draw a small text box for the bottom of the back of the card if desired. Type in an identifying phrase such as "Angie's Own Card Company."
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Go to "File," then "Save As" and name your file "Bouquet Card Outside." Save it as an Adobe PDF.
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Go to "File," "New from Template" and open the blank invitation template again for the inside of the card.
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Go to "File," click "Place," insert a picture of a single flower and center it on the right half of the inside card. In the "Filter" drop-down menu, go to "Stylize" and choose "Drop Shadow" using the default settings.
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Click the "T" in the "Toolbox." Draw a text box centered under the flower. Type in a message of your choice. Save your file as an Adobe PDF and name it "Bouquet Card Inside."
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Click "Print." In the dialog box, change the file to "Portrait" orientation and move the file up to the top of the page. Print the "Bouquet Card Outside" file directly from Adobe Acrobat on light card stock. Let it dry and then turn the page over. Then print the "Bouquet Card Inside" file on the other side. Cut the page in half, and fold your card in the center.
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Tips & Warnings
Two of these cards will fit on an 8.5-inch-by-11-inch sheet of card stock, so you can print them "two up." Move the file to the bottom of the page and put the sheet through again.
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Print the card out on plain paper first to make sure you have the front and the back files going the same direction.
