How to Make an Award Certificate With a Bee in the Corner

Create memorable awards.

A spelling bee certificate with a cute little bee character in the corner will be a lasting form of recognition. Create a certificate to express appreciation for a job well done, create an award for students who went above and beyond, use certificates as mementos to signify completion of a class or an event, or give certificates as gag gifts. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find a customized certificate that meets your requirements. Have you ever tried to make personalized certificates and then given up after experiencing technical formatting problems? You can create a customized certificate in Word.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Word 2000 or later
• Color printer

Instructions

1. Change the page orientation by choosing "File" then "Page Setup" and clicking the "Landscape" button. Most certificates are printed in a horizontal format. Change the margin settings in this dialog box if needed to fit the certificate better. Start with 1-inch margins. For a quick certificate, add a border to the page and then place text in the center.

2. Choose 'Format" then "Borders and Shading" in Word, and finally click the "Page Border" tab. Click a favorite setting for the border. Next, choose the type of line for the border and the width of that line. To choose a border other than a line, choose an art type. Apply borders to the whole document or just in specific sections by using the "Apply to" section of the window. Click the "OK" button to insert the page border.

3. Try a clip art border If none of the built in border options work. It is not difficult to use clip art borders in Word. The secret in getting it to work is to process the border as a watermark. This way the text floats on top of the border. Older versions of Word have a special watermark command. In Word 2000, it goes into the header (see step 5).

4. Add a watermark by putting the clip art border into the header in Word 2000 and earlier versions. This makes it sit "behind" the text on the page. Choose "View" then "Header and Footer." On the Drawing toolbar, click the "Text box" button. Stretch the text box to the size of the page. Click in the text box and choose "Insert picture" then "From file." Find a border on the hard computer disk and add it. Sometimes the text box has borders and shading applied. Turn those off, so the clip art border is all that shows.

5. Right click on "Format" then "Text box." Add the certificate text. If done correctly, the "watermark" border should be visible behind the text. Select "Enter" a few times or add spacing to move the cursor down away from the border area, then start typing. Format the text by using any of Word's formatting commands. Try adding text using the Word Art button on the Drawing toolbar.

6. Select a clip art bee. Make sure the bee is not under copyright by using free clip art. Highlight the bee image by pressing down the left mouse button over the image and drawing it down to the bottom of the image. Select "Edit" then "copy" to save the image. Return to the certificate and click over the right corner. Select "Edit" and "Paste" to paste the image to the certificate. Print out the new certificate.

References

• Computor Companion: Create a Certificate in Microsoft Word
• Create for Mississippi: Word: Creating an Award Certificate
• Of Zen and Computing: Make an Award Certificate in MS Word