How to Print Holiday Cards

You can print out your own customized holiday cards.

Most people enjoy receiving holiday cards from family and friends. Although you could buy holiday cards to give out from a card store or supermarket, the cost can add up if you have many people to give them to. Luckily, you can use your home computer, a graphics program and a printer to make your own homemade holiday cards. This can save you both time and money by consolidating your efforts in sending out holiday cards.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop program

Instructions

1. Open the Adobe Photoshop program on your computer.

2. Open a new image file by clicking "File" near the top left corner of the screen, then clicking "New" from the list that appears. A window will appear requiring dimensions of the image. Make the width 12 inches and the height 9 inches.

3. Save clip art to your hard drive that you wish to use on the holiday card. You can find free clip art in numerous places on the internet, which can be found using a simple search with the keywords "free clip art". Once you locate holiday-themed art, such as trees, snowflakes or snowmen, right click onto the image. Click on "Save Image As" in the list that appears. A window will pop up allowing you to select a name and location for the image. Name the image, and select a location you can easily remember.

4. Open your saved clip art in Photoshop by clicking "File" and choosing "Open".

5. Locate your saved clip art, and click "OK". This art will appear in your Photoshop screen.

6. Copy the clip art image by clicking on "Select" and choosing "Select All". A marquee will appear around the image.

7. Click "Edit" and select "Copy".

8. Click onto your blank card image. Click on "Edit" and select "Paste" to paste the image onto your card.

9. Click on the "Move" tool, which resembles an arrow in the Toolbox. The Toolbox is a vertical box to the right of the screen.

10. Move the clip art image to the right of the image so that when the card is folded, it will be on the front of the card.

11. Add text to the card by clicking on the "Text" tool, which resembles a capital "T" in the Toolbox.

12. Click on the image and draw a marquee box where you want the text to be. Click inside the box to begin writing. You can edit the look of the text, such as size, font type and color using the font tools at the top of the screen.

13. Print out your cards by clicking on "File" and selecting "Print". A window will appear asking for the number of prints. Fill in how many you want, and click "OK" to begin printing. Once the cards have printed, fold them in half.

References

• Adobe: Making Greeting Cards

Resources

• Photoshop Support: Making Greeting Cards