It's no secret that people are really making the pennies stretch between holiday shopping, bills, groceries, and other necessities right now. So here's something you might not have considered before... make your own holiday cards! If you've purchased cards recently for an occasion, you've probably noticed how the price of greetings cards has increased over the last few years. It's a small change yes, but the small things over time add up easily! If you find yourself wanting to mail out cards for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Get Well, or any other special moment then you might be searching for alternative that can save you money and still be plenty sentimental. Have you ever considered designing your own cards? There's a lot of really nice card-template programs that give you the tools to design your own greetings. Personally though, I'd like to take it to the next level.
Recognize this picture? It's from yesterday's post "Falling in Love With Photography" where I showed you about editing your fall pictures for easy display and home decor options. Today, I'll be using the same edited picture to show how you can turn this into a beautiful Thanksgiving card.
One of the most common techniques is to use a program such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign to help layout and make easy adjustments to your work. If you don't have these programs, most Microsoft computers come with either a full or trial access of Microsoft Publisher which works as well. Here are some examples of the different platforms used to create greeting cards.
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| Adobe InDesign (CS2) |
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| Adobe Photoshop (Elements 7.0) |
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| Microsoft Publisher (2007) |
If you have different versions than what I'm using, don't fret! Most programs don't have many huge changes in the editing tools or functions. The basic thing to remember, like other projects I've suggested, is to just have fun and be as imaginative as possible! All of these programs are pretty standard and universal in terms of font selections, placement options, and other functions. Personally, I'd recommend InDesign or Publisher if you want to make a honest actual holiday card. Just make sure you're mindful of your boundaries and where sections might bleed where you don't want them to. Adobe Photoshop is great for editing your pictures further to create artistic elements as well as adding font or other images on top of the original photo. This might be great if you'd like to create your own postcard image and send it instead of a card. For those who dare to do something a bit more advanced and a little more challenging, I'd like to introduce you to multimedia e-cards! Greeting cards in stores now can play music, record your voice, move objects, and imitate other features. All that is cool, but can be costly. I've seen some greetings cards go up to $15 because it comes with all the whistles an bells. My technique is interactive on the computer and costs way less! Hey, you won't even have to buy a postage stamp.
If you're into multimedia development consider using programs like Windows Movie Maker or PowerPoint to create greeting cards that you can e-mail to your friends and family. If it's a movie file you can even upload it to YouTube and share it worldwide! However before you become a renowned video greeting card maker, take the time to plan on what you want to produce. Think about the message you want to send, pictures to include, music to add, and any other elements you'd like to incorporate. If you know someone over-seas and have access to a web-cam or video camera, consider recording your message and insert it into the program. Once you have your ideas planned out, then you can begin setting up your production. For my example, I'll be using Windows Movie Maker to demonstrate ideas for creating this Thanksgiving card.
In this version of Windows Movie Maker I have added pictures, including the photos of the fall scenery, with text, and music to help illustrate my message to the sender. If you choose to use Windows Movie Maker for your digital greeting card, all you need to do is import your content from the menu of the program and then edit accordingly. There are variety of transition and effects you can apply to your content, as well as basic audio editing for your music. After you have edited all of your content and have it arranged to perfect then simply save (publish) your movie file for the computer. If using Powerpoint, then save it as a PowerPoint Show so that it won't open to the sender like a regular editing file. Here's my completed version of a Thanksgiving Greeting using Windows Movie Maker:
Oh and just in case you wondering, yes those are all my pictures! In the family photo, I'm the little baby in the picture with my Mom! So this would be an example of short little multimedia clip you can easily send to your long-distance relations. This is fun, creative, and more entertaining that having just simple cards sent out. Of course you can put slideshows on your table or mantle for display, so don't give old-fashion cards the boot! Hey they even make for a great craft activity for your kids if computers are your thing.
Anyway you choose to create your greeting cards will give you plenty of options for developing a unique one-of-a-kind card experience and it will be a sheer surprise to the person who receives it! Be sure to check sites like Adobe, Microsoft, and Windows Live for other tips on creating other projects for your personal or business use. I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and can spend some time this weekend getting your cards together for the ultimate rush of the season. Have a terrific Friday and Weekend everyone!
*All pictures, and snapshot photos used in this post were created and taken by me for demonstrative and display purposes. The video created was developed myself using my own pictures, however I do not own the music used in the presentation. "God Bless The Broken Road" is the property of Rascal Flatts and the respective songwriters. No Copyright Infringement Intended.
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