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BOOT CAMP 048
DESIGNING YOUR OWN CHRISTMAS CARDS
If you've got a PC and a colour inkjet printer your
Christmas card problems are solved -- make your own! Designing and printing
your own cards probably won't save you a huge amount of money, though it will
be cheaper than going to a print bureau and DIY cards have a number of
advantages over the store-brought variety.
It's personal, people appreciate and remember the thought,
and if you're running a business a corporate Christmas card is an excellent
opportunity to send greetings to clients and customers, with a touch of humour,
possibly with a discrete commercial message as well, but we won't get into
that… You only need to print as many as you need, so there's less waste and if
you're not making too many you could personalise each one with the recipient's
name or a short note.
Everything you need to create a basic greetings card is
included in Windows 95 and 98, though if you want to do a really bang-up job,
and make your life easier, one or two extra items of software and hardware
might come in useful. Up to date word processors, like Microsoft Word or Lotus
Word Pro have good page layout facilities and a graphics program, such as
PaintShop Pro (available as try before you buy shareware from www.jasc.com
and computer magazine cover-mount CD-ROMs) will assist with the artwork.
If you have a digital camera, scanner or an Internet connection then you will
have much greater choice of imagery to work with. Incidentally, scanners often
come with graphics software that includes greeting card templates; you may well
find something there that takes your fancy.
Commercial card designer programs are all very well -- and
there's plenty to choose from -- but it's far more satisfying to make use of
what you have so we'll look at two very simple techniques, using standard
Windows 95/98 PC software. Which method you choose will depend to a large
extent on the capabilities your printer. Check the manual to find out the
maximum weight or thickness of paper it can handle. If you're limited to
thinnish paper, between 80 - 120 gsm, say, then a double fold A4 sheet (ending
up as an A6 size card) is most suitable. If you can print on 200 to 250 gsm
card then you can produce a gate-fold card, making two A6 sized cards per A4
sheet.
If you have to work with A4 paper then the trick is to place
the text message and artwork that will appear inside the card, in the lower
right hand quarter of the page. The 'front cover' image or artwork goes in the
top right corner. This has to be printed upside down, so that when the page is
folded into half, then half again, it will appear on the outside cover -- the
right way up -- and the text will be facing you, when it is opened. It sounds
more complicated than it is; try it with a sheet of A4 paper, fold it twice,
mark the front and inside, open it up again and you'll see how it works.
Begin with the front cover artwork. This can come from a
variety of sources, you can create a simple design from scratch using the Paint
program in Windows (Start, Accessories). Better still use a scanned picture of
the family or kids or import some festive clip art from one of the many sites
around the Internet. A small selection of useful addresses is included in the
Contacts list below.
To use an Internet image simply right-click on it choose the
Save Picture As option and save it in your document folder. If you are using
Paint save it as a bitmap (*.bmp) file in the Save As Type file window. Open
the image in Paint, (or your preferred paint-box program), and insert any text
as required. When you're happy with it flip or rotate the image (you may have
to flip horizontally as well as vertically to make sure text comes out the
right way), and save it. Repeat with any other graphics you want on the cover.
Now you can paste the artwork into an open document, either by copying it to
the clipboard, or using the word processor's Insert Picture option. Position
and size the pictures in the top right hand corner of the page. Insert a text
box into the bottom right corner of the page and compose your message. Make a
test print, to check alignment and fold lines and amend as necessary.
Printing directly to card requires a slightly different
technique. You'll be making two cards at once moreover the front covers and
inside messages are on opposite sides of the paper, so the card has to pass
through the printer twice. Once again start with the artwork that's going to
appear on the outside. Import it into your open word processor document, this
time position it in the top right hand corner of the page then copy (click to
highlight and press Ctrl) and drag or paste a duplicate image immediately
underneath, this is easiest in whole page view mode. Next open a second blank
page; use the window sizing bars to place it alongside the first, so you can
see both pages at once, to check alignment. Create and position a text box in
the top right quarter of the page. Write your message, add any artwork then
place a copy underneath.
Print the front cover page first, (or pages if you're making
a lot of cards); then print the inside message by turning the card over, and
loading it into the printer upside down. It's a good idea to do a test sheet on
ordinary paper first, to make sure everything lines up and comes out the right
way around. When they're finished cut, fold and sign, and don't forget to send
one to us…
Next week -- television and radio on your PC
CONTACTS
http://stega.smoky.org/~habib/cmas.html
http://members.aol.com/Magic4071/holiday.html
http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-84551/xmaspage1A.html
http://www.quantum.si/sejem/jaslice/whatsall.htm
JARGON FILTER
CLIP ART
Copyright-free pictures, icons, cartoons and graphics
supplied with word processor programs, or available separately on disc or from
thousands of web sites on the Internet
FLIP & ROTATE
The facility in paint-box programs and some word processors
to turn an image or object on the page
PAPER WEIGHT (gsm)
The weight and thickness of paper is expressed in grams per
square metre, ordianary photcopier/printing
paper is usually around 85gsm, greetings card paper in the range 200 to
300gsm
TOP TIIP
If you have a Windows 95 keyboard you obviously know the
'Windows' button (in between Ctrl and Alt keys) brings up the Start menu, but
it can do a lot more besides. Win key (Wk) + D is a very quick way of getting
to the desktop as it toggles maximise and minimise all windows. Wk + E opens
Explorer, Wk + F opens Find, and Wk + R opens Run. System Properties opens with
Wk + Pause, Wk + Tab steps through the programs on the Taskbar and Wk + F1
opens Windows Help.
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