MOUSE CLIX

Make greeting cards for the holidays

Whether it is Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, New Years, Orthodox New Years, Chinese New Years, Valentines Day or Easter, people will be sending plenty of greeting cards in the next few months. Here are some tips on designing, printing and sending holiday greetings using your computer.

First a few design considerations. Do you want to use a picture? How about one of you or your family? If the answer is "yes", then you probably should start your search now. If you have a camera, you can take one now, or if you want one with a wintry look to it, you may have to look at what you have from last year.

If you have a photo, then the next step is to get it digitized. You can do this by scanning it yourself or bringing it to a friend or to a photo shop to be put on a floppy. I personally use a digital camera that takes pictures directly on a floppy. This turns out to be very convenient.

Now, what about the sentiment for the inside of the card? Just a simple "Happy Holidays" might do, but conferring with your family might produce something more original.

Next will be putting the card together on the computer. This can be done in most word processors, but I favor a card software program to do the composing. I also suggest that a single fold card that results in a card that is 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" will be more attractive than a double fold card that is half that size. I notice that many software applications do not provide this size, and so I suggest looking for one that does. Please see my recommendation below.

To make a single fold card in a word processor, you will have to select "landscape" as the position of your paper and then select "2 columns" from your tool bar. Then you can import the picture to the right hand column (click on Insert, then Picture). Type the inside message on a second page of the same size, again in the right hand column.

Using a card program will also allow you to insert a photo from where you have your picture file in your computer, and you will be able to size it to fit the card's first page. The inside message will, of course, be on the third page, and you can let people know that you made the card by putting something appropriate on what will be the back page.

Once the card is composed, try printing it out on plain paper to see how you like it. Thus will require 2 trips through your printer and also a little attention as to which way to put the sheet in for the second side.

What kind of paper to use. You will need something heavy, greater than 50# paper if possible, and if you are using a photo on the front page, you may want to have glossy on one side or matte finish on both sides. If you decide you want glossy, make sure that the backside is finished as well, as many manufacturers put their logo on the back and /or the surface may be too porous to print on.

Some suppliers have this all made up for you. For instance, Hewlett Packard and Epson both have "glossy greeting card paper" that comes with a scored sheet to make bending it in half easily and envelopes to match. (Epson supplies a card program in the packages marked "Bonus, Epson Software in this package.")

You may want to experiment with various papers, so it is very important to get an early start on this project. Try printing out one of your cards on the good paper to get the routine down. It is usually suggested that you print the inside first. The idea is that the photo side should not go through the printer more than once. When printing the larger quantities, take each sheet from the printer as they come out and set them separately to dry for at least 10 minutes before putting them through the printer or folding them. I recommend printing at a min. of 720dpi if you are using a photo. The inside message can be set as low as 360dpi. The envelopes may be printed on your computer printer as well. Some card programs allow you to select the exact size of the envelope you are using. You can type the name of each recipient before printing, retaining the return address on each.

If you have a large address list you may want to use labels. This can be done by typing them in a label program after you have purchased address label sheets, usually 30 on a sheet. Another way is to set up your addresses on a spreadsheet like, Excel, Quattro, or 1-2-3, and then doing a "Mail Merge" with your labels. Mail Merge is a bit on the tricky side, a "How-To" on that will appear in this column soon.

If you would like your envelopes to look like the addresses are handwritten, I suggest a type face like "Mistral", however, if you do not have that one, start going through all your fonts to find something like that. I should mention here that the Post Office prefers that you type addresses on envelopes all in capital letters without punctuation so that they can be read by an automatic sorter, thus (they say) speeding your card to it's destination. Good Luck! And get started soon!