Personalized photo cards make every occasion special.
Distant relatives love receiving pictures of children, special events, even your new home or favorite pet. Photo cards are a cheerful way to keep in touch and share across the miles. A four-fold printed card is easy to make using a computer with a basic word processor and the capability of importing pictures. The hardest part is getting everything oriented on the page correctly so that it will be right side up when you fold your card.
Instructions
1. Take photographs of the person, event or object you wish to commemorate in your card. Digital cameras make this an easy process, especially if you have one that uses an SD card to save pictures, but you can use a disposable camera and have a photo disk made when the film is developed. If you'd like to share an existing photo, scan it into your computer using a flat bed scanner.
2. Import the pictures into your computer. Digital cameras usually come with a cable that connects to a computer, but if you use this method to import the photos, you may have to edit them in the camera's proprietary software. Importing the photos with an SD card will give you options for editing software. Many computers have a built-in SD card slot; check to see if your computer has one. If not, you can purchase an SD card reader separately and connect it to your computer's USB slot. Pop the card out of the camera and slide it into the SD card reader. You can then import all the pictures on the card, or select the ones you want and drag them into a folder on your computer.
3. Use a photo editor to crop unwanted parts of the picture, to adjust the size or to clean up flaws, using directions given in the editor. If you don't already have a good photo editor, look online for user-friendly photo editing software; you can download many programs for free. Some cameras come with good editing software.
4. Fold a sheet of typing paper into fourths to make a sample card. On the front of the sample card, write the word "Picture". Open the card, and on the right hand page, where you will write your message, print "Words". Unfold the paper. You will see that the word "Picture" is upside down from the word "Words". This is a template to help you correctly position the parts of your card.
5. Open a word processor. Create a two-column, two-row table. Don't worry about the size of the cells; they will change when you insert the picture and the message.
6. Import your edited picture. Put it in the top left cell of the table. Adjust its size using the tabs on the edge of the picture until it fills one-fourth of a standard page. If your word processor allows you to view the document's side and top ruler, use them to help position the picture. Use the top handle on the picture (it might look like a little green dot on a stick) to rotate the picture until it is upside down.
7. Type your message in the lower right-hand corner of the the table. Use tabs, the space bar and enter keys to adjust the location of the words within the cell. The top two cells should now occupy the top half of the page, and the bottom two cells the bottom half. You may need to adjust the picture and font size until you have a good balance between the two.
8. Print the page without showing the lines of the table. Fold the printout in fourths with the picture on the front of the card and the message inside, using your template as a guide.
Tags: your computer, editing software, word processor, your card, card reader