I love cards. I love giving and receiving them. There’s something special about sending cards that shouldn’t be forgotten. I think cards should be personal in some way when they’re sent as well. Handmade and photo cards are my favorite types to receive. I don’t like that in order to get a great card, you sometimes have to spend a small fortune. I have a solution to that problem that I’ll be sharing with you today! And it’s just in time for Day 6 of Holiday Moments which is making your holiday cards!
This year, I’m planning on doing a combination of homemade cards and photo cards. If you want to take a sneak peek at my handmade cards, you can check them out in the newsletter from today! Not receiving the newsletter? Make sure you click here to subscribe and see the old editions!
I’m also planning on sending out a few cards from my blog and I’m going to be doing photo cards for those. I thought I’d share a few tips for creating your very own cards online using Canva. This is the site I use to create my blog graphics and I recently started using it for cards and invitations as well.
Your first step after going to the website and signing up for a free account (it’s worth it!) is to select “card” from the options. You may have to click “more” to find this option.
After you are in the card section, you’re going to have a few different options for creating your card. You could simply select a pre-made card from their layouts and customize it to fit your family. That’s what I did in the below image. I changed out the picture and adjusted the text. It took me a couple of minutes to update the card for my use.
If you want to get more creative, you can play around with the graphics they have out for the holiday season. Some of the graphics are even holiday messages. All you have to do is drag and drop the graphics. From there, you can make changes to colors and size easily.
If you’re looking to make a photo card (like I was), you’re going to want to explore the “frames” section of the website. You can combine these frames with graphics and font to create a unique card that reflects your personality. I love the look of hanging ornaments so I used the graphics provided for those and did an overlay with one of my photos in a circle frame. Overall, I was very happy with the way it turned out!
Once you’ve created your card, you’re going to want to “download” the card as a PNG file. This will provide the best quality for your card. Save the card in a place you’ll remember using a name that’s easy to find. Then, open up MS Word or Publisher and insert the picture. You can resize it before printing to make it match the size you need for your envelope. As you can see in the screenshot below, I was able to get two to a page. I did add a skinny border for cutting purposes only.
When you’re ready to print, grab some cardstock or other special paper to make your card standout. I do not recommend printing on standard printer paper. It will lessen the quality of your card considerably. Write a personal message on the back of your card and slip it into an envelope to be mailed out to friends and family!
What’s your card preference? Photo cards? Handmade cards? Store bought cards? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
