Chaxl

I am an amateur photographer who recently started creating my own greeting cards. I recently found inkjet glossy card paper on Amazon. Excited to see the quality on the gloss, I first tried to print a photo on regular paper with the card paper dimensions. Here is where I have issues. The glossy card size is
8.5 X 11”, so in the program that I use (Microsoft Word), I clicked on create greeting card, then I put in the size, and copy and pasted my image. When I did this, the image went over the line that indicates the crease of the card. Obviously I want the whole image to fit inside that line I did come close to it on one of my tries, but my image and the crease line didn’t line up, so I was doing a lot of second guessing.

Do you know how I can accurately print the exact same detentions as are set on my screen? I thought about purchasing a easy to use but professionally based greeting card program that would have the correct settings, but I don’t know which ones are top rated. Since I do all of my own images for my cards, including my borders, I don’t need a fancy program, I just need it to be easy to be accurate in sizing.

Thanks,
Chad M.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

When you paste in your photo, you should be able to grab any of the sides in the center to pull in until it fits or any corner to pull in two sides at once. Just slowly place your pointer over the center till you see arrows.

Another method is to make a text box than paste in photo with "Fit-to-Size" checked.

Or, you could reduce your photo to under 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" (half of your 8-1/2 x 11 paper when it is folded in quarters).

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

I made some cards like that in the past.
Started with a new document the same size as the paper.
Guide-line across the document, where the fold would be, to help place the image and leave some space on all four it's sides. Or to fill the bottom half of the document for a full-bleed page below the guide line.
Then I put copyright info near the top, rotated that layer so that after printing and folding the card it was orientated correctly.

retap

I must be a lazy guy. When I make photo greeting cards for friends and family, I make the best quality photo of them or a memorable occasion on lustre paper and use double sided mounting tape to affix it to greeting card stock. Then a personal note inside. That way the recipient gets a 4x6 photo to keep. Sometimes I will make sets of seasonal or regional photos as photo cards for gifts.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Neat idea as I think there are no standard frames for most card sizes.
(Rubber cement may be easier to peel off.)

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

I print holiday cards every year. It depends on what software you use. I have used Corel Draw for nearly 20 years. I can set the paper size, center the photo in the bottom half of the card and then print the card perfectly. I turn them over and use a similar technique to print the greeting.
I think you could probably accomplish the same with Adobe Lightroom and/ or Photoshop.
To save tons of money in ink, I use an Epson eco tank printer. The quality is fine, especially because I print on card stock.

Aln001

Use Publisher instead of Word!

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

Has various style templates for you to use.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Yes! but when separating the photo from the card, bend the card, NOT the photo.
(Don't ask why I'm thinking of that!)

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

There are two companies that come to mind. For a wide selection of cards, try Photographer's edge. For direct printing of greeting cards, check out Red River paper. Best of luck.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have been printing my holiday cards and other greeting cards using Microsoft Word since the '90s. I use 1/2 sheet of paper folded. I can put a photo on the outside, the inside, the back, or anywhere. When I print the card it's printed on 8.5 x 11 paper (generally cover stock, 67 lb paper). I cut the page in half on a paper cutter and fold the card. I get invitation envelopes from Staples or other stationery suppliers.

My printer will not print bleeding edges and requires 1/4" border so I center the image on the page and make sure the image is 3.75 x 5.00 or smaller. That will fit on the half page folded, which is 4.25 x 5.50.

In Microsoft Word you can format the image. Click on the image to select it, then you can select format image from the menu. Depending on which version of Word you are using, "format image" is found in different places, but generally the help menu will lead you to it. Once you are in the format image dialog you can specify the size of the image. You can also specify how the image is placed on the page: whether you are wrapping text around it, placing the image below the text or above the text. I generally place the image above the text (but I don't usually have text on that page). Then you can chose the advanced format option which allows you to specify how far from the edge of the page or edge of the column to place the image, both horizontally and vertically.

Hope that helps.

PS: Depending on whether the fold is on the left of the card or on the top, you might have to invert the image. You can rotate the image in Word to take care of that.

NikonGal Loc: Central Oregon

I've been making my own greeting cards/Holiday cards for the last 18 years. I use Photoshop now since the papers have gotten better at photo quality. I used to use InDesign (the updated Pagemaker) as my design program. I use Red River double sided 7 x 10", 60lb, polar matte paper. My images print right on their papers and people can cut the card in half and have an image to save. If you're making cards make sure you are using a paper size which has a ready made envelope size. I get my envelopes from Red River paper or a local paper supplier in a ready made size of 7.25 x 5.25. Good luck, Bev

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

If you are looking for high quality cards, Strathmore makes great cards. These are art cards with textured finishes, not photo paper. Envelopes are included. Check out Cheap Joe's. They have great sales and sometimes cards can be purchased at a deep discount to retail outlets, especially if you buy in bulk.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

In word, when you past your photo, it will have black square corners. Use these to resize your photo to fit perfectly. Just click on one of the corners that overlap the problem area and drag it in.

limeybiker

I use Microsoft Publisher with Sam's Club/Walmart Kirkland photographic paper, you can print on the reverse, I got the idea from a card my daughter sent me made by Cards to Keep, that had a photograph of my granddaughter on it.
https://www.ebay.com/p/Kirkland-Signature-Professional-Glossy-Inkjet-Photo-Paper-8-5-x-11-150-Sheets/1041225650