Make A Valentine’s Day Card without Card-Making Software

You don’t need any special card-making software to make your own Valentine’s Day card, using the free Rose photo collection offered by Mom’s Break. You can even print a matching envelope using the pre-made envelope PDF files that is available as as a free printable. (All links are shown below.)

This card will print on regular computer paper (8-1/2” x 11”) and the envelope prints on a plain #10 (business) envelope. All of the instructions you need to make your own card are provided in easy-to-follow format. An illustrated version is also available (link is shown below). For your convenience, illustrations of this card are provided at: Make Your Own Valentine Card and Matching Envelope

Set Up the Card Template

The card is made as a Microsoft Word document:

1. Open a “New” document in Microsoft Word

2. Go to File, Page Setup, and select Landscape, to print the page side-way (the page default is Portrait, which prints the page long-way)

3. Go to Format, Columns, select “Three” in the “Preset” section, and make sure that the box is checked for “equal column width,” and then click OK

This creates a tri-fold card that you will fold accordion-style.

For more information about creating this template, and to get a free pre-designed template, go to “How To Make Personalized Cards and Invitations Without Card-Making Software” at http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/cards_invitations.htm

Creating the Card

There are three “sides” to this card: front, inside left, and inside right. After you complete the template set up, the cursor will be positioned on the front of the card. You can insert a rose photo here, just add text, or do both (see the illustrations).

To insert text, simply type in whatever you want to say. You can change the font, the font size, and the font color to suit your tastes. If you need more help with how to change the font, size, and color, please go to “Working with Word...it’s easier than you think” at: http://www.jansfreecontent.com/publish/grammar_and_writing/Working_with_Word.shtml

To insert a picture, use the following general directions:

1. On the toolbar, click on Insert, then Picture, then From File

2. In the “Look in” field, find the folder in which you have downloaded the Rose Collection from Mom’s Break (or find any other photo that you have that you want to insert on the card)

3. Click on the photo that you want to insert

4. Click Insert

This inserts the photo into the document. You can move the photo around somewhat, although your options are limited. To move the photo down, position the cursor at the top left corner of the photo. This is a little tricky because it is easy to click on the photo instead. You will have to play with this a little to get the cursor to click on the document and not the photo. When the cursor is positioned at the top left of the photo, hit the Enter key. This will move the photo down.

For small photos, you can position the photo left margin, center, or right margin by clicking on the photo itself and then selecting the margin icon on your toolbar. These are the small icons that have a series a lines that are aligned left, centered, or aligned right

Once you’ve inserted the photo, simply play around a little to teach yourself to position it, align it, and even to change the size of it. For more about inserting photos and clipart into a Word document, go to “How To Insert a JPG File into a Word Document” at http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/insertjpgintoword.htm

When you have the front of the card done, move to the inside left of the card by hitting the Enter key until the cursor is in the middle “column” of the document.

Repeat the steps as outlined above to type in text and/or to insert a photo.

Hit the Enter key until the cursor is in the inside right, or third column, of the document. Repeat the steps to type in text and/or insert a photo.

Print the Card

Since this card prints on one side of 8-1/2” x 11” paper, you print this as you would anything else. You might want to print a “draft” copy first, and then fold it. You might want to reposition the photo or change the margins or font size so that the card prints nicely.

When you have the finished card, print on “Normal” or “Best” print quality to make a nice, richly colored card.

For your convenience, you can download the example card that is shown in the illustrations. This opens as a Word document, in a new window, and may take several long seconds to open: http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/rosecard.doc

Make the Matching Envelope

There are two options for making a “matching” envelope:

1. Insert the matching photo on a label, and paste the label on the envelope

2. Use the “Envelopes and Labels” utility in Word to create your own envelope (although this is not a very workable option for being able to insert photos---it is possible, but it isn’t all that user-friendly).

To make labels that have the matching photo, go to “How To Make Personalized Cards and Invitations Without Card-Making Software” at: http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/cards_invitations.htm. This article provides the instructions for inserting photos on labels.

For your convenience, you can download PDF files to print envelopes that match the Rose Collection photos. To print an envelope from one of these PDF files, download the zip file of PDF formatted envelopes at: http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/PDFRoseEnvelopes.zip

1. Open a PDF file of the envelope that matches the rose on your card

2. Insert a #10 (business) envelope into your printer [please note that you may have to follow other printing instructions according to the type of printer that you have. This may take a little bit of experimentation on your part]

3. Click on Print

4. Check the box that says Choose Paper Source By PDF Page Size

5. Click OK to print the envelope

The card and matching envelope were created using Mom’s BreakValentine Rose Collection.

These instructions detail making cards for Valentine’s Day. However, you can make your own cards, and matching envelopes, for any occasion using these instructions and any photos you have saved to your computer (as JPG files) or any clipart that is either available in Microsoft Word, or any clipart CDs you might have.

Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. Visit Jan’s Portal (http://www.jansportal.com) for more information about Jan’s free crafts, recipes, tutorials, other resource sites, and free content articles, as well as Jan’s business services. Be sure to visit Mom’s Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005 to present. All rights reserved.