Making Xmas Cards, Postcards, etc.

[Guest]

I uploaded some postcards to the gallery, and commented there that surely many others here make cards--personal Xmas cards, greeting cards, or cards for clients, but I have not yet seen this topic discussed. If you do it, or would like some pointers on how to do it, tell us here.

Some of the areas to be discussed would include good papers to use, waterproof coatings, folding your own vs. pre-folded card stock, as well as design ideas, borders, fonts, use of cartoon graphics along with photos, ways to put together a collage card, etc.

I have a lot of experience with such things from making both postcards and greeting cards over the years, but papers and techniques keep changing, and others will surely have great tips that we can all use, so I hope you will write with your questions or suggestions, or post some sample cards to inspire us!

You can see sample Xmas cards as well as more postcards on my website, URL below my signature.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

[DannyRaphael]

Here's my first try from Christmas 2001...

There are two overlapping background images (downloaded from the net) + the layer-masked-in-with-Photoshop mugshots.

The local Office Max store had 20-count Kodak "greeting card" packages (pre-perforated cards + envelopes + Kodak cardmaker software, which I never opened) marked down to $4. I bought every package they had.

Took one test run to get the alignment squared away on the perfed paper, then I was in business.

I guess it is time to start thinking about this again, but I'm not ready to yet!

~DannyR~

NOTE: This attachment will look a little fuzzy and color mucked because it's a downsized version of the .jpg version I mass e-mailed. The 'printed' version looks much better than this.

[Ed_L]

This is something I'd be interested in. I've only made a few cards, and I'm not sure if I still have one on my hard drive or not. I'll take a look, then post it if I find one. If you have recommendations for card stock, would that be for use with any printer, or for specific printers? I'm using an Epson Photo 870.

Ed

[Ed_L]

Here's one I made for one of my daughters. The lighting doesn't match, but I thought that was okay since it was easily identified as something that was not real. She loved it.

Ed

[Tim_S]

My Xmas card from last year is posted in the gallery . I printed them myself on Kodak paper. Folding was difficult, you had to score them well to get a descent fold, and the inner surface did not take ink well, so you had to handle them carefully for a long time.

Has anyone tried a service like Ophoto to print cards? I am looking for an easier way to do it this year. I used to use a printer just down the street, but they colosed...

Phyllis, I'd love to hear your recommendations for paper, since the need for printing on both sides of a folded card adds a lot of constraints.

--tks

[cendres]

I enjoy making holiday and special occasion cards for my family, here is one of my favorites from Xmas 2001.

Carl

[Guest]

Danny's Card

Danny, that is positively gorgeous! I love the way you not only did the usual "face on ornament" but added the candles and overlapped backgrounds. Does Hallmark know about you!?

Phyllis

[Guest]

Ed

Ed, that card for Jean's birthday is one of the funniest things I've ever seen! I've GOTTA do one of these for my hubby. Can't wait till his birthday...hehe!

Phyllis

[Guest]

Paper for greeting cards

I use an Epson printer...just upgraded from Photo EX to 1280. I have found that some papers made for just generic "ink jet" printers don't work well with Epson printers/ink, but this paper is a pleasant exception.

My favorite card paper is relatively inexpensive for such a great paper. I like it because it is really HEAVY weight, and it has a glossy shine like photo paper. Wording on the duller inside prints crisply too! It's called "Invent It" Heavyweight Gloss Poster Paper for ink jet printers, made by International Paper Co. Comes in 20-sheet packs. I order it by dozens on the web, but it's in many stores as well.

You do have to score it to fold it, but I have a system that makes this easy. I put down a folded newspaper section for some padding then cover that with clean white paper (use freezer wrap usually) and get a round-tipped smooth edged (no serrations!) butter knife and a ruler. Then I mark the top and bottom center with a bit of pressure on knife tip, then score along ruler with the dull knife a few times, increasing pressure till I am pressing really hard. Then it folds easily with no wrinkling. I trim the edges with a paper cutter AFTER scoring so they match up perfectly!

I make them one to a sheet and use the standard large greeting card envelopes from Office Max/Depot, or two to a sheet and use the smaller "invitation" size envelopes.

The only thing to watch for with this paper is that the ink takes an unusually long time to dry, and the blacks don't settle into the paper for hours, so if the blacks look textured and "bumpy" at first, be assured that will go away with time. Just don't pile them up till next day because they stay a little sticky for quite a while.

Phyllis

[Guest]

Carl's Card

Oh, Carl, how wonderful! Did that ornament already include the little reindeer? I love the way he sits there...so cute! I'll bet you got tons of compliments from the folks who got THIS card!

Phyllis

[cendres]

Thanks Phyllis, glad you liked it.

No the silver reindeer was a separate ornament we have for our tree, it's kind of heavy though.

The glass ornament was a precious moments ornament. I shot a picture of that hanging on the tree by itself.

I then shot a second pic of just the reindeer. extracted background, resized and masked into the glass ornament.

Took another picture I had of my son and extracted him from the background, resized and placed him on the reindeer.

Final step was to add the text.

Carl

[Lampy]

Here's something new I'm trying this year. I'm creating a reusable daily calendar for my parents. That means 352 individual creations and a lot of work!

I'm going to have them printed by Ofoto onto 4x6 paper which I will slice in half (two days per print). The sayings along the bottom are irish and english proverbs I found on-line. Reminds me of things they would say to me growing up!

--Heather

[Lampy]

When I do create cards/postcards etc. and print them I usually use the regular Ofoto 4x6 prints because I'm cheap and because I usually only want a few printed and not an entire box of cards. So I'm afraid I can't comment on the Ofoto card service.

In some cases like at christmas (to insert into a card) I print pictures and an annual letter with pictures down the side using my HP color laser jet onto Kodak white paper stock or onto a light weight card stock. The images come out really well but are matte....being they are laser. This doesn't bother me at all because as I said I'm cheap and I don't like paying for inkjet cartridges! In fact since getting the laser and discovering Ofoto and Shutterfly we haven't turned the inkjet on.

--Heather

[CJ Swartz]

I've been making cards for special birthdays and for special friends at Christmas for a number of years, and I started the easy way by using card creator software and then replacing their text and images with mine. I still use the card stock that is already scored from Avery or whoever has a good deal at the time (Phyllis, great use for the butter knife, but I'm a klutz who is safer with pre-scored cards).

Phyllis - I love the samples on your website -- the "sorry I haven't written, but I've been tied up" is really cute.
Danny and Cendes -- especially lovely Christmas cards!
TimS -- your image is so stunning -- I've visited it in the gallery a number of times -- just perfect for your cards.
Ed -- you are so funny! That card is a winner!

This is an image from a recent anniversary card. When I read a line that I liked and wanted to include in the card, I knew that I already had an image that would work...

[Tim_S]

C.J. Cute card. Those eyes....

Heather. I really like the graphics on your calendar. I can't imagine doing one for each day... Also thanks for mentioning the postive feedback on Ophoto. I haven't heard much about the quality of their work.

Phillis -- good trick with the butter knife. All of ours are serrated, so I took a sanding disk to an old Exacto knife blade and made a scoring tool that way. It works great now, but I kept finding burrs and sharp spots for the first dozen or so cards...

--tks