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There are many ways to set up and print a greeting card using Photoshop. This tutorial offers a "Photoshop as a layout tool" approach to greeting card printing. If you think of the canvas you will make as the unfolded card (outside or inside), then learning where to place images, text, borders, etc. will be very easy.

Note that there will always be a small white border around on the outside edges of Red River Paper greeting cards . Borderless greeting cards are possible in only certain instances. You must use a 7x10 card and have a 13" wide printer. Special help for that is here

 

Start with a blank canvas. Choose
File > New from the top menu.

1) Make a new canvas based on these size rules:

Paper Size New Canvas Size
7x10 10" h x 7" w
6.25x9 9" h x 6.25" w
5.5x8.5 8.5" h x 5.5" w

2) Set resolution to 300ppi

 

STEP 1 - CREATE A BLANK CANVAS

Your blank canvas for horizonal photo orientation will look like this.

The blue guide visible in the middle is where the pre-scored fold line is on each sheet of paper.

The lower half of the page will be the outside front of the card. The top half is the outside back.

STEP 2 - CARD LAYOUT

Next, open the image(s) that you want on the front of your card. You can prepare images beforehand with borders or other special effect. Or, you can open a simple unaltered image for placement on the card.

Make sure you crop or otherwise size your image to the dimensions at right.

Now, use the Move tool and drag images onto the blank canvas you created in the step above. They will come into the blank document as new layers.



Move Tool

NOTE! These cards have a maximum image area that can go on each side without any cropping. Check this chart for the rules:

Card Size Max Image Area
7x10 4.75" h x 6.75" w
6.25x9 4.25" h x 6" w
5.5x8.5 4" h x 5.25" w

The bottom is the outside front of your card while the blank area is the outside back.

The blue guide line in the middle represents where your card will fold.

 

To make more customizations, drag more images onto the canvas or add text and borders like the example at left.

NOTE! All text and images on the back of the card MUST be UPSIDE DOWN in your layout to print correctly.

The minimim margin is no less than a 1/8" border on all sides of the card.

Click here for the next step - printing