Card Setup Tutorial

A beginning note: This tutorial uses lots of screenshots to help you understand the process better. If you have a dialup connection, each page may take up to a minute to load fully.

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.

First, start with a blank canvas. Click the File Menu and Choose New.

Make a new canvas based on these size rules:

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

We recommend Resolution be set to 300ppi

Your blank canvas for a landscape orientation greeting card will look like this.

The right side is the outside front of the card and the left is the outside back.

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.

NOTE! Remember that our 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" w x 6.75" h
6.25x9	4.25" w x 6" h
5.5x8.5	4" w x 5.25" h

Make sure you crop or otherwise size your images within these contraints.

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.

Special Note on
PHOTO POSITION

Because Elements does not feature the guides tool, you can either "eyeball" the position of your image on the card or use the GRID funtion. Because you are working with a photo on a layer, you can put the photo anywhere on the card you like - especially if you have text or other graphics to include.

The screenshot at left shows you what your card will look like before being folded.

At this point, you can add text to the outside of your card. More images can be dragged onto the canvas for front or back printing.

Remember that you will end up with no less than a 1/8" border on all sides of the card.

Next step:

Epson printing

Canon printing