When making your own greeting cards with the computer, there are a couple things you have to remember.  The printing resolution is the biggie!  You dpi (dots per inch) for internet pages and email is 72 dpi.  If you make your graphics for your card at that resolution, the card will print very small or very pixelated if you set it to print at full size of the paper.  This is why when you print pages from the web, the graphics don't retain the quality look.  Another thing is that when viewing graphics on the computer, it's shooting light at you and that enhances the richness of the images.  So, when you make your graphic at the proper dpi settings for printing, it can still be quite a letdown when you see the finished product.  Another thing that comes into play is that creating an image at 72 dpi is doesn't use too much RAM white creating the image at 150, 300 or 600 dpi uses a lot of RAM and can take what seems like forever to accomplish.

So, what are the printing dpi settings?  Low quality is 150 dpi;  good quality is 300 dpi and best quality is 600 dpi - then you get to your commercial quality which only very expensive printers are capable.  Laser printers are the best so far, but have you priced a color laser printer lately?  Groan!

For something that's not very important to me, I sometimes use the 150 dpi but when it's something I'm going to be sharing with loved ones and friends, I suffer the time it takes to create images with a 300 dpi setting.  I simply don't have the RAM to create at any larger setting for an 8x10 image.  You can't create an image at 72 or 150 dpi and then resize to 300dpi without reducing the size of the image;  so you have to start out by setting the dpi to 300 right from the start.

Also, if you use tubes, and other images that are 72 dpi, they will be smaller than you might want.  Does no good to enlarge them as that makes them appear pixelated.

So, for making a greeting card, start with a new image set to the dpi you intend to print at.

The next step is to divide the image into half vertically and horizontally for the double fold card.  The bottom half will be the front and back of the card.  The top half will be the inside of the card.

You will notice that I wrote the sections in the above template upside down.  The reason for this is that when you fold your card, the inside of the card is flipped.  I don't use a template, but I made three for this tutorial.  I made the 300 dpi size, the 150 dpi and the 72 dpi templates.  I could use the 72 dpi for this tutorial since it's to be posted on the internet.  You may use the templates until you are comfortable without them.  You need a basic knowledge of the 'Layers Palette' to use them.  They have two layers;  Layer1 is the template and Layer2 is the designing layer which is active when you open the template in PSP.

Using the template, the first thing I did was add a third layer and move it to the bottom and flood filled it with a color so I could see what I was doing, then I activated Layer2 by clicking on it in the Layers Palette.

I added what I wanted for the front of the card to the bottom right half then a designer signature to the left half just like card companies do.  When happy with that, I un-selected everything and flipped the layer using the Image menu/flip.  I also flipped Layer1 so I knew where I was.

Next, I added images and text to the left and right half for the inside of the card;  you can put your design all across the 'inside of card' half if you wish, sometimes I like that better - just depends on what I'm working with and the effect I want.

When finished with the designing part, I used the layer palette to activate Layer1.

Then I deleted it.

The last thing I did was to activate layer3 and flood filled it with my final choice of colors for the card.  I generally choose white to save on ink.

Now the card can be saved using 'save as' so that you don't overwrite your template, if you want to save it.  Then you can print you card.  You fold top to bottom so that the un-printed side is not showing then you fold in half again so that the front of the inside of the card is on the inside.

Simple once you've done it a few times!

Close Window when Finished.

Tutorial by CSGreen