Use Word 2007 or 2010 to make Greeting Cards

Making greetings cards has never been easier than it is now if you have Word 2007 or 2010.

Whether you need a card for congratulations, new baby, get well or for any holiday imaginable, and both Word 2007 and 2010 have lots of templates to choose from – all of which you can modify for your very specific needs and occasion...

Reminder about Word 2007 & 2010: Office/Word 2007 uses an “OfficeButton” in the upper left corner; whereas Office/Word 2010 has gone back to the tab “File” the same phrase used in earlier versions of Word and other Office programs

• So in Word 2007, click on the Office Button – and in Word 2010, click on the File Tab
• Now Choose “New” and the New Document window will open.
• You will now see a vast variety of templates to choose from
• In Word 2007 it is a column list on the left side of the page
• In Word 2010 the bulk of the screen will show you various Templates
• Now choose Greeting Cards.
• You can choose the option you want from under the Greeting Cards section – check them all out and remember you can modify any of these to your liking for your specific needs
• You will be connected to the Microsoft Office Online site. You can select from hundreds of templates or you can go to this website in the browser and download the templates from there.
• You can preview every template in Word and then click the Download button
• The Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) validation dialog box will appear. (Once I’ve read this once, I click the check box in the bottom left corner asking that I not be shown the message again in the future) – I’ve heard, but it hasn’t happened to me, that you might have to download the updated version of OGA to be capable of downloading a template.
• You can customize the downloaded card by changing the colors, fonts etc or adding your message before printing it.
• Now you can print the card
• You can make your holiday and other greeting cards even more personal – just insert your own photos..

About the card stock: cards will always be more professional if when you use “greeting card paper stock” either 60 - 80lb. (versus standard 20lb. printer paper)

Many stores that carry computer supplies (such as Wal-Mart, Staples etc.) carry Card Stock paper and matching envelopes, and you can also find great deals online with companies such as:

www.desktopsupplies.com

www.thepapermillstore.com

Suggestions for Online Greeting Card Companies

I get asked all the time which “online greeting card company” do I recommend…

Personally I use http://www.jacquielawson.com/ for all my special cards and I've used them for years; I like that their cards are different and interactive...it's $12 a year or $18 for a 2 year membership.

Although they don't have the hundreds of cards that companies like http://www.hallmark.com/ or http://www.bluemountain.com/ have, I like that Jacquie Lawson’s cards are so unique and interactive...

Almost all of the card companies, especially those that have a membership fee and even some that don’t, allow you so save your email addresses and dates and schedule cards out in advance, so check them out...

Here are a few others that offer free cards and I've used these also - so enjoy...

http://www.myfuncards.com/
http://www.americangreetings.com/
http://www.123greetings.com/
http://www.egreetings.com/
http://www.rattlebox.com/
http://www.e-cards.com/

Internet Greeting Cards

Sending greeting cards "via email" gets easier all the time - put any/all of these addresses into your "Internet Favorites List" and pick & choose when you need to send cards – my favorite 2 are www.hallmark.com (some free cards) and www.jacquielawson.com which has an annual fee to use, but well worth it..

Many of the following websites, offer free cards - however some have recently changed and only offer a small group of free cards, but for a nominal annual fee ($9.95-14.95/yr) you can have your choice of unlimited cards - the choice is yours.

These are just a few of the many online greeting card websites. A great feature of many of these websites is the opportunity to add “gift cards or certificates”, to send flowers, and other great gift ideas done by credit card, with various partners that they are affiliated with (such as flowers.com, vermont teddy bear, bed, bath & beyond, toys & babies r us and others).. Makes shopping so much easier and you aren’t spending time or money on greeting cards, stamps and running in and out of stores…

www.bluemountain.com
www.123greetings.com
www.greeting-cards.com
www.regards.com
www.marlo.com/card.htm
www.e-cards.com
www.zworks.com/forever
www.americangreetings.com
www.gcards.com
www.egreetings.com

As you send cards, you can build your address book (contact list) in the online greeting card site; many also offer reminder services so you don’t forget important dates and most allow you to schedule cards for as much as 18 months in advance… Life gets easier all the time…

Santa Jigsaw Puzzle

Just a little someting to pass the time and when you finish putting the puzzle together, watch what happens.

Click below:

www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

this is from my favorite greeting card website:
www.jacquielawson.com