Make Your Own Chinese New Year's Cards

I started making my own cards after buying a copy of Greeting Card Factory Deluxe. I use it to design and print my cards on an HP 5150 color printer. The software provides driver support for any of your printers and tells you how to handle printing on both sides of the card. The result is professional looking and customizable.

What You Need to Make a Chinese New Year Card

· Copy of the Greeting Card Factory Deluxe software installed on your PC

· A printer, color is best, photo quality is supported

· Greeting card stock with pre-built crease and envelopes available from Staples or Michaels or other craft or office supply store. Many manufacturers
make this card stock including Avery and Staples. Most card stock provides an Avery number that is used to identify the standard card types. Note card
stock for 1 5x 7 card is easier to setup than 2 41/2" by 5 ¼" cards, but both produce nice products.

· Paper cutter

Before you get started, make sure that the printer you intend to use in this project is your default printer. To set your default printer click on MS Windows Control Panel, Double-click on Printer & Faxes, then click the printer of choice. From the Control Panel File Menu, click Set as Default Printer. If you don't do this step, every time you choose to print a card, you have to select a printer and then run Step Three of the Chinese New Year Card Project. It doesn't cause problems, but it can take extra time. Also, make sure your printer is on. The software can abort if you try to print to an offline printer.

Step One: Open the Software. See Picture 1

Double click on the Greeting Card Factory Icon to open the software. Click on the Greeting Card project type.

Step Two: Select a Project Design for Your Chinese New Year Card. See Picture 2

1) Under the Heading "Category" Choose Holiday

2) Under the Heading "Subcategory" Choose Chinese New Year

3) Select one of the available designs

4) Click Next

Another menu will display. Accept the default card fold type if it matches your card stock or select one that matches from the list at the top of the page.

Click Finish.

When you see the project setup, check all pages of the design. When happy, save your project by clicking the File menu, Selecting Save, and providing a file name. Save often.

Step Three: Set Up Double Sided Printing on Your Printer

The double-sided printing wizard is used to orient the inside of your card to match the outside. My advice is to set it up, try it out, and if you did it properly then print as many copies as you would like to make by setting the number of copies on the print menu.

1) Click on the double-sided printing wizard from the list of options on the File Menu. See Picture 3.

2) Select the button that matches the paper try on the printer you are using. Then select next. See Picture 4.

3) Two pieces of paper will print, one with an arrow, one with a circle. Select the button on the wizard that matched the output, telling whether the circle or the arrow was on top. Then put the page with the arrow back into your tray as directed. Hit next.

4) The paper will print more arrows. Another menu will show up showing several configurations of arrows, choose the one that best matches what you received.

5) Click Finish and the wizard will close.

Step Four : Print Your Chinese New Year Card

Either click on the printer icon or Select the File Menu and Print. Do a test print on your design. Then once again select print, this time setting the number of cards you'd like printed.

Step Five: Cut and Fold Your Chinese New Year Card

This step is only needed if you're using the default design for this card type using the 2 41/2" by 5 ¼" cards.

Line up the inside crease in the paper cutter and cut the cards in half.

Fold the card in half.

Address and stamp your card.

Alternatives:

1) The inside of the design selected is orange. To save printing ink, click on the inside tab, then click on the orange box. Change the color of the box to white.

2) If you're using this card as an invitation, click on the inside tab, then click on the text and hit delete. Add a new text box with Date, Time, Location, Items to Bring, and RSVP instructions.

3) Use the blank card or photo card projects to design your own card. Insert a .Jpeg picture, add text and other design elements.

Have a fun Chinese New Year!