Contemporary Birthday Card

Make a customized card in less than 15 minutes

The Idea: Create a customized birthday card for my dad's 68th birthday.

The Project: HP Activity Center's Contemporary Photo Card

Time needed: 15 minutes or less (once you have your photo ready for uploading)

Craftiness required: None! All you need is the ability to find your photo on your computer.

What you'll need: HP Matte 8.5 x 11 Brochure and Flyer Paper

I really like to give special cards to special people, especially when I can write a unique and touching message. If I buy a card, I usually look for a design that reflects the personality of the person I'm sending the greeting to, and I like it when the inside is also blank. That way I can create my own special message just for them.

That's why I like the card projects in HP's Activity Center. I get unique designs, I can customize the card with my own photos and I can insert my own words (or I can select from a variety of messages, too). What's even better is I can usually search, select, create, save and print in less time than I spend perusing cards in the store.

Here's how you can, too.

Select an Activity Center Greeting Card.
I really liked the variety and design of the contemporary photo cards. It's not always easy to find color and geometric shapes that are attractive to both men and women, but this project offers several.

Click the "Continue" button to load your project. Then move onto step 2 below.









Step 1: Follow the simple "1, 2, 3" steps that are at the top of the project window (noted by the red arrows to the left).

The first step in this project is to choose the theme of the card (that means you'll select from the options available to you in this particular project.)

Step 2: Add your Photo and Text. Click the gray area that says, "Click here to add a photo".

You'll then be asked to browse your hard drive to select a photo to add to the project. There are size limits, so if you want to use a photo that's larger than 1 MB, be sure to resize it first before loading in this step.



Add your own text.
Again, it's real simple to figure out what you need to do. Click the area to start typing your message. You can also select from pre-loaded greetings. Select the font, color, and type size you want for your text, then hit the orange "done with edit" button.
When you're all done, save your page.











Step 3: Save and Print.
I always save a copy to my computer before exiting the Activity Center. Why? I sometimes forget to load the right paper into my printer, or I get interuppted and need to come back and print later.

It happened in this case. I had regular ink jet paper, and I forgot to change it. Once I had the HP Matte 8.5 x 11 Brochure and Flyer Paper loaded, I printed again.





Important tip: Print the first page only (as pictured here to the left), and let it dry completely. Then print the second page and allow it to dry. Then fold in half.

I used "Best" quality instead of "Normal" or "Draft" because I like the rich color of the graphics and wanted my photo to be crisp.