How to Create a Greeting Card Using Adobe Photoshop

This article explains how to create a greeting card using Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 and later.

How to Create a Greeting Card With Photoshop

To make a landscape oriented card, you must create a document that is portrait oriented, and then fold it in half. The image is on the front cover, but the text is on the inside, so you will run the paper through the printer two times. You can even add a logo and credit line to the back of the card.

1. Create a new document in Photoshop with the following settings:

   • Enter a name under Preset Details.
   • Set the Width to 8 inches and Length to 10.5 inches with a Portrait orientation.
   • Set the Resolution to 100 Pixels/Inch.
   • Set the Background color to white. 

2. If you can't see the Rulers on the page, select View > Rulers to turn them on.

3. Click and hold on the top ruler, then move the cursor down to drag a horizontal guide to the following locations from the top of the page:

   • 0.5 inches
   • 4.75 inches
   • 5.25 inches
   • 5.75 inches
   • 10 inches

   If the ruler measurements are not in inches, double click either ruler to open the Preferences dialog and change the units.

4. Click and hold on the left ruler, then move the cursor right to place vertical guidelines in the following locations from the left:

   • 0.5 inches
   • 7.5 inches

   If you are going to be using your home printer, you won't be able to bleed the image off the front of the card, which is why you need to add margins.

5. Select File > Place Embedded.

   If you select Place Linked, the image will appear, but problems could occur later if you move the linked image to another location on your computer.

6. Select your cover image and click Place.

7. Use the drag handles to resize the image so that it fits within the margins you created in the lower half of the document.

8. Select the eye to left of the image layer in the Layers palette to turn off the visibility of the layer and hide the image.

   If the Layers palette isn't visible, select Windows > Layers.

9. Select the Text tool and click inside the bottom half of the page (the same area the image is in) and enter your text.

   Use the Character palette to change the font, size, and alignment of the text. If the Character palette isn't visible, select Windows > Character.

10. Select Layer > New > Layer to create a new layer for the logo.

11. Name the new layer Logo.

12. If you have a logo, place it in the top half of the page, or click and hold the Rectangle tool and select Custom Shape Tool.

13. Select the Shape Tool Options at the top and choose a shape.

14. Select the Logo layer in the Layers palette to open the Create Custom Shape dialog box, then enter a size of 100 x 100 pixels and select OK.

15. Select the Text tool and add a credit line under the logo.

16. Select and drag the logo and text to align them in the center of the top section of the page.

17. Select the Folder at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new group, then drag the logo and credit text layers into the group.

18. With the group selected, go Edit > Transform > Rotate 180 degrees.

19. Go to File > Save to save your document as a PSD file. Your card is now ready to print.

How to Print Your Photoshop Greeting Card

To print your greeting card so that it comes out with the correct orientation:

1. Turn off the visibility of the message layer, and turn on the image and logo layer.

2. Go to File > Print to print the page.

3. Put the page back into the printer tray with blank side up and the image at the top.

4. Turn on the visibility of the message layer, and then turn off the visibility of the image and logo layers.

5. Go to File > Print to print the page.

6. Fold the page in half, and you have a card.