How to Use Print Shop Software
An illustrated card-making tutorial by Jan K., The Proofer
© Copyright 2006
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It is fun to make and give personalized
greeting cards to family and friends---for birthdays, anniversaries, the
holidays, or for no special reason at all other than to just say Hi! or I love
you! There are many different types of card-making software, some are expensive
and some are not, some aren't very user-friendly and some are. Although you
don't really need card-making software to make cards (see the bottom of this
page for ideas for making personalized greeting cards without using card-making
software), greeting card software does offer many advantages, such as seemingly
unlimited clipart (which are pictures, cartoons, photos, and other types of
graphics).
After have used a few different card-making
software, I've determined that Print Shop is very easy---and not very expensive
(the version used for this tutorial averages $20). This tutorial provides the
basic steps for creating a typical greeting card. Once you've learned these few
steps, and get some tips on the other tools that Print Shop offers, you'll be
creating greeting cards (and more!) that will be appreciated by all those who
receive them!
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This tutorial covers the basic steps
for making personalized cards using Print Shop Essentials 21 (by
Broderbund). You can purchase this inexpensive, very user-friendly
software from Amazon.com (click on link above to purchase from Amazon),
as well as at office supply stores like Office Depot. |
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Install Print Shop
Essentials 21 on your computer. Open the software by clicking on a
desktop icon (shortcut), or open by clicking on Start (in the taskbar at
the lower left hand corner of screen), then All Programs, and then The
Print Shop 21 (in the Programs menu). Print Shop will open and after
several seconds the "Project Picker" window will open (see picture
above, to the left). You can now begin to make a greeting card, or any
one of the number of different paper-print projects as shown in that
list.
These instructions provide the basics
for creating a quarter-fold greeting card. However, these instructions
are similar for any print project.
Step 1.
In the Project Picker menu, click on
"Greeting Cards" (see picture to the left).
Then select "Printed Greeting Cards"
(click in the radio button, a dot will appear in the circle) and click
Next. |
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Step 2.
For the purposes of this tutorial, all
the instructions will be given for a quarter-fold card. At the bottom of
this page is a link to an easy tutorial that provides more information
about quarter-fold cards.
However, you can
create any size card you choose, following these steps and substituting
your preferences.
In the window in the middle of the
screen, click in the radio button that says Quarter-Fold (a dot will
appear in the circle). Next click in the radio button that says "Start
from Scratch."
Then click Next. |
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Step 3.
You can choose Tall or Wide, top fold or
side fold. The picture of the folded card will change accordingly.
When you have selected your
preferences, click Finish. |
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Step 4.
The blank card is the FRONT of the card.
Look in the lower left-hand corner of the field where the blank
card is, and you should see the word "Front" with a
right-pointing arrow beside it. You can click on that arrow to navigate
from the front to the inside to the back of the card, and back forth as
you wish. You don't have to
do that right now, but it is a nice tool to remember!
You can now begin to create your card!
Down the left side, see the selections
that start Project Picker, Art & Photo, etc.
Click on Art & Photo. |
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Step 5.
Print Shop has a seemingly endless
assortment of clipart (images, cartoons, photos) to choose
from---and you can easily search for the kind of picture you are looking
for. Until you get more experienced, make sure the first two fields in
the left-hand-side say "All" (but you can click the little down arrows
of each field to see what the selections are---another tool to remember
when you are more comfortable with the software).
Under the larger of the white boxes,
look for "Enter Search Word" above a blank field. Type in a keyword for
what kind of picture you are looking for. In this example, I've typed in
the word "ocean" as a keyword. Then hit GO.
All images that are associated with "ocean" will begin to appear.
Depending on how many graphics are available, this may take a few
seconds. |
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Step 6.
When you see the picture you want to put
on the card, click on that picture. Then in the space under where you
typed in the keyword, click on the Select Button. The picture will automatically be
inserted onto the blank card. In this example, I inserted a picture of a
sand dollar.
Notice that the picture has little
black squares in the corners and in the middle of each side. In the
right side, there are two boxes with a line connecting them.
When you position your cursor over
these squares, you can "drag" the square and make the picture bigger,
wider, taller, skinnier. You can click on the line between the two boxes
on the right side and "rotate" the picture as well. You can
also move the whole picture by clicking anywhere on the picture, and
then dragging the mouse. Play with this to get the idea of how you can
change the appearance of the picture. |
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Step 7.
Now, get ready to insert some text!
On the left-hand side, click on "Text
Tools" and then "Insert text box." A box with a dotted line around it
will show on the card. Click anywhere right on the dotted line and the
cursor will turn into a symbol of arrows pointing up and down, right to
left. Hold down the mouse button and drag the text box to wherever you
want the text to appear on the card. |
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Step 8.
After you have moved the box,
double-click INSIDE the box. Now you can type whatever you want in the
box. |
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Step 9.
To work with the text that you've
entered, click right in front of the first word, hold down the mouse,
and drag until you have "highlighted" all of the text.
Now, you can change the font (what the
text looks like), the font size (make the text bigger or smaller), and
the font color (the color of the text). |
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Step 10.
In the text toolbar, look for the field
that shows the name of the font (probably Times New Roman). If you don't
see this field, then make sure the text toolbar is visible. Click on
View (in the top line of the toolbar area), select Show/Hide toolbars,
and make sure the Text toolbar has a check mark. If it doesn't, then
click on it to insert a checkmark. The text toolbar should now appear.
Click on the down arrow to open the
drop-down menu. This shows the list of the different fonts that are
available. Move the cursor over any font name. A white box will appear
and show what that font looks like (see the big word Type).
When you find a font you like, just
click on it. The highlighted text in the text box will change to that
font. |
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Step 11.
Right next to the font, is the field for
font size. It probably shows 12. This is the standard size of type (and
is the type size that you are reading now). Click on the down arrow to
open the drop-down menu. The larger the number, the bigger the type:
8 pt type
10 pt type
12 pt type
14 pt type
18 pt type
and so on. Click on the font size you
want, and the highlighted text will change to that size. |
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Step 12.
Now, change the color of the text!
On the toolbar, click on Effects. In
the drop-down menu, click on Color, and then Object. |