Creating Greeting Cards - Bvres
Creating Greeting Cardsby Len Nasman, Bristol Village Ohio Computer ClubCopyright 2019 may be copied with permissionIntroductionIf you want to create your own greeting cards, but you do not want to spend money onspecial software, you are in luck. It turns out that with just a little effort you can use theDrawing program that is part of the free LibreOffice suite.To download LibreOffice, go to www.libreoffice.org.Installation Notes: The illustrations in this articlewere created using LibreOffice Draw 6.2 running ona Windows 10 computer. The Tabbed user interface and the Elementary (SVG) tool icons wereused. To have your screen look similar to the illustrations, select Tools, Options, View, Large, Elementary (SVG) icons. Also, from the Menu Bar,select View, User Interface, and toggle Tabbed on.The following instructions are for creating a fourpage greeting card by folding an 8 ½ by 11 sheetof paper in half twice. Most office supply stores in Figure 1: Setting the Elementary Tool Barthe USA carry envelopes that are designed to fitthis size card. Look for envelops that are 4 3/8 by 5 3/4 inches. (If you are outside theUSA, adjust measurements as required.)Plan AheadThe first step is to determine the relative orientation of the four pages of your greeting card. (Thisexample uses a portrait layout card. Landscapelayout could also be used.) Take a piece of paperand fold it twice. For the vertical portrait formatbook fold card in this project, the sheet must befolded in half twice as shown. First fold the sheet in half along ahorizontal line (with the sheet in portraitmode). Then fold the sheet a second time.When you have folded the sheet, write thenames of the four pages of the final cardon each page (see Figure 2).When you unfold the sheet you will see how thefour pages have to be arranged. Open the LibreOffice Drawing program.Figure 2: Page LayoutPage 1 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsThe LibreOffice Draw program display is shown in Figure 4.The left side of the display may show a Page Pane. This ishandy if you have a number of pages to organize, however, inthis project we will have only one page. So, the Page Pane willbe turned off.If the Menubar is not visible, select the Menubar tool in the upperleft corner of the display. From the Menubar, select View, Page Pane to toggle thePage Pane OFF. (See Figure 3)Figure 3: View OptionsThe LibreOffice Draw program displayThe LibreOffice Draw program window is shown in Figure 4.NOTE: In this tutorial, select means toposition the mouse pointer over anitem and press the left mouse buttononce. The Title Bar shows the name ofthe program and the currentfile name.The Menu Bar has options on alist that drop down when youselect a word on the menu.Figure 4: The LibreOffice Draw program window.The Tab Bar provides access totool collections.The Tools area provides access to common program functions.The Selection Tool is used to make an object active.The Drawing Tools are used to add graphic objects to the page.The Text Tool is used to add a text object to the page.The Sidebar provides various formatting options.Adding TextNext, you will see how to add text to your card.If the Drawing tools are not on your display, from the Menu Bar select View, Tool Bars,Drawing. Note that the drawing Tool Bar may appear in different locations on the display.Page 2 of 10
Creating Greeting Cards From the Tool Bar, select the Text Box tool.With the Text tool selected, click in the lower right quadrant of the page andenter A card from me! in the text box. (Feel free to substitute your own name ortext).After entering your text, select a point outside the text window to deselect it.When you hover the mouse pointer over a text object, the pointer will change to the textcursor. When the text cursor appears, you can do the following: Single click to insert the text cursor. Use the Backspace, Delete, and cursorcontrol arrows to edit the text.Double click to select a word.Triple click to select a line of text.Press Ctrl A to select all text.When text is selected, the Text Tabwill appear and the Properties Sidebar will show character properties.(see Figure 5). The Tab tools andProperties Sidebar are contextsensitive. This means that theyautomatically change depending onwhat kind of object is selected. Select your text and then usethe Properties Sidebar toadjust the text characteristics.Figure 5: Adding text.Moving Text ObjectsTo move a text object you first have to select the text object. (Not the text contents, butthe text object.) This requires careful selecting. From the Drawing Tool Bar, pick the Selecttool.Select a point on the boundary line of thetext box. (If the text cursor appears, yourcursor is in the text area rather then onthe text boundary.)When the text boundary is selected, a boundaryline will appear around the text object. Thisboundary has grab points for changing the size ofthe text object (but not the font size). If you hoverFigure 6: Moving text.the mouse pointer on the boundary, but not on agrab point, the mouse pointer will change to adouble arrow. When the double arrow appears, you can drag the text object to a newPage 3 of 10
Creating Greeting Cardslocation. When a text object is selected, the Sidebar provides options for positioning thetext object.Drag means hold the left mouse button down while moving the mouse. Drag the text object to a new location.You may have to scroll down on the Properties Sidebar to see the Position and Sizeoptions. Use the Position and Size options on the Sidebar to precisely control the locationof the text box.Now that you know how to manipulate text, it is time to add and rotate text for theinside right card page.Rotating objectsNext, some text will be added to the inside right card page. After the text is added, it willbe rotated so that it will be properly oriented after the sheet is folded. From the Home Tab select the Text Box tool.Click in the upper left section of the sheet. (This will end up in the inside rightpage of the card after it has been folded. See Figure 2.)Enter the following text pressing the Enter key at the end of each line. (Or, enteryour own preferred text.)Although this text is inside of the cardThe proper placement is very hard.And if I miss the center exact,I will never escape a critic's attack. Format the text as desired. (Theexample shown in Figure 7 iscenter aligned with bold 12point text.)Pick the Select tool from thedrawing Tool Bar.Click on the text box boundaryand select the Position andSize option from the Sidebar.Select the Rotation tab in thePosition and Size Sidebarand enter a Rotation angle of180.Figure 7: Rotating text.Your text for the inside right card page should now have the proper orientation. However, the default font and style might not be as classy as you might like. You can use thePage 4 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsSidebar to adjust the text characteristics. Just remember that the Sidebar propertiesoptions control only text that is currently selected.Adding a Symbol ShapeNext, we will add a graphic for the back of the card. From the Drawing Tool Bar, select the happy face from the Symbol Shapes tool(see Figure 8).Drag out a symbol in the lowerleft quadrant of the page (thiswill end up on the back of thecard).Observe that when a graphic objectis selected little grab points will beshown at the corners and mid pointsof the object. You can click and dragthese points and change the size ofthe object.NOTE: To preserve the aspect ratio ofan object that you are resizing, holdthe shift key down while you graband drag a corner point.Figure 8: Adding a graphic object.When you move the mouse cursor over a selected graphic object the cursor will changeto crossed arrows. With the crossed arrows cursor you can drag the object to a newposition. Move the happy face to the lower center of the back of the card section (see Figure8).With the happy face symbol selected, use either the Sidebar Properties options orTab tools to select a new color for the happy face. (See Figure 8.)Page 5 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsAdding PicturesNext, a picture will be added to thefront page of the card. This is locatedin the lower right corner of the fullsheet. Make sure that no object isselected (use the Select tooland click in an empty area).Select the Insert Image toolfrom the Tab Bar, then usethe Insert Image dialog box toselect a picture of your choice.Figure 9: Inserting an Image.Figure 9 shows that a picture has been inserted and moved to the lower right area of thesheet.To adjust the size of the picture, select the picture and use the Position and Sizeoptions from the Sidebar. You can also drag the picture to the desired location.The Position and Size Sidebar provides options for choosing a basepoint for locating the picture. It alsoprovides text boxes for entering theWidth and Height dimensions of thepicture. To open the Position andSize dialog box shown in Figure 10,select the small More Options toolshown. Adjust the size and location ofyour picture as desired.Figure 10: Position and Size Sidebar options.To change the aspect ratio while usinga corner grab point to resize thegraphic, hold the Shift key down while dragging the grab point.Note that on the left side of each of the Properties Sidebar options there is a small .When this is selected, Properties options will be expanded.Page 6 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsAdding a frame around a picture.Sometimes pictures look better with a frame. Hereis how to add a frame to a picture. Select the picture, and use the Line tool inthe Properties Sidebar to set the Line Widthto 2.3pt.Choose a line Color.Set the Line Style to Continuous.If you want to add a drop shadow to thepicture, expand the Shadow option, in theSidebar.You should explore other options in the Sidebar.After you print your card, you will probably want togo back and fine tune the position of the differentFigure 11: Adding a Frame.objects so that they are spaced nicely after folding.For those that are mathematically inclined, you can adjust the page margins and positions with precision. Otherwise, move things around by trial and error.You now have enough information to create your own custom greeting cards. And, withLibreOffice, it doesn't cost a thing!Save Your Drawing FileIf you ever want to see your drawingfile again, you have to save it in aknown location. Here is how. From the File Tab, select File,Save As.)In the Save As dialog box,select the desired drive, path,and folder.Enter a File name for the file,and then select Save.Figure 12: The File, Save As dialog box.Precise PositioningPositioning things so that they will end up where you want them in the folded card canbe done either by trial and error, or by doing some careful calculations and positioning.Here are some hints you may find useful.Figure 15 shows a sample page layout.Page 7 of 10
Creating Greeting Cards Right click in the middle of the new drawing page and select Properties from thecontext menu.Set the margins (in the USA) to 0.50 inches(Or some even units).From the Menu Bar, select View, Grid andHelplines.Turn on the grid display and snap options.Figure 13: Displaying the Grid. To adjust the Grid size, select Tools,Options, LibreOffice Draw, Grid.Figure 14: Setting the grid size.First, the page size was set to (US) 8.5 by 11. The margins were set to 0.50 on all sides.A 3.25 by 4.50 rectangle was positioned 4.25 in the X direction and 5.50 in the Y direction. This rectangle will be properly centered on the front page of the card after it hasbeen folded. Three more 3.25 by 4.50 rectangles were added for the back and insidepanels of the card.Page 8 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsFigure 15 shows a card layoutthat was created using theabove dimensions.These rectangles can be usedas a temporary guide for positioning text boxes or graphics.Once the card design is completed, the rectangles can simply be deleted.You can, of course, simply usetrial and error to get thingswhere you want them on thecard. However, you can save abit of wasted paper and tonerby using a little math to getthings properly placed the first time. Figure 15: Layout for precise positioning.Start a new Drawing file and go through the steps in this lesson again. This time,use your own words, pictures, and styles.Page 9 of 10
Creating Greeting CardsAbout the authorMy name is Len Nasman. At the time of this writing I am retired, in my70's, living in Bristol Village www.bvres.org , a delightful active retirement community in southeast Ohio, and spending a lot of my time helpingfellow residents with computer issues. In a former life, I wrote books toteach people how to use CAD software. Using computers does not comeeasy to a lot of people. It is not that people are slow or feeble minded. It issimply that for many people, computers are a mysterious thing and morethan a little frightening. If you are one of those who is not comfortable using computers,but you would like to use LibreOffice to personalize your greeting cards, this tutorial isfor you.Figure 16: Bristol Village, OhioBristol Village is an active retirement community in southern Ohio and, with more than 300stand-alone houses, a 65,000 square foot Activity Center, and more than four dozen residentoperated activities, is considered to be one of the best kept retirement values in the USA.This version was edited April 24, 2019.Please credit copies to the Bristol Village Computer Club www.bvres.org/bvcchome.htmlSee the BVCC choolhouse.html for other LibreOfficetutorials.Page 10 of 10
Creating Greeting Cards From the Tool Bar, select the Text Box tool. With the Text tool selected, click in the lower right quadrant of the page and enter A card from me! in the text box. (Feel free to substitute your own name or text). After entering your text, select a point outside the text window to deselect it. When you hover the mouse p
Creating Greeting Cards with LibreOffice Writer The LibreOffice Writer display is shown in Figure-2. If the Sidebar is not shown, from the Menubar select View, Sidebar. In the Sidebar, select the Styles option (1). If there are any Custom Paragraph or Page Styles shown in the Custom Styles list, delete them (2)
Grade 1/Adab/Unit 1/Greeting Page 8 of 18 Lesson 3c: How to return the greeting. When someone greets you with a greeting, you return the greeting. There are several ways you can return the greeting; “wa Alaykum us salaam” (and peace be upon you) “Wa Alaykum us salaam wa rahmatullahi” (and peace and the mercy of Allah be upon you)
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Presented at the Greeting Card Association Workshop & Retreat 2022 @StephenJLind. What Small Businesses are Doing with Greeting Cards and Why. . Small Business GC Greeting Card WHS Winter Holiday Season. METHOD. A survey of U.S. small businesses. Sources: [1] United States Census Bureau 2020; [2] Small Business & Entrepreneurship .
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Have a brain storming session where they generate 10-15 themes. (Be patient, they'll get there eventually.) After they generate the list, allow people to talk in behalf of specific ideas Sometimes they may combine items Give everyone 3 votes and go through the list voting. If there is a clear winner then proceed. Otherwise repeat the process, but with one vote. Post the chosen theme .
