A personalized greeting card speaks volumes to the recipient. A store-bought card can often have negative connotations of being a last-minute thought, bought on the way to a birthday party or event as a last resort. However, a homemade card is a thoughtful and timeless gift—a personal touch conveying your affection for your loved one.
It’s a common misconception that the average person can’t create a personalized card at home. In fact, all it requires is a printer, some paper, and a bit of patience. Read on to find some tips on creating the best greeting cards with your home printer.
1. Make sure to have quality color ink cartridges
It is essential to make sure you have the right printer ink cartridges for your printer. For example, if you have a Canon printer, it’s advisable to stock up on a multipack of Canon ink cartridges that have all four colors required to print in millions of combinations of vivid shades. With some specialized photo printers, you can print with up to eight ink cartridges for more detailed color shades.
With color ink cartridges, you can really put your own touch on your greetings card. For example, you can print in their favorite color or print an image of the two of you with realistic color shades. You can also save money by stocking up on a multipack as opposed to separate ink cartridges.
2. Buy a quality paper card
For a greetings card, it’s best to invest in some quality card paper as opposed to regular paper. This ensures your card will both look and feel like a high-quality design. It will also allow your card to stand the test of time as it’ll be less flimsy than a paper card.
You can check the thickness of the paper card by the gsm or grams per meter square. The higher the gsm, the superior quality it is. However, it’s important to check if your printer can handle the paperweight that is inserted. Only some models can handle paper or card that is 250-300gsm in thickness.
You can also take it one step further and laminate your card if you have a laminator at home.
3. Change the paper size settings on your printer
It’s important to adjust your printer settings when printing a different size of paper. More than likely, your printer is set to the standard A4 size. You can define the paper size manually in your printer settings before printing. Set the width to the smaller dimension of your paper; the length or height will always be the longer dimension of your sheet. After that, you can change the orientation depending on how your greeting card is laid out.
4. Use design software for the best results
For best results, you can use design software to wow your friend or family member! If you’re not a photoshop whizz, don’t fret, there are plenty of alternatives. Canva is a great design resource with pre-existing templates and design elements available. Likewise, Microsoft Word has a variety of templates readymade to edit to your taste or blank templates to add your own elements.
5. If you’re printing a photo, check which side is printable
Not all cards for inkjet printers are designed for printing photos on both sides. If you’re sure you want to print photos on your card, make sure to buy the correct card paper. If you want to print photos on both sides of the paper, look for card paper that is double-sided or labeled as C2S.
When printing your card’s outside, ensure the photo side comes out first. Set your layout so that when you click print, the printer prints the photo side of the outside of your card first. This means the outside back of your card will come out of the printer last. This is helpful in preventing streaks which can lead to black smudges on the edges of your prints.
6. Clean your printer’s feed rollers
As mentioned above, you want to prevent streaking that could potentially ruin your card design. One way to prevent this is to clean your printer’s rollers before printing. Regular cleaning of your printer’s rollers will ensure that the printer ink doesn’t streak onto your prints and that you’ll get clean, precise lines every time. It can positively affect the quality of your prints, especially for something that has been designed carefully, such as a greeting card.
Conclusion
With these top tips in mind, why not give making a homemade greetings card a go for a truly personal touch. Stock up on printer ink cartridges and paper cards, and you’re good to go!
