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Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Making Valentine's Cards Using Clip Art


Valentine's Day truly is a "homemade" holiday in our house. Not only am I making some gifts, but I'm also making Valentine's cards, using free clip art. Clip art really makes card-making easy. As with other projects, I am using clip art from Graphic's Fairy. My Mac came preloaded with the apple word-processing program Pages. I also have MSWord on my laptop. However, I find pages is easier to manipulate images and transpose type over images. So, whenever I am using clip art, I choose Pages for my creating.

Things that Pages can do with which I have difficulty when using Word:
  • duplicate images rapidly to create all-over patterns
  • flip images vertically and horizontally, then adjust the angle of the image (for placing images on a diagonal)
  • provide guidelines for placement of images
  • overlay text on images without using a photo editor
  • easily move images around without the text or other images jumping out of placement
Here are two Valentine's Day cards that I made using Pages. I used a combination of clip art, simple frames available on Pages, and text available on Pages. 


On the left, the filigree heart is a frame from Graphic's Fairy, and the roses are from Graphic's Fairy as well. I overlaid a text box to include the greeting. The shadow frame around the composition is an option on Pages. The floral bouquets are from 2 images. I duplicated and flipped each to obtain a mirror image effect. I also adjusted the angle on the floral images to suit my composition.

On the right, The retro heart and smaller heart pairs are images from Graphic's Fairy. I added the greeting banner using a text box with white fill, overlaying the message on the heart image. I adjusted the angle of the greeting with a simple Pages feature. The pair of hearts were plain, so I overlaid a text box with the message "You + Me" in white text. The large heart is surrounded with a simple frame available on Pages.


At the top of the full sheet is a custom "made by" emblem. I used images from the cards and text to create this. Pages allowed me to flip the text and small image upside down, so that once the card was folded, the "made by" emblem would be right-side-up.

The nitty-gritty. I was able to print 2 cards on 1 sheet of paper, using landscape orientation and cutting the sheet in half after printing. I only have black ink, so my cards are black and white. I had 1 print out that I thought needed adjustments before a final copy, meaning I printed 2 sheets. So, my copies were 3 cents each (paper and ink), or 6 cents total. That's 3 cents per Valentine's Day card. If I decide to make more of the same cards, then those Valentine cards drops to 1 and 1/2 cents per card.

A little project that I really enjoyed making, and it saved me some money.

6 comments:

  1. Very nice! I especially like the filigree heart. You have outdone me in Valentine's frugality. I get cards from the dollar store, buy small Whitman's heart candy boxes for my kids, and make a pie for my husband (the way to his heart!!). Still thinking about what I can do for my mom--I'd kinda like to take her out for lunch if our weather ever moderates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      I love the filigree heart, too.
      Your Valentine's Day plans sound festive and frugal, as well. I hope that you can take your mom out for lunch. I think you'd both really enjoy that. Have a great weekend, Kris!

      Delete
  2. Hmmm. Trying to comment Lili. Just figuring out how to do it the last few have not gone through. I know it’s on my end to figure it out.
    I have bags of vintage valentines I purchased at a church rummage sale years ago. These along with some huge punch out valentines get used.
    This year I found valentine puzzles at my favourite thrift store and half price fair trade chocolates at Ten Thousand Villages
    Also want to say my sympathies on the recent loss of your FIL. No matter the age , loss is still felt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Teresa.
      Your Valentine's sounds frugal and festive, as well! What great deals you found on your gifts and cards. Have a lovely weekend!

      Delete
  3. It's fun to work in little projects among all of the shopping, budgeting, etc. You enjoyed making them and I'm sure your daughters will enjoy receiving them. A win, win.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      Thanks. I did enjoy the process of making the cards. And as I've been somewhat housebound all week, I could afford the time to do this little project. Have a wonderful weekend, live and learn!

      Delete

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