Common publishing
programs such as The Print Shop or Print Master let you print a simple 4-fold
greeting card quickly and easily. By printing in a 4-fold layout, the software
is designed to let you print your greeting card on a standard sheet of
8.5"x11" paper.
Printing greeting cards or invitations on plain white copy paper might seem OK at first, but you can
achieve much better results using "2-up" high-quality coated card
stock. "2-up" simply means that 2 cards come per sheet, so these are
especially useful if you need to print more than one of the same card (which is
often the case!).
In our tutorial, we use
The Print Shop version 22 as our design software, but the method we describe
here works with any layout software that can print simple 4-fold greeting
cards.
The first step is to
select your software's 4-fold layout and format the card. In The Print Shop, we
do this through the following steps: - On the starter screen, click
"Invitations." - Select the option to "Start From Scratch"
and use the Quarter-Fold layout. Then click "Next." - Format the card
according to your project. In our example, we select "Wide" for the
Format and "Top Fold" for the fold style. Once the format is chosen
in The Print Shop, click "Finish."
Next, insert your image
into the card. In The Print Shop: - From the Insert menu on the top toolbar,
select "From File..." - Select the file to open through the standard
dialog.
After inserting any
images you want on the card, you design the card as you normally would. For
cards that feature just a single image on the front cover (as in our video
example), we recommend using an image that is large enough to cover the entire
card. This way, you can stretch the image so that it extends past the edges of
the card, which will allow you to print right up to the border of the card for
a very professional look (if your printer supports printing to the edge).
After designing your
card, you are ready to print it from your software. Before printing on
high-quality 2-up cards, we recommend setting your printer to its optimal print
quality settings. If the option is available to tell the printer what paper is
in the tray, select "glossy," "photographic," or
"premium" stock. And if you are printing to the edge of the card, be
sure to enable your printer's border less printer capability if the option is
available.
Print a single card onto
the 2-up sheet. Then you will want to place the just-printed sheet back into
your printer such that it will print on the card across from the one you just
printed. On our HP Photo smart D 7200, we turn the sheet over by its short side
so that the first image is facing down, then place the sheet back in the
printer. (You may have to turn the sheet differently, depending on your
printer).Print the same card again, and it will print onto the other card on
your sheet, giving you two cards. Fold this sheet down the middle and break the
two cards apart. Then, fold each card along the score for a perfectly
even-folded card.
In addition to the higher
quality, don't forget the other advantages of using 2-up cards: - The cards are
scored for guided folding. This means you only have to fold them once, and they
will fold perfectly even. - You print 2 of the same card per sheet. The cards are
perforated down the middle so they can be easily broken into 2 cards. - The
stock not only looks nicer than plain paper but is thicker and has a more
professional feel.
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