How to Use Digital Cards

I am the hostess for two digital card challenges, one at Digitals and a new one at DSO. The Digitals challenge has a sketch and the DSO challenge is a theme.  They’re FUN!

But have you ever wondered WHAT you can do with cards that you create digitally?  Basically you can go one of two routes:

• Keep it digital
• Make it paper.

Keep it Digital

This is the personalized version of free or paid e-cards.  It is totally acceptable to send digital cards these days! We recently received a digital invitation to a wedding.  It was really lovely AND eco-friendly.  So how can you deliver your card?

• Email a web-sized version.  Make it big enough for the receiver to be able to view it on their screen without scrolling but not so big that it clogs up their email when they go to download it. Include the sentiment in the body of the email.
• Upload to a scrapping gallery and send the link to the recipient.  Upload like you normally would to share on your favorite site. Include the sentiment in the photo description if you wish or put it into the email. Copy the URL from the address bar and paste it into the body of the email. This is a good option when you know the recipient has slow internet!
• Upload to a photo sharing site. If you already have an account at a site such as Flickr or Photobucket, upload and link like described above.  Or explore the photo sharing possibilities that the site might offer.
• Share with Facebook. Upload to your photo album and share the link with the recipient.  To do this, go to the photo and you will see a link at the bottom right to SHARE it.  Choose “send as a message”.  Alternatively, there is a TINY text link at the bottom of the photo page where you can share with people who are NOT on Facebook.  You can also TAG your uploaded card with the recipient’s name.
• OTHER? Do you have a different way to share a digital card with the recipient?  Please post in the comments section!

Make it Paper

If the idea of making a hybrid card kind of scares you, take heart.  I have two very simple ideas for turning your digital card into a printed creation.  I used to be SERIOUSLY into card making.  I mean, a super addict.  I hosted swaps and challenges and was a independent consultant for two different stamping companies but I am confident that these two methods should be minimally scary. (And if not, stick with digital delivery!)

I was going to say, “If you can wrap a birthday present, you can do this,” but then I realized my present-wrapping skills are heroically dismal so actually… even if you can’t wrap a birthday present you can do this!

A word about card sizes and envelope. I like to make my cards sized at 4.25” x 5.5” inches because this is a quarter sheet of paper or one-half a sheet of paper folded into a card.  Envelopes in this size are readily available around me at places like Office Depot or Office Max. They are usually called “Invitation” size.  The exact size of the envelope is 4 3/8” x 5 3/4”.

METHOD 1 – FOLDED CARD

This method takes a tiny bit more work digitally but is easy to execute with the paper and uses fewer supplies.

You will need:

finished digital card, layers flattened.

8.5x11 matte photo paper

paper trimmer or metal straight-edge, exacto knife and cutting mat

optional: bone folder.  If you know what that is, you know how to use it too.

The trick in this method is to set up your card on a standard piece of paper in your photo editing program so you can print, fold and send.

Create a new canvas that is 8.5” x 11”. Then drag your flattened card to that canvas and turn 90 degrees.  Move it down toward the bottom of the canvas but don’t forget about your printer margins. You should have something like this.  Load your nice matte paper and hit the print button -

Now it’s time to cut.  I like to start with the bottom of the sheet – which will be the right (open) edge of the card when it’s folded.  I just cut away the grey areas as shown below according to the measurements shown.

Now just fold it in half and your card is ready to be signed and sent. When I do cards this way, I handwrite my message or sentiment because it’s meant to be REALLY SIMPLE and a hand-written note can be a welcome gesture.

NOTE: You might be tempted to do two of these side-by-side on one piece of paper and use your borderless printing option if you are trying to be frugal and save paper.  I have tried this with 2 different printers and was not successful because my printers’ drivers actually “blow up” the image a bit so ultimately the folding place was thrown off and my cards weren’t the right size for my envelopes anymore.  You might have different results though!

METHOD 2 – LAYERED CARD

I use this method quite a lot because I have a ton of nice cardstock left over from my paper scrapping days. This method calls for a few more supplies. 

You will need:

finished digital card, layers flattened

photo paper, your choice of finish and quality

one half-sheet of cardstock that coordinates with your card design – folded in half

photo adhesive or glue stick

paper trimmer or metal straight-edge, exacto knife and cutting mat

optional: bone folder.  If you know what that is, you know how to use it too.

This time, the printing is easy.  Simply print your 4.25” x 5.5” card on photo paper of your choice and then cut it out with your trimmer or exacto knife at the edges of the card design.  Then, using your adhesive, just stick the digital card to the front of folded cardstock.  Again, you can handwrite your sentiment.

If you wish, you can ramp this idea up a tiny bit and make your card front 0.25” – 0.5” smaller than your card base (the folded cardstock) so the card base will act like a mat for the card front. You could also ramp up the inside by creating a 4” x 5.25” piece with a poem or sentiment like a store-bought card. It’s up to you how many steps you want to take and which supplies you want to buy if you don’t already have them.

I hope this was helpful and that I see lots of people trying out my card challenges this month!

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Thanks for reading and shopping with me.