Use Kids Art Work to Print Custom Greeting Cards

I posted a cursory mention of my annual kids' artwork gift project on my personal Instagram this week and got a ton of questions on how to brand notecards from the paintings and drawings your child makes throughout the year. So here's how I exercise it!

ane. Relieve Your Kids' Artwork

This might audio obvious, simply the whole projection starts by knowing where to look for the kids' best artwork over the past yr. I employ these piano accordion folder style portfolios from Lakeshore Learning to store artwork from each schoolhouse year. Since I do the projection at Christmastime, I'thou combing through the autumn season of this yr plus annihilation created afterward January of last year.

ii. Choose The Artwork To Make Into Notecards

I have plant that the bold, brilliant pieces that fill up an entire page work best for this project. I do sometimes choose pieces with white space, simply they're my second choice for sure. I likewise try to avert writing or words in the pieces I choose – I like the look of art only.

Here are this year's scanned pieces–aren't they awesome?!

iii. Scan Your Child's Artwork (Or Photograph If Necessary)

I utilize my home printer/scanner to scan each piece and salve to a folder on my calculator (helps to proper noun the files something similar Reid-Butterfly or Violet-Flowers for when you're making the cards later on). If your scanner allows you the pick, scan at a college resolution (at to the lowest degree 300dpi) and make sure the files are saving as a .jpg or .png (as opposed to a .pdf).

Don't exist afraid to scan pieces that are slightly 3D due to collage work or other elements. My scanner did neat with Violet'due south leap branches this year, and those were actually little balls of tissue paper!

This guy had to exist photographed because he was too large for the scanner.

For those pieces too large to fit into my scanner, I photograph them. If yous're going to do this, lay the piece flat on a surface that is well lit only not as well brilliant (yous want to avert any contrast from brilliant lite and shadow patterns, including shadows from the camera overhead). Hold your phone or camera directly over the piece, parallel to the surface it'due south lying on, then you're capturing it at the same bending. Crop or adapt rotation as necessary, and relieve the photo file to the aforementioned location as the scanned artwork.

iv. Upload Artwork & Blueprint Note Cards

I have used VistaPrint to brand my notecards the terminal few years because it'southward very affordable and I have a ton of blueprint control. I start with the blank folded five.five″ ten 4″ cards.

Follow the instructions to personalize the cards by uploading your scanned artwork as the front of the bill of fare. You tin can rotate, ingather, etc., inside the design platform. I prefer for the artwork to fill the unabridged space, but you can choose what looks best.

As you move through the design options, you'll want to delete the templated pattern elements that VistaPrint offers (frames, graphic elements, sample text) and so that you're working with a completely blank card on the inside.

For the back of the card, I put "Art by [Kid's Name]" in a small font on the bottom (if you start with one of their templates for the back that includes text, you can then shrink and motility the text from there).

A Note For The Spatially Challenged!

This carte du jour style defaults to a horizontal orientation, which means it opens from the lesser up and the artwork is landscape-manner. If you're leaving the inside blank, y'all tin easily use the aforementioned pattern for portrait-style artwork–you lot just accept to mentally rotate the blueprint to make sure it won't come dorsum upside downwardly! (As you await at the card, the top of your fine art would be on the right side of the horizontal-looking carte du jour.)

This also means that the "Art past…." text on the back volition need to motility and rotate for portrait-oriented designs. This is advanced-level mental object rotation! When you look at the back of the card in the preview, the text should be on the right side, with the bottom of the letters closest to the carte edge.

five. Add To Cart & Repeat

The first fourth dimension y'all become through the process, everything will accept longer. Practiced news! Once y'all terminate the first card and add it to your cart, you tin work from that first design to make the next and it'due south much faster.

You lot'll have choices equally you move through the ordering process. I choose the free white envelopes and the standard matte card stock. In one case the first card is in your cart, navigate to My Account > My Portfolio and and so Edit a Copy of your first carte. From there you tin modify the commencement design and society a second.

I typically create two-three card designs per kid and club a set of 10 or 20. And so, when the sets go far, I create "variety packs" from a mix of the designs to requite every bit gifts. I necktie them up in kitchen twine (with the corresponding number of envelopes), wrap, and souvenir to relatives and loved ones.

This is not at all sponsored by VistaPrint – I've called them because I've had good luck with their blueprint platform and discover them very affordable. We e'er disclose when we make any affiliate or advertizement income from recommending a product or service, and in this case I go nothin'–but wanted to share my process! -S

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Source: https://themomhour.com/notecards-from-kids-art/

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