Printing Holiday Cards on Your Desktop

Or How to Be Creative and Avoid a Trip to the Drugstore

By Allan Weitz

If you wish your holiday greeting cards were more personable (more you?), perhaps it's time to start creating them yourself. Many desktop printers come bundled with software containing greeting card format templates, and even if they don't, most imaging applications, including Photoshop CS/2/3, and Elements, enable desktop printing to pretty much any format you can think of. A quick Google search will also turn up freebie greeting card templates to satisfy most any need.

Assuming your printer is 'greeting card ready', the first thing you'll want to do is pick a paper stock that fits your needs. Inkjet greeting cards are available in gloss, matte, and fine art surfaces. A number of them are double-sided and many come pre-packaged with envelopes. While glossy surfaces mimic the look and feel of postcards, many of the fine art papers are museum quality (archival) and depending on the printer and inkset used, can be matted, framed, and admired years for years to come.

The following is a selection of cardstocks we carry that, with a bit of imagination, will allow you to express your own personal holiday greetings, besides saving you a trip to the drugstore.

Hewlett-Packard Premium Photo Greeting Cards are 240 gsm/10 mil smudge-proof glossy cards measuring 4 x 8". They come in packs of 40 and include envelopes.

Inkpress Archival Greeting Cards come in the form of 80 lb, dual-sided sheets measuring 7 x 10". Each sheet is pre-scored to fold up into 5 x 7" greeting cards. There are 20 a rchival (acid and lignin-free) cards per pack along with matching envelopes.

Designed for use with – but not restricted to - Canon Selphy-series inkjet printers, the Canon Compact Photo Printer Greeting Card Kit contains 24 sheets of 4 x 8" glossy inkjet cardstock with envelopes.

Epson's Photo Quality Ink Jet Cards measure 4 x 6", are finished in an ultra-smooth matte surface, and come in packs of 50. Printable on both s ides, Epson inkjet cards meet postcard rate standards for mailing purposes.

Cranes, a well-respected American paper manufacturer, produces a full line of fine art quality inkjet greeting cards under the name Museo, which are available in the following sizes; 3.8 x 9.1" (panorama), 5.25 x 5.25", 5.5 x 7.5", and 4.5 x 6".

Available in a choice of 10 or 50 sheet packs, Museo greeting card stock weighs in at 220 gsm and a thickness of14 mil. Envelopes are included.

Moab Entrada Rag Bright 300 Paper (Matte, 2-sided, 300 gsm) - 5x7" - 25 SheetsMoab is another fine art media manufacturer that produces several card-style 100% rag card stocks including Entrada Fine Art Bright 5 x7", a hefty, double-sided, 300 gsm acid & lignin-free fine art paper, which comes 25 sheets to a pack.

You can print holiday greeting cards on most Epson, Canon, and HP desktop printer, and if you are currently on the prowl for a new printer, we carry a wide selection of printers to fit most any budget and/or output needs.

Free online greeting and holiday card tutorials along with card templates for a variety of occasions are available from Epson (The Epson Creative Zone), Canon (Canon Creative Park), and HP (HP Home & Office Activity Center).

Though most printers available today accept heavier (thicker) paper stocks, check your manual to see if your printer can handle media thicker than 200 gsm before you go out and order paper that won't feed through your particular printer. You should also keep in mind if your printer uses dye-based inks, there's a chance the image will begin fading by Valentine's Day if it's taped to the fridge, and perhaps Memorial Day if kept tucked away from light and humidity.

On the other hand, if your printer uses any of the more durable inksets, your cards will undoubtedly bring smiles to faces for years to come.