DIY Personalized Notecards

By Kate Riley August 29, 2013

I love personalized notecards with names and monograms, they add something extra special to written correspondence. I decided to make my own notecards with designs I created so I that I had an abundance of choices when I needed to print and send a quick note as a thank you or to attach to a gift.

Adding fonts or typography to images can be done with Photoshop or Illustrator but many people don’t have access to that software. You can do it with Microsoft Word too as long as you have a template to start with and use the Text Box tool. Here’s how I created all of these personalized note cards with downloadable templates and Microsoft Word.

diy personalized notecards with microsoft word

  personalized notecards diy

 

First, just a bit of background on the designs themselves: I made them by playing in Photoshop Elements, creating diagonal stripes, a Greek key pattern, a confetti pattern, and using my leopard fabric pattern repeat too. I used basic Photoshop Elements shapes to create the rectangle, square or oval label on top (glimpse below).

elipse tool

If you want to learn the Photoshop tools yourself, sign up for user friendly classes at Shoot Fly Shoot! (affiliate link)

To create the printable templates, I used Microsoft Word with the Microsoft Office 2010 software. If you have Microsoft Word, download any of the notecard Word templates (find them here) and get started adding your own text or monogram. Insert a simple text box over the top of the template where you want to place your font.

insert simple text box

 

Make sure you choose “no fill” for both the Shape Fill and the Shape Outline selections, which makes the edges and background of the text box transparent (just like in Photoshop and Illustrator, wahoo!)

no shape fill

no outline on text box

 

Choose the style and color font you wish to use from any of the fonts stored on your computer using the font selection tool in Word (see list of font suggestions below).

layer fon

 

You can move the text box around to center your type or get creative with its placement.

layer font in word

 

Hey I know that girl… use text box for name

 

I saved my final notecard Word docs as a PDF for better quality printing. I found that my printer didn’t want to print a Word doc outside a “printable area” but it was fine with a PDF.

save as pdf

 

These templates are all formatted to work with Avery quarter fold greeting cards (I found mine at Staples) but you can print them on your own basic 8 ½ x 11” white cardstock and trim them with scissors.

print on avery greeting cards

I ended up with a thin white border on many of the designs, but again you can trim your notecards with scissors if you prefer a clean edge.

Use the templates to make personalized or monogrammed note cards…

monogrammed and personalized

… or to add your own generic, celebratory, or cheeky sentiments.

generic diy note cards

diy personalized notecard collection

 

Pack them up in the envelopes for when you need them for gifts or correspondence.

diy notecards with microsoft word

 

Looking to add  to your font collection? Check out my Pinterest Typography and Fonts board which will lead you to a lot of good ones.

fonts on pinterest

 

If you want to skip the “add your own font” part and simply download these printable notecards, find them here.

printable notecards

Easy, creative, and fun!  My favorite kind of DIY project.

Enjoy the templates and printables !

 

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4 comments

  1. This was a great post. I had no idea how to do this with word and was thrilled to learn. Thanks Kate. As always great post! Where is your fabric line?

  2. OMG! This post just saved my life. It was something stupid that I was overlooking. Thank you!

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