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Looking for a little DIY fun this holiday season?
This is the first part of a two part article.
In this first section, well tackle design in MS Word.
Go Beyond Microsoft Clipart!
One of the common mistakes of designing in Word is looking in the Clipart menu for graphics.
One great resource for great images is the Flickr Creative Commons.
By doing anAdvanced Search, you might search through hundreds of user photos narrowed by license.
Use any search criteria you like.
Christmas as a search term worked wonders for me.
Simply ensure you have Creative-Commons content checked in the illustrated part of the menu.
Another good resource isDoverPublications.com, a company that sells edited collections of public domain graphics and illustrations as clipart.
While not all of the art is useful, it is surprising how high quality some of it is.
Our First task is to add some of our photographs and clipart pics.
Navigate to Insert > Picture as illustrated above.
Pick the image that suits you best.
snag the image with your mouse, then navigate to the area of your ribbon called Picture Tools.
Picture tools should look something similar to this illustration.
Youll see an area marked Picture Styles.
nudge the drop-down tab, and pick one that suits you and your image.
Soft Edge Rectangle, shown here, seems a good choice for a warm, fuzzy Christmas card.
The font pictured above is Vivaldi.
Use whatever fonts you have or want to take the time to install.
Word will use your last font by default.
Keep in mind, it may not be the one you want to use!
Using various point sizes, small and large, can add emphasis to some words over others.
you might edit point sizes on the Home menu of your ribbon.
Navigate to Insert > Picture if you care to add another image to the inside of your card.
Returning to Picture Tools, you’re able to select a handsome Picture Style for your inside art.
The above is Reflected Rounded Rectangle.
Adding some simple text below the image rounds the design out simply and nicely.
Dover Clipart assumed fair use.
