The idea for this article came from an order to make thank you cards for a friend. Not wanting to use the photograph used for her cards, I took a photo of a yellow rose in my garden. A little research on the internet taught me the history of yellow roses and that the “primary significance was joy, friendship and get well.” I also learned that the color yellow signifies “joy, wisdom and power”(1). Based on this I decided this yellow rose image would be perfect for a friendship card.

The rose picture was inserted on the page. Selecting the image brings the Picture Tools format bar into view. Under Picture Tools the heart shape was selected from Picture Shape to crop the photograph as shown here. A Picture Border of gold with a 6pt weight outline was added.

This next step is optional, depending if you have a graphics program that can fit text along a path. In this case, the heart shaped picture was copied and then pasted into Photoshop and saved as a Photoshop file. The picture could also be pasted into Publisher and then saved as a jpeg. In CorelDraw, the rose image was imported and using the Basic Shapes tool a heart shape outline was drawn a little bigger than the image. The words inspired by the definition of yellow roses, were written. Using the Fit Text to Path function, the words were fit along the heart shape. The image was then exported as a jpeg file.

For the setup of the card I decided to use one of the templates that come with Word. Under Templates, Cards was selected, then Note Cards and the template chosen had two cards next to each other. This setup will work with several of the Avery card stocks that can be purchased at any office supply store. Once opened everything on the card was deleted and the rose picture was inserted. The image was re-sized and centered on the front of the card, then copied and pasted on the second card.

One thing to note. Some of the templates are designed using the table function in Word. When using the table function, some of the Picture Tools are not available, such as the styles and shapes options. Therefore it is a good idea to apply picture styles first and then copy and paste your final image into the template card file.

As you can see from the image the template is setup with a smaller image on the backside of the card. To do this, copy the image and paste it on the top half of the page, and under Rotate, Flip Vertical. Re-size and move the image to where you want it placed. On the back I also wanted to place text, but I couldn’t find a way to rotate the text. Then I applied Word Art to it. Once I applied Word Art to the text, rotate became an option under Word Art Tools.

The templates that I looked at, none of them had a page setup for the inside of the card. So I saved the card, deleted everything on it and typed my message at the bottom where the front of the card was. After printing the front, I flipped the paper over so when I inserted it back into the printer, the inside text would be printed on the reverse side of the back of the card. I now have two friendship cards that I am going to cut, fold and sign and send to two of my friends!

(1) History and Meaning of Yellow Roses, by Samantha Green - http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/rosemeanings/yellowrose-meanings.aspx