Make // Turn Kid's Art into a Card

Have you ever wanted to create a card using your child's artwork? Or perhaps your own? Here's how!

Before I get too far into it, you'll need a scanner (or camera phone, camera with wifi, etc.) and Photoshop or other photo editing software for this project-- I have Photoshop Elements 9.

This project came about when my 5 year old spent some time coloring a picture and wanted to share it with a bunch of people-- grandma, nana, friend, teacher, etc. I tried to persuade him to color more pictures, but he was determined that THIS was his "masterpiece" and nothing could convince him otherwise.

So, with a little help from our scanner/printer and Photoshop, we were able to give all of the peeps on his list a custom, Made by L card. You can add a background or not. Since it's almost VDay, we added a heart background and turned it into a Valentine's Day Card. I also did a couple with a chalkboard background and font.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

How to turn hand drawn art into a card

materials needed:

child's artwork or perhaps your own!
Photoshop or other photo editing software
scanner or other way to get art onto computer (i.e. camera photo)
photo paper or card stock
printer (or send it to a local printer)

instructions:

Scan & Photoshop...

Scan or take a photo of the artwork and open the file in Photoshop Elements.

Create new project file...

Open the File Menu and click New > Blank File

Select a print size, I chose 5 x 7 inches.

Copy with Magnetic Lasso Tool...

Select the magnetic lasso tool and highlight around the outline of the drawing. It should look like moving "ants" when the outline is complete.

Copy & Paste into New File...

Copy (edit > copy) the outlined selection and paste it (edit > paste) into the new 5x7 file. Resize the artwork so that it fits on your card properly.

**Optional - Add a background...

If desired, find a decorative background (create your own or find one online) and save it to your computer. Open the file in Photoshop. Make sure to add a new layer before adding the background.

**Optional - Create a speech bubble...

Open a new file. Click the "Cookie Cutter Tool" which looks like a cut-out star. On the drop down menu at the top/left part of the screen, click on the two white arrows ">>" and select "Talk Bubbles". Select the speech bubble shape of your choice.

Use the mouse to draw and size the speech bubble in the new document.

Then drag the speech bubble onto your card. Flip and resize as necessary.

Add text...

Now it's time to add the text! Open a new layer. Select the "text button" and on the top/left part of the screen, choose the font and font size of your choice.

To print multiple cards...

If you want to print multiple cards, you'll want to Open the File menu and select "Picture Package".

Select the size of the cards. In this case, two 5x7 cards will fit on one 8.5 x 11" paper. If you choose 4x6, three cards will fit on one 8.5 x 11" paper.

A new document will open. Make sure the cards are properly centered. If it isn't, use your mouse to reposition the cards.

Select File > Print. Insert photo paper or card stock into your printer before hitting "Print".

That's it!

sources//
heart background via my cute graphics
kg two is better than one font via kimberly geswein on dafont
chalkboard background via how to nest for less
return to sender font via tom kolter on dafont
dinosaur via coloring.ws (we got it from a local restaurant)