Free Christmas Card Templates

Printing your own Christmas cards can be a lot of fun because you can choose your own a href="http://blog.christmaslettertips.com/2009/07/09/christmas-card-greetings/"Christmas card greetings/a and add your own flair to designs you find online. Using templates can help make the process smooth and fun, but here are some tips to keep in mind before you get started.

b1. Make sure you have enough ink./b Christmas cards are printed in full colors and require a lot of ink. Choosing cards with a lot of white space will help lessen the need for ink, but you" ll="ll" still="still" want="want" to="to" be="be" sure="sure" you="you" have="have" plenty="plenty" of="of" supplies="supplies" print="print" as="as" many="many" cards="cards" />2. Clean your print head. Ink smudges can ruin a card, so be sure your printer is in top shape before you start sending paper through. If you don't know how to

3. Use a high quality print mode. Skip the draft or text modes on your printer and select a higher level of printing, especially if you'll be printing photos. This will make sure the ink appears solid and smooth and the colors are rich.

4. Don't skimp on paper. Your cards will look better if you purchase a heavy weight paper designed especially for printing cards rather than using the regular inkjet paper you use for everyday printing. Splurge on a nice matte or glossy paper to ensure top quality cards.

5. Start early. If you're going to be printing all your cards rather than buying premade ones, be sure to give yourself enough time to get everything printed, signed, addressed and sent. You'll be glad you did!

American Greetings is a great place to go for free printable Christmas card templates. The greeting card giant offers a variety of cards for Christmas, Hanukkah and other occasions, and you can get access to all of it by signing up for a free 14-day trial membership. Once signed up, you'll have access to all of the great templates, including folded holiday cards, photo greeting card templates such as the one shown here, holiday stationery, Santa's Nice List certificates, and even do-it-yourself holiday coupon books.

American Greetings makes it easy to customize any of their templates with their online program that allows you to create, save, preview and then print your creations. There's no limit to the number of cards or other projects you can create during your free trial, so check out American Greetings to get started.

Since HP sells paper, it's no wonder they encourage do-it-yourself Christmas cards. At the HP Activity Center, you'll find a variety of holiday templates, including cards, ornaments, gift tags, recipe cards, coloring pages and more. You'll find plenty of Christmas printables here.

HP has made it easy to edit all of these free projects online with their editing tools. You can add your own text, photos or artwork, and then preview the image before you're ready to print. Instructions are easy to follow, and you can import photos directly from HP's Snapfish site.

Xerox's card templates give you a lot of choices. Many have options to be opened in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat pdf, and you'll find matching stationery, gift tags and gift wrap with some of the cards. So if you want to coordinate all your holiday printables, this is a great place to go. They offer a nice selection of themes, including two Hanukkah designs and a photo card template that allows you to add your own photo or image to the card. Greeting cards are available in A4 and half-fold sizes.

Some of the best card sites on the web for printable cards as well as e-cards are American Greetings and Blue Mountain. These sites charge a fee for continued use of their service, but you can get full access to the site and thousands of great printable projects with a free 30-day trial.

Print your own cards, matching envelopes, holiday stationery, gift tags and much more during your trial, and get access to thousands of e-cards.

Microsoft has a variety of free holiday card templates, as well as postcards, mailing labels and stationery for the season. You'll find templates here that are designed to be used with MS Word, Excel, Publisher, Access and PowerPoint. You can also filter the results to see only designs for specific software, such as Microsoft Word. Simply look for the "Filter by Product" icons in the top left hand sidebar of the page.

For free digital Christmas cards, Smilebox is one of my favorite sites. It's incredibly easy to use, has a great selection of designs, and - best of all - offers it all for free. You can create a digital card or slideshow using one of their hundreds of templates and send it to all your friends and family at no cost, if you don't mind a few ads on the side. Or if you don't like ads, you can upgrade to the premium, ad-free version of any design for only $2.99 or sign up for the 14-day free trial and enjoy all the premium benefits for free for two weeks.

The web is also a great place to find other kinds of free Christmas templates, such as letters from Santa.

For free Santa letter templates, sign up for a free trial membership at American Greetings and look for the Santa letters in the Christmas Print and Create category, or personalize and print free Santa letters online at Free Santa Letters.net.

You can also get free printable Santa letters (in .pdf or MS Word format) or inexpensive printable Santa letters you can personalize in MS Word format at Christmas Letter Tips.com.

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