Windows software for creating greetings cards

Chloe_G

I've got print on demand shops but print my own cards at home to give to family and friends - can anyone recommend the best software to create my own cards?  At the moment I am using publisher but I find the text boxes really hard to manipulate and the guides/centering hard to use.  I also use the free version of Canva but that is really limited eg resizing etc all seems to cost money.   I suppose I could design in Canva and then download and put into a publisher template to print but wondered if anyone uses any other software/website which is free and easy.  Thank you.

Nodette

Hi Chloe - I have used Serif DrawPlus and Serif PagePlus to print my own cards, posters etc.

I just did a search and Serif doesn't appear to exist any more but there seem to be several places on the internet where you can download both programs for free (darn, I had to pay £30 for mine, several years ago). Both programs are very intuitive and easy to use. And you can move work between them - you can create a special effect image in DrawPlus and cut and paste it into PagePlus, for example. 

I started out using it at home like you want to do, for cards and so on. But when I started work for a youth club and they wanted me to design posters for their events, I just could not work out how to do things easily in Publisher. So I persuaded them to get Serif and it ended up with all the local youth clubs using it because it was so straightforward.

I hope this helps.

Nodette

Chloe_G

Hi @Nodette

Thanks for your reply!  I will check out the Serif programs today - they sound really good.  I plan to stay indoors over the hot weather so will have plenty of time to test it out.

Thank you!

Jenna_Appleseed

Serif still exist they just abandoned their old programmes and switched to creating/selling Affinity software (Photo is image editing similar to Photoshop, Designer is for vector designs/digital painting, & Affinity Publisher is layout/desktop publishing) 

Main forum is only for the Affinity range but they'd got an offical thread re the Drawplus/PagePlus software
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/164377-information-about-the-legacy-plus-range/

Unofficial fan forum for the old software that Serif staff have given their blessing to
https://punster.me/serif/

Ally

I use Paint.NET.  It is bare bones but it is free and there are plenty of add-ons 

Chloe_G

Yes, I've got paint.net - it's really good and I use it to create images.  The only thing I find awkward is laying out a card with the right dimensions/guidelines etc so it prints correctly on my printer.  Used Canva for my last card but whenever I download it seems to change the image size and I have to get around it by choosing fit to page when I print.

Ally

@Chloe_G I've never actually tried printing from P.N, I usually send to word and print from there.

Chloe_G

I just find it doesn't size properly - I mean I set the size exactly but when it comes to printing and I have imported to Publisher or Word it seems to change it slightly so the images and text aren't centred.

Ally

I create a canvas the same dimensions of a card then centre images/text on P.N then copy image over to word and resize there and print.  I usually print cards on A4 card then cut down to size once it's folded in half (into a card) ... hope that makes sense!

Robm1955

Inkscape is a great free alternative, for creative design. Plus, there are loads of tutorials on YouTube.

Chloe_G

I've got Inkscape - mainly use it for Tracing Bitmaps to smooth lines out.  I really wish I had more time to watch all the tutorials!  I just seem to constantly run out of time.