H.U.TAYLOR - Greeting Cards



	HOW TO PRINT YOUR CARDS


	To print the greeting cards you will need an inkjet or laser printer with colour ink.

	There has been much debate about non-brand ink versus original ink, and the debate will probably go on and on. One thing is for sure; the type of INK you use has less impact on printing quality compared to what type of PAPER you choose! Print one of these cards on normal plain paper and you will get very disappointed (and you will drain your ink tank unnecessary, as plain paper draw MORE ink than photo paper). Print the same card on high gloss photo paper and it can look as the card comes straight from the shelves in W.H.Smiths (just to name one). You can buy paper especially made for greeting cards, paper that is already folded and comes with envelopes, or you can carefully fold the paper after printing and buy the envelopes separately. Most of the paper you can buy for greeting cards are too thin, they feel a lot thinner than any card you can pick up from the shops and therefore appear a bit 'home made'. Be sure to buy as thick paper as possible and expect prices miles away from plain printing paper for text only. Some of the cards you can download here are made for glossy paper only, most of the cards can be printed on both matte and glossy paper.

	All the cards to download are made for WHITE paper only.

	Most of the cards are made for A4 size paper to be folded once. One card for each page to fit in a C5 envelope. Some cards are square, and when folded they will fit into a business type envelope, but you will need to cut away a strip of paper on each side. Guide lines are marked on each card for where to cut where applicable.

	Printing instructions
	Open the file in a picture viewer or picture editor, click on 'file' choose 'print' and make sure to use the following settings:

	Paper quality: Read instructions for the paper you have chosen
	Print: Colour
	Paper size: A4
	Orientation: Landscape
	Fit: Fit to page, or 100%, or normal printing - it really depends what your printing program calls it. Try several settings in draft mode on text paper if in doubt.

	Optional: Borderless printing
	This makes edge to edge printing, but is not necessary unless the card you have chosen has a picture that covers the whole front. The Christmas Carol Cards will for example look much better with borderless printing if possible, while most of the birthday cards will look the same whichever way you choose. Please note that not all printers have the option of borderless or edge to edge printing.

	Some useful tips
	Before committing to your expensive photo paper make sure to print a DRAFT using plain paper in Black&White, just to see how the card will appear on the page. Do you need to adjust the settings? If you have a preview on your printer wizard, now is the time to turn it on, it will save you time, ink and paper.

	If you don't get it right the first time around, try again. Most printers have their own way of loading the paper and it would be impossible to make a description here for all types.

	If you choose to print text on the inside of the card, make sure you put the paper back in the tray the right way so you don't get both prints on the same side. It is best to print inside text of the card first and then the outside, as some printers might make a track on the picture when printing the reverse side. This is less likely to be a problem when the inside text is printed first.

	Some types of greeting card paper has a little logo on the back of the card (page 4 when folded). Make sure this logo actually ends up on page 4 and not upside down on page 1! Yep, I have done all the errors you can possibly think of, just trying to avoid you having to do them all too :-)

	Please note: If you are trying to view the downloaded cards in your normal picture viewer the cards will appear as being incredibly large. This is due to the difference in how a PC monitor is viewing a picture and how it will appear on paper after being printed. All the cards are made to fit on A4 paper in landscape mode.


	Good luck!