2013 Holiday Photo Cards + Template Freebie

I made two kinds of holiday cards this year:  4x6 photo cards and also handmade stamped cards.  Today I’ll show you how I created my photo cards.

I wanted to make our photo cards this year in the 4x6 size for two reasons.  One is that they fit into Project Life pockets.  The other is that I ordered 30 prints from Persnickety Prints.  But if I needed more, I could always print more at home onto 4x6 photo paper last minute. 

I picked out the three photos I wanted to use first.  Then I created a 4x6 layered grid template in Photoshop.  I resized my three photos and used the clipping mask function in PS to “clip” the three photos to the upper left, upper right, and lower middle grids.  Then I colored the other grids (layers) red and typed the quote from the Elf movie into the upper middle grid.  Then I typed in the other sentiment into the lower left grid.  For the lower right grid, I used a reindeer graphic from Miss Tiina and then typed the year next to it. 

I kept key parts of the photos and designs 1/4” away from the borders of the layout, because I knew that with bleed, the printing would cut off parts of the edges of the design.  I saved my file as a jpeg and uploaded it to Persnickety Prints.  I printed it at 4x6 with a pearl finish on cardstock.  It is very thick and nice to hold.  Much thicker than regular photo paper.  And the pearl finish really gave it a sparkly touch.

I wanted to add a slightly handmade and dimensional touch to the photo card, so I dug into my box of sparkly sequins.

And found these silver star sequins.

I used some micro Glue Dots to adhere a few stars to each card.  Now they’re ready to be sent out!

I’m pretty happy with the way these photo cards turned out.  Later this week I will blog about my handmade holiday cards!

I actually made a second design that I didn’t end up getting printed, but I think it’s pretty cute too!

Now I have two free downloads for you!  The first is a 3x4 journal card I made using the same Elf quote on my photo card.  You can use it on your digital layouts or print it out and put it in your December Daily or Project Life albums.

Download:  Elf Quote 3x4 journal card

The second download is the 4x6 layered Photoshop/PSE template that I created for my photo card.

Download:  listgirl 4x6 grid holiday card layered template for PS/PSE

A few notes about the PS/PSE layered template:

• I had to switch out some of the graphics by Miss Tiina, because she does not allow the graphics to be given away in a layered file in her Terms of Use.  So instead of the reindeer, this template has a stocking that I drew.  Of course, if you have other digital graphics that you would rather use, you can switch it out.
• The main font I used for all the text is a free font called Amatic.  If you want to include the “From” line on the bottom left, you can download the font for free and install it so that all the text look the same.  The script font in the Elf quote is Janda Stylish Script by one of my favorite font designers Kimberly Geswein.  You can download it here.  
• If you are completely new to using layered Photoshop or Photoshop Elements templates, you can view a video tutorial by Ali Edwards here.  She also has another video tutorial here.   Cathy Zielske also has a tutorial about working with the layered PS templates here. 

Hope you liked seeing my holiday photo card come together.  Enjoy the free Elf Quote 3x4 Journal Card download and the layered PS template download!  If you create something with either one of these, please link me up in the comments, I would love to see it!  I will be back later this week with my handmade holiday cards.  :)