Holiday cheer goes lunar: Make your own animated winter solstice e-card

Even your holiday-indifferent friends have got to love the novelty of the year's shortest day. 

December 21, 2010, marks the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight for those living north of the Tropic of Cancer. Less daylight, naturally, means more time for nightlife! That's something to celebrate, in my book. To commemorate the day, I made a fun, twinkly card to email to my friends. And I'll guide you, step-by-step, to show you how to make it. Here's a video of how it will look when you're done:

First, download this image from Office.com. Now you're ready to add the twinkles. Here's how:

1. In PowerPoint 2010, on the File tab, click New, and then double-click Blank Presentation.
2. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the New Slide drop-down menu, and choose Blank. Insert the picture, which is a JPEG, either by pasting a copy of it onto the blank slide, or by choosing your saved image by clicking on the Insert tab, and then clicking Picture.
3. Select the picture. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow next to Copy, and then click Duplicate.
4. Select the new picture (in the main slide window). Under Picture Tools, click the Format tab, and then in the Size group, click Crop.
5. Drag the corner cropping handles (black little right angles) until only a roughly 1" by 1" square of blue sky is left.
6. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Size group, click Crop to end the cropping session.
7. Select the new, cropped picture. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow next to Copy, and then click Duplicate. Repeat the process 4 times for a total of 6 little patches of blue sky.
8. Position each of the little patches over a different star in the original, background picture.
9. Press and hold CTRL+A (Select All). On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click Arrange, and then click Group.
10. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Cut.
11. Also on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste, and then click Paste Special.
12. In the dialog box, select Picture (PNG), and then click OK.
13. Select the new picture (there should be a total of 1 picture on the slide). On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow next to Copy, and then click Duplicate.
14. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Size group, click Crop.
15. Drag the corner cropping handles until the only a .75" by .75" square remains, centered on a little star.
16. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Size group, click Crop to end the cropping session.
17. Select the little star picture. On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation tab, click Add Animation, and then under Entrance click Grow & Turn.
18. On the Animations tab, in the Timing group, in the Start list dropdown, select With Previous, and in the Duration box, enter 0.50.
19. On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, click Add Animation, and then under Emphasis click Grow/Shrink.
20. On the Animations tabs, in the Animation group, click the Show Effect Options dialog box launcher.
21. On the Timing tab, do the following:
    1. In the Repeat list, select Until end of slide.
    2. In the Delay box, enter 0.50.
    3. In the Duration box, enter 1.00.
    4. In the Start list, select With Previous.
    5. Select Rewind when done playing.
22. On the Effect tab, under Settings, in the Size list, select Smaller. 
23. On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, click Add Animation, and then under Emphasis, click Pulse.
24. Also on the Animations tab, in the Animation group, click the Show Effect Options dialog box launcher.
25. On the Timing tab, do the following:
    1. In the Repeat list, select Until end of slide.
    2. In the Delay box, enter 0.50.
    3. In the Duration box, enter 1.00.
    4. In the Start list, select With Previous.
26. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow next to Copy, and then click Duplicate. Repeat this process 4 times for a total of 6 stars.
27. On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, click Animation Pane.
28. In the Animation Pane, Press and hold CTRL while you select the 4^th animation. On the Animations tab, in the Timing group, enter 0.5 into the Delay box.
29. In the Animation Pane, Press and hold CTRL while you select the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th animations. On the Animations tab, in the Timing group, enter 1.00 in the Delay box.

 ...And so on for each of the animated stars. Basically, you want the Grow & Turn of the next star to occur at the beginning of the looped Grow/Shrink & Pulse of the previous.

Then, add your greeting this way:

1. On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Text Box, and place your cursor roughly where you want your text to show on the card.
2. On the Animations tab, in the Animation group, click Fly In.
3. Click Effect Options, and under Direction, click whichever direction you like.
4. On the Timing tab, do the following:
   1. In the Repeat list, select Until end of slide.
   2. In the Delay box, enter 1.00.
   3. In the Duration box, enter 5.00.
   4. In the Start list, select With Previous.

Tip #1: If you get lost, just select an animation in the Animation Pane and open the Effect Options dialog box. All of the settings that you need are there.

Tip #2: If someone on your recipient list doesn't have PowerPoint, have them install the free PowerPoint Viewer to view your card.

Happy solstice! 

-- Kristin Beck, for the PowerPoint blog team