Making Valentine's Day Cards with Word

I want my Valentine's Day card to be as special as the special someone I'm giving it to, and I'm not so good with scissors and glue. So I'm going to start with a template from Office.com, and then I'm going to customize my card, make it more personal.

First, I find a template. I've decided on this half-fold Valentine's Day card.

But I want it to be redder, so I click the Page Layout tab, and in the Themes group, I click Theme Colors, and then I choose a new color theme.

Next, I want to change the photograph. I don't have any pictures of me that I like, so I look for some clip art on Office.com. I find two that I think will work.

I right-click the existing photograph, and then I click Change Picture.

I click the picture that I want to try, and then I click Insert.

Now, the picture doesn't quite fit, and it's in a Picture content control, so I can't make the picture larger than the control. My quick fix is to copy the picture, delete the control, and paste the picture back into my template.

But it moved!

I click the Picture Tools Format tab, click Position (in the Arrange group), and then choose the bottom right option. From here, I can move it up or over so that it's just where I want it. And I can click those little hearts in the corner, click the Drawing Tools tab, and in the Arrange group, click Bring Forward, and then click Bring to Front.

You might be thinking this sounds like a lot of work. I think it's more work to describe it than to do it--and I want this Valentine's Day card to be really lovely. And I'm having a good time.

But this heart made of rose petals is not the right color. I click the picture to select it, click the Picture Tools Format tab, and in the Adjust group, I click Color, and then I choose a different color saturation setting (I choose 66%). Now, my background doesn't look quite right. I click the Page Layout tab again, I click Color Themes in the Themes group, and this time I click Create New Theme Colors. Here's the result:

(You can do this, too--although there are other, better options ahead, which is why I'm glossing over the details. Feel free to skip this part.)

Next, I select the text. On the Home tab, in the Font group, I click the Font Dialog Box launcher, and then I change the font to Gabriola and I bump the size up to 72. And I change what it says.

It's time for the inside of the card. I want the text to match, so I copy the text that I just changed, and I paste it in the text box on page 2 of my template. Then I select it, and I type what I want the inside to say.

My card is looking pretty good, but…

I click the background on page 1, click the Drawing Tools Format tab, click Fill Colors, click Texture, and I find a nice pinkish texture to click. But against the new texture, the white text box is a little too bright, so I click it to select it, click Format Shape, and then I set the transparency to 100%. (Note that if you've already saved your document, you might not be able to format the text box.)

Now, I save my document, and my card is ready to print.

It's time to shop for chocolate!

-- Joannie Stangeland