Creating Greeting CardsCreating Greeting Cardsby Len Nasman, Bristol Village Ohio Computer Club

Copyright 2019 ~may be copied with permission

IntroductionIntroductionIf you want to create your own greeting cards, but you do not want to spend money on special software, you are in luck. It turns out that with just a little effort you can use theDrawing program that is part of the free LibreOffice suite.

To download LibreOffice, go to www.libreoffice.org.

Installation Notes: The illustrations in this articlewere created using LibreOffice Draw 6.2 running ona Windows 10 computer. The Tabbed user inter-face and the Elementary (SVG) tool icons wereused. To have your screen look similar to the illus-trations, select Tools, Options, View, Large, Ele-mentary (SVG) icons. Also, from the Menu Bar,select View, User Interface, and toggle Tabbed on.

The following instructions are for creating a fourpage greeting card by folding an 8 ½ by 11 sheetof paper in half twice. Most office supply stores inthe USA carry envelopes that are designed to fitthis size card. Look for envelops that are 4 3/8 by 5 3/4 inches. (If you are outside the USA, adjust measurements as required.)

Plan AheadPlan AheadThe first step is to determine the relative orienta-tion of the four pages of your greeting card. (Thisexample uses a portrait layout card. Landscapelayout could also be used.) Take a piece of paperand fold it twice. For the vertical portrait formatbook fold card in this project, the sheet must befolded in half twice as shown.

✔ First fold the sheet in half along ahorizontal line (with the sheet in portraitmode). Then fold the sheet a second time.

✔ When you have folded the sheet, write thenames of the four pages of the final cardon each page (see Figure 2).

When you unfold the sheet you will see how thefour pages have to be arranged.

✔ Open the LibreOffice Drawing program.

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Figure 1: Setting the Elementary Tool Bar

Figure 2: Page Layout

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

Creating Greeting Cards

The LibreOffice Draw program display is shown in Figure 4.The left side of the display may show a Page Pane. This ishandy if you have a number of pages to organize, however, inthis project we will have only one page. So, the Page Pane willbe turned off.

If the Menubar is not visible, select the Menubar tool in the upperleft corner of the display.

✔ From the Menubar, select View, Page Pane to toggle thePage Pane OFF. (See Figure 3)

The LibreOffice Draw program displayThe LibreOffice Draw program displayThe LibreOffice Draw program win-dow is shown in Figure 4.

NOTE: In this tutorial, select means toposition the mouse pointer over anitem and press the left mouse button once.

➢ The Title Bar shows the name ofthe program and the current file name.

➢ The Menu Bar has options on alist that drop down when youselect a word on the menu.

➢ The Tab Bar provides access totool collections.

➢ The Tools area provides access to common program functions.➢ The Selection Tool is used to make an object active.➢ The Drawing Tools are used to add graphic objects to the page.➢ The Text Tool is used to add a text object to the page.➢ The Sidebar provides various formatting options.

Adding TextAdding TextNext, you will see how to add text to your card.

If the Drawing tools are not on your display, from the Menu Bar select View, Tool Bars, Drawing. Note that the drawing Tool Bar may appear in different locations on the dis-play.

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Figure 3: View Options

Figure 4: The LibreOffice Draw program window.

Creating Greeting Cards

✔ From the Tool Bar, select the Text Box tool.✔ With the Text tool selected, click in the lower right quadrant of the page and

enter A card from me! in the text box. (Feel free to substitute your own name or text).

✔ After entering your text, select a point outside the text window to deselect it. When you hover the mouse pointer over a text object, the pointer will change to the text cursor. When the text cursor appears, you can do the following:

➢ Single click to insert the text cursor. Use the Backspace, Delete, and cursor control arrows to edit the text.

➢ Double click to select a word.➢ Triple click to select a line of text.➢ Press Ctrl+A to select all text.

When text is selected, the Text Tabwill appear and the Properties Side-bar will show character properties.(see Figure 5). The Tab tools and Properties Sidebar are contextsensitive. This means that theyautomatically change depending onwhat kind of object is selected.

✔ Select your text and then usethe Properties Sidebar toadjust the text characteristics.

Moving Text ObjectsMoving Text ObjectsTo move a text object you first have to select the text object. (Not the text contents, but the text object.) This requires careful selecting.

✔ From the Drawing Tool Bar, pick the Selecttool.

✔ Select a point on the boundary line of thetext box. (If the text cursor appears, yourcursor is in the text area rather then onthe text boundary.)

When the text boundary is selected, a boundaryline will appear around the text object. Thisboundary has grab points for changing the size ofthe text object (but not the font size). If you hoverthe mouse pointer on the boundary, but not on agrab point, the mouse pointer will change to adouble arrow. When the double arrow appears, you can drag the text object to a new

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Figure 5: Adding text.

Figure 6: Moving text.

Creating Greeting Cards

location. When a text object is selected, the Sidebar provides options for positioning the text object.

Drag means hold the left mouse button down while moving the mouse.

✔ Drag the text object to a new location.

You may have to scroll down on the Properties Sidebar to see the Position and Size options.

✔ Use the Position and Size options on the Sidebar to precisely control the location of the text box.

Now that you know how to manipulate text, it is time to add and rotate text for the inside right card page.

Rotating objectsRotating objectsNext, some text will be added to the inside right card page. After the text is added, it will be rotated so that it will be properly oriented after the sheet is folded.

✔ From the Home Tab select the Text Box tool. ✔ Click in the upper left section of the sheet. (This will end up in the inside right

page of the card after it has been folded. See Figure 2.)✔ Enter the following text pressing the Enter key at the end of each line. (Or, enter

your own preferred text.)

Although this text is inside of the cardThe proper placement is very hard.And if I miss the center exact,I will never escape a critic's attack.

✔ Format the text as desired. (Theexample shown in Figure 7 iscenter aligned with bold 12point text.)

✔ Pick the Select tool from the drawing Tool Bar.

✔ Click on the text box boundaryand select the Position andSize option from the Sidebar.

✔ Select the Rotation tab in the Position and Size Sidebarand enter a Rotation angle of 180.

Your text for the inside right card page should now have the proper orientation. How-ever, the default font and style might not be as classy as you might like. You can use the

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Figure 7: Rotating text.

Creating Greeting Cards

Sidebar to adjust the text characteristics. Just remember that the Sidebar properties options control only text that is currently selected.

Adding a Symbol ShapeAdding a Symbol ShapeNext, we will add a graphic for the back of the card.

✔ From the Drawing Tool Bar, select the happy face from the Symbol Shapes tool (see Figure 8).

✔ Drag out a symbol in the lowerleft quadrant of the page (thiswill end up on the back of thecard).

Observe that when a graphic objectis selected little grab points will beshown at the corners and mid pointsof the object. You can click and dragthese points and change the size ofthe object.

NOTE: To preserve the aspect ratio ofan object that you are resizing, holdthe shift key down while you graband drag a corner point.

When you move the mouse cursor over a selected graphic object the cursor will change to crossed arrows. With the crossed arrows cursor you can drag the object to a new position.

✔ Move the happy face to the lower center of the back of the card section (see Figure 8).

✔ With the happy face symbol selected, use either the Sidebar Properties options orTab tools to select a new color for the happy face. (See Figure 8.)

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Figure 8: Adding a graphic object.

Creating Greeting Cards

Adding PicturesAdding PicturesNext, a picture will be added to thefront page of the card. This is locatedin the lower right corner of the fullsheet.

✔ Make sure that no object isselected (use the Select tooland click in an empty area).

✔ Select the Insert Image toolfrom the Tab Bar, then usethe Insert Image dialog box toselect a picture of your choice.

Figure 9 shows that a picture has been inserted and moved to the lower right area of thesheet.

To adjust the size of the picture, select the picture and use the Position and Size options from the Sidebar. You can also drag the picture to the desired location.

The Position and Size Sidebar pro-vides options for choosing a basepoint for locating the picture. It alsoprovides text boxes for entering theWidth and Height dimensions of thepicture. To open the Position andSize dialog box shown in Figure 10,select the small More Options toolshown.

✔ Adjust the size and location ofyour picture as desired.

To change the aspect ratio while usinga corner grab point to resize thegraphic, hold the Shift key down while dragging the grab point.

Note that on the left side of each of the Properties Sidebar options there is a small +. When this + is selected, Properties options will be expanded.

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Figure 9: Inserting an Image.

Figure 10: Position and Size Sidebar options.

Creating Greeting Cards

Adding a frame around a picture.Adding a frame around a picture.Sometimes pictures look better with a frame. Hereis how to add a frame to a picture.

✔ Select the picture, and use the Line tool inthe Properties Sidebar to set the Line Widthto 2.3pt.

✔ Choose a line Color.✔ Set the Line Style to Continuous.✔ If you want to add a drop shadow to the

picture, expand the Shadow option, in the Sidebar.

You should explore other options in the Sidebar.

After you print your card, you will probably want togo back and fine tune the position of the differentobjects so that they are spaced nicely after folding.For those that are mathematically inclined, you can adjust the page margins and posi-tions with precision. Otherwise, move things around by trial and error.

You now have enough information to create your own custom greeting cards. And, with LibreOffice, it doesn't cost a thing!

Save Your Drawing FileSave Your Drawing FileIf you ever want to see your drawingfile again, you have to save it in aknown location. Here is how.

✔ From the File Tab, select File,Save As.)

✔ In the Save As dialog box,select the desired drive, path,and folder.

✔ Enter a File name for the file,and then select Save.

Precise PositioningPrecise PositioningPositioning things so that they will end up where you want them in the folded card can be done either by trial and error, or by doing some careful calculations and positioning. Here are some hints you may find useful.

Figure 15 shows a sample page layout.

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Figure 12: The File, Save As dialog box.

Figure 11: Adding a Frame.

Creating Greeting Cards

➢ Right click in the middle of the new drawing page and select Properties from the context menu.

➢ Set the margins (in the USA) to 0.50 inches(Or some even units).

➢ From the Menu Bar, select View, Grid andHelplines.

➢ Turn on the grid display and snap options.

➢ To adjust the Grid size, select Tools,Options, LibreOffice Draw, Grid.

First, the page size was set to (US) 8.5 by 11. The margins were set to 0.50 on all sides.

A 3.25 by 4.50 rectangle was positioned 4.25 in the X direction and 5.50 in the Y direc-tion. This rectangle will be properly centered on the front page of the card after it has been folded. Three more 3.25 by 4.50 rectangles were added for the back and inside panels of the card.

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Figure 13: Displaying the Grid.

Figure 14: Setting the grid size.

Creating Greeting Cards

Figure 15 shows a card layoutthat was created using theabove dimensions.

These rectangles can be usedas a temporary guide for posi-tioning text boxes or graphics.Once the card design is com-pleted, the rectangles can sim-ply be deleted.

You can, of course, simply usetrial and error to get thingswhere you want them on thecard. However, you can save abit of wasted paper and tonerby using a little math to getthings properly placed the first time.

✔ Start a new Drawing file and go through the steps in this lesson again. This time, use your own words, pictures, and styles.

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Figure 15: Layout for precise positioning.

Creating Greeting Cards

About the authorAbout the authorMy name is Len Nasman. At the time of this writing I am retired, in my70's, living in Bristol Village , a delightful active retire-ment community in southeast Ohio, and spending a lot of my time helpingfellow residents with computer issues. In a former life, I wrote books toteach people how to use CAD software. Using computers does not comeeasy to a lot of people. It is not that people are slow or feeble minded. It issimply that for many people, computers are a mysterious thing and morethan a little frightening. If you are one of those who is not comfortable using computers, but you would like to use LibreOffice to personalize your greeting cards, this tutorial is for you.

Bristol Village is an active retirement community in southern Ohio and, with more than 300 stand-alone houses, a 65,000 square foot Activity Center, and more than four dozen resident operated activities, is considered to be one of the best kept retirement values in the USA.

This version was edited April 24, 2019.

Please credit copies to the Bristol Village Computer Club www. bvres.org/bvcchome.html See the BVCC Schoolhouse

http://bvres.org/Schoolhouse-web-page/schoolhouse.html for other LibreOfficetutorials.

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Figure 16: Bristol Village, Ohio

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Creating Greeting CardsIntroductionPlan AheadThe LibreOffice Draw program displayAdding TextMoving Text ObjectsRotating objectsAdding a Symbol ShapeAdding PicturesAdding a frame around a picture.Save Your Drawing FilePrecise PositioningAbout the author