Make your own Easter Greeting Cards

These Easter greeting cards are fairly simple and fool proof design. I made it using chalk and a flower stencil.

Materials needed to make Easter greeting cards:
8 1/2 by 11" white cardstock
Chalk pallette set
flower or Easter stencil

The first step to making these cards is to get the "Happy Easter" text onto the paper. I did this by setting up the text in a 2-up layout format by centering the text on the right side half of the cardstock so it would fall in the correct place when folded.

* You could also use cards (or paper) that are already sized at 5 1/2" by 8 1/2". To do this set up the document to be the correct size. choose File and then document set-up to change to the correct settings.

When using a 2-up layout you will next need to have the cards cut in half to create 2 cards out of one sheet of paper. If you are making a large

quantity of cards it would be a good idea to go to a local copy or print shop and have them cut for you. It is quite inexpensive and alot easier than hand cutting.
If you do choose to hand cut them I suggest purchasing a good paper cutter to make this job a little easier on you. Go here for more about paper cutters and where to get a good one.

Once your cards are printed and are the correct size, the next step to take would be in folding them. If you choose a very heavy cardstock you may want to score the cards as well. If you own a good sliding paper cutter it will most likely already have a scoring tool attatchment. An alternative to scoring is to run a flat edge along the fold. I use a ruler to do this. It helps to iron out any wrinkles in the paper.

Last but not least is to create the lovely pictures on the front of the card. I used a stencil made by Plaid simply stencils. You can get it here. It is the floral sampler. Although you are not tied and bound to this stencil alone. There is an abundance of different decorative stencils out there to choose from. Many floral and you can probably even find an Easter themed stencil.
Using a Q-tip I applied the different colored chalks to the inside of each stencil. I started with the tulips placing them at the edges of the card so that the leaves overlapped slightly over the edges to leave enough room in the middle for another flower.
I placed the daffodil in the middle by simply eyeing it for alignment. I made sure and place it slightly higher than the other flowers for emphasis. I also shaded it's leaves a couple shades darker than the other flowers.