One of my favorite ways to print my digital photographs and paintings is to make greeting cards. It’s a great way to show off my latest paintings and photographs. People love to get them, and they’re easy to make. Recently, a fellow artist I talked to was alone, bored, and stuck at home during the virus. I wanted to make a greeting card to let her know I was thinking of her as a friend. 

How to Create a Digital Greeting Card

This article shows you how to create a digital painting greeting card using Adobe Photoshop and Avery 3378 Textured Half-Fold Greeting Card stock paper. Although I made the example greeting card in a vertical format, the process works in the horizontal format as well, with a few minor, apparent adjustments.

Select Cover Illustration

Looking through my image files, I found an image I created from sunset and a girl walking on the dunes of Cape Cod. I thought this would be the perfect cover image for a friendship card. Finding the right cover image is essential to making a greeting card effective. Your goal is to emote a feeling.

Create Greeting Card Shell

After opening Adobe Photoshop, I created a new document. According to the Avery greeting card instructions, the card stock works perfectly with a standard 8.5 X 11-inch paper format. Because I was creating my greeting card in a vertical format, I switched to a horizontal format for ease of viewing.

Insert Cover Illustration

Copy your cover image as a layer. On the Avery 3378 greeting card stock paper, there is a small crease 5.5 inches. You want to resize the width of your image to 5.5 X 8.5.

Add Your Greeting

Select the Type tool. Which font you choose is your choice. Adobe Photoshop has hundreds of fonts installed. In addition, the Internet provides you an almost unlimited selection of fonts that you can download and install. One of the biggest challenges you’ll face when creating a custom greeting card is determining which font to use. After playing too many hours, I like is Script MT Bold and Palace Script MT for romantic type cards. Other fonts that I have used include Brush Script MT, Trajan Pro, or Papyrus for a more casual look. Of course, you can go with the more common traditional fonts like Helvetica, Gill Sans, Myriad, and Minion Regular.

Add Your Signature

The last part is to add your signature to the back of the card. You want people to know that this is your greeting card. To save time, I created a document that contains my standard signature block. I used a traditional font like Arial or Times New Roman on its own layer. After opening the signature document, I copy the layer to the greeting card and re-positioning it to the bottom middle of the back of the card.

Inside Text (Optional)

At this point, you have a choice. You can print your greeting card and write by hand your message or you can use the same process to create text on the inside of the greeting card. Again, what you say and the font you choose is entirely your choice.

Print the Greeting Card

Printing is straight forward. I have an Epson SC-P400 professional printer that produces a beautiful greeting card with your photographic or digital painted image.

Avery 3378 Textured Half-Fold Greeting CardAvery greeting card stock paper comes with envelopes. Address your greeting card, put a return address sticker, attach proper postage, and mail off your card. The recipient of your greeting card will be glad you did!

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To download a PDF version of this post, click the following Creating Digital Painting Greeting Card

To see this and other articles, go to my Articles/Columns webpage.

 

Editor’s Note: I wrote a draft of this entry last week. I didn’t know if I was going to publish. I guess you know my answer.

Well, it is another day; another year has passed. A lot has happened in the past year.

First on everyone’s mind is the Covid-19 virus pandemic. Between the epidemic and being retired, I spend more time at home. When I do go out, I often combine trips. For example, on my way home from my weekly golf league (the one time I leave the house so I can play golf), I often stop at the grocery store and pick up our weeks’ worth of food.

For the past two years, since I retired, my number one job is taking care of Linda and her long term illness. That part of my life has not changed much. Thank god for the PWC Rescue Squad (18 & 26). They have been to our house too many times in the past year (once is too many). Every time they have been professional and accommodating. I can’t thank them enough.

One good point is the Life Alert procedures I have put in place are working. The few times I have been out of the house when she has fallen, Linda has pressed her button, and Life Alert and PWC Rescue Squad have responded with incredible speed. A couple of times, they have come and gone before I can get home.

 

Summary of the Past Year

That our neighbors Dan and Kathy, along with Miguel and Elvan, John, and Madison, have all been wonderful, assisting in different ways. They keep me informed of situations the few times I have left the house.

Knee Replacement Update – The left knee is stable and great weather forecaster. Because I know its stable, I feel confident swinging the golf club. That means the power is returning to my game. The only challenge is I know when my left knee gets stiff, it’s going to rain.

Hip Replacement has been a success story for Dr. Albrigo of the Anderson Clinic. With the help (once again) from the PT people at NOVA Physical Therapy, I came back faster. Still have stiffness with my hip flexor ligament when I bring up my right leg very high, but it not as bad as before. I can live with that – although you don’t want to watch me get into our SUV J

 

Driveway Maintenance Project

Phase 2 of the driveway “maintenance” project is almost complete. Eric and Ian Tisler worked last Saturday, putting up the borders on the bottom side. With the extra wood, I decided to add additional borders on the upper side of the driveway.

In the middle, we had a visit from PWC Rescue (Station 18). It appears while I was outside working on the driveway, Linda fell. Using her Life Alert button, they contacted PWC Rescue, who took Linda to Sentara Hospital with a bruised shoulder. Thankfully, she is home and getting better.

Since I had extra wood, I decided to build up other parts of the borders. When that part of the project is complete, and I return the extra timber to Lowes for a credit (schedule pick-up is late next week) Phase 3 getting the gravel delivered.

The best diversion from taking care of Linda is playing golf. Overall, my golf game is going well. The lack of practice time has made for some inconsistent play, but I feel great hitting the golf ball. My knee feels sturdy and I can turn my right hip to get leg power.

Otherwise, I’ve been keeping busy this summer. While Linda rests, I have been writing (or trying to write) articles. I enrolled in a Copywriting, Content, Case Study, SEO on-line course presented by American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI). I’m in the middle of their Copywriting course and have read many of the Barefoot Writer special reports. I hope to expand my writing skills to include Case Studies for companies.

Last but not least, the City of Manassas turned two of my digital photo-paintings into banners that fly high over the streets of Manassas (Battle and Center Streets) have been the highlight of my year in painting.

During the virus, I have (and look forward to) weekly FaceTime video calls with my family. Being spread all across the country, we use video we have been able to see each other during this pandemic.

In closing, overall, this past year has been ok. I have not found my name in the obit column (yet). I’m able to take care of Linda. I think we’ve grown closer to the challenges we’ve been facing these past few years. I get to play a bit of golf and still try to write articles that editors and companies find interesting.

 

 

 

Yesterday, July 19, 2020, I got a big surprise, one I was not expecting. During this pandemic, I try to combine trips so that I make fewer ventures out of the house. Yesterday, I made one of my few ventures out. I combined going downtown Manassas and exchanging my digital paintings that had been hanging in stores for months because of the virus with a trip to the grocery store.

Even with the temperature in the upper 90’s, the shops in the City of Manassas, VA, were busy. I found a parking place in the train station202 parking lot. On weekends you can park there without a permit. While there, I stopped into the Historic Manassas office located on one side of the train station.

2020 Manassas Banner Contest

As you have read from previous postings, for the past four years, the Historic Manassas holds a banner art competition. The competition deadline is January, and the winning selections are announced in February. When the selected entries become banners, the city puts them up around the city in the spring. I have entered the contest each year and have had at least one banner chosen each year of the competition. It’s an honor to have a banner flying above the streets of the City of Manassas, VA.

Again this year, I entered a selection of images that I thought would make a great banner. I’m already starting to think about next year’s entries. On February 12, I received an email from Historic Manassas saying “Iris in Bloom” had been selected. Looking back at the email today I see I misread the email (partly because my name was miss-spelled).

 

In early April, the city of Manassas put up the banners around the city. So I made a big deal, creating a Journal entry and Facebook posting, making it a contest first asking friends in Manassas to look for my banner. Now, this was in the middle of the pandemic stay at home order. I was not surprised that no one responded. I quickly revealed my “Iris in Bloom” banner was flying in front of the old City Hall on Center Street.

A Big Surprise

Now that you’re caught up with the history, fast forward to Saturday morning. I know in the past, sometime during the summer, Historic Manassas puts together a booklet so visitors can understand the color banners they see on the streets of the City of Manassas. Sorted by street, the brochure shows a picture of the banner—a small description of the banner and the artist.

After receiving the booklet from the nice ladies behind the desk, I open to find my “Iris in Bloom” banner on Center Street. If for no other reason, I wanted to make sure they spelled my name correctly and that the information associated with the banner was accurate.

I quickly found my “Iris in Bloom” banner. Everything was good. I smiled and told the ladies about the banner, showing them the booklet opened to my banner page. They were Impressed!

As I took the booklet back, I noticed something “interesting” on the opposite page. Hmm, that banner looks familiar. At first, thinking it might be one of my fellow MAG artists, then I looked at the title and was shocked to see “Sailing on Lake Superior!” It was my digital photo-painting of my brother’s sailboat, “The Mary B” (in honor of our mother).

What? Holy cow, I had a second banner? The booklet said the banner was on Battle Street. I was overjoyed. Granted, they had miss-spelled my last name on this description (adding a second “l” – Smollens), but it was my digital photo-painting. Again, showing the ladies behind the desk. It was right there and then, I knew I was going to walk Battle Street this afternoon and take pictures of the banner.

I went to meet Laura Lavarnway, president of MAG (our art group), to swap out paintings. She was working with a group of artists at the Manassas Pavilion to repaint an old piano owned by the City of Manassas. When it’s complete, the restored piano will be a colorful visual piece of art.

I Found the Banner

During our walk around the city shops to swap paintings, I stopped on Battle Street to look for my “Sailing on Lake Superior” banner. There it was, hanging outside of Okra’s Cajun/Creole restaurant on the Battle Street side of the corner with Center Street. I took a bunch of pictures with my phone to document the occasion.

So now I’m happy to say if you’re in the City of Manassas this summer, look at the banners that are around the city. If you in front of the Old City Hall building, you’ll see my “Iris in Bloom” banner, and if you’re at the corner of Center and Battle street in front of Okra’s you can see my banner, “Sailing on Lake Superior!” Enjoy

 

 

Long-term Driveway Project

Today is the start of a new long-term Driveway project. As I did with my hip replacement earlier this year, I am going to keep a journal for my next project. After 20 years, my driveway needs upgrading.

I’ve been researching the cost of the materials, and it’s not going to be cheap. But I suspect it would be even more expensive if I hired a company to do the whole thing. Once I purchase the materials, I’ll have the contents delivered. I have some tools. I plan on hiring some temporary help. Do you think I’m going to try to lift a 6X6X8 foot pressure treated piece of wood? I’m going to be the foreman, guiding the work crew. Let others do the heavy lifting. As an “Old Fart”, I know my limitations.

Yes, I know this is a lousy attempt to see if I can get a company or magazine to help me with the cost of this project by letting me write a case history project article for a trade magazine. I’ve read them and helped write a few for the companies I was employed in.

Life with a New Hip

Since having my hip replaced in early January – many things have happened. I have a new office. Well, an upgrade, at least. In February, while I was recovering from my hip replacement surgery, I went ahead to replace my basement office floor. My office went from carpet to hardwood flooring. Now we have hardwood floors throughout the entire house.

As part of the upgrading of my office process, in the summer of 2019, I replaced the sliding glass door. For this part of the process, for almost a week, I had to move my entire office into a temporary storage unit sitting in my driveway. I threw out the old desk. I had it for twenty years – well, I liked it, it perfect for my needs as a writer-photographer – programmer – website designer – book author – digital photo-painter. My new desk is an Ikea top over small file cabinets. Well, as you can see, the project is finished and a resounding success.

I’m now going on to the next project.

 Project Overview

I have a circular driveway that starts at the road level at the north end of the property. The first part is downhill from the street at a steep decline of about 20 feet. At the bottom of the circular, there about 25 feet are leveling off of the level ground where we park our car. The driveway completes the circular opening back up opening at the start of the cul-de-sac.

Making up the border on either edge of the driveway is a set of 6X6X8 foot pressure treated piece of wood. They hold the gravel in the driveway in place. It was one of the major projects (after the first winter). A friend from church was waiting for his military transfer and was looking for work took on the project at the time. He and his son rebuilt the border and spread the new gravel. He did a great job. Unfortunately, it’s been almost 20 years. It’s time to update the driveway. Well, that is the project. Stay tuned to hear of the progress.

In the coming weeks, I hope to keep this journal with the idea of writing a “How I Updated My Driveway” article. Any companies or publishers interested?

To be continued….

P.B.S. Studios

As a feature and content writer/photography/digital painting company, P.B.S. Studios wrote and published over a hundred articles for newspapers, magazines, and online publications, I’ve also had many other photographs published as illustrations in commercial and textbooks publications. To see this and other articles, check out the publication section of www.pbsstudios.com

Digital Photo-Painter

P.B.S. Studios work displayed in shops, libraries, galleries, restaurants, commercial buildings (including Manassas City Hall) in addition as banners. Check out the gallery sections on my website, www.pbsstudios.com to see digital photo-paintings and other examples of my work.

 

RIP Buddy 2006 – 2020

This week was rough. We had to send our black and white tuxedo cat, Buddy, to “the great litter box in the sky” (quoting Michael). It was time. He was not eating and was down another pound. Although he was moving around the house (albeit – very slowly), I could tell he was near the end, and we didn’t want him to suffer anymore. Bottom line, RIP Buddy 2006 – 2020.

Six months ago, we found out Buddy had developed a thyroid condition, which was causing him to lose weight. He was always a lean cat, but we both noticed he was feeling skinny when we took him to the vet last December. At the vet, we found out he had lost half his weight in a year. To boost his weight, we started giving him a medicinal additive to his food. At first, it worked. He added a couple of pounds, however, in recent days. I even tried a different flavor to get him to eat. Nothing worked. It is always difficult to know when to make the call, but I knew it was time.

Named after Buddy Guy, a favorite blues guitar musician of Linda and mine, Buddy is the reason we have hardwood floors in our house. A rescue cat, he was given to us from a neighbor.

During the winter of 2006, she called one night and told us someone had left a bunch of black and white tuxedo cats in the neighborhood. She was looking for families and knew we had cats. We took Buddy. We very quickly found out that Buddy was a very “active” cat. You always knew when he went to the bathroom. He would race around the house, going from the top floor to the basement in record time. We also found quickly he did not like to use the cat box when going Number 2. We later found out he liked to mark his territory around the house. It got so bad we had to remove the carpet in the home. We had wanted to do this anyhow, but Buddy’s problem forced the issue.

The late animal vet., Dr. Van-Linden of Clifton, suggested we medicate Buddy. Putting him on Xanax and Prozac via transdermal gel on his ears calmed Buddy down somewhat. Once on the medicine, Buddy was a wonderful, loving cat. Many nights once settled into watching TV. Buddy would curl up and sleep on Linda’s lap. He liked to sleep on the pillow above and around Linda’s head, putting his front paw over her eyes. When we got little Sara, he found a playmate. They would run around the house together playing tag. He still had problems going to the bathroom in the box, but with hardwood floors, we could deal with those issues.

After coming home last night, Sara (our one-eyed wonder) could tell something was wrong. She was missing her playmate. While Andy and Daisy were outside sleeping on the porch, Sara was walking around looking for her playmate.

Life will be different without Buddy. He caused a lot of problems, but he was a beautiful and loving cat that we both will miss very much. RIP my little friend. I know Sophie, Turk, Sugar, and Spice will take care of you now.

PBS: Linda is going to be mad at me for writing such a long Journal Entry. She wanted just a picture and a caption that said Buddy RIP 2006 – 2020. Oh well, she’ll get over it!

Check out the Gallery Section of the PBS Studios website to see these and other photographs and digital paintings.

o