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Printing business cards

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Don Stauffer

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Nov 5, 2008, 1:46:08 PM11/5/08
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I am designing a new business card using PS Elements. In the past when I
had a design complete I imported the design into Word, because Word had
templates for printing from business card stock.

Is there an easier way, to print multiple cards right from Elements, or
Photoshop?

tony cooper

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Nov 5, 2008, 2:05:29 PM11/5/08
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I buy Avery Clean Edge business card at Office Depot. Avery provides
free templates to print them. Create the design/copy in PSE, save it
as a jpg file, and import the file into the template. Print.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

SMS

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Nov 5, 2008, 4:49:12 PM11/5/08
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I guess you could create an 8.5 x 11 image with 10 card images on it.

I've done a lot of business card printing, and I always do it from Word.
I stopped using the Avery templates and made my own table which is
sub-divided into more rows and columns for stuff like phone numbers,
e-mail addresses, URLs, name, title, and a logo. I can also micro-adjust
the margins to match the printer.

I stopped buying the business card stock, and instead use Costco ink jet
photo paper in my laser printer and a wheel type paper cutter.

If you can find a cheap place for color photocopies that will accept a
file (word or PDF) then you can make full color cards pretty cheaply.
One place near me charges 29 cents a page for color copies. Bring your
own card stock paper.

ray

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Nov 5, 2008, 6:17:11 PM11/5/08
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I generally generate mine with a postscript file - quite easy, if you know
PS.

Floyd L. Davidson

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Nov 5, 2008, 8:02:59 PM11/5/08
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I use TeX, the typesetting program, to generate the PostScript...

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) fl...@apaflo.com

Don Stauffer

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Nov 6, 2008, 10:07:55 AM11/6/08
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Is this on a disk? My box of Avery card stock is several years old, and
includes a booklet on how to use various word processing and spread
sheet programs. I suppose I may have lost a disk, but sure do not
remember one in the box.

ray

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Nov 6, 2008, 10:37:21 AM11/6/08
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Have you ever heard the term 'download'? I doubt they are going to put a
disk in every package of labels - in fact some are way too small to hold
one. Try Avery's web site.

tony cooper

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Nov 6, 2008, 10:45:52 AM11/6/08
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On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:07:55 -0600, Don Stauffer
<stau...@usfamily.net> wrote:

>tony cooper wrote:
>> On Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:46:08 -0600, Don Stauffer
>> <stau...@usfamily.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I am designing a new business card using PS Elements. In the past when I
>>> had a design complete I imported the design into Word, because Word had
>>> templates for printing from business card stock.
>>>
>>> Is there an easier way, to print multiple cards right from Elements, or
>>> Photoshop?
>>
>> I buy Avery Clean Edge business card at Office Depot. Avery provides
>> free templates to print them. Create the design/copy in PSE, save it
>> as a jpg file, and import the file into the template. Print.
>>
>>
>Is this on a disk?

No. You download the template or do it online. See:
http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Cards/_/Ns=Rank


>My box of Avery card stock is several years old, and
>includes a booklet on how to use various word processing and spread
>sheet programs. I suppose I may have lost a disk, but sure do not
>remember one in the box.

Just search for the template for the product number on the card stock
you have.

SMS

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Nov 6, 2008, 11:40:42 AM11/6/08
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Don Stauffer wrote:

> Is this on a disk? My box of Avery card stock is several years old, and
> includes a booklet on how to use various word processing and spread
> sheet programs. I suppose I may have lost a disk, but sure do not
> remember one in the box.

All you have to do is make a table in Word with ten cells, each 3.5"
wide x 2" high, with top and bottom margins of 0.5" and right and left
margins of 0.75" (be sure to go into "Table Properties" and set the row
height to "Exactly" 2" rather than "at least" 2"). If you're using the
Avery card stock then you may need to adjust the margins slightly to
match your printer. I find it easier to just use non-scored card stock
and then cut them with one of those precision paper cutters.

I didn't get good results with the Avery template software, it was very
flaky when I did a complex dual language business card that I use when
traveling to China and Taiwan. See "http://i34.tinypic.com/2dr5mw6.jpg"

Actually the process I use in Word is a bit more complicated because I
start with a table with a lot of small cells then merge cells to get the
field size I want, which makes it much easier to align each field. I
also include margins for each card to avoid putting content too close to
the edges.

I did a detailed and illustrated 17 page document about making your own
business cards in Microsoft Word that I presented to an organization I
used to belong to. If you want I can e-mail the pdf to you. Send me your
e-mail address (you can modify my e-mail address for "gmail" from "geemail."

tony cooper

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Nov 6, 2008, 12:15:27 PM11/6/08
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On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:40:42 -0800, SMS <scharf...@geemail.com>
wrote:

It's a horses-for-courses thing. For really professional cards, I'd
have a print shop print them. For less demanding purposes, I find the
Avery Clean-Cut cards to be very acceptable.

I do all of the body of my cards in Photoshop and import that image
into the Avery template. I use the template only because it positions
the image on all of the cards on the sheet. It makes for very quick
and simple printing.

The only reason for me to go to the trouble you have is if I wanted
the cards on some special stock. Avery cards are limited in card
stock choices.

Volume also makes a difference. I don't hand out many cards anymore,
so the Avery cards are fine. If I was handing out 10 cards a day, I'd
have them printed by a print shop.

SMS

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Nov 6, 2008, 12:34:02 PM11/6/08
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tony cooper wrote:

> It's a horses-for-courses thing. For really professional cards, I'd
> have a print shop print them. For less demanding purposes, I find the
> Avery Clean-Cut cards to be very acceptable.

It's actually pretty cheap to have them printed on professional quality
color laser printer at a print shop. You can get color printouts for aas
little as 39 cents each, and you can supply your own card stock paper
(but they typically won't allow you to use pre-scored business card stock).

The expense is having them design the cards. You want to do your own
design and supply them with a file that they can print onto card stock
that you supply. You don't want to even mention the word "business
cards" or the price goes up. You can end up with professional quality
color cards for 3.9 cents per card, with no minimum quantity and no lead
time.

dwight

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Nov 6, 2008, 7:52:56 PM11/6/08
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"Don Stauffer" <stau...@usfamily.net> wrote in message
news:4911e9ef$0$16050$815e...@news.qwest.net...

I used those Avery business cards in both white and matte, never cared for
them. I now use printingforless.com.

A box of 500 4-color business cards is pretty reasonable, in my opinion.
Keep in mind that the second box, whether of the same card or a different
card, is considerably less. If you could hook up with someone else who also
wants to order a box, you could split the cost and come out ahead...

dwight

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