How to: create a Christmas card in Photoshop

It’s only a week to Christmas and you just realized you still have greeting cards to write and send. Well, before freaking out take a look at this simple Photoshop tutorial where you can learn how to create a nice Christmas card in just a few simple steps. You can then print as many copies as you need at your home printer and get all your card stuff done in one evening.

1. Open a blank document in Photoshop. It can be any size you want your card to be, but remember to use at least a 300 dpi resolution, because we’re going to print this later on. Click on Layer - Layer Style - Gradient Overlay and fill in the background with a blue gradient effect.

2. Create a new layer and draw a basic tree shape. You can also download this tree shape and open it in your document by clicking on File - Place.

3. Create several copies of the tree on your document by pressing Ctrl+J. Assign each layer a different value in opacity and use also different shades of white and blue with color overlays to create an illusion of depth. You can freely resize the tree because it’s a vector graphic and it won’t lose quality.

4. Now create a new layer and click on the Custom Shape Tool. Go to the shape menu and look for some snowflakes - you can find them under “Nature”. Start adding snowflakes to this layer, using different shapes and sizes. Once done, turn this layer’s opacity down to around 50.

5. Create a text layer and add your personal message with your favorite text font.

6. Add some border or shadow effects if you like, and you’re done!

Note: Would you like a different design for your Christmas card? Try the 2008 tutorial!