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!
Posted at 12:32 am on Dec 19th
Wow Elena thanks, just hope none of my family are reading this!!! I’m going to follow the steps now and make a few. I’ll let you know how I get on!
Happy Christmas folks.
Posted at 2:54 am on Nov 6th
i would just like to say hello
Posted at 8:33 am on Dec 1st
Nice tutorial, thank you so much. I need that madly.
Posted at 1:10 pm on Dec 10th
When i was very bored of reading help…i found this site to make a xmas card in photoshop…It is really good to learn some important options from this…i was able to draw a simple but attractive picture from reading this …Thanking you..
Posted at 1:17 pm on Dec 11th
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Posted at 1:21 pm on Dec 11th
i will like to creat my own xmas card wit this little ideal dat i hav leant frm you,& i willl be very greatful if i can learn more, thanks for teaching.
Posted at 2:21 am on Dec 21st
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