Things to Make for the Holidays
By Jacci Howard Bear, About.com Guide to Desktop Publishing
'Tis the season for desktop publishing gifts to give and gifts to get. Make holiday greeting cards, party invitations, and decorations. Dress up your projects with holiday clip art and fonts. Use your desktop publishing expertise to make scrapbooks, calendars, t-shirts, and more as special Christmas gifts.
Print Creativity Software
The main tool you'll need for computer crafts is the right software. You can use any desktop publishing or graphics software or try specialized print creativity software that combines page layout and image editing with lots of fun templates, clip art, photos, and fonts.
- Holiday Gift-Making Software
- Mac Calendar Software
- Mac Greeting Card Software
- Mac Newsletter Design Software
- Mac Scrapbooking Software
- Mac T-Shirt Design Software
- Windows Calendar Software
- Windows Greeting Card Software
- Windows Newsletter Design Software
- Windows T-Shirt Design Software
Templates for Holiday Crafts
Jumpstart your craft projects with a template. Find printable templates to download, personalize, and print or incorporate into other projects.
- Photo Calendar Templates
- Microsoft PowerPoint Templates for Personal Projects
- Microsoft Word Templates for Personal Projects
Digital Crafts / Gift-Making Projects
If you plan to make your own gifts but need some ideas, explore these ideas for using your computer and your desktop publishing skills to create one-of-a-kind, personalized, and customized gifts for friends and family. Explore these crafty ideas along with some recommended specialized software for creating each of these gifts for the holidays and other special occasions.
- Digital Scrapbooking
- Personalized Calendars
- T-Shirts and Other Iron-On Transfer Crafts
- Candy Wrappers
- Envelope Design Elements
- Envelope Styles and Dimensions
- Envelope and Card Making Kit (Kreate-a-Lope)
- Greeting Card Design Elements
- Greeting Card How-To
- Greeting Card Idea - Easy 3D
- Greeting Card Idea - Add Sparkle
- Greeting Card Idea - Add Embellishments
- Wedding & Anniversary Invitations
Halloween
Halloween is a big event on the Web. You can find animated bats, black and orange backgrounds, eerie sound clips, and electronic Halloween greeting cards at every turn. But I've tried to assemble for you here some useful materials for celebrating the holiday off the Web -- especially fonts, clip art, and templates to create printable Halloweeen craft projects such as cards and invitations, party decorations, costumes, trick or treat bags, and even coloring pages for kids. Get design tips and ideas for Halloween party invitations.
- Halloween Craft Project Templates
- Halloween Craft Project Templates for Kids
- Halloween Clip Art of Bats, Candy, Jack-o-Lanterns
- Halloween Fonts: Dripping Blood and Scary Dingbats
- Halloween Fonts: Commercial Fonts and Font Packages
- Web Clip Art: Dripping Blood Alphabet
- Free Halloween Half-Fold Card Templates
- Free Halloween Photo Frame Template
- Free Halloween Envelope Liner Templates
- Free Halloween Pop-Up Card Templates
Thanksgiving / Christmas
Make the Winter Holidays extra special with cards, decorations, and gifts that you make yourself. From clip art for Thanksgiving and Christmas to templates for gift tags and greeting cards, find what you need for a very Merry Christmas and beyond.
- Clip Art: Thanksgiving Turkeys, Pumpkins, and Cornucopias
- Web Clip Art & Fonts: Snow-Capped Fonts and Alphabet
- Clip Art: Snowmen and Christmas Trees
- Clip Art: Christmas Tree Cactus
- Templates: Christmas Cards and Envelope
- Templates: Oversized Gift Tags
- Clip Art: Holiday Page Frames / Borders Artwork
Desktop Publishing In-Depth
Go beyond computer crafts and learn the ins and outs of desktop publishing from design to layout to prepress and printing. Discover if a career in desktop publishing is for you.
