Create a Gold Seal With Ribbons in Microsoft Word 2010

By Jacci Howard Bear, About.com Guide

^{This is page 4.1 of Create a Certificate of Recognition in Word 2010}

Use these instructions to create a seal with ribbons that you can put on a certificate or use in other kinds of documents. Add it to a brochure design, a diploma, or a poster.

1. Stars & Banners Shape
   The seal starts with a star. Word has several suitable shapes.

   Insert (tab) > Shapes > Shapes & Banners

   See those star shapes with the numbers in them? Choose one. Word has 8, 10, 12, 16, 24, and 32 point star shapes. Pick the one you like. I used the 32-point star for this tutorial. Your cursor changes to a large + sign. Hold down the Shift key while clicking and dragging to create the seal in the size you want. Too big or too small? With the object selected go to Drawing Tools: Format (tab) >Size and change the height and width to the size you want. Keep both numbers the same for a round seal.

2. Gold Fill
   You can use any color you want (make it a silver seal, for instance) but I like gold. With your seal selected: Drawing Tools: Format (tab) > Shape Fill > Gradients > More Gradients

   This brings up the Format Shape dialog (or, under just click the little arrow under the Shape Styles portion of the Format tab ribbon). Select:

   Gradient fill > Preset colors: > Gold

   You could change some of the other options but the default works fine.

3. No Outline
   With the Format Shape dialog still open, select Line Color > No line to remove the outline on your star shape. Or, select Shape Outline > No Outline from the Format tab ribbon.

4. Basic Shape
   Now, we're going to add another shape on top of our star:

   Insert (tab) > Shapes > Basic Shapes > Donut

   Again, your cursor turns to a large + sign. While holding Shift click and drag to draw a donut shape that's a little smaller than your star shape. Center it over your star shape. You could eyeball it but for more precise placement select both shapes then choose Align > Align Center under the Format tab ribbon.

5. Gold Fill Angle Change
   Repeat step #2, above, to fill the donut shape with the same gold fill. However, change the Angle of the fill by 5-20 degrees. For my seal the star has an angle of 90% while the donut has an angle of 50%.

6. No Outline
   Repeat step #3, above, to remove the outline from the donut shape.

Have you SAVED your document recently?

Ta da! Now you have your gold seal (unless of course you chose a different color then it might be a silver seal or even a rainbow colored one, your choice). Now, let's put some text on it.

Tasks And Steps In This Tutorial:

1. Get the template for the certificate of your choice.
2. Set up a new document for use with the certificate template.
3. Add personalized text to the certificate.
4. Use Shapes & Text on a Path to create a gold seal with ribbons:
   1. Create seal
   2. Add text to seal
   3. Add ribbons
5. Print the finished certificate.

Previous

• Use Shapes to Make the Basic Gold Seal
• Add Text to the Gold Seal
• Add Some Ribbons to the Gold Seal

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