Creating Citra Art Holiday Cards
by Christy RePinec

CitraArt and holiday cards? Really? Almost seems like a strange combination, doesn't it? But with CitraArt pages, a few vintage post cards and basic photo-editing skills; you can create artistic holiday cards you'd never find at a Hallmark store. And they're fun, easy to do and take less than 30 minutes. So dig out all those CitraArt background pages you've filed away for "future use" and start designing Ho, Ho, Ho-liday cards.

Ready? You just need a few things:

• CitraArt pages (don't worry so much about the colors, you can change them)
• Vintage holiday postcards or Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah cards
• Photo-editing software
• A scanner

I used PhotoShop CS5 to create these cards, but I'm sure you can use PhotoShop Elements too. Don't have photo-editing software? There are lots of freebies on the web that you can try. A few of my favorites are: LunaPic, FotoFlexer™ and Picnik. And these have crazy cool fun effects to try too.

Now, a few simple steps:

1. Scan a variety of CA pages and postcards and/or cards (please be mindful of any copyright restrictions that may apply on your materials)
   
   
2. Open your CitraArt background page in PhotoShop, make sure the layers menu is open and make a copy, Control/Command J (example 1)
   
   
   If you don't like the colors, select the copy layer and add effects using the style menu (example 2) I used both a color overlay and a pattern overlay for this one
   
   
   
   
3. Go to the file menu, select place, find the vintage postcard or card and double click (example 3)
   
   
   
4. Use postcard as it or select the postcard layer and try different blending modes and opacity percentages until you find a combination you like (example 4)
   
   
   Sorry, this isn't the best example…I only decreased the opacity on this. I usually change them much, much more
   
   
5. Add a border around the card by selecting its layer, using stroke from the "Styles" menu and adding more effects like inner glow, bevel and emboss, etc. (example 5)
   
   
   
6. Add a "fancy text" holiday message and/or your name (example 6)
   
   
   
7. Send to your family, friends and colleagues and wait for the compliments!

Warning: Creating CitraArt Cards can be addicting! I had so much fun experimenting and trying different effects and layer styles. Try it…it's the holiday treat that's calorie free! Enjoy!

If you have any questions or want the settings I used to create the sample card, email me at christylemon@att.net I heart CitraArt!

Happy Holidays!

Christy

Below are some sample cards, click each for a closer look.