1. Inserting a text box will allow you to create a gift tag template (or blank) that you can use over and over again, and personalize each card by typing in names or a message. Click anywhere in the blank space in the business card to the left of the picture.

2. On your toolbar, click Insert, and then click on Text Box.

3. Click in the blank portion of the left-hand business card, and a little square icon will appear. You will also note that the cursor changed to a cross while you were doing this.

4. Now that you have that little box icon, click the mouse button near the corner until the cursor changes to a two-headed arrow. Hold down the mouse button and drag the box down and to your right. This is the tricky part, but stick with it, and you’ll master it!

5. Now, click INSIDE the text box. The cursor will appear, and you can type in anything you want.

You are learning a lot! You’ve inserted a picture in a business card, changed the size, copied it and pasted it into a blank business card, you’ve created a text box, and you’ve inserted text! Now, let’s change the text font and the text color!

6. First, “select” the text to highlight it. Click the cursor right in front of the T in Thank you. Hold down the mouse and drag it to after the exclamation point. Now release the mouse button. All of the text should be highlighted.

7. On your toolbar, click in the down arrow next to the font name that is showing (most computers are set to Times New Roman as the default font (typeface).

8. Click on the scroll bar button and pull down, so that you can see all the fonts you can use. For this example, I’ve clicked on Lucinda Handwriting to choose that font.

9. Click on the font you want, and the text (that has been selected) will automatically change to it. As you can see, that changed the size of the text, and all of the text no longer appears in the text box.

10. You can do one of three things, or all of them: you can increase the size of the text box, you can decrease the size of the font, or you can reduce the number of words you typed in. To increase the size of the text box, move the cursor to the low corner of the text box, and when the cursor changes to the two-headed arrow, click and hold down the mouse button and drag the box to make it bigger.

11. You can changed the size of the font. Select (highlight) all of the text, as explained above, the using the toolbar decrease the size of the text.

12. Choose the text size, and the size of the text will automatically change. You can play with the text size, and the size of the text box until you have it the way you want it.

Now, you can change the color of the text. Again, select the entire text (as explained above), and look for a color that you like. Click on the small down arrow to the right of the capital letter A.

13. Click on any color there that you like and the text will change to that color. You can also look at all of the colors that are available by clicking on “More Colors” in that drop-down menu. You can choose any of these colors by clicking in a color hexagon, and then clicking OK.

15. You can now adjust the text appearance and you can change how the text is positioned. To make the text appear in BOLD, select the text and click on the capital B on your toolbar.

16. You can center the text by selecting the text and clicking on the icon that shows different length lines that are centered.

17. You can see your entire gift tag now!

18. Of course, this is only 1 business card, and there are 10 on the page. You don’t have to go through all of these steps 9 more times…simply copy and paste!

Position the cursor to the left of the picture, until changes into a white arrow. Click, and the whole business card should be selected (highlighted).

19. Now, right click and select Copy.

20. Click anywhere in the right-hand-side blank business card. On the toolbar, click Edit, then select Paste. After you select paste, the picture and text box will appear in the right-hand-side business card blank.

21. Click anywhere and the black highlighting will go away. Now, you have two gift tags.

WOW!!! You are doing GREAT!!!

OK---all you have to do now is copy those two gift tags, and paste them in four more rows, and you will have the whole sheet of business cards ready to print! (However, if you only need 2, 4, 6, or 8 business cards, or any number of cards in between 1 and 10, you can simply paste that many in, and leave the rest of the sheet blank. However, I always print more cards that I think I’ll need---because I usually end up needing more!)

22. Position the cursor to the left of the left-hand-side gift tag. When you get the white arrow, click, and select both tags. Right click, select Copy.

23. Position the cursor in the business card that is under the left-hand-side card. Go to your toolbar, Edit, and Paste.

24. Now you have two rows of tags.

All you have to do is repeat this 3 more times, so that you have 5 rows of two tags.

Before you actually print the tags on the business cards, print a sample on just a plain piece of paper. Put the page over a blank business card sheet, and hold it up to the light. Hopefully, everything will line up OK. If some of the hearts or text boxes look out of alignment, remember you can either click on a picture or a text box and move it up, down, right, or left, or you can position the cursor to the immediate left of the picture or text and hit the Enter key. You may have to play with this a little bit if the gift tags don’t line up exactly. Print samples until you get everything aligned---and then you are ready to print the gift tags on business cards!

You’ve really done super! You now know how to use business cards to make all sorts of tags or little personalized cards to slip into gifts for any occasion and any season!

Feel free to experiment! With a little bit of practice, and some trial and error, you will teach yourself how to create even more elaborate gift tags!

If you would prefer not to make these gift tags yourself, I've provided a full page of pink Wedding Heart gift tags for you! Go to http://readingroom.janktheproofer.com/WeddingTagsText.doc (this will open in a new window, it may take a few long minutes to open). Save it to your computer and then print out on blank business card sheets.

There are other tutorials available, in this same easy-to-understand illustrated format, that will help you learn more about using pictures in documents or other types of paper-based projects. Go to: http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/#Tutorials:

Jan K., The Proofer is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan’s business services and Jan's other free information and resource sites. Be sure to visit Mom's Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.