This tutorial will provide the step-by-step instructions for creating a template for any free printable. The example used is the Mom's Break PDF Free Printable Mother's Day Rose Card (as seen to the left).
The Word document template for the Mother's Day Rose card is also available as a free download. See Step 4.
You can use Mom's Break PDF Free Printables as computer printer paper, just as you would any type of 8-1/2 x 11" stationery paper.
Using Mom's Break PDF Free Printable Mother's Day Rose Card as an example, you can use Microsoft Word to take advantage of the many fonts, font sizes, font colors, along with the flexibility of being able to insert clipart, pictures, or other symbols into the text.
As you can see in the example to the left, I have created a Mother's Day letter (for my mom!) using Lucinda Handwriting font, a dark maroon font color, and two different font sizes (12pt and 14pt).
After printing my letter on the Mom's Break PDF Free Printable Mother's Day Rose card, I cut out the letter, folded, and inserted into a standard 6-3/4" envelope (the instructions for doing so are printed on the free printable).
To begin, you must create a Word document "template" that has the appropriate margins (top and bottom, left and right) so that you add text (and/or other types of inserts such as clipart or symbols) in only the area that will print in the blank area of the free printable.
Print out the free printable.
Using a 12" ruler, measure the appropriate margins for top and bottom, left and right. Measure so that your "text box" will be inside the blank area on the free printable.
As you can see in the example shown to the left, there are four measurements:
- Top: 3"
- Bottom: 2"
- Left: 3-1/2"
- Right: 1-1/2"
If it is helpful, you can mark on a blank free printable just as shown here so that you have an easy reference for setting the Word template margins.
Open a blank Word* document.
On the toolbar, click on File. If you don't see the whole drop-down menu, then click on the little arrows at the bottom of the menu.
Click on the selection marked Page Setup.
*Note: These instructions are specifically written for Microsoft Word 2003. However, the steps will be either exactly the same or very similar for other versions of Microsoft Word or other word-processing software.
On the "Margins" tab, change the top/bottom and left/right margin settings to match the measurements that you made for the free printable that you want to print on. You can either highlight the setting already there and type over it, or you can use the up/down arrows to the right of each setting to adjust it.
When you have changed the settings, the "Preview" will change, showing you where text will appear on the page, using the new margin settings. If you plan to use the free printable stationery more than once, then you should save this template as a blank document. For example, this blank file was saved as: Word_Template_Rose_Card.
Download this Word document template to use for the Mom's Break PDF Free Printable Rose Card or to refer to it when you create other Word templates: Word_Template_Rose_Card
Open the Word template you have created. As soon as you start typing, the text will appear in the correct place, so that it will print properly on the free printable stationery.
Now, you can use all of Word features to create your text: fonts, font sizes, font colors, as well as being able to insert clipart, pictures, or symbols.
Literally, anything that you can do in Word, you can now do so that it prints on the free printable that you want to use as stationery.
If you need a little more help with Word, please go to another free tutorial:
Working with Word...It's Easier Than You Think!