How to Create a Greeting Card Template in Photoshop

If you like saving time, we have the perfect tutorial for you! Today, we will teach you how to create a greeting card template in Photoshop. With a template, you can quickly add elements to make a greeting card without recreating the whole thing every time.

We’ll be using the font, Just Because, from Font Bundles. It’s a Plus product that you can get access to today with this free 30-day trial of the Gold Plus Membership if you aren’t already a Plus Member.

Step 1 - Create a New Document

Create a new document in whatever size your final greeting card will be. Our document will be 11 x 8.5 inches, but the physical greeting card will be folded in half. If you are printing your greeting card designs, make sure you set the Resolution to at least 300 PPI.

Step 2 - Set Up Rulers, Snapping, and a Guide

Enable Rulers

Go to View > Rulers (Ctrl/Cmd + R).

Then right-click on the ruler to change the unit of measurement if needed. We changed ours to inches.

Enable Snapping

Make sure you have View > Snap (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + ;) enabled.

Then go to View > Snap To and select Guides and Document Edges. You can enable Layers as well if you’d like.

Add a Guide

Click + drag from the left ruler to where the guide will be. We’ll place the guide right in the center of the document. This is where the physical greeting card would be folded. Ours is at 5.5 inches.

Step 3 - Create Rectangles

We’re going to create rectangles for the left half and the right half of the card. The back of the card will be the left rectangle, while the front side will be the right rectangle.

Left Rectangle (Back Side)

Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and click + drag on the left half to draw a rectangle. Click + drag the left middle handle on the rectangle to the left edge of the document. Then click + drag the right middle handle to the center of the document where the guide is. Next, click + drag the top center handle to the top edge, and lastly, click + drag the bottom center handle to the bottom edge.

This rectangle should be exactly half the size of the document. Ours is 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Check the Properties panel (Window > Properties) for the rectangle’s width and height.

Duplicate and Move a Rectangle Onto the Right Half (Front Side)

To duplicate the rectangle, right-click on the rectangle layer in the Layers panel and choose Duplicate Layer.

With the duplicate layer still selected, click on the Move Tool (V). Then click + drag the rectangle to the right side of the document until it snaps into place. You can hold Shift while dragging to keep it in a straight line.

Rename Rectangle Layers

For organization, double-click the layer names in the Layers panel and rename them to know which rectangle is the left one and which is the right one. We simply renamed them “Right Rectangle” and “Left Rectangle.”

Step 4 - Add Details to the Back of the Card

Now we’ll add details to the back of the card. This will probably stay the same for all your cards, and the kinds of information you can add there are your website, a logo or business name, email, social media handles, etc.

Add Text

With the Right Rectangle layer selected in the Layers panel, click the Create a new layer icon at the bottom right to create a new layer at the top.

Select the Horizontal Type Tool (T). Click on the left half of the artboard near the bottom and enter your text. Next, we selected the text and clicked on the Center text button in the Options bar at the top.

Then you can edit the font/text some more by opening the Character panel (Window > Character) and making adjustments there.

Note: if you exited text editing mode, you can press the T key and then click on the text to reenter text editing mode.

Center Text in Left Rectangle

Now that we’ve centered the lines of text, we will center the text to the left rectangle. Select the Move Tool (V). Using Control/Command, select the text layer and the Left Rectangle layer in the Layers panel. In the Options bar, click the Align Horizontal Centers button.

Add Image

You can also add an image, such as your logo. Click on File and select either Place Embedded or Place Linked.

Locate and select the file, then click Place. You can align it to the center of the left rectangle the same way we did above with the text.

Step 5 - Save Your Greeting Card Template

Now you can save your template as a PSD, so you can come back to this template to add or change the design whenever and as many times as you want.

Once you create a finished greeting card design, you can export your greeting card by going to File > Export As and saving it in the file format you need, such as a JPEG or maybe a PDF.

Note: the adorable watercolor bunny in the following image is also a Plus product!

That’s all there is to create a greeting card template in Photoshop. Now you have a greeting card template that you can reuse for all occasions and events.