Make your own Christmas posters.
Whether you are advertising your Christmas pageant, creating decorations for your home or recruiting volunteers to collect gifts for the needy, capture attention with a poster. There is no need to buy expensive, generic posters from the store when you can customize your own Christmas posters on the computer, using one of a number of different software programs. With just a couple of quick clicks, you will be making your own Yuletide posters for a festive holiday season.
Instructions
Using Paint
1. Open Paint, pull down the "Image" menu and click "Attributes." Set your poster dimensions; for a standard paper size, type 8.5 by 11 inches. For traditional poster sizes, try 18 by 24 inches, or 24 by 36 inches, and click the "OK" button.
2. Click the "Paintbrush" tool, select the medium round brush head and choose a green color from the "Color Picker" at the bottom of the screen. Draw the outline of a Christmas tree in the center of the poster. Click the "Paint Bucket" tool, then click inside the tree to fill it with color.
3. Click the "Pencil" tool, choose a red paint color and draw ball ornaments on the tree. Switch paint colors to add more ornaments, a tree trunk, strings of tinsel and a tree topper. Add other accents such as presents under the tree, doves and angels flying in the air and colored crosses around the top of the poster.
4. Click the "Text" tool, which looks like an "A" and click your cursor under the tree drawing. Type the poster’s message, such as "Church Christmas Mass." Add additional information such as event date, what to bring and location.
5. Pull down the "File" menu, click "Save As," name the poster and set a destination to save it to on your computer. Click the "Save" button.
Using Publisher
6. Open Publisher and click "Blank Publications." Click the "Poster" option, which opens an 18-by-24-inch page on the screen. To change the page size, pull down the "File" menu, click "Page Setup," scroll the "Publication type" option to "Custom" and type your new dimensions, then click "OK."
7. Click the "Text Box" tool, which looks like an "A" on an index card on the left side of the screen. Draw a text box at the top of the poster, then type the poster headline, such as "Holiday Adopt-A-Family Recruiting Now." Highlight the words, then use the text toolbar at the top of the screen to change and increase the font and recolor the letters, perhaps in red and green.
8. Add another text box towards the bottom of the poster with additional information, such as "Drop off holiday gifts and clothing for your chosen family at the parish by December 15" or "Volunteers needed to deliver gifts Christmas Eve."
9. Pull down the "Insert" menu, click "Picture" and select "Clip Art." Type a word or phrase, such as "Christmas," "Santa," "gifts" or "church" into the "Search for" box and click "Go." Scroll through the results and double-click a graphic, which appears on the poster. Grab a corner and increase or shrink the image to fit. Add additional images as desired.
10. Click the "File" menu and select "Save As." Name the poster and choose a destination for it on your computer, then click the "Save" button.
Using Word
11. Open Word, pull down the "File" menu and click "Page Setup." Set your preferred page size for the poster and click "OK." The Word workspace automatically adjusts.
12. Click your cursor at the top of the poster page and type the poster message, such as "Nativity Performance Sunday, 5pm" or "Ornament Craft Show and Sale!" Highlight the words and use the text toolbar at the top of the page to change their appearance.
13. Pull down the "Insert" menu, click "Picture" and choose "Clip Art." Search for Christmas-related images, such as "reindeer," "nativity," "Christmas tree" or "elf," and add the images to the poster.
14. Press the "Enter" key to move your cursor down to the bottom of the poster. Add more information, such as directions to the church, who to contact to volunteer or sign up for an event, or what to bring or donate.
15. Click the "File" menu and select "Save As." Give the poster a name, choose a location for it on your computer and click the "Save" button.
