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the card with a clean finger and smooth out any wrinkles, bumps, or air bubbles that usually appear. Since this kind of paper is slick and glossy, you can reinforce the magazine image with another thin layer of Elmer's glue. Since the glue dries clear, you can dab the glue on the edges of the image once it is glued to the card, keeping the edges from curling outward.

Wallpaper gives a beautiful texture to a scenic background. You can experiment cutting out trees for a winter background from shades of brown paper. Use gray, blue, or white wallpaper for a snow scene. If you have enough wallpaper supplies, you can create an entire village by cutting out the shapes of houses, trees, and animals using only wallpaper. The different colors and varieties of paper will bring the card to life.

Use wrapping paper to cut out shapes or use it to decorate the cover of the card as if it is an actual gift. Cut wrapping paper to fit the card front. Then drop a dab of glue in each corner and spread evenly. Carefully place the wrapping paper on the card and press firmly. Glue thin ribbons in the shape of a cross onto the paper. This mimics the ribbons that wrap the sides of gifts.

Make a miniature bow to go on your card. It doesn't have to be a fancy bow like you find on most gifts because this is going into an envelope and must be flat. You can make two loops with ribbon, like you do when you're tying your shoes, and glue the part that you're holding with your thumbs to the paper. You can make more loops and lay them evenly on the card to make a flat bow. Before you glue them on, arrange them so they are symmetrical and almost flower-like. Place this "bow" at the intersection of the two ribbons you glued on first. Add a mock gift tag or a real one, personalize it, and you're done!

It's not that difficult to create your own photo cards just like they make at the store. You'll need to purchase some photo paper and have plenty of color ink in your printer and you're ready! Open up a Word type program and create a new document. Click insert shape and select the rectangle option. Create a rectangle that takes up about one third of the page, but about an inch from the top and sides of the page. Click insert picture, select a photo from your computer, and place it on the document where you would like it. You may need to right click the rectangle you made and select order, then click on "move to back". The rectangle is only there for printing purposes. When you print this out,

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