Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7031 in Software
• Brand: Nova Development US
• Model: 71022
• Released on: 2000-10-15
• Platforms: Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows NT
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 3.00" w x 10.00" l, 3.50 pounds

Amazon.com Review
It is almost absurdly easy to create a card within minutes of installing Hallmark Christian Card Studio, for everything from birthdays to weddings. Big, friendly navigation buttons point the way, whether you choose a card to customize, or create one from scratch.

Installation couldn't be smoother. The process is streamlined, but not so much so that you automatically get stuck with a bunch of "trial offers" that are really advertisements for other products; dialog boxes let you choose to accept these or not. It's otherwise a matter of clicking past the legal mumbo jumbo and restarting your computer. You will then be enveloped in the bubbly cartoon world that is this program's interface, with almost comically large buttons to click, pastel backgrounds, and flapping butterflies.

But Christian Card Studio offers more than just a pretty interface. The editing tools seem at first rudimentary, but they offer power and flexibility. Resize, rotate, and crop images. Edit text and alter its color, font, and size. Those who have used image editing software of any kind will experience no difficulty whatsoever, and even beginners will soon be slinging text and images with the best of them. The best way to learn is to dive right in and start experimenting, as the "tutorial" is pretty skimpy and unclear.

A few drawbacks: The Undo function goes back only one step. The super-friendly interface can be a bit much, especially when you want to perform a function that cannot obviously be done with those colorful, oversized buttons; on some screens, for example, there is no obvious way to go back to the previous screen. It is hard to take seriously the claim that there are "200,000 ways to create a card," unless you include every conceivable combination of text and image. Also, the Christian content is not all that it could be: the art gallery features many irrelevant categories such as Sea Mammals and Zebras. Finally, though the e-card function works well, be forewarned that the first thing your recipient will see is not an expression of your affection, but a technical explanation of how to view the card ("You can view your greeting by selecting either Run from the Start Menu or File/Run from the Program Manager...").

All in all, this program delivers a fun and satisfying experience. Though economy may not be a compelling reason to print your own cards--factor in the cost of card stock and ink for your printer and the price of printing a card is about the same as buying one--the chance to design exactly the card you want, with the aid of hundreds of thoughtfully written greetings, make this a wonderful tool for the home print artist. --David Stoesz

Amazon.com Product Description
Featuring over 500 Hallmark Christian greeting cards, 24 exclusive fonts, and more than 5,000 Christian art images, Hallmark Christian Card Studio makes creating the perfect greeting card as simple as select, customize, and print.

Customer Reviews

Christian Card Studio
Christian Card Studio is truly this desktop publisher's delight. Creating and designing bulletins, programs and flyers for my church is one of my pastime hobbies. This program has enabled me to create some dynamic masterpieces. For Mother's Day, I was asked to design a Mother's Day Memory Journal and I had just purchase a copy of Christian Card Studio software. I exceeded my own expectations. The output was truly a work of art. I have received numerous request to create similar work. I had previously used several other Desktop Publishing software, but this software far exceed any of my existing software. Christian Card studio allows me to use existing verbiage and or add my own personal touch to pre-existing phrases. The artwork is absolutely outstanding. The ability to create a personal touch gives all of my artwork a more professional touch. I look forward to purchasing and using more Christian Card Studio software.

Print your own Hallmark cards
The best thing about this software is that it includes hundreds of ready-made Hallmark cards for you to print. Of course you can customize them, but you are starting with a professionally designed card, which makes the process much different than starting from a blank page. Have you ever been wandering through the card shop and wanted to take the picture from one card and the greeting from another? Or take a card addressed "to my brother" and change it "to my friend/sister/dad/Joe/Mary/whoever"? Now you can. And of course you can add pictures of your family. You will get your money's worth out of this product, but after a few years of printing the included cards, the cards in some of the categories are starting to look pretty familiar.

Easy to Use, Modify and Create Beautiful Cards
Like so much software these days, this is very user friendly. It not only is quick and simple to begin producing cards as soon as this is installed and played with or use of the tutorial, but it comes also with use to use modification software. This allows for change of colors, message, art, etc. I found this in itself of great usefulness and fun to explore.

The section on newsletters, etc., is great! Coupled with the ability to use their Papers, this is just an outstanding buy for the Christian who regularly sends/gives cards!