Business Card Templates for Gimp 2.6 and Gimp 2.8

.

Here are two templates for the two latest versions of GIMP.

I began creating the templates in GIMP 2.6   … the older version which some people prefer and have re-installed.   Including me.

After carefully aligning my original GimpWimp  template to sit nicely centered in a 8 1/2 by 11 format   ….   I found my finished template printed off center.  I counted pixels, I tried to adjust the printer margins.  To no avail.

No matter what tricks I tried, it refused to print correctly.

♥ Then I discovered a sad fact.   That our so-familiar American letter size in NOT standard in the rest of the world.  And printers aren’t manufactured solely for American consumers.  The rest of the world is a market too.

So many times our home and small office printers aren’t calibrated to that familiar size and will print slightly off center.   No matter what you do.

Now for business cards, it really doesn’t matter.  If you follow the guidelines on the GimpWimp template,  you’ll get 10 correctly sized cards.   But your chopped off margins will be uneven.   If this uneven detritutus doesn’t bother you  … and it shouldn’t really … then use either of these templates below.

But if you want your cards to roll out of your printer nicely centered  … just so you can feel good about your work … then choose the template for your specific version of GIMP.

This one is for the earlier 2.6 version.   It looks lopsided.   It IS lopsided.   But it will print perfectly centered, because I’ve compensated for the printer’s eccentricities.  Trust me and try it.

Remember to LEFT click this image to increase the resolution and size.  It will expand alarmingly over your page.  When it is enlarged  …. then  RIGHT click on any part of it  and COPY.      Now you can paste it into the standard GIMP American letter size 8 1/2 by 11 inches.   It will look lopsided.  But it will fool your printer into printing it centered.   Be sure you’re using the 2.6 version of GIMP   … this is a hack specifically for that version.  You’re going to love it!

Now this one is for the later GIMP 2.8.   It looks centered and it is.   This more recent version of GIMP apparently fixed the problems with uneven margins.       Just remember to LEFT click and copy it ONLY when it has expanded to eat up most of your screen.

NOTE:   Unfortunately this later version of GIMP may not be compatible with some printers.   Check the print size and unless your printer indicates it will print the 8.5 by 11 inch format, the template will not fit the cards.

 

♥    Even if your computer doesn’t center accurately,  you can print and cut your cards perfectly without worrying about centering.  I’ve provided the guide lines for cutting.    But some people like myself are obsessive.   So I empathize and am glad to provide these solutions to a very minor problem.

♥    WARNING:     The first two cards are placed directly UNDER the top guide line.  Do not overlap.   The guideline is there to guide.   Be careful not to overlap the middle guide line as well.

The next row of cards will be carefully placed beneath the first row, being very careful to leave NO black lines visible.  Nudge the edges of the cards closely together.   And remember not to cover the center guide line.

♥    Now when you’ve filled in all ten spaces, you will want to remove the center guide line between your two columns of five cards.   Just use “bucket fill”.   Fill that bucket with white and click.    Your cutting guide lines will remain because I isolated them in the original design.    Neat trick eh?

 ♥     Yep … it’s a lot of rather fussy work.   But remind yourself that once you have your template correctly filled in, you have a limitless source of business cards.  Save your page and you’re ready to print thousands of cards and hurl them around freely, knowing the supply is endless.

Enjoy and share   ….

The GimpWimp

.

.

.