Folding Card Maker

How to make a printable folding card

1. Pick the occasion. Christmas, Thank you, Birthday, For Mum / Dad, Thanksgiving or Plain each fills in a greeting for the front, a message for the inside and a matching front. Change any of them. A child thanking several people? Fill-in thank-you cards for kids print one card per giver, gift already filled in.
2. Choose the front. Use one of the seven fronts drawn for this page (a tree, a wreath, snowy houses, a bauble, a botanical spray, birthday confetti, gold stars), three autumn ones when the occasion is Thanksgiving, three Diwali ones (a row of lit diyas, a rangoli medallion, lanterns under a marigold toran) when it is Diwali, or tap Your photo and pick a picture from your phone or computer. Drag it to frame it, pinch or use the slider to zoom. Under Colour in are fronts drawn as black outlines for a child to colour, and which ones you see follows the occasion. Christmas: a tree with baubles, a snowman, a reindeer, a stocking and a gingerbread house. Birthday: a cake with the age on a plaque, balloons, a party bear, a stack of presents and bunting over a banner with a name. For Mum / Dad, Thank you and Plain: a bouquet, a garden of heart flowers and a teacup that says “Best” and the name. Thanksgiving: a turkey whose tail feathers are autumn leaves, a wheat sheaf behind two pumpkins, and maple leaves falling from a branch. Diwali: the same three Diwali drawings. A finer snowflake mandala for older children and adults is there for every occasion.
3. Write the message and pick the lettering: Classic serif, Handwritten script or Clean sans. The text shrinks to fit the inside panel and wraps onto new lines, so a long note is never cut off.
4. Pick the fold and the paper, then Download PDF. Print at 100% (“Actual size”), not “Fit to page”, or the fold lines move off the middle.

Questions

Half-fold or quarter-fold: which should I choose?

A quarter-fold card prints on one side of one sheet and is folded twice. From A4 it is an A6 card, 105 × 148 mm, which fits a C6 envelope; from US Letter it is 4¼ × 5½ in, which fits an A2 envelope. Every printer can do it, and the double layer of paper makes it stiff even on plain paper. A half-fold card is folded once, so it is twice the size: A5 (148 × 210 mm, a C5 envelope) from A4, or 5½ × 8½ in (an A9 envelope) from Letter. It needs printing on both sides, and it is the better choice for a photo, because the front is twice as big.

Where do I get an envelope for the card?

Make one: Envelope Maker prints an envelope template to fit. Choose A2 for the 4¼ × 5½ in quarter-fold card from Letter, or A6 for the 105 × 148 mm card from A4. Both templates fit on one A4 or Letter sheet, with the address printed on the front and a patterned liner to cut. A half-fold card from A4 is A5 (148 × 210 mm). Type that into its Custom size; the template then needs A3 paper, or the SVG cut file on a cutting machine.

Why are two panels upside down on the quarter-fold sheet?

Folding the top half back turns it over, which also turns it upside down. Printing the inside panels at 180 degrees cancels that out, so once the card is folded the front, the message and the back all read the right way up. Fold the top half backwards (away from you), not forwards, or the print ends up inside the fold.

How do I print a half-fold card so the inside lines up?

The PDF has two pages: page 1 is the outside (back on the left, front on the right) and page 2 is the inside. In the print dialog choose two-sided printing and “Flip on short edge” (sometimes called short-edge binding or “flip up”). Long-edge flipping prints the inside upside down. If your printer has no two-sided setting, print page 1, put the same sheet back in the tray to print page 2 on the other side, and try it once on plain paper first: draw an arrow on the test sheet so you know which way your printer wants it fed. Home printers shift the second side by 1 to 2 mm; the 8 mm white border round every panel absorbs that.

What paper weight should I use?

For a quarter-fold, ordinary 80 to 100 g/m² (20 to 27 lb) paper is right: it ends up two layers thick, and card stock that heavy cracks at the second fold. For a half-fold, use matte card of 160 to 250 g/m² (about 60 to 90 lb cover), which most home inkjets and lasers will feed one sheet at a time; check the maximum printed inside your paper tray. Glossy photo paper makes a photo front look its best, but ink does not dry on the back of most of it, so it only suits the quarter-fold. Before folding card, score the dashed line with a blunt knife or a dry ballpoint pen against a ruler: the fold comes out crisp and laser toner cracks far less.

How do I print a Christmas card for a child to colour in?

Pick one of the six fronts under Colour in. The whole card then prints as black outlines on white: the drawing on the front, the greeting in hollow letters (untick Hollow letters for solid black ones), the motif inside on the left, and a “From: ____” line under the message where the child writes their name. For young children print a quarter-fold on plain paper: it needs no two-sided printing, and the back of the sheet stays blank, so felt tip that soaks through the front ends up hidden inside the fold. Let them colour the flat sheet on a table and fold it afterwards. On that A6 card the lines are 0.76 mm wide and the snowman's body is about 46 mm across, big enough for a chunky crayon; the eyes, holly berries and inner mandala petals are 2 to 5 mm, which suits a fine felt tip or coloured pencil. A half-fold prints everything half as big again, which suits the mandala.

How do I print a birthday card for a child to colour in?

Choose Birthday, then one of the fronts under Colour in. The cake has a plaque on the bottom tier: type the age (1 or 2 digits) and it prints there in hollow letters, and ages 1 to 12 also get that many candles (other ages get five). The bunting front has a banner for a name of up to 12 letters. Both start with an example (age 7, the name Sam): change it, or clear it to leave a blank space the child can write in themselves. Inside, the message is still yours to edit, and a border of balloons and stars runs round it to colour as well; untick Colour-in border if you want the inside plain. Downloading a colour-in birthday card counts one anonymous “colour-in birthday” use, nothing you typed.

Can a child make a birthday or Mother's Day card for Mum or Dad?

Yes, and that is what the For Mum / Dad occasion is for. It offers a bouquet in a paper cone, a heart garden and a teacup with “Best” and a name on the cup; type Mum, Dad, Grandma or Nana (up to 12 letters). Its greeting starts as “I love you”: for a parent's birthday change it to “Happy Birthday Mum”, for Mother's Day or Father's Day type that instead. The inside border is a ring of hearts. If the child would rather have the cake or balloons for Mum's birthday, choose Birthday and type Mum on the bunting banner. Print a quarter-fold on plain 80 g/m² paper so it needs no two-sided printing, let the child colour the flat sheet, then fold it; an adult can help with the two folds, which is easier than cutting. On an A6 card the cake plaque is about 31 by 18 mm and the age prints about 8 mm tall in heavy hollow digits; a 12-letter name on the bunting banner prints about 5 mm tall, so it suits a fine felt tip or a sharp pencil better than a chunky crayon.

How do I make a Thanksgiving card?

Choose Thanksgiving. The front changes to falling maple leaves and the greeting to “Happy Thanksgiving”; two more autumn fronts appear next to it, a wheat sheaf behind two pumpkins and a turkey whose tail feathers are leaves. Under Message for, tap Family, A teacher, A friend or Clients / customers to fill the inside with a short message written for that reader, then change any word of it in the box. For a card a child colours at the kids' table, pick the same three drawings under Colour in: they print as black outlines with the greeting in hollow letters and a ring of maple leaves and acorns round the message. A quarter-fold on plain paper needs no two-sided printing, so you can print one per place setting; Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November in the US (26 November in 2026) and the second Monday of October in Canada, so print a few days ahead to give felt tip time to dry. Letter paper is chosen for you if your browser is set to US or Canadian English.

How do I make a Diwali card?

Choose Diwali. The greeting becomes “Happy Diwali”, the inside message “Wishing you a year full of light”, and the front a big clay diya over a row of five small ones; next to it are a rangoli medallion and hanging lanterns under a toran of marigolds and mango leaves. Change any word of either. The main day of Diwali falls on 8 November in 2026, so print a few days ahead. Folding: a quarter-fold prints on one side only; fold the sheet in half across with the print outside, then in half again so the diyas land on top, and sign under the message where the From line is. A half-fold needs two-sided printing (“Flip on short edge”) and is folded once. Paper: use 80 to 100 g/m² copy paper for a quarter-fold, which is four layers thick; for a half-fold, 200 to 250 g/m² matte card in cream or white feels like a bought card. A home printer cannot print gold: the lamps print in ochre and orange, so add a gold gel pen or a little glitter glue to the flames if you want shine.

Diwali cards for a school project or for kids

Under Colour in, Diwali offers the same three drawings as black outlines on white, plus the snowflake mandala: the diyas suit ages 4 to 6, the lanterns and toran 6 and up, and the rangoli, with its rings of 12 and 8 petals, suits older children who like a symmetry puzzle (colour opposite petals the same). The greeting prints in hollow letters to colour, a border of flames and dots runs round the message, and there is a “From:” line to write a name on. Classroom tip: print a quarter-fold on plain copy paper, one sheet per child (30 sheets for a class of 30, no two-sided printing), let the class colour the flat sheet, then fold it together in two steps. Crayons and coloured pencils work on 80 g/m²; felt tips show through less on 100 to 120 g/m². Leave inkjet prints to dry for ten minutes before colouring. The drawings are lamps, patterns, flowers and lanterns only, with no religious figures, so one card works for every child in a mixed class.

Thanksgiving cards for clients: can I make those here?

Yes. Choose Thanksgiving, then Clients / customers: it fills in a short, plain thank-you for their business that ends with a Thanksgiving wish and “Warm regards”, ready for you to add your name and your company's. The wheat-and-pumpkin or falling-leaves front looks the most professional; the turkey suits a family business or a café. A half-fold on 200 to 250 g/m² matte card (A5 fits a C5 envelope, 5½ × 8½ in an A9) feels like a bought card; a quarter-fold on copy paper is fine for slipping into an order. The maker makes one design at a time, so for a client list print one PDF and run as many copies as you need, then sign each one by hand: a signature is the part clients notice. There is no logo upload; if you want your logo on the front, choose Your photo and pick an image of it. Nothing is printed on the back except a small “Made with polyatic.com”.

Which paper takes crayons and felt tips best?

Ordinary 80 g/m² (20 lb) copy paper is fine for wax crayons and coloured pencils. Water-based felt tips wet the paper and show through 80 g/m²; 100 to 120 g/m² (27 to 32 lb) paper mostly stops that and still folds cleanly twice. Alcohol markers bleed through any printer paper, so put a scrap sheet underneath. For a half-fold card, matte card of 160 to 250 g/m² takes every medium well. Avoid glossy photo paper: crayon wax and pencils skid on it and marker ink smears. On some inkjet printers a wet felt tip can smear a freshly printed line, so leave the print to dry for ten minutes first; laser toner does not smear.

How do I print a card in black and white, or with less ink?

Tick Save ink. Any front, including the seven full-colour ones, then drops its full-page background (the cream, green, red or navy behind the drawing) and the greeting prints in black. On the darker fronts the background is most of the ink: the Wreath and Gold stars fronts print with a small fraction of the colour they otherwise use. The drawing itself keeps its colours, so for a strictly black card choose a Colour in front, which is black outlines only. In the print dialog, choose “Black and white” or “Grayscale”; many inkjets still mix grey from colour cartridges under “Grayscale”, so look for a “Black ink only” or “Black cartridge only” setting if you want the colour cartridges left untouched. A photo front stays a photo; Save ink only turns its caption band white.

Is my photo uploaded?

No. The photo is read straight into this page on your device and drawn onto the card there; no copy is sent anywhere or kept after you close the tab. For a print at the full 300 dpi, the photo needs about 1,050 × 1,550 pixels to fill a quarter-fold front and 1,550 × 2,300 for a half-fold one; half that still looks fine at arm's length. Any recent phone photo is far more than that; a picture saved from a messaging app may be compressed and print slightly soft.

Can I write the message by hand instead?

Yes. Clear the message box and the inside prints blank, ready for a pen. Keep the greeting box empty too if you want the photo to fill the whole front without a caption band.

Is it free, and can I print as many as I like?

Yes. No sign-up, no watermark and no paid version; the PDF is built in your browser, so it costs nothing to make another. The only words on the back are a small “Made with polyatic.com”.