Friday, July 26, 2013

Freebies on Friday! Editable, printable bulletin board borders!

I got a little bored this morning, so I made a few things to share: printable, editable bulletin board borders. I can never find ones I like, and even using scrapbook paper to cut out custom ones can get time-consuming and pricey very quickly. So I am printing them this year, and of course I'll laminate as well so that I can continue to use them in years to come.

I've made several templates in Word, and all you have to do to make them your own is change the fill for the shapes! I usually download some free background paper from TPT, or use one of the built-in patterns from Word.

It's not too difficult to make your own template as well. Just in case my templates don't give you the type of border you want, here's how to make your own!

1. Open a new Word document, and change the paper orientation to landscape, with narrow borders.


2. Find an image (ANY image) of the type of edge you want on your border. Paste the image in Microsoft Word, and adjust the length of the image so that it is around 10 inches. If you picked a short image that you do not want to stretch, simply copy and paste more images to create a longer border. Also, change the "Wrap" setting on your image to "Behind Text."

3. Click the Insert Tab. Then click Shapes. In the dropdown menu, select the "Freeform" shape under the Lines category. This will allow you to create a custom shape, by tracing over your image. Each time you click, another section of the shape is created. I recommend zooming in on your figure so you can be very precise as you click around the edges over your picture. 

4. Once you have traced all along your shape, you can fill the shape with any color or picture you like. To do this, click the Format tab, then Shape Fill. If your edges seem choppy, sometimes it helps to add a white 3-pt. border for your shape, which you can do by clicking the Format tab, then Shape Outline, then weight, 3-pt. The shape really doesn't have to be super smooth, since you will be printing it out and cutting it out. Any rough curves can be smoothed out when you cut it out. 

5. Copy and paste a second (or third!) shape onto your page - so there's less paper waste when you print. 

To download the FREE templates I've created, visit my TPT store at tinyurl.com/learningwithtapeTPT !  Below are the templates I posted:


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