How to Make a Giant Check

Make Yourself a Giant Check

No, I’m not going to tell you how to make a million dollars by clicking on this link. Sorry!

I’m also not going to tell you how to turn yourself into a huge check, though that would be very interesting I think.

I’m going to tell you how to create a giant check for presentation using PrintShop.

I’ve done two of these recently for groups which I belong to.

The Red Hat Mamas pictured above are presenting a check for over $7,000 to a group which provides scholarships for needy young women. This money was raised through collections taken up at every monthly Red Hat luncheon. Isn’t that nice?

Our Queen Mother wanted the presentation to be memorable, so she came up with the idea of the giant check.

I used the banner feature of PrintShop and printed the check on 225 gram card stock (which actually works better than cardboard).

I tried mounting the banner on cardboard the first time but it puckered all up no matter what type of glue I used. In addition, the check was very clumsy to handle.

Card stock is definitely better.

The “FOR:” line of the check says, “FOR: the children who are the future”.

How to Make a Giant Check

• A graphic software package that has a banner feature, like PrintShop
• Cardstock (this check uses six sheets and produces a giant check that is 21 ¾ inches long and 8 ¼ inches high)
• Scotch tape and scissors (or paper cutter)

Oh … and some imagination. This is not a valid check, so you can put anything on it you like. The one above represents a $5,000 donation to a local battered woman’s shelter from our culinary art society.

The account name uses the logo of our club and the personal note line says, “FOR: domestic art … not domestic violence!”

Load your software and select a blank banner project.

Don’t worry about the size until you go to print. That’s where you will select the height or length (by size or number of sheets).

Import any logo artwork.

You may want to add some additional art like the ladle in the example above from the software’s art gallery. The Text Tool is used for all of the wording.

Select fonts similar to what you would see on an actual check.

The Optical Character Recognition machine-readable code in the bottom left of the check uses OCR-A BT. The pre-printed words you find on a check are in Amery and the “handwritten” parts are in appropriate script fonts.

I often try to mimic the writing of the person who will do the presentation. They get a real kick out of that.

Use the line tool for the writing lines. Mine are two pixels wide.

You can use the Rectangle Shape Tool to create a color background with an accent color border. (Just be sure to place it on the bottom layer using Arrange>Layer>Send to Back.)

Alternatively you can put a watermark in the background as I did with Saturday’s Red Hat check using Insert>Panel Effects>Watermark. The Red Hat check watermark repeated the phrase, “When I am old, I shall wear purple with a red hat.” Over and over and over.

When you go to print, click on the size box.

In PrintShop, the default is “100%”. When you click, you are given options to type in either the size measurements or the number of sheets. You just need to input one (size or number of sheets).

The other will adjust proportionally.

Print out your banner. Lay the pieces out.

I use the floor for these giant projects. Each sheet will have a white border unless your printer prints to the edge. Line up all the sheets and decide how you will layer them and which borders need to be trimmed to align everything.

Trim away the excess.

Carefully position two adjoining sheets and put small pieces of tape on the top and bottom edges.

Flip the pieces over and double the excess tape onto the back.

Add additional strips of tape on the back. Repeat this process until the giant check is fully assembled.

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