Listen to Lena

Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion

Because My #Office365 is My Life.

By

Years ago, I was very crafty. Seriously! I adored scrapbooking, card making and just about everything that involved shiny paper and die-cut letters. And so I filled page after page of memories; perfectly captioned with whimsical sayings and emotional flair.

Later, I learned it was that much easier to transplant my craftiness and creativity and do it all electronically. Hence, I began designing invitations for the boys’ birthdays, layouts, logos and more via the old computer. In fact, here’s a peek at their 1st birthday invites:

As you can see, I went to town organizing the background and pictures, uploading photos and getting the colour schemes and justification just right. Then, I printed the invitations on photo-quality paper and mounted them on coordinating cardstock (yellow for Ryder, green for Reid). Finally, I popped them in the mail, ready to get our party on.

So, would you think that I designed these invitations using a snazzy graphics design program?

Would you believe that they were designed in Microsoft PowerPoint?

It’s true! If you thought that MS PowerPoint was just for boring slide presentations, you’re wrong. Yes, you can create a slideshow (made easier than ever with Office 365’s gorgeous templates), but you can also design to your heart’s content with just a little imagination. For example, I used stock images already pre-loaded onto PowerPoint for the bees, clouds and UFO’s. Simply inserting pictures of the boys and changing the shape of the object – in Ryder’s case, a circle, and in Reid’s case, an oval – allowed me to superimpose a personal touch while still keeping in with the overall theme. I was pretty pleased with the results!

So what else do I create with PowerPoint? I’m sure you’ve seen one or two pictureboards on my blog – That’s right – the entire collage you see above was also created in PowerPoint. No need for fancy online collage creators – simply insert pictures, text, arrange and publish. The truth is, in my former life as a business professional, I depended on PowerPoint on a daily basis to create presentation after presentation. And when I first started my blog, I assumed I would lose my skills entirely – I mean, when would I have the need to create a presentation?

Turns out, I use PowerPoint now as I run a home business more than I ever did during my corporate life.

Want to simply your life? Get Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium.

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Use Office on Demand when you’re away to stream full versions of Office programs to any PC4

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Capture, plan, and share notes and information with OneNote
Stay in touch with 60 minutes of Skype calls each month to phones in 40+ countries

Turn Ideas Into Beautiful Documents

Save time from the Start screen with great-looking templates
Streamlined interface helps you take a clear view of your work
Capture your ideas using touch, pen or keyboard
Drag and drop pictures, videos and online media into your projects
Pull content from PDFs straight into Word
Make PowerPoint presentations which stand out in wide-screen

And now, I’m pleased to share with my reader’s a link to a FREE one-month trial of Office 365 Home Premium. See what all the fuss is about. And if you need help designing a birthday invitation in PowerPoint, I’m your gal. Just holler!

I’ll be back soon with my best tips for Office 365 – including a review of my brand new Asus VivoBook S400 Laptop – which was generously provided by Microsoft Canada.

Click here for your FREE one-month trial of Office 365 Home Premium.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nicole W.

    PowerPoint! I never would have guessed! I use it all the time for school. I love the invites!

  2. Tricha

    Oh wow, never though of using MS Powerpoint for invitations. My husband used it this weekend to help our daughter create a family tree project for school.

  4. Soozle

    POWERPOINT?!!? Wow! You got me on the fact I pretty much equated PP with boring old slideshows.. I would NEVER have considered using it for anything but!

    Very cool!

    While I love electronic craftiness, there is still something special about creating with your hands!

    • Lena

      You’re absolutely right about the hand creations – I still treasure all my hand-made scrapbook sheets!

  5. Debbie Bashford

    I just got Office365 and am still in a huge learning curve and this is fabulous to know!

  6. Anne Taylor

    You did go all out on the invites and the party! Who knew PowerPoint was so useful! Thanks

  7. Lisa H

    Arent you crafty!? The boys invites were adorable and your picture boards do always look great. The Microsoft program definitely has been useful.

  9. Victoria Ess

    I’ve used Powerpoint for making many presentations and posters. There’s so much MS Office is capable of that a lot of people don’t realized.

  11. Flora M

    So glad I read your post ! Now I am going to see if PowerPoint is included in my version of Office and start getting creative too :)

  14. Judy C

    Wow I never thought you could do this sort of stuff with Powerpoint, I have it but just ignore it because I figured it was just for slideshows. Guess I need to go check it out and play with it.