A. I would do it in MS Word and use the Drawing Toolbar to make the border lines. To show the Drawing Toolbar, click on View ->Toolbars and check beside Drawing. This places the Drawing Toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

Now you're ready to design the ad. Click on File ->Page Setup ->Margins tab. Change the margins (top, bottom, left, and right) to .5 inch. Next click on the Paper Size tab and type in the Width needed as 4.8125" (3.8125" + .5" left and right margins) and Height as 4inches (3 + .5" top and bottom margins). Click OK. The rulers should now show the area inside the margins as 3" x 3.8125" and you're ready to begin.

Outside border -- First click on the Rectangle tool on the Drawing Toolbar, position the pointer in the upper left corner of the ad area, hold down the left mouse button and drag it diagonally to the lower right corner, and release the mouse button. (Double check to see that the rectangle is exactly at all the margins and adjust as needed.) Next, the little square handles need to be showing so that the line is selected - if they're not, click on the line. Click on the down arrow point beside the Line Color tool; it looks like the tip of a paintbrush, and select the green you want from the palette. Then click on the down arrow point beside the Fill Color tool and select the yellow to fill the rectangle.

Inside border - Again, click on the Rectangle tool, position the pointer at the upper left corner, hold down the left mouse button and drag diagonally to the lower right corner and release the button. For a different width line, click on the Line Style tool; it looks like a short stack of lines, and click to select a style.

Adding text -- Click on the Text Box tool; it looks like a sheet of paper with an A on it, position the crosshairs pointer in the upper left corner at the inner edge of the Inside border and "click and drag" to the lower right corner. A fringe appears around the text box but it goes away when it's not selected. Double click in the text box and type in your ad in whatever font and size you like. Some line spacing can be adjusted by clicking in an empty line, then reducing or increasing the font size for that line, and pressing Enter. Highlight the text by dragging the mouse over it or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A, click on the Font Color tool and select your green. With the cursor still inside the text box, click on the Fill Color tool and select the yellow. Print out your ad and head for the newspaper office.

This technique can be used to create any custom size object that can be printed from your printer.