There's no escaping it. The greeting card industry has convinced us all that no notable occasion - ranging from Christmas, Easter and weddings to Father's Day, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day - can pass without a well-wishing card to accompany it. Nine times out of ten that means a last minute scramble to find a musical or ‘blue' card with some witty pun or cheesy flower arrangement or doe-eyed pet with a sentimental rhyme; all at an outrageous cost.

So Nova Development has come up with the logical idea of helping us to design and print our own cards, thus both saving heaps of dosh and making the cards totally individual and unique. The latest version (which curiously says Version 6 on the packaging but Version 7 when it's installed) has increased the range even more and provides a chunky but easy to follow manual to guide you through the maze.

Just a note when installing: make sure you choose the A4 European option if you don't want U.S. templates. Once you restart your computer you'll find the revamped interface is big, bold and clear. The left side has a number of icons directing you to text, drawing and editing tools as well as set-up wizards, while the right panel offers a wide range of fonts, effects, colours and gallery inserts.

A pop-up window immediately asks if you want to use any of a number of templates, customise your own or investigate the in-built tutorials. If you're unfamiliar with earlier versions of the software, using the tutorials is vital as they guide you through all the processes you would ever need to produce your heart's desire.

As well as standard formats, you can learn how to create holiday photo cards, return address labels, electronic greetings, calendars, Web albums, a scrapbook card and even a photo CD (although the latter option is only available on the Deluxe edition and uses a separate MemoriesOnTV package).

In total you have an astonishing 22,000+ customisable projects and 88,000 graphics to exploit and that's without taking into consideration the graphics and photos you can import from your own files or external data discs. The new features that have been incorporated into this latest edition include an enhanced photo editor, keyword searching for faster browsing and over 2,000 brand new designs.

If, like most people, you sometimes forget a birthday or anniversary, then worry not as there's a built-in address book and reminder program to nudge you in advance when those key dates are coming up. The other relief is that it's completely Windows Vista compatible so you won't have any hassles having to download patches before you start working.

It's hard to imagine how a program like this could be bettered, as the sheer volume of options is so mammoth that you should never be stuck for ideas for greeting cards ever again, while the interface and the tutorials make the operation an absolute breeze.