DIY Business Cards

In preparation to attend a Teach For America leadership summit, I decided that I needed business cards. I was in a quandary because I didn't yet have the logo for Montessori For All. However, I needed something to pass out in case I connected with anyone.

So I decided to pull together some easy-peasy business cards, using materials I already have on hand.

First, I did a little internet research to get inspired. I searched Pinterest for ideas, but ultimately, I was most inspired by Jordan's ideas over at Oh Happy Day.

First, she had this simple idea for dipping the edge of each card in dye.


Then she had this idea for doing a bit of water color painting on each card.


Plus, she designed these super-simple cards for Maggie. I love the idea! They just contain Maggie's name in the center, so she can write as much or as little info as she wants, depending on the situation.


In the end, I didn't want to buy any dye, so I started experimenting with stamps. Whenever I'm trying to do any sort of graphic design, I usually start playing around until I accidentally do something that looks decent. That's how I happened upon the idea for a tree gradient.

I was trying to clean the stamp, and I like the way it looked when I diluted the color in succession. So I simply created a table in Microsoft Word. Each cell was 3-inches wide and 2-inches tall. I used a light gray border, so I could cut along the faint lines without having them show in the final product.

I decide to only include my name, phone number, and e-mail address, since I'll get professional cards designed once I have a real logo for my non-profit.

Then I printed a full sheet on cardstock and used our paper cutter to cut them out.

Finally, I used a tree stamp that Matt gave me for Christmas. I pressed it on the ink pad once and then just pressed it on the paper three or four times.

I'm happy with the way my free and easy business cards turned out!

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