Weekend project

I've been out of business cards since.....October?

And I really want to do a redesign and eventually I'd like to pay someone to do the whole she-bang for me complete with etsy banners, blog headers, avatars, cards, stickers....the whole shebang.

So I didn't want to print anymore but it's getting a little ridiculous so I spent Saturday afternoon coming up with something suitable for the interim.

I've recently had come into my possession sick printer....and I've been trying to use up this stack of really nice cardstock I bought when I worked for a printing company ummmm....a loonnnng time ago.


So, I decided in the mean time...I would print my own until I use that cardstock up.

I designed them in photoshop.

Simple design and a take off my old cards but with updated colors.


So here's the easy version:

To start:

1) I created one file the size of the finished business card - 2" x 3.5"

2) I laid everything out and saved the original. Then I flattened the image and saved it as a .jpg

3) Then I created a new document letter size -8.5" x 11" and used the guides to create a grid (insert basic math skills here) and copy a pasted my .jpg image onto the grid. I can fit 10 cards on a letter size sheet but I have to trim them out.

This is what that file looks like:



4)Print out and cut on a paper cutter.

Here's the photo that will go in my Etsy listings:



Interesting side note/tip about cutting:
You want to set yourself up a little system so all the cards come out square and straight and all the right size. so 10 cards centered on a sheet will leave you with a border of .75" on the left and right and 1/2" on the top and bottom. So I trim that off first and then cut the main vertical. Then you can trim the long strips of 5 cards down into individuals. I sort of make notes of where I'm cutting on the grid of the paper cutter so I can cut faster and more methodically. It's actually sort of zen...

I know that's kind of hard to picture but if you want I can try to do a tutorial on the cutting thing. What do you think?