Eco Business Card Tutorial

In an effort to keep my business green, I make my own business cards. The focus of my business is products that use recycled materials, so it seemed only natural that my business cards should be recycled as well. Here's how I do it.

Find cardstock weight paper that is blank on one side. Here I'm using twin pocket folders from conferences, paper samples from a printer and covers of sketchpads. Most of these take the ink quite well--I've only used a couple of papers that didn't print well.

Cut these papers to a size that will go through your printer. I've cut mine 8-1/2 x 11 inches.

Design your cards on your computer. I use Photoshop for this, and make my business cards to fit 12 on a page, with a border to trim off on all sides. Print them with your home computer printer, making sure you feed the paper through to print on the blank side. I use the economy setting on my inkjet printer, and that is a fine enough quality for me.

Here are the printed sheets ready to cut.

For trimming, I trim 1/4" off on all sides, then cut the cards apart. My finished cards are 2 x 3-1/2".

I cut the long length first and then the short length.

I love the laser guide on my paper trimmer.

At this point, my PrairiePeasant cards are done.

 And the backs:

But I add one more step for my PrairieThreads business cards:

Using a string piecing technique, I stitch little scraps of fabric on one side of the cards.

Snip the threads joining the cards.

And these are done too!