Straight Up Business

I usually pop cards into tubes or handout to anyone I might want to check out my site. I wanted to share a way that I’ve used to make “business cards” quick, but most importantly on the cheap. I use a custom rubber stamp, and time cards that I cut by hand. (Everyone get out your X-acto’s!)

You’ll first need a design to put on a stamp, and something to print on. I have been using Simon Stamps for a year or two now and love how cheap and quick they are – they really make a solid product.  Keep in mind while you can get a decent amount of detail, anything too fine will get muddy, and anything too solid won’t produce a great stamp. Once you have a design in hand, head on over to Simon Stamps, upload a design and you’ll have it in hand in a few days (and for under $20 bucks). I use the traditional wood handled stamps. They have a policy if you upload before noon, it will ship out the same day – they’re really fast!

You can find pre-cut cards, but I was able to find these time cards at an office supply store and cut them to size (roughly 2.5 x 3 inches). Luckily for me, the time cards were already 3 inches wide, so I just cut a stack every 2 inches and was ready to go. You can use any ready-made card stock, think of something that’s readily available and cheap – use your imagination (paper samples, other buisness cards, junk mail, cereal box, phone book pages). Also – look into finishing these – a corner punch, or some kind of cheap die punch really makes a difference.

Once you have both in hand stamp away! The great thing about a rubber stamp is: You can achieve a letter press look for the cost of a copy. You can make an unlimited amount of prints at your leisure. You can stamp it on anything, with any color you can get a hold of (metallic included).

I’ve got a handful that I stamp on cards – shipping tubes, envelopes and prints. Get stamping!