End of the Week Technique # 52 / MDS Today- Creating Your Own Custom Business Cards

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Hey y'all. Happy Friday! I hope you're having a great day and that your week is ending on a high note. Mine is getting there, I think.

For those of you that follow me and read yesterday's post, that I wrote at the Orthopedic Dr.'s office, I ended up getting a cortisone shot in the arch of my right foot. And just in case you're wondering, Yes, that is as painful as it sounds. After about 15 minutes my foot went numb from the anesthetic mixed with the steroids and then about 2 hours later that wore off and it hurt like a %!#@$*! :( Then I got no sleep last night. No, literally, not just not much but NONE! So now I'm on 29 hours of no sleep. Know what that combined with 3 large coffee's and a banana makes?  A jittery Shan. :( Oh well 3 1/2 more hours till I'm off work and then I can go home, get stuff ready for the vendor fair tomorrow and try to get to sleep. There is some good news today. My sweetie just arrived safe and sound in Cali, along with my heart. He starts his new site on Monday and then my 1 year countdown will start. :) I think I'm gonna get me some frequent flier miles. :)

Today's project came out of necessity, I needed business cards to hand out especially with the vendor fairs coming up and we had recently discussed in our leadership meeting about ways to promote our businesses and make an impact. As many of you know, I've really been trying to become more proficient with MDS for myself and as a business tool. When I started looking at pre-designed business cards I knew I could come up with something that better reflected me, after all I am in the business of creating and designing. Right? So I opened up my MDS and here's what I ended up with.

Custom Business Card Created with MDS2

I have to say this came together pretty quickly and painlessly. First off, our custom-sizing feature made it easy for me to create a standard 2 1/2 x 3 format so my project would be the right size without trying to re-size after completion. And our fabulous new re-coloring tool made it so easy for me to really customize the card to fit me. As many of you know Island Indigo is my All-Time Favorite color. I started with the I.I. Textured Card Stock as my base. Next I knew I wanted to incorporate some layering with DSP and maybe a punch or some other type of decorative element. This DSP from the Twitterpated Collection was originally Blushing Bride Pink. It looks just like our Fancy Fan Embossing Folder so I felt like I was getting two design elements in one. I simply recolored it to I.I. and lightened the opacity. L.O.V.E. that feature.

*Tip*- Try this to keep your underlying designs or colors from showing through when you lighten the opacity of a layer. Copy and Paste your piece that you are going to lighten up. Change the color to Whisper White and then using the layer tool, move the W.W. layer behind the layer you want to lighten up. This will allow you to lighten as much as you want for your desired effect without getting any bleed-through from your lower layers. Works like a charm!

After I had my card base and layer like I wanted it all I had to do was add text-boxes, choose my font and color, and add my desired text. The text I used is called Note-Worthy.

Here's what the back of my card looks like-

Custom Business Card Created with MDS2

To get the back, I started by simply adding a "Duplicate Page". Next I added a square punch that I made into a rectangle and filled with W.W. c/s. I added one text-box and added my text. How easy is that!?! Of course you can add whatever text you would like or even no text at all. My upline has some cards with something similar to this on the back and I thought it would make life so much easier. I can fill in the type, date and time of the class, how much it costs and whether it's paid for or not. For the notes section I figure it will be good for noting bring a friend for free, 2 for 1, or other kinds of specials or promotions.

During a recent networking meeting, I learned about GotPrint.com. Most of us know about VistaPrint's 250 cards for $8.50. GotPrint.com will make 500 for $10.00. For 500 Double-sided, Full Color, Glossy Cards with UV Coating I was quoted $17.95 with a 5-day turn-around. And they make it simple to just upload your custom card to their site. Guess who I chose to use? Unfortunately I didn't have time to get them here in time for this weekend's fair so I went to Office Depot, who by the way is having a sale this week. I got 100 for $21.00. Although significantly more expensive than either of the .com sites it was also significantly cheaper than Fed-Ex/ Kinkos who would only start at 250 cards and even better than printing them at home with Avery Business cards, where I would surely have run through my ink and not had everything uniform in color. Although I will say that the Office Depot cards look nice they are not coated and feel a little on the thin side. However, for a rush job (and to be able to let you know an extra option) not too bad.

That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's project and that it inspires you to try using MDS for something new. It really is for more than just Cards and Scrapbook layouts. I love hearing from you so if you liked today's project or have any questions about it, I hope you'll leave me a message below. I read them all and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's project, I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to visit my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I hope you have a Fabulous weekend filled with lots of time for Family, Friends and of course Creativity! Till Next Time-

Remember - Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Please also remember that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month-
Love Does NOT Hurt!

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It