Make Your Own Business Cards Using Old Books

I am so excited about Farm Girl Friday at Verhage Farms this week!  But I def. need to make some new business cards with my etsy, facebook, and blog addresses on them.  I'm also trying to be really good about putting my info on all of my products (my mom keeps insisting--thanks mom).  I'm bad at that.  I get done with something and I tend to just be really excited to move on to the next idea. 

This time I'm going to be making my cards using my silhouette sd cutter, however, if you don't have one, you can still make some really cute biz cards by just cutting the book pages in strips, which I did with my last batch of cards.  You can also use cardstock if you are not into the book pages thing.  I'm always looking for fun ways to use the "unusable" parts of my vintage books after I complete a collage and this has worked well.  I've also made paper chains from them, which are very pretty around the holidays.  I also found a wealth of info and ideas when I googled "make your own business cards." 

So here's a pic of the finished product:



Step 1: Print out all your biz info using your word processor. 

Step 2:  Cut or rip into strips.  I do both.  I like the way the coffee aging looks on the ripped paper so I do some of those too, but it's really tedious. 



Step 3:  Rip pages from the book you are going to use.

Step 4: Mount your paper on the silhouette and cut.  I found lots of biz card options by searching "cards" and "tags"


Step 5: Lift off the excess and remove shapes.

Step 6:  Age your card shapes in the oven.  A few notes and disclaimers here...I always use a special pan for this stuff, one not used for food.  I don't know what's in the old inks but I wouldn't want it seeping into my kids food.  Use a separate pan.  Also:  I don't know how safe it is COOKING PAPER in a HOT OVEN.  It's probably not, but it's my favorite way to get the look I want from my papers.  Other options may include soaking them in coffee or tea and then hanging them outside on a clothesline to dry.  I wasn't happy with these results, although you may be.  You could also dry them overnight on the counter.   If you do choose to age them in the oven like I do....I always set a timer for 8 min, oven at 250 degrees and I NEVER walk away to do something else.   Pour coffee over the paper and let it seep in for a minute, then pour off the excess.  8 min, 250 deg. 

Step 7: Do the same thing with your biz info strips

See how neat and old and vintagey they look when you take them out...



Step 8:  Now attach your biz info to your card shapes.  I use mod podge because I am completely obsessed with it and I'm convinced that the fumes make me more creative.  Also because I sometimes like to use poly glitter on my cards to trick them out.  Also the mod podge makes the edges curl a bit, but I love that.  If this bugs you, use glue.  You could also completely omit the aging process with the coffee.  The results would be much cleaner/brighter and less vintage/old.