How to Make Watercolor Business Cards in 4 steps!

Ok confession time = I'm so, so awful at committing to a business card design. I love places like Moo.com that let you print multiple images within the same card order, but even still I end up redesigning/reordering before I've used up the pack. Maybe not the best use of my finances. Prettiest, sure... most responsible? No.

SO to combat my obsessive re-designing habits (which is oddly limited to just business cards, I'm fine with most things for years...) I decided to come up with a way to print exactly what I wanted, in a way that I could adjust whatever, whenever I wanted.

(The key is small batch runs, of course - but I'm fairly sure no print shop will do a run of 24 cards every 2-3 weeks. Though, if you find one, please, let me know.)

Here is a little tutorial that details the steps I took to make my small run of cards, which will invariably change by next month. But for now, I'm in love.

1.) PAPER

It's SUPER important to get good, thick paper. Flimsy business cards are cheap looking and get folded and lost easily. If I'm handing someone my card, I want it to survive in their wallet/pocket.

I used Cold-Pressed Innova watercolor paper for mine. (For the paper nerds: 315gsm.) It's gorgeous for business cards.

2.) DESIGN

I printed my minimal, basic design onto the paper, careful to make sure the paper is perfectly aligned for the printer and no margin in-between cards. No margin will make cutting the cards easier and will generate less waste. Woo smaller footprint!

3.) PAINT

Once I had the 'business' side printed, I flipped the page on it's back, taped it down and went at it willy-nilly with my favorite pigment at the moment: indigo. Just a heads up, if you use the Innova paper it will buckle significantly during this step, but rest assured the paper relaxes once dried. (I panicked, so you don't have to!)

4.) CUT (after it dries, of course)

I used my trusty cutting board for this job, aligning the grid with the cutting wire. 

5.) Celebrate!

And that's it! With the right paper, it's easy to create professional, unique business cards that can be produced for cents and redone in a heartbeat.

This is what I got out of one sheet of paper. They'll go into orders, to friends, to the random people I meet at the bar that ask me why my hands are covered in blue paint...

Have a great rest of the week friends!