Creating Your Own Business Cards

Let me start off with saying that this is going to be a pretty long post so I apoligize if it is boring to some. I just wanted to share some of my knowledge with you. Why pay for someone to make business cards for you if you have the talent and technology right at your fingertips? I am in no way an expert when it comes to Adobe Photoshop. I will be the first to admit it. I know that there is probably a more "professional" way of creating your own business cards, but I just wanted to share with you what works best for me!

You will need:

Blank sheets of business cards (I use Avery)
Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Word
Printer

Open up Adobe Photoshop and go to File and select New. Under Document Size change the width to 3.5 inches and the height to 2 inches. Change the resolution to 300 pixels/inch. You can also name the window “Business Card” if you like, and then select OK.

For my business cards, I used a picture of one of my wreaths from my computer. If you would like to select an image from your computer to use, click Open and then select your image. This will open your image in a separate window in Photoshop.

This is the picture that I used. I wanted to get rid of the door and brick in the background.

To remove any background from your image that you don’t want seen on your business card, select the Eraser Tool from the toolbar on the left. You can adjust the size of the Eraser brush using the toolbar located at the top of your computer screen.

When you have erased the background of your image, select Filter and then Extract. Using the highlighter tool, trace around the edges of the area to be retained.

Then click the Paint Bucket located at the upper left hand side of the screen. This will select the Paint Bucket. You need to click inside the image in order to fill it. Once you have the image highlighted and filled and you are satisfied, click OK in the upper right hand corner. The image should now be cut out with a gray checkered background behind it.

Use the Rectangular Marquee tool located in the toolbar to the left side of your screen to select the entire image. Then go to Edit and select Copy.

Select your window labeled “Business Card” and go to Edit and select Paste. I always change the percentage in the bottom left hand corner of the window to 300%, so I have a bigger view of the image. The image will appear blurry in this zoomed in view.

Once you paste the image, it will be much bigger than the window, so go to Edit and select Free Transform; this will let you make the image smaller. When adjusting the size of the image remember to hold down the shift key the entire time, otherwise the dimensions of the image will not be proportionate. You can also move the image to where you want it on the business card.

When you are happy with the size and location of your image hit the Enter key.

Now you can change the background color or add text to your business card.

To add text, go to Layer, then New and select Layer.

Select the Horizontal Type Tool and then click on the “Business Card” window where you want your text to be and type in your text. You can move around your text at anytime by selecting the Move Tool located in the toolbar to the left of the screen. You can change the font, size and style of the text with the toolbar located at the top of the screen. Just highlight the text by dragging the mouse over it and then you can make any changes.

Change the percentage of the window back to 100% so you can see the actual size of the business card to make sure the text is legible. When you are happy with the look of your business card go to file and save.

Open Microsoft Word and go to Mailings and then select Labels. Click on the Options tab, and then select the corresponding template for the labels you have purchased. The labels I use require the 8371 template. Once selected click OK and then click New Document.

You will see a page with the outlines of the business cards. Be sure to save your document.

Mouse over the first box on the page and hit the backspace button this will remove any spaces from the box.

Go to Insert and then Picture and find the Photoshop document that you saved on your computer and click Insert. Repeat until all of the boxes contain your business card image.

Insert your sheet of labels in the printer and click print. Be sure to print only one sheet at a time since the labels sheets are thicker than regular paper.

Follow the instructions printed on the labels to separate the business cards.