Last minute craft fair prep

Tomorrow is the MayDay craft bazaar at Bella Dubby and I’m busy putting the finishing touches on all of my products.  As usual, I had some last minute ideas, such as typing my website on the backs of my new, hand-embroidered note cards (above and below).

And here’s a little sneak peek of some other new items since the Spring Showers Show; bookmarks (above) and small flower pins (below).

I finally ran out of the cute stationary paper that I used to make my last set of DIY business cards, so I thought I’d get high tech and use the computer to draft my next batch.  However, as it turns out, my printer isn’t working!  Luckily I was able to bang out some new ones using my good old trusty typewriter and nice, thick drawing paper.

Believe it or not, all my products and display items for tomorrow’s show will fit in my newly refinished suitcase, shown above.  Handy, since I’ll need to walk home after the event.

I hope to see you tomorrow at MayDay!

Toot Tuesday; DIY Business card

Business cards are a great way to show people your personality. They let people know who you are, and not just because they have your name on them. Right now I technically do not have a business because for me to be in business I’d have to actually sell something, and I’m just not there yet. But that didn’t stop me from making this small run of business cards with my name, blog, and email address.

My hope is that the people I give these to will be intrigued enough by them and me that they will want to do a little leg-work on their own (i.e. type the web address into the search bar) to find out more.

About “Toot Tuesday”
Toot is short for tutorial. It is my intention to share some tutorials with you from time to time and this is a way for me to do so on a regular basis. I will try to publish a new tutorial every Tuesday or at least twice monthly.

Now for the tutorial in three easy steps.

Materials:
pencil
Exacto knife or scissors
ruler
pretty paper (I used stationary paper that I found at a thrift store.  It’s a bit heavier than normal printer paper.)
cutting mat
typewriter

Step 1: Measure and draw as many 2″x3.5″ rectangles as will fit on your paper. Draw onto the side you will be adding your text. The pencil lines will help you format your cards in the typewriter. Do not cut apart.

Step 2: Feed your paper into your type writer so that you can see your pencil guide lines. Type whatever information onto your card as you wish. You might want to practice your formating on a scrap piece of paper first so you get a feel for how you will place your text. Sometimes it is difficult to type when there is a small amount of paper on the bottom because the typewriter can’t grasp it. I found that typing half of the cards and then turning the paper around to type the rest worked best.

Step 3: Once all of your cards have been typed you cut them apart. I recommend using an Exacto knife and ruler instead of scissors.

There you have it!  Fun, funky business cards to pass around.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of Toot Tuesdays.  If you use this tutorial to make business cards let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!