With the start of the new year, I decided that I needed some new brand identity cards. And with the sweet deal that
VistaPrint was having, I knew that the time was right.
I have used
VistaPrint on and off for years to create branding and marketing materials, from postcards to banners, business cards to flyers. I wanted to freshen up my image while still keeping it recognizable as me. I could have started from scratch and used my (not so) mad skillz with Photoshop Elements to create a custom card that I would upload and get printed, but I knew that I wanted it to be quicker than that. So I started with one of their standard designs.
In the past I have used their 100 free postcards (just the cost of shipping) to create a layout with four cards that I would then cut apart, punch holes in and attach a self-adhesive plastic hanger to the back. In fact, from the first batch I did years ago, I still have about 1/3 left since 100 postcards would make 400 earring cards.
This time I wanted to use a business card and create it so that the top 1/3 was scored which would eliminate the need for the those little plastic things.
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| {Tesori Trovati Earring Cards - front} |
I lucked out in finding a business card template (and matching pieces) that had this nice looking flourish on it and a different colored top part. I found the color number from the editing and adjusted my logo in Photoshop Elements to match the text and flourish. I uploaded and oriented my skeleton key logo upside down with my name in this top area. Below the line, I added my company name. Just below that I placed two tiny asterisks in the lightest gray I could find and still see when printed (sorry for no picture of that one, you will have to trust me 'cause it is the best tip ever!). That makes it far easier to punch the holes and keep them even.
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| {Tesori Trovati Earring cards - back} |
There are usually different options for the back. I could have gone with blank for no charge or black and white for a small fee. The back I used is one that had pre-printed lines on it and a faint image of the flourish from the front. I opted for the color, even though it was faint, to keep the continuity. The lines were for recording appointments, and had pre-filled tags, but I just changed the text, moved it where I wanted it and added a few more lines through their advanced editing tools. If you are familiar with Word, you can likely figure out how this works pretty easily, so don't let that intimidate you. I like to write the name of the earrings and a list of the components on the back, so these lines come in handy. Since I had room, I put some contact info on the back as well as my initials in the corner that would be useful for my coding system (i.e., EPH-12-001) and a dollar sign to indicate the price.
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| {Tesori Trovati earring cards - folded) |
The best part is that with the colored box, I can easily find where to put my bone folder to score the line that the card is folded on. (A tip: score the line from the back. If you score it from the front, the bending will cause the crease to split.)
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| {Tesori Trovati earring cards - displayed} |
These cards were meant to hang on a display, but happy accident! I found is that they work really well when sitting on a display case because they are angled. Bonus!
As I was going I decided to create a cohesive look by adding new business cards,
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| {New Tesori Trovati Business Cards} |
new hang tags (with plenty of space for writing about necklaces and bracelets) that double as an alternative business card (which I might consider using as my primary business card),
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| {Tesori Trovati Hang Tags - front} |
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| {Tesori Trovati Hang Tags - back} |
as well as a notepad for writing thank yous and a rubber stamp of my return address. A lot of these items were free or greatly reduced. Knowing what I could have paid for all of these pieces, I saved a ton of money and I really like the look. If you haven't see a deal from VistaPrint that you like, just wait a week and a new one will come along!
For the cost of an uploaded logo ($4.99), color backside ($12.99) and shipping, I got 250 new earring cards that present a professional look that matches with my other similar branding.
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| {What do you think of my new earring cards?} |
The result is a brighter, fresher look from my previous cards, which includes my consistent branding (the skeleton key) and allows me to display my products professionally.
What do you use for earring cards or to display your earrings? Do you name every pair of earrings that you make? Do you list the materials that you have used? Would love to know about how you do it!
