Tips, projects, ideas...

Just received an email from a new customer asking how to make or design earring cards. The old tutorial we have on the site is, well "OLD".

Time to  share a wonderful website that takes the mystery out of designing earring cards.

A recent discovery - canva.com.  I am a self-taught graphic designer. When I taught myself, there were very few simple graphic design software programs available.

Needless to say, I have wasted a couple of weeks of my life on creating ads, postcards, packaging, banners, website images etc,. Sadly, It was hit or miss at best.

Enough about the trials and tribulations. Canva.com will be your best friend one day. Especially if you are trying to establish yourself as a professional.

Please realize, with anything new there will be a learning curve. Don't think this will come natural to everyone. But it is worth a try. Didn't put exact measurements for this lesson. Just us wing it till it works. 

We tried to make sure to include each step.

Forgive me if it isn't precise.

Just check out Canva and play around a bit. You don't have to create as many designs as I did.

Do up a couple and see if it is worth it. Send us a picture of your designs.

We will share them.

 Two methods of earring card design.

Included :how to design one single card for business card printing and how to create a cardstock sheet of 12 cards.

Go to Canva.com

Step 1-

Select "custom dimensions"

Step-2

SINGLE CARD DESIGN-FOR BUSINESS CARD PRINTERS.

Choose 2 inch x 3.5 inch.

(if you are using a printing company that wants a "bleed" just add 0.25 inch to this measurement. And remember to include the  "bleed border" when designing.)

FOR PRINTING ON YOUR OWN CARDSTOCK WITH YOUR PRINTER.

Custom measurement- 8 inch x 10.5 inches long.

Scroll down layout for 4 blocks horizontal and 3 blocks vertical. This will give you a base template.

Step 3-

Select background, if desired. There a few free backgrounds as well as any color background you desire for free. Canva also has images for purchase. I don't think it is necessary for earring cards.

Step 4-

Select text. Write your business name and adjust size if necessary. This can be adjusted at any time. All elements can be clicked and dragged with your mouse. Double click on text to edit.

Step 5-

To add design elements select "elements". Or this is where you can add your own logo by selecting "upload".

Step 6-

Fun step. Scroll through the elements and see what intrigues you. All of the elements can be edited. You can change the color or crop the images. There is also a way to create levels of transparency. In this example, I changed the color and flipped the image upside down and dragged to the bottom of the earring card.

CARDSTOCK OPTION-

With the grid for cardstock, I had alot of fun creating several cards on the grid to see which looked best to me. ( I used frames, buttons,flowers, scrolls, crown & a monkey.

This may be time consuming at first. It will be worth it in the end.  Imagine needing earring cards and just grabbing some cardstock and printing out what you need anytime!

Step 7-

Download to PDF for printing.

For the single this is the file to submit to printing company.

CARDSTOCK OPTION-

Delete the grid before printing.

*Also- Learn from my trial and error. The earring cards on the left side of the file, need to have the text and image moved over a little to account for the area the printer can't reach. Also the top text must be a little lower to account for the printer edge.*

Step 8-

Ready for Print. Print on copy paper until it looks good to you.

Step 9-

Cut the cards. They should be 2 inches across each and 3.5 inches long. Best way to cut is using a paper trimmer with precise measurements. You can use scissors but won't be as accurate as the trimmer. 

 My least favorites-

My Favorites-

 What they look like with earring holes created by our punches.

To create a professional style style photo.

Just add a natural element like a shell, rock, twig or leaves.