| DIY Branding |

The idea to make my own business cards came from a place of necessity and budgeting, with a dash of DIY attitude. I'm showing my handmade jewelry at a market next weekend and I do not have any business cards. What I did have on hand were card blanks and stamp carving tools.

I started with:

• A Small Speedy Carve Block from Speedball http://a.co/89bnCBS
• Speedball Hand Carving Tool http://a.co/j178xrG
• Business Card Blanks in "kraft" brown color http://a.co/1T9zISj
• Archival Ink Pad in Black
• A print out of my "design" from Canva

Step One

Design Transfer

• Using a soft and dark pencil on your black and white print out of your design, outline and color in elements that you would like on your stamp.
• Take your penciled in paper and flip it over, pencil side down, onto your speedy carving block.
• Rub the paper on top of the speedy block to transfer the design. The back of a spoon works great for transfer rubs.
• You now have a backwards version of your business card on your speedy block.
• I like to outline my transfer in pen on the block for clarity.

Step Two

Carving Your Block

• Using your cutting tools, you are going to carefully carve away any part of your block that is not part of the transfer image. This takes time and patience.

Step Three

Testing Your Block

• Your first run of the stamp does not usually mean you are done carving. Once you ink your stamp you will find all kinds of things to continue carving away or futz with.

Step Four

Make 1-Million Business Cards

• Congrats, you now have a stamp!
• You can mount your stamp block onto a piece of wood or something hard and flat for an even stamp.
• Stamps can be used with so many inks and art supplies. I tried mine with embossing powder!

#Perfectly Imperfect. I think my cards convey that my brand is: Handmade, DIY, and Fun.#