Cute workspace… Love all the different recycled elements to create the furniture
Would love this as my own
(via notmybeautifulhome)
Nice and simple business card
Creative Business Cards
A little innovation goes a long way when it comes to business cards, where a regular business card might get tossed in the recycling a little work of art will be kept around and possibly even treasured. I know that I have a collection of cards that are too lovely to ever get rid of even though some of the businesses are no longer in operation.
(Source: ohmyhandmade.com)
Found a blog which has done a fair bit of looking around at business cards. some of these are really quirky and different. Some look like a fair bit of time. I want something that will display me and my work but dont want something that will take heaps of time and take me away from my work.
I spent a silly amount of time looking at unique portfolio designs for yesterday’s post and I was inspired by some truly fantastic business cards to create today’s feature on handmade business and calling cards. Since your business card is often either a first point of contact or a way of marketing yourself it is worth putting in the extra time and capital and present your business in a memorable way.
1. Blogger and crafter Jessica Levitt created these bright fabric business cards to spread the word about her crafty blog by machine stitching a paper card onto scraps of fabric cut out with pinking shears.
2. Designer and illustrator Rachel Novak made these elegant business cards by gluing fabric to heavy card stock and then gluing card stock with her information onto the fabric side. I love the look of these cards!
3. An example of fabric business cards with printed iron on transfers from Julie Antinucci
4. These business cards from Pocketful of Pinwheels were printed by Spoonflower where you can print custom fabrics on demand!
5. Etsy’s FAHpopups from Buenos Aires sells sets of 50 customized pop up cards for only $40 USD!
6. OrangeYouGlad design company created these funky pop-up cards for their staff.
7. These punny cards blooming cards from designer, illustrator and creative thinker Jaime Weick will bloom in four days if you get the bottom of the card/envelope damp.
8. I love these simple and modern letterpress cards printed by paperedtogether letterpress. They are made of handmade paper embedded with seeds so that they can also be planted.
9. Struck Creative created these clever seed envelope/business cards for Lush they were letterpressed with the business info and then filled with seeds.
Wood veneer business cards are lovely and rustic with a real modern aesthetic making them perfect for a range of business card styles. They can be die cut like the ones pictured here (10) from a tutorial on papiervalise’s blog and then stamped or stickered with your business info. Or you can stamp the blanks with a logo or pretty image like these little birds cards made by Vancouver’s Cabin (11). The blanks are available from Lee Valley for only $3.50 for a package of 50.
12. I am head over heels in love with the die cut egg shaped business cards designed by Imagehaus for Amma Maternity and then printed on letterpress by the amazing Studio on Fire.
13. Ellie Snow, author and editor of Mint handmade these sweet cards embellished with fun paper tape and twine.
14. Even just choosing an unconventional shape like these small round cards made by Starr Design can make the difference between a great card and a boring one.
15. And sometimes simple is lovely too like colourful letterpress business cards from sweetharvey.
Looking into making my own business card and swing tag, so I have been looking around at a few printing places and other designers. These are really nice and simple and bring in the textile element I like, not sure how functional there are as a business card but something like this would work nicely as a swing tag.
When I sat down to design my new business card, I knew I wanted something that incorporated handmade elements and something textile-related. After a slightly agonizing brainstorming session (I wish I could say that this idea came effortlessly!) I thought of the string tying reminder and how appropriate that was for a business card. So this is what I came up with. After hundreds of punches, stamps, signatures, and bows I was so pleased that they were well received at the sale. The only thing I regret is not incorporating an image of my work somehow… I’ll have to start thinking up a new version!
Comparing three different websites to see which one is most suitable to use for my own website.
SQUARESPACE http://www.squarespace.com/
“We make software that helps you manage your online life. Squarespace is publishing redefined”
Pricing: Free 14 day trial available
Standard- $13.33 per month: 10 pages max, 1TB bandwidth, 3GB Storage. Custom domain and unlimited support
Advanced- $22.22 per month: unlimited pages, bandwidth and storage, custom domain, 3 audiences, unlimited editors and advanced control
Business- $40 per month
Unless you sign up for a year plan, account plans are month by month,
10% off if purchasing one year or 20% off if purchasing two years.
Features: 60+ professional designed templates, 20+ core modules for building, blog importer, search engines, integration of social technologies e.g. twitter,
CARGO COLLECTIVE http://cargocollective.com/
“Cargo’s goal is to dramatically increase the accessibility and exposure of creative individuals on the Internet”
Pricing: Free Basic Service- 100MB Storage, 12 projects, 3 pages, and 16 cargo designs
Upgraded Membership- $66 a year or $9 a month: unlimited projects and pages up to 6GB, unlimited bandwidth, advanced editing, custom URL and all cargo designs
Features: Wide variety of templates, simple but sophisticated tools to control content, allows members to follow and comment on the work of others, every site is by invite only, front and back website: front is a member’s public website and the back is their personal network connecting them to people they follow on cargo.
TANK http://withtank.com/
“Tank is a clean, simple and fun way to build a site”
Pricing: Free- 10MB storage, upgrade anytime
Basic Site- Approx $12 per month, 100MB storage, 1GB bandwidth
Plus Site- Approx $18 per month, 500MB storage, 5GB bandwidth
Premium Site- Approx $24 per month, 1GB storage, 10GB bandwidth
No set up costs, no long term contracts, hassle free pay as you go.
Features: Build how you want it, can add own logo, easily manage content, use own domain, if you don’t have one Tank will register one for you, grid based design framework, 3 types of navigation and creation of different types of pages.
Summary: I think I would go with Tank. It is well priced, easy to use and navigate and allows me to use my own logo and style to create my own personal website. Also Tank allows you to use your own domain name.
Students from the previous year have used Tank, and they had no dramas with it, so i know it will function effectively.
Domain Names
This semester in my Web-Design-Create class we are making our own website and creating our own professional profile for when we graduate at the end of the year.
For domain names I am thinking about either using my full name allanamasterson or my first and middle name allanamay which is what I use for my name on tumblr.
I am thinking about these two names because I want to be known by my name and not another name. I think this would make it easier for people to search for me and remember me. I have put both of these names into godaddy.com/ and they are both available.
I think allanamay would be best, as this is easy to remember, easy to spell and easy to communicate verbally to people. Whereas with allanamasterson it is easy to remember but over my life time I have had many spelling mistakes with my last name where they want to put ton instead of son. So this could cause problems if they tried to access my website.
(Source: allanamay)
