DIY Gel Press Prints as Business Cards by Kathy Adams

Handmade Art Business Cards

Kathy Adams here today to show you how I used a few of my many prints to make artsy business cards that truly reflect my business. I’m running low on my professionally printed ones, so why not put some of those prints to work?

Stack of Gel Press Prints

Just one of my stacks of Gel Press Prints

Here are my criteria for choosing prints for business cards:

Choose prints on heavyweight paper. I often use Strathmore Mixed Media 140 lb paper, which is very sturdy and good quality. It will stand up to lots of handling.
Choose prints that are only printed on one side.
Pick a variety of colors. I ended up adding a few more prints in green and yellow that aren’t shown in the photo below.
Pick prints that can be cut down to 8″ x 10″ with minimal waste. Most of the prints in this stack are printed using the 8″ x 10″ Gel Press Plate.

Gel Press® Prints on Strathmore Mixed Media paper for Artsy Business Card Project

Next, I had to solve the dilemma of how to get my information on the cards without handwriting each one individually. So I decided to print customized Avery label stickers with my information. I used the sticky name tag size, 8 labels to a sheet. No need for a special program, just go to Avery.com and you can print any style label sheet they make.

The lucky few Gel Press® Prints on Strathmore Mixed Media paper for Artsy Business Card Project
I’m making my business cards a bit larger than normal. Since my prints are 8″ x 10″, I can get 8 cards from each print if I make them 4″ x 2 -1/2″. Time to cut!

DIY Gel Press Business Cards by Kathy Adams

I’m not worried about splotches of paint on the back of some of them since I think it adds to the charm of a handmade card. The stickers cover most of the back anyway.

Most of the cards are beautiful on their own, but a few needed something extra. I pulled out a few rubber stamps, and a favorite wood carved stamp. Since I’m stamping over acrylic paint, I’m limited to using ink that’s permanent, like Archival or StazOn. I didn’t have the exact colors I wanted so I used the 5″ x 7″ Gel Press Plate as my stamp pad with acrylic paint as my ink.

This is one of my favorite ways to use the smaller Gel Press Plates because it gives the perfect amount of even coverage of paint to your stamp, resulting in a successfully stamped image. Use whatever colors of acrylic paint that you have, even mixing colors to customize your stamped images. Stamp over just about any flat surface and it will be permanent when using acrylic paint. Make sure to wipe or wash the paint off of the stamp before it dries.