Calling All Moms

Seeing as how I’m in the business of stay-at-home motherhood, my “employer” doesn’t actually supply me with business cards which state my profession, position (which, might I add, I work very hard at btw) and contact information. But that’s okay, because what I’ve found I need instead of the business cards, are good old fashioned calling cards. You know it used to be quite commonplace for ladies to carry around calling cards, so I’ve decided I’m bringing them back. And I don’t know about you, but how many times have you run into someone while you are out and about and wanting to get in touch later, scribble your phone and email address on the back of a crumpled grocery receipt from some dark unknown place in your wallet? And you know this is just not the impression monogram momma likes to make on people. I mean, another pre-school mom I might run into at the park just does not need to know that I bought tampons, applesauce, and an unusually large amount of cheese from Kroger when she flips over my phone number. Of course, nor does she need to know I send Lunchables to pre-school with the mini monograms, but that’s beside the point.

So imagine my delight when sister #2, who is always passing along really fabulous websites for me to share with you all, introduced me to The Paper Princess. And while her majesty makes some very cheeky retro inspired paper goods, I am partial to the Vintage Girl calling cards myself. I did not, however, order them, as I found the price a bit steep for calling cards. I did keep digging around the internet though and found a great selection at A Touch of Whimsy Designs on ebay. Honestly, you can’t beat their prices and with cute monogramming styles available, you just have to know they caught the ever watchful (and picky) eye of monogram momma. Now, if you happen to be feeling a bit more retro, which is completely your call to make, then by all means, you really should pop into Momics and see some of the hilarious mommy cards they offer. But wait that’s not all! *in loud infomercial announcer voice* After you’ve visited Momics, skip on over to Anne T. Pott petite designs where, as they put it “…Exchanging information is tough when you’re keeping a watchful eye on Madison. And forget about being organized when Brooke just found your lipstick. Mommy calling cards are designed for the business of Mommy networking: birthdays, playgroups, sitters, lessons, clubs, etc.” In two words, I'M SOLD. After you check out these fine establishments, make one last stop at Cards for Mom’s, where the great thing about these cards is that they are two-sided.

But let’s get real. You all know I am not going to sit here patiently waiting for custom ordered cards without making my own to get me through until the cute new ones arrive, right? So to whip up your very own extra cute personal calling cards, you first need to purchase a package of business cards that come 10 to an 8 ½ x 11 sheet. Then open up Word on your computer. Click Tools->Letters & Mailings->Envelopes & Labels. Click the label tab at the top, and then chose your brand and number of your business cards. Click “Full Page of the Same Label” and then on the right, click “New Document.” It will then set up a blank new document with your lines to look like a sheet of 10 business cards. Once you’ve gotten to this point, all you have to do is play around with your fonts and colors in text boxes. To create my design which you see here, I used an Auto Shape in Word. I then increased my line size and changed the line color. After that I changed it to “no fill” for my little frame. I then created a Text Box over my frame with “no fill” and “no line” so it would be transparent and my shape would be visible again. Then I just played around with my fonts and colors to add my name inside the frame. Once I was happy with how that looked, I added another text box, again with “no fill” and “no line” and put in all the rest of my information. When I was happy with how it turned out, I then just copied and pasted the entire card design 9 more times onto the remaining empty card template spots, clicked print, and that’s it.

In retrospect I am pretty pleased with how my little calling cards turned out. And even if you don’t have kids, why not print some cards up to take to the dog park with your preppy puppy’s name on them? Or so what if you have a professional job with professional business cards? I’d be willing to bet these are much cuter than the big box of cards you’ve got sitting in your office, and what’s great about these is you can put any type of personal information on them that you want, such as your home address and personal email address, that you most certainly couldn’t sneak past your boss. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some calling cards to hand out and play dates to arrange!

P.S. I interrupt this post with an exciting newsflash! As a little side note, I wanted to let you know that I emailed Lauren Goessling to see if she had any such cards in the works, and it appears we are in luck! I mean, we all love her stationary so I just HAD to know to pass it along to you. So as I type this post-script her webmaster is making some additions and upgrades to her website and she will be offering calling cards online very soon, and I’ll let you know as soon as she waves the Kelly green flag to give us the "go!"