You Rang?
;)
Don't you think old fashioned calling cards should make a comeback?
Back in the day, when stopping by a friend's house was "coming to call," ladies and gentlemen carried calling cards to announce to their would-be hosts just who had arrived--or who they had missed if indisposed. (If well-to-do folk could have bothered themselves to answer their own doors, maybe this little nicety might never have come to be.)
Now most of us have business cards and vcards and bluetooth profiles and all the other social networking blahdeeblah known to man. But sometimes you don't want to share your every means of being contacted with every person you meet.
That's where calling cards come in:
Going to the park with your kid? When you meet a new playmate, give his mom or dad a way to get in touch with you that says "Cameron / M's Mommy / cblazer@gmail.com."
Going out on the town?* How about a card with just your name and number? A little vixen-y, but still classy.
Heading to a tweetup? A card with nothing but your web address is memorable, no?
I have dreams of going to a party where everyone's cooler than me (which is just about every party I've ever been to) armed with a stack of cards saying only "I'm rockin' the suburbs, just like Quiet Riot did."**
This downloadable pdf is designed to print 8 patterned cards. It's really just a form--when you type your information on any of the cards, it updates all the cards accordingly; you can enter as many words as you like, but the more you type the smaller your text will be. (It all makes more sense when you see it in action.) I designed these to be compatible with Avery pre-cut business cards (look for products 5881, 8373, 8869), but I printed mine on plain-ole cardstock and just cut-em out. I've included cut lines to make it a little easier.
As always, you can use this template as much as you like for personal, non-commercial use.
* My use of the phrase "out on the town" probably gives away the fact that the last time I actually went out on said town was sometime in the last century, but you get my drift, no?
** Well, really, I'd use a different quote from the same Ben Folds song, but this is a family-ish blog, so you get my drift.
Cameron Blazer
Cameron Blazer
62 Comments Email Article Share Article tagged calling card, free, pdf, printable, template in design, printables 
Reader Comments (62)
Oh my gosh, Cameroonie!! These are so fabulous! I keep waiting for you to send a "printability" that I can somehow use to cover my all of my apartment walls with, but this one is great in the meantime!! :) Love all the designs. They are gorgeous.
Um, so...yeah...how do I really feel? Tee hee. Mwah!
These are beautiful. How nice of you! ;)
Found you via twitter and how generous of you to share your calling cards. They are too cute! Thanks!
I love them! I am all about bringing social calling cards back. I read somewhere once that there's some kind of victorian guidelines for folding down certain corners to mean different things. We should bring that practice back as well.
I am going to Ireland in a few weeks and I wanted to take my business cards with me, but then realized that I really didn't need to give the people I meet over there the life history that I have on my business card. They just needed my name and email address. So I have seriously been scouring the internet for some free calling cards. I only wanted a few dozen cards.
I have this blog on my Google Reader & as I was catching up on my missed reading I saw these. My husband will tell you, I started squealing. Thank You, Thank You! I wrote up a blog post immediately, then realized I need to post a photo - so I downloaded, printed, cut out, photographed and posted in just a few minutes - How easy is that!!
Have a blessed day.
Kristin
I love these--for me, it's about a portable way of carrying around those cool patterns. I think I will keep them for myself!
Hi Cam, awesome calling cards!! i am going to print some for myself. I can't figure out how to print my info on two lines though? :(
Thanks, Radiya! Glad you like them...I have a hack I can do to make it possible for you to print on 2 lines--if you email me (cblazer at gmail dot com), I'll send you a slightly different file. Cheers!
these are lovely!
cheers,
kelly
Found you through JJ's How About Orange site. Thanks for such great cards!
These are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing! Can I also email you to get the two-lines file? Also, when I print them, they have a little plus sign in b & w below my info. Maybe this is a dumb question, but is that supposed to be there?
Thanks, everyone!
Mary T, no the plus-sign shouldn't be there. You probably have a random extra space at the end of your text that is causing it. Try deleting--if that doesn't fix it, email me, and I'll try to help you make it work!
OMG, Yes!!! My friend just ordered some the other day, and my mother and I were talking last night about how people should start using these again. In fact, I had vowed to order some when we move across country and get settled. Now I can make some with my temporary info. Thanks SO much!
Thanks for posting these. I love them!
Thank you very much! I didn't have the business card paper, so I just printed it on card stock. It came out very nice. Can't wait to start giving them out!
FABULOUS, We are just about to move house so they'll be perfect
Thanks
Thank you every so much for these, the designs are gorgeous i cant decide which one to choose i might just use them all :D
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your work! Very talented. Thanks for the freebie. I came across you through How About Orange and I'm so happy I read that blog. I now have a new one (yours) to add to my reader. Thanks!
Love the cards! Just moved and will give these (just my name and e-mail) out to new acquaintances. Thanks so much! Caroll
I can't figure out how to type into the boxes. Whenever I try it a gray box shows up for a brief moment, but then I can't type or do anything with it. Please help. Thanks.
These are SO cute! I'll be linking to this, thanks so much!
These are soooo cute! I'm forwarding them off to all the mom's I know! Thanks for sharing and look forward to following you on twitter!
Another visitor from How about orange. I love these, thank you for offering them to us!
Thanks for providing these. They're gorgeous.
Hi,
I love these! thank you for sharing. However, I am having the same problem that cecee is having. I can't seem to figure out how to put my information in. When I click on the area a grey box appears and then the information you have in there is still there.
Help?
Create a great day,
Janine
Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. I'm so happy that you are happy with my little project.
CeeCee and Janine--Hrm. I don' know what could be causing your problem...are you using a recent copy of Adobe Reader (version 8 or higher)? I have tested the file on Mac and PC with no trouble. I do know that Preview for Mac does not play nicely with the pdf form I created, so if you are using that program, try again in Adobe Reader. If that still doesn't fix the problem, feel free to email me--just tell me what version of Adobe Reader you are using and whether that's on a Mac or a PC--I'll help any way I can!
Cheers!
I LOVE THESE! Thanks so much for sharing. I saw them and immediately had to do a test print... good thing things weren't so busy at work. But geez, they're adorable. I love to carry calling cards for the ease with which you can jot down whatever info you want the person you're giving it to to have! :)
Take care,
Elizabeth
They are lovely. Thank you. Lynn
Lovely!! This came at the perfect time, because although i don't have my own business (yet!), i still think it'd be fun to hand out cards! I've printed one set with just my email id; the next will have my phone no. as well. And one cool thing is that, the leftover bits make nice labels! You get a tiny border; whoever cuts their cards might know what i mean. My favourite pattern is the 3rd one down the left column (with the lime green text). Thank you so much, Cameron.
"armed with a stack of cards saying only "I'm rockin' the suburbs, just like Quiet Riot did." :D
Cheerio,
Pranita
p.s. found you via Howaboutorange
Pranita,
What a fantastic idea to use the edge scraps as gift tags! All hail creative reuse!!
Cheers,
Cameron
Wow! These are neat. Thanks so much for sharing. I like your etsy shop!
How fun! Thanks so much for sharing! I plan to use them as mommy cards -- I'll be the coolest on the block! :)
I also found you through How About Orange and now I'm subbing to your blog and checking out your etsy site. Love it all!
These are gorgeous. Thank you so much!
These are beautiful! Thank you for sharing :)
Thank you!!!
These are amazing! I hope you don't mind, but I shared these on my blog - and created a link to this page. Thanks for sharing! ~Abby
Thanks for sharing your talent! These are awesome!
Found you via How about orange. I love this idea! I got laid off and so it doesnt make sense to use my old business cards to give to new friends i meet. This is perfect. Thanks! They are so cute.
I am moving to Japan soon and have found out that calling cards are still a revered Japanese custom. They are presented and received with much respect. I will have to print some of these out to take with me!
These are so cool, and such a good idea. Thanks so much.
This is an adorable idea. Thank you for sharing. Sadly though, I'm having that same grey box problem as some of the other commenting readers spoke of. I have Preview and my hard drive too full right now to DL Adobe, grr. I'll book mark this for later and come back to it after a little hard drive spring cleaning!
These are fabulous! I had some Avery cards available and just ran a set through. Thanks.
Oh my goodness! These are gorgeous and fun! Thanks so much! :)
OMG!!! Thank you for the freebie!! I just printed 12 different pages! They are sooo fun! My favorite is the RED!!! You have great designs! Thanks again! will be putting you on my blog roll!
Kris
Why do you not like Tori Amos?
I moved from NC 7 years ago but while I was there it was popular to have calling cards made up for children to give out on birthday gifts rather than a card with a handwritten greeting. The kids would just place their calling card on the wrapping. They could be purchased at any place that sold business cards as well as specialty on-line retailers. The cards cost something like $25-50. I used Avery business card blanks or cardstock cut to size and had a name stamp made up with my daughter's name at a place that makes rubber stamps for businesses. The one line rubber stamp names cost only a few dollars each. I used rubber stamps and papers to decorate and personalize the cards.
Thanks so much for these, they are wonderful. Very generous of you.
Love these - would you mind sharing what font this is?
Thanks,
Emily
Hi Emily--I'd be happy to share: the font is Myriad Headline, which is part of the Myriad font family, one of my favorites!
The selective designs which you have offered are fabulous. I also like is the way you think about the purpose of using the cards.Its a different approach and it surely is unique.Good one mate