Even if you don’t sell your jewelry, it’s nice to have a professional presentation when giving jewelry as gifts. When I first started out selling my work, I made my own cards for earrings and hang tags for bracelets and necklaces. Eventually, I had them printed. Both making or buying your own jewelry cards have some pros and cons, so here are some ideas to help you decide which you'd like to do.

Business Cards. In the very beginning of my jewelry business, I started out my using my business cards. I actually just cut thick card stock into squares, glued business cards onto the top of this card, and used a straight needle to punch holes for earrings to go through. I've also seen folks just punch holes directly through their business cards and hanging the jewelry from them. This is an economical idea, and it helps get your name out there.

Rubber Stamps. Another option is to use rubber stamps and add designs on the blank side of a card. You can even use blank index cards for this. Then use a straight pin (a corsage pin is nice and heavy) to add holes for earrings. There are some very nice stamps that are designed like frames which can be used. One word of caution when using stamps to add designs to tags of any kind, many stamps today have copy right restrictions. But, there are also a lot with "Angel Policies" that allow you to use theirs stamps and sell whatever you make. Though you’re not really "selling" the cards, they do go along with the merchandise. So, this is just something to be aware of. About.com has an excellent Scrapbooking site that you may want to check out if you're interested in using stamps to create some jewelry cards.

Computer Cards. With a PC, a word program, and some perforated business card paper from your local office supply store, you can also create some nice looking tags. This type of paper comes in a large assortment of colors and designs, so it's an instant way to add some color to your cards. Obviously, you need a little word processing expertise, but with some practice, these aren't too hard to make. Plus, most of the time this type of paper comes with instructions for setting it up in your word processing program.

Print Basic Cards. Though making your own cards can actually be fun, it can become time consuming. Plus, if you want to sell your work, you want to be as professional as possible. Eventually, I realized this and went to a quick print place to have them print up my next group of cards. They were very simple and just had my company name on the side. I continued to punch my own earring holes with a needle and also used a hole puncher to punch a hole at the top of the card so they could be hung. The limitations I found with theses cards, however, was that I wanted to add information about the various stones I was using and I became tired of writing on the back of the cards. Again, this was too time consuming.

Print Fancy Cards. Finally, my final adaptation of earring cards was born. I created the master copy myself on my PC using WORD. This saved me money at the printer since it can be expensive to have them typeset. I still continued to put the holes in with pins. I choose to do this because I noticed that my earrings weren't always the same length and width, and this allowed me to adjust for this difference if necessary. For hang tags, I just had the half of the card that has the folk lore on it printed up and scored so it folded in half. I punched a hole and add a plastic string through the hole.

All graphics created by Tammy Powley.