DIY Business Card Organization

This past few weeks have been an incredible whirlwind of goodness.  I have had the opportunity to sneak away from our small town life and head to a few big cities to grow, learn, mingle and explore.  And with these amazing blog opportunities, have come new relationships formed and contacts made.  Below you can see just a touch of my recent business card collection...

Yes, I sure have met some brilliant people over the past month or two, and I needed a storage solution for all of these gorgeous business cards stat!

My requirements were simple; I just wanted something that could look sweet on my desk and provide categories so I could easily locate a contact when the time is right.

I started with a simple unfinished wood box from our local craft store, with a 40% off coupon it came in under $3.

It received a lot of lovin'. First, I taped off the outer edges and spray painted the interior of the box gold.  Then, I used some left over stain {Varathane's Kona} for the exterior of the box.  Last, I cut a piece of decorative scrapbook paper, and affixed it to the top.  To give the box a nice finished look and to protect the paper, I gave it a couple of quick coats of poly.

I had some inexpensive bookplates from a craft store, which I touched up with a gold leaf pen and attached to the front of the box with two small screws.  I added some more scrapbook paper and a label printed with my label maker.

For the dividers, I took some plain white cardstock and cut it down to size.  I used the boxes interior measurements {height and width}, and sliced a sliver off of the sides and tops of the cardstock, to be sure they would fit after being laminated.  I also added some decorative paper to the lower half, just for some happy color, and labeled the dividers with categories I often reference with my business.

I opted to divide my cards by category vs. alphabetical.  There may be times when I am looking to work with a specific blogger, or want to pitch a story to a publication I have worked with in the past.   Therefore, categories will allow me to search by subject first, and look at my contacts second.  Plus, I am awful at remembering names, so this will ease my search efforts.

I love that the dividers stick up above the business cards, keeping everything super simple to find.  And once they were laminated, they fit nice and snug, so the dividers do not shift much within the box.

I am so smitten with the end result.  The pretty paper on the top, is just the icing on the fabulous cake!  This new little box sure holds a lot of talent inside!

I don't plan on taking all of my contacts with me when I travel, although, from time to time I may take a card or two out and slip them into my clutch.  However, there are other great ways to organize business cards such as rolodex files, binders and special wallets, if DIY'ing a cute box isn't your thang. 

Any other creative DIY ideas out there for storing business cards?  How do you keep track of the amazing people you meet along the way?