Printing on Die Cut Paper

Hello.

I was asked recently to create a card for our church's staff appreciation. The only direction I received from my Sunday School classmates was "make it big!"  So, I gave my imagination a little workout and decided to create a 12" x 12" card.  Not knowing precisely what it might look like, I made the trip over to Michael's to see what might strike my fancy.

Within about five minutes of entering the store, I knew precisely what I wanted to do. I found a beautiful, decorative designer paper for the base of the card - and then chose a lovely die cut paper upon which to print a verse of scripture. I purchased a piece of 12" x 12" chipboard to mount the card on, and purchased a couple of sheets of plain cardstock for signatures on the back. When I got home, I dusted off a display easel that I've had for many years.

Here's what my completed card looks like:

Now, after telling a dear friend what I was doing, she suggested I talk about printing on the die cut paper. It looks very delicate - and in fact it is a bit.  It's cardstock weight, but still, the odd shape and cut-outs presented a challenge not to tear or jam in my printer.  So, I pulled out my Scrapbook Adhesives brand repositionable E-Z Dots and rolled the tape onto the back edges of the die cut.  I then mounted it on a solid sheet of 12" x 12" paper, and put it in the printer. The "carrier" sheet did precisely what I wanted; it provided a standard piece of paper to go through the printer rollers.  The die cut stayed affixed to the carrier sheet and the verse printed beautifully on the intricate paper. Then I simply unmounted the die cut sheet and re-mounted it on my background paper.  Easy!  No tears; no smudges; no problem.

Here's a little video on how to print the verse on the die cut paper:

So, that's my tip for today.  I hope you give this a try the next time you want to print on a piece of intricate die cut paper.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you'll come again soon.  May God bless!

Great New Creative Cardstock Class Available!

Hello.

Today I want to let you know about a fabulous new online class!  My dear friend, Lisa, has recently published a series of 10 scrapbooking lessons called Creative Cardstock.  If you're like me, you probably have a lot of plain cardstock in your stash, waiting for the muse to hit you so that you can use it up and move on to something more exciting! If so, Lisa's class can go a long way toward accomplishing that end.  In fact, her tips show how to make the plain and ordinary much more appealing.

Lisa offers a great deal in her class. As a former Fortune 500 trainer, she knows how to showcase her scrapbooking process, providing clear, thoughtful video instruction and examples. She makes it simple and enjoyable. Lisa also provides a "handout" for each lesson that you can print out for later reference. This course is an exceptional value for what you learn.

Now, because I told you that Lisa's my friend, you may want additional information from others. So drop on over to Lisa's YouTube channel, where more than 1460 people have subscribed to her videos.  You may also be interested in her blog.

In the interest of fairness, I disclose that Lisa asked me to help her test parts of her class before she made it available to the public. I can also tell you that I wouldn't endorse it if I didn't feel it was worth every penny. You can read the full course description here.

I used some of Lisa's ideas (and layout) to complete this two-page spread:

 

I have 20 pictures on this layout I titled "Girl Meets Ocean." (It was my niece's first encounter with the beach!)  Thankfully, I was able to crop my pictures to show the main ideas and fully capture this vacation trip. I've used a number of products and techniques for this layout: cropping, die-cutting, stamping, journaling, composition, color-matching, layering, misting, and more. I hope you like it!

 

 

 

Well, that's it for today. Please be sure to drop back in on Tuesday for a live video on how to print on die cut paper.  Thanks for stopping by - and happy scrappin'! 

A Message of Hope

What a wonderful privilege we had this evening as we traveled back to campus for an evening lecture by Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE (Dame of the British Empire). Dr. Goodall, known to most people as a researcher and writer about chimpanzees, has broadened her focus through the decades to become an activist for our planet.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what I expected to see or hear when I went to the lecture tonight. I knew of Dr. Goodall's legendary work with chimpanzees, but I was totally unprepared to see this petite little woman of nearly 80 enthrall a sold-out audience (with two additional simulcasts on campus) for nearly two hours. She quietly went about recounting her early childhood, beginning with a close encounter with earthworms at the tender age of 18 months!  She gave homage to her mother, who rather than scolding her for having earthworms in her bed as a toddler, helped her get the tiny creatures back outside to the earth that nurtured them.

 

Dr. Goodall gave us a great picture of the behavior of chimpanzees, including her favorites in the Gombe Stream area of Tanzania, but she also talked about her hope for our world. She's been traveling as an activist since 1986, spreading her message to anyone who'll listen. She talked a lot about connecting our heads (intellect) and our hearts. To help accomplish this, she established the Roots and Shoots global network to help young people get involved in making the world a better place.

 

I was impressed by her common sense approach to animal and environmental activism. When she took questions from the audience, she was careful to let us know that humans should respect chimpanzees and allow them to live in their own world. She never attempted to make them "her family," but observed them from a distance and learned their behaviors. She cautioned that humans should never buy baby chimps, attempting to turn them into pets. She reminded us all that they are, in fact, wild animals - and they will always be so. Chimpanzees are much like humans in that they are able to show compassion, but they are also able to show great anger and aggression.

 

How wonderful for Dr. Goodall that she has been able to travel around the world sharing her message of hope into her old age (although in many respects I think she's younger than I am). I hope she is able to continue this work for many years to come.  It was a privilege to be able to see her.

 

And so I close for the night, tired, but wondering what I might do tomorrow to go and improve the world. One person can do it, you know!

 

Thanks for stopping by - and I hope you come my way again. May God bless!