Bob the Betta with Retro Rectangles

Hey there Cut Shoppe fans!  It's Katrina from Paper, Scissors and Glue here today to share a fun new way to use your cut files.  If you have a laminator and a laser printer you are already there!  If not, you are going to want to get them.

 I used the Retro Rectangles file for my background, but as you can see, it's not cut!  That is because I foiled it.  Yep, you read that right, foiled!  Foiling is the new hot trend right now and there are several different ways to do it. I am here to show you how use a laser printer to create a background.

Retro Rectangles

 

I picked out the file I wanted to use and then a pattern paper that I wanted to be my background.  Because my laser printer only prints letter size, I cut my pattern paper down to 8.5 x 11 so I could run it thru the printer.  Open up a Word on your computer and then insert a picture. You could also use any program that you could do this in. This will be where you insert your cut file onto your document. Size it to however big you want it and adjust where you want it on your page.  Then just print it out with your laser printer. This is what it looks like below.

It has to be a laser printer, not an inkjet.  An inkjet printer will not work, because the foil reacts with the toner from the laser printer when heat is applied aka running thru a laminator. Just lay the foil transfer sheet, color side up, onto your pattern paper. Use a carrier sheet to run it thru the laminator.  I had to make two passes, because my foil sheets were only 6x12 inches. OH and I use parchment paper as a carrier sheet!  

Once you have foiled all the areas, you peel back the foil and the magic happens.  This is the fun part!  If parts don't cover well, you can always run everything back thru the laminator again to cover the parts that were missed.  It doesn't hurt the foil that is already applied.

Here you can see the shine.  This is so fun to do and it's another fun use for your cut files.  I know I am going to be doing it more!

And these are pictures of Bob my betta fish.  I wanted to get a fish for my office at work, but I ended up getting attached to him at home and couldn't take him to work!  He is quite social and is one of the prettiest bettas I have seen!

If you have any questions about foiling cut files, please feel free to contact me and I will help if I can.  I can tell you that I used a Canon w6030 laser printer, a Royal Sovereign laminator that will laminate up to 12 inches and DecoFoil for my foil.  You can pick up the laser printer and laminator at pretty good prices if you watch for sales online.  I got the printer for under 70.00.  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! And don't forget to head to the shop to pick up some fun cut files to use!