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!

Today Starts Here

Laura here with you today. My husband and I were able to go away for the first half of December to Costa Rica! It sure was nice to escape the cold and stormy Pacific Northwest. One of the places we visited was in the Los Santos region. It is called Los Santos because most of the towns are named for saint. We stayed near Santa Maria. Our first day we visited a coffee co-op processing plant that processes for all the local farmers. The area is full of valleys and mountains. You can go from 11,000 down to sea level in no time at all and all through the valley are coffee plantations. We learned all about the growing and processing of coffee there and it's an amazingly lengthy ordeal.

When I saw Cuppa Joe, I knew I would have to use those cuts for this portion of the trip. As a bonus, it's sort of Christmas colors with the red cherries. That is the first thing I learned, coffee starts as a cherry. The coffee bean we know and use is one half of the seed inside this cherry and it goes through an awful lot to get to your cup.

I started off by inking my craft mat with a red and two brown distress inks. I spritzed with water and pressed my watercolor paper into the ink. I love the watery/splattered look it left. Next I cut out a mat from the Retro Rectangles, which look like coffee beans to me. Next, I cut out 3 of the files from Cuppa Joe, from an espresso color, and inked up a bit to give some texture. A touch of red for the hearts and creamy coffee color makes them pop. I added my photos of the cherries on the tree and being brought in for processing, arranged my cuts and added a few embellishments from We Are Family and Hey Boy. Next came writing my stories onto journaling strips and scattering about the piece.

"Before your coffee ever hits your cup, it starts off as a cherry in a place like Costa Rica. We visited Coopedota in Santa Maria, CR and learned all about the process to get to your cup. First the cherries are picked and brought here where they are sorted, separated, dried, hulled, dried again, given rest, and either sold green or roasted and bagged in beans or grounds."

"Fun facts:
There are many layers to a cherry
The skin can't be eaten, but the insides are juicy and taste like honey
There are two bean halves (1 seed) per cherry
They use the hull (parchment) to fuel the furnaces
The plants require shade so other crop trees, like banana and avocado, are planted within. The limbs are trimmed to regulate shade"

I hope you learned something and think of all the work that goes into your next cup of coffee. I loved both of the cut file! Head over to the store and see how you can use them today.