GLUE DOTS REIGN

I do a lot of my journaling for my layouts on transparencies. I didn't think this was unusual, but the lady at one of the scrapbook stores I frequent was wondering how I adhered my transparencies to my layout, and was completely shocked when I said I use glue dots. Because of her surprise, I thought I'd do a quick post here just talking about that.

I do 95% of my journaling on the computer. My style is all about clean lines, and it's hard for me to use my own handwriting on my layouts. I do not have a 12x12 printer, and often I want my journaling to appear as if it is printed right on the layout (the area underneath the transparency will appear a little darker than the rest of the cardstock though.). My solution was to pick up a package of transparencies from the local Staples store.

You can buy transparencies for laser or ink jet printers. I use an ink jet for scrapbooking as I find my laser printer does not do as nice of a job printing on cardstock. I picked up a package of transparencies for ink jet printers. It's somewhat expensive, but well worth the money in my opinion. (You can also print up a sheet of your journaling on regular paper, and just take that sheet into a printing shop and ask them to copy it on to a transparency. A friend of mine did this for a while, and it only cost her a dollar a sheet.)

Keep in mind that transparencies are acidic, though. You can purchase acrylic transparencies from some scrapbook stores that are quite reasonably priced, and from what I understand, these are safer to use with your pictures. Because I use regular transparencies, I make sure they are never touching my pictures.

What you do to print on the transparencies, is feed the transparency into your printer so that your journaling is printed on the rough side of the transparency (each sheet will have a smooth side and a rough side). In your word document, go into printing effects, and reverse the image so that your journaling prints out in a mirror image. That way, when you are finished printing you can flip over the transparency and you have the appearance of a smoothly printed section of journaling.

As I said in the beginning of this post, I adhere my transparencies with mini glue dots. You can still see the glue dot a little, but it's about 90% invisible. Especially if you hide it behind your journaling, which is what I always do. Even if I can see the dot, most people don't seem to notice it. I don't roll the dot up or anything, I just stick it flat on the back of my transparency. Don't try and pull it off the transparency after you've stuck it down though- it will pull off the ink on the transparency.

You can also use brads or eyelets to adhere the transparency, but I like the look of not having anything holding it down.

I also do a lot of journaling on a vellum-like paper. I used to use a lot of vellum on my pages, but I find that with my current ink jet printer, the ink smears far too easily. As a result, I was wasting tons of good vellum. A few years ago I got into Pergamano, which uses parchment paper which reminds me of a thicker version of vellum. Turns out that it's fantastic for printing on with an ink jet printer! I find that it doesn't smear for me at all, and it dries quickly (just set it aside for a few minutes after you've printed your journaling on it so you don't accidentally smear it). You should be able to find some at a local craft store that sells Pergamano supplies.

To adhere vellum and parchment paper I typically use 3m Scotch Vellum Tape. It can be a little bit finicky, but when adhered properly it's pretty invisible. (if you don't rub it on completely, it will show through the vellum more. I usually adhere it to the vellum itself rather than the cardstock). There are newer vellum adhesives out, but I haven't had a chance to try any of the new ones. It's always safest to try and hide your adhesive behind a picture or embellishment, or if you have thick lettering on your vellum, put the adhesive behind that, but if not, the vellum tape will do the trick. You can also use brads or eyelets to adhere the vellum too, which is always a nice look. :)

Until next time, happy scrapping!