*** Closed & Winner Announced Using Cutting Files | Summer School 2024 Week 5: Computer Science

Winner Announced: Congratulations to @AlyciaIN as the winner of the $10 prize code!

Welcome to week 5 of Summer School 2024 where we are focusing on Computer Science! This week I’ll be teaching you how to use your computer and a toner printer to create some beautiful, foiled sentiments (or whatever else you’d like). And there's a challenge this week too for both you hybrid scrappers and digital only scrappers!

First, you’ll need to create your sentiment on your computer. There are so many ways to do this. You can type your sentiment in Photoshop, Canvas, Inkscape, or even Word. You can also use svgs, stamps, or printables too. For this tutorial, I used Love Cut Outs and Birthday Cut Outs by Scrapping with Liz. By using a cutting file, I could take my project to my Scan N Cut and not have to fussy cut the finished word art, but you don’t need a cutting machine! The main point of this tutorial though is that you need to print off whatever you want to foil using a TONER printer (NOT a laser one). If you don’t have toner printer, you can combine your sentiments or cutting files onto one document and take it to a print shop. Since it’s black and white, it’s super cheap and you can make a bunch at one time. Let me show you what I mean.

I started by combining my favorite svgs in Photoshop:


Then I printed them off using my Brother HL 2305 toner printer. I made sure to change my settings to the following:


I have found in the past that 600 dpi actually works fine as well, but you definitely want to improve your blacks if possible. The darker the black, the more toner is on the page, and the better your outcome will be. The other thing I would suggest is that you use smooth cardstock paper. I use Hammermill Premium Color Copy 100 lbs paper from Amazon and it’s reasonable and gives great results. But remember that a print shop works well too. In my personal experience, I’ve never had a problem with anything I had printed from Kinkos, Fed Ex, Office Max, etc. In fact, I did this in the beginning until I decided a toner printer was within my budget.

So, after I printed my PDF, I then let my Scan N Cut do it’s thing and had a bunch of sentiments ready to go.




The next thing you’ll need is TONER foil – not hot foil. Toner foil can also be known as reactive foil. Several companies carry this foil, but when purchasing, take a moment to make sure it says “toner” or “reactive”. Hot foil won’t work at all. You’ll also need a laminator of some kind. Yes, a cheap laminator from an office store works great if you let it heat for about 30 minutes or so. I used a laminator with some cardstock to add pressure until my husband gave me a Minc for my birthday. I will say I absolutely love my Minc machine as I don’t have to think about anything. I just put the project in and I’m good.

When you put your sentiment on the carrier sheet, you’ll need to lay your foil such that “pretty side” is up. That’s VERY important! It’ will look like this:


Then you feed it through the laminator / Minc:


Y’all, it’s that simple and I love my foiled sentiments:




Again, you can simply type in words or use pngs from kits – the sky is the limit. Here’s my example of using just words that I typed into Photoshop and printed:


You’ll notice the top row is just my sentiments that I fussy cut out. But what is that bottom row you ask?? Once you “Peel and Reveal” your foil off, you’ll have a negative piece that you can use on toner sheets. If you put your “negative” foil on that toner sheet, and feed it back through your laminator / Minc, you’ll be able to use every bit of that foil and get a second sentiment. How cool is that??

I hope you’ll try this tutorial. It’s a easy way to make foil sentiments, cards, announcements, thank you notes, or anything else you can dream of!


NOW for the CHALLENGE part!

I’d love for you to try this tutorial and make a foiled project, but I honestly know that hybrid projects aren’t everyone’s jam. Sooooooo….. how about I say that for Week 5 Summer School challenge, you use a cutting file to make ANY layout or project. Everyone who uses a cutting file in a digital project will receive one entry into the drawing for $10, but anyone who uses a cutting file for a hybrid project will get two entries into the drawing.

Just to give you some ideas of how you can use cutting files in multiple ways, I’ll show you the three cards I made using my foiled sentiments from the tutorial:







Don’t they look colorful and fun??

I also have used cutting files in my digital layouts and here's an example using Through School Cut Outs by Scrapping with Liz and Hampton by Rachel Jefferies:


As you can see, these are versatile products for sure! Now it’s your turn.

Don’t forget, your page / project must be posted to the Lilypad Gallery and posted/linked in this challenge thread to enter.

Deadline: August 4th at 11:59pm EDT

Prize: A $10 coupon to TLP will be given to one random winner

GALLERY RULES: Layouts must contain at least 50% TLP products. (Templates count as 15%.) Uploads must be less than 250k. List all credits; no off-site linking allowed.

 

Thanks Catherine for pointing that out. I do hope you will do a digital layout @easyeyes4you!

 

I'm so excited that y'all are playing along with the digital part of my challenge. It's amazing how different the titles look based on what papers y'all are clipping to them!

 

I'm asking now and will get back to you as quickly as I can so you have plenty of time to scrap!!

 

Yes ma'am!! Go ahead and use those retired products since Scrapping with Liz is a current designer. Woo hoo! I can't wait to see what you create

 

I'm really enjoying seeing y'all's creativity. There's still one more day to play and to be entered into the drawing for a $10 prize!