Laminating without a machine

Every once in awhile you get inspiration from a crafter's blog post, YouTube, etc.. I had seen a video by Michelle AKA "Craftie" on YouTube for preserving her grid sheets for her MISTI. She used self sealing laminating sheets from Scotch to laminate her grid sheet without the cost of buying a laminating machine. I also do not have a laminating machine but I also did not want to take a grid sheet to the office supply store to pay them to laminate it.

Happy to say yesterday I went to a Hobby Lobby and I saw a package of the Scotch Self Sealing laminating sheets in the paper crafting section.  I had a 40% off coupon so I picked up a pack of these sheets. When I came home I took a photo of the latest of the MISTI grid sheet I have in my MISTI that I have been using:

That photo shows the front of my grid sheet and now the back as I use both sides when I am stamping:

As you can see the grid sheets for the MISTI have the grid lines on one side of the sheets so using the backside does not help if you should need the grid lines - which is probably why many crafters keep buying the grid sheet refills. I decided I do not want to keep replacing my grid sheets - either with the MISTI brand or using graph paper I can buy at Walmart or the office supply store. Using the laminating sheets will prolong the life of my sheets -- and it was easy to apply.

As Michelle shows in her video I peeled the top strip off the laminated sheet and applied my MISTI
grid sheet top onto that pressing it down while I removed the rest of the protective sheet to cover the MISTI grid piece. I used scissors to trim off the rest of the laminated sheet I did not use and I used my bone folder to run over the grid paper to help the laminated sheet to adhere to the grid paper. I also did the back side of my grid paper to make this piece more durable. Ran the bone folder over that side as well and took it to the trimmer and trimmed all four edges:

Put this laminated grid paper into the MISTI and used a small stamp to stamp on the grid piece as a sample:

Once stamped I cleaned off my stamp and then ran my finger over the image to show the ink was still wet:

Used a baby wipe to wipe the image off the grid piece:

All cleaned off and ready for next use. The laminated sheets will help my grid paper to last so much longer and while I had everything out I laminated a second grid paper for back up use. Thanks to Michelle for sharing her tip.

As a crafter with a NON never ending craft budget I do not like to waste my crafting dollars on items that can be re-used. With the make up brushes I bought a set off of Amazon and I reuse them for all the colours - I do not need one brush for every colour -- nor do I need a fancy holder to keep them in. My holder is a can from the kitchen covered in wrapping paper and I keep this and the brush cleaner in the Raskog cart next to my work table:

Sometimes we have to be careful with all the "bells and whistles" of new craft products for sale not to get caught up with buying a product and all the accessories. For this crafter I much rather spend my crafting dollars on products rather than accessories -- esp for something you would have to replace all the time which would be the grid sheets for the MISTI.  Always nice that we can prolong the use of a product rather than to replace that product. Thanks to Michelle for sharing a tip for laminating the MISTI grid sheets without a laminating machine!