Printing my own paper!
Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been printing my own cardstock for a couple of years, but I was never overly excited about the vibrance of the colors. The paper is inkjet, but the brightness just isn't there.
Earlier this year, I found We R Memory Keepers punchboards. I bought a couple of them, one for making envelopes. Playing with them, I realized regular paper will work nicely with them for regular envelopes. I have some paperpads that I've gotten in the past, and I can use those, the pattern side in and the blank side on the outside.
But, you know me. I like things to match. So, I went in search of paper that I can print myself to better match whatever cardstock I use. I ended up on B&H Photo and bought a roll of Epson enhanced matte paper. It's twenty-four inches wide and one hundred feet long. This would make two hundred 12" x 12" sheets. Well, it got here and unfortunately, it's heavier than I expected. So, I ordered a roll of Epson single weight matte paper. This one is 24" x 131'. That will make lots of paper for envelopes.
The problem now is that I don't think I'll want to pull out my big paper cutter every time I want to trim down a sheet (remember, these rolls are two feet wide). So, I checked out Amazon and found a nice trimmer. (Geez everything I got has sure gone up in price in just a few months!) It got here and I was thrilled, until I went to use it. It's for quilting! I can't just slide the paper in and trim it, this sets on top of the media and slides. It needs a base! Fortunately, I had purchased a huge cutting mat back when I started doing shirts. I was sure I had one, it was just a matter of finding it.
Brian drilled a couple of holes in it for me and now it's neatly hung up with my other stuff in the garage. I cut a couple of sheets of the heavier paper and printed out a couple of digital paper designs I'd gotten on Etsy. And they're perfect!
Yeah, I can hardly wait to be back up to speed. So many ideas! So many options!
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