homemade rub-ons

Tammie,

Found these online sites:

I haven't tried them myself, but I thought someone here did. I can't remember though. Hopefully someone has and can help!

We discussed this some time ago and these are the directions I used to make some. The black ink on my printer makes a lighter rub-on that you get from purchased ones, but the color ink works great. Sandy Make Your Own RubOns By Gabi Rosen

Rub-ons have become so popular! They are an easy way to give a scrapbooking page or handmade card a custom appearance. I love using them across layers of cardstock. You can't use your printer for multiple matted layers but you can get a good, crisp look with the rub-ons! The alphabets, words and phrases are the most popular but they don't always have that perfect font, word or saying that fits your needs. I am going to show you how to make your own rub ons, and at the same time maybe save you a dollar or two by using supplies you may already have!

What you need:

1. Create your word, phrase or image in a word processing program.

2. When you put the transparency or page protector into your printer, be sure that the ink will be printed on the shiny side (If you're using a glossy page protector, either side will work).

3 .Set the print properties on your printer so your document prints as a "mirror image" of itself. You may have to flip your image in your word processing program or photo editing to achieve this result.

1. Print out on "best" quality. This will ensure that a thicker amount of ink will be printed onto the shiny surface so that you can transfer it to your paper.

1. Let it dry. DO NOT TOUCH IT! Let the ink dry for at least 15 minutes. (I highly recommend waiting 20-30 minutes)

2. Once you are sure the ink is dry, lay your rub-on over the intended area with the printed side facing the paper. Hold firmly onto the transparency and use the end of the popsicle stick to rub over the entire rub-on text. Your Rub-on will be transferred to the paper! That's it! You're finished!

I think I may have to finally try that. I've always wanted to do them, just never did. However, with the cricut, I guess I really don't need to as much now. I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

Amanda

Luna, I found an old box of transparencies when we cleaned out my grandmother's house. Older than "acid free" and they work great for this since the transparency is just used as a rub-on. Sandy

Well, I tried it with a page protecter. Didn't work for me, the ink just pooled on the plastic, didn't stick at all. And my printer tried to eat it.

Ok, I tried again, this time with a transparency sheet. It's the kind that's made to go through photocopiers, but not inkjet printers.

After 6 hours the ink still wasn't totally dry. There were patches that were still wet, but I tried using it anyway. The wet patches became dark spots on the paper, with the rest of it being very light, and enough of the ink was still left on the sheet to do another rub that was very light all over and blotchy.

Are there papers or plastic sheets that are made specifically for this project? If there are, I'd really like to do it, even if the paper costs a bit more.

It may be the type of printer you have. The transparency film I use is made by Quill and it says "For plain paper copiers and xerox copiers" The box had 100 sheets in it. These were the ones I found in my grandmother's old office when I cleaned it out after she passed away, so I don't know how old they are. My printer is an hp photosmart 7150. Sandy