ok hybrid people. babes and regulars.. come here. come talk to me..

I want to make something (ok I haven't actually planned anything out yet.. so ..bear with me here )

but I want to make something. I read through the paper thread in the faq.. well mostly, i skimmed it. I have a couple questions.

1) I don't want shiny paper that sounds bizarre. Do I just buy heavier/thicker paper? Can I get that at like target or do I have to go somewhere special.
2) I remember reading something one of the babes posted on the blog I believe.. about just changing the printer settings for good printing... Will my crappy printer be sufficient as long as I have the proper paper & settings.. or do I really need a better printer one day?
3) Do I have to seal/modge podge my project? Modge podge and i are no longer friends and I'd not want to. But on the same hand I'd want it to stay nice and not like.. weird curl up on edges and stuff r ight? is there any way to avoid that? What about like a spray on starch type thing that would keep it hard but not shiney (hahahaha.. I have no idea what i'm talking about obviously)
4) I suck... at crafting. So anything else you can tell me.
5) and cheap alternatives.. Like........... use cheap tape instead of those fancy dot things..etc. Stuff like that.

Andrea and Col pointed the way to this paper and I have to say that I LOVE it for the cards that I've made. Or here it is in the 100 sheet pack. I just set my printer to matte presentation paper/photo paper and it prints great.

ok here goes.

you can buy paper at walmart or target or michael's that is not shiny. i'm guessing you are talking about cardstock. there are two types of cardstock flat and textured. walmart and target have mostly flat cardstock. you can buy some textured at michael's.

i guess the printer question will resolve itself you'll print and you'll either like what you see or not. i guess a new printer will depend on how invested you become in hybrid/paper.

mod podge comes in matte now so you don't have to have it shiny. i tend to use golden gel medium (matte) on my projects which i find easier to work with than mod podge. the hybrid gals would know better though.

if you are going to be cutting precise measurements and straight cuts you might want to invest in a cutter.

glue sticks are probably the cheapest to use on cards and stuff. you can also buy cheaper tape runner adhesive at walmart.

thanks girlies :]

will the textured vs flat have an impact on the printing at all? like does textured use more ink or something like that?

1) well, you don't want to use just plain white cardstock for printing, it absorbs the ink and makes it look less vibrant and not true to color IMO... I use Epson Double Sided Matte Presentation Paper, which I can get at Staples or Office Max. I think they might have changed the name of it to double sided matte inkjet paper or something like that... anyways, I've found this paper to be the most accurate for printing...

2) this I can't answer, since I don't know what kind you have you'll find out when you print... but I set mine to matte photo paper for media type and "high" for print quality... that's for my Canon, I'm sure it's similar to other brands...

3)it depends on the project you're doing... I avoid mod podge type projects

4) I'm finding that hybrid is all about experimenting and finding what works for you... what works for one person might not work for another, KWIM?

5) I use a tape runner usually, but sometimes it just doesn't hold as well as those glue dots... glue sticks don't really hold very well either... I usually end up having to re-do my project when I use it. You can also use a hot glue gun if you're brave and good with those kinds of things... but I always burn myself with it.

I do have a hot glue gun.. but im not sure im good @ ....... making it not big fat blobs of glue ^_^ I can try that though.

my printer is really crappy. i dont even know what it is i'm being lazy.. but it's old and not fancy lol

Julie Billingsley said:

Andrea and Col pointed the way to this paper and I have to say that I LOVE it for the cards that I've made. Or here it is in the 100 sheet pack. I just set my printer to matte presentation paper/photo paper and it prints great.

Click to expand...

this might be personal preference but I actually like the double sided matte presentation paper better than the single sided. It's obviously more expensive... but I usually print on both sides on many of my projects, especially if I'm making paper flowers. Then I don't have to worry about putting it in the right direction either

I use just basic double sided photo paper that is matted - and I get 100 pages for $14 at Sam's Club... I'm happy with paper. Just a caution on card stock - I have heard it can really suck up the ink...

Re: printer - I have just a basic photo inkjet printer that came with my computer 4 years ago... nothing fancy and it works. My hubby has a color laser and I find the quality blurry... so I only use that for bulk printing like the items I made for kiddo's birthday.

I don't modge podge my projects - I know you can get a sealer at Hobby Lobby if you are worried... but with my 4 year old, I take the approach if it gets wrecked, I'll just redo it or try something new!

glue sticks are a good alterantive... otherwise you can get "cheap" glue dots through a place like Oriental Trading. I have also seen tape runners at Dollar Stores - but I've found that cheap tape runners aren't really a money saver - it clogs up in the holder or the tape holding the adhesive breaks. :cursing:

Yes, I'm all about the presentation paper, thanks for the link Julie
It's matte, it's thick, it prints gorgeous. Your printer will probably have settings for matte/heavyweight paper, so you'd just set it to that and go. You can find it at Staples/Office Max, and probably Target although admittedly I've never looked there (I buy in bulk from Epson when they have a sale).

Upgrading your printer will depend, like Celeste said. If you love it and want to keep doing it, upgrading might be a wise investment. If you're satisfied with how this first project turns out and only want to dabble here or there, you might not need to at all.

I don't mod podge or seal any of my projects. I guess it would depend on what you're making and how much it will be handled though. I'm also not crazy about keeping things perfect (like my mini albums). I want them to be looked through and enjoyed, so I don't mind a curled edge or a torn piece of paper. It just means it's well loved

Glue sticks, double sided tape, or a tape runner are great options. I personally use this one, by Tombow for EVERYTHING, but my mom still uses glue sticks on all her projects. It's a personal preference thing mostly. Once you buy the regular one, you can buy refills for cheaper later on. That lasts me a good 12 projects or so if I had to guess, but I also use a LOT of glue on cards fronts to make sure it doesn't come apart, lol.

PS~Here's one of thos trays.
7 Gypsies

And another (this one lets you move the boxes around)
Tim Holtz

i dunno if i should be allowed to move the boxes. .LOL.. bad things would happen
thanks chickies <3

La, I think that was me who did the blog post about the paper type and printer settings! I'll try to find the link.

I agree with the other girls about the matte double sided presentation paper. I mostly use the Epson brand, but I've been known to buy the Office Max brand because they were out of Epson and I honestly can't tell a bit of difference. But the *KEY* is changing those printer settings to reflect the paper type (matte, presentation paper / brochure paper - I think they're the same thing). If I forget to change my printer settings to reflect that, I'll actually go back and re-print and waste the ink because it makes THAT much difference in vibrancy of color (well, for me anyway).

As for your printer...I still claim that the type of paper you print on is more important than having a high dollar printer. I had a crap printer for 4 years that I used until just last month when it finally died on me. it was an old HP something or other. When it died, I decided I wanted to upgrade to a fancy photo all-in-one thing and bought another HP at Costco. It had this nice big touch-screen thing and looked like it would be the bomb! My old HP lasted me 4 years and was NOT at all fancy and was perfect. So this thing had to be great, right? NO. I got it home, hooked it up and it printed out 1 sheet beautifully, then the 2nd sheet was almsot blank. I already needed to run a print head cleaning utility. I had to run it 8 times to get another clean printing. Then I got 1 good printing and the same thing - had to run the print head cleaning utility another 8 times to get another good printing. It was AWFUL. I had NEVER cleaned my print heads on my old crap printer!! I was so disappointed. After 4 days of fighting with the thing I talked to some "printer expert" at Office Max (not where I bought my printer) and he said it sounded odd and I must have just got a lemon and suggested I just exchange it for the same thing at Costco and try again. So I did it and it did the SAME DAMN THING. I was so disappointed. So I don't know. I used to think it didn't matter what kind of printer you had. I returned the fancy HP e-printer all-in-one photo printer to Costco and went and bought a fancy Epson all-in-one from Office Max. I'm much happier now.

But before that incident I had a really old, NOT AT ALL fancy printer. And it was FINE. It lasted me 4 years and I printed A LOT of digi paper on that thing.

I will say thought that in another thread Col had mentioned buying ink twice a year. I buy ink A LOT more often than twice a year. I don't know if I print a lot more stuff than her or if it was just that crappy printer - but I was buying ink about every 6 weeks. So far with my new printer (that I've had for less than a month), we'll see. But I do print A LOT. Like I make print probably AT LEAST 30 8.5x11 digi pages per month. So I don't know?

But I also say no to the cardstock printing option - that will suck your ink dry.

OK, that was a lot of blah blah blah.

Oh, Mod Podge. I don't seal things with this, but I do use it as adhesive for altered projects. I know a lot of the other Hybrid Babes don't like Mod Podge because of it bubbling and stuff. I don't get the trouble with bubbling, so I think it's just personal preference. I don't like the Tombow adhesive because I find that it leaves a really sticky feeling to the edges of my finished project. But maybe this is a difference in environment? Like maybe Tombow does that in humid Hawaii but not in drier, higher altitudes? I don't know.

As for cards and stuff - sticking paper to paper - I use cheap "tape runner" type adhesive. Or Sticky Strip / Scor-Tape.

it makes me feel better that you were happier with your cruddy printer lol I'm out of ink atm so my project is on hold till I buy more but I'm excited now..

Is there any other benefit to the double sided stuff other than.. you know printing on both sides.. Like is the paper thicker or anything like that?

oh also jen, I dunno what printer col has specifically LOL.. but kristin was just telling me that kodak printers use a *ton* less ink than other fancy printers.. so maybe it's just something like that. I dunno

Truthfully, until very recently, I used plain old ordinary paper from the local store to print onto - I used regular 'good' & 'paper' settings on my inkjet printer (Epsom Stylus R285 - so a small & pretty cheap one), and was happy with the results. I am trying out the presentation paper, and really do like it, but it eats into my budget a little

Like Jen, ink is my biggest expence & I get through lots too - I shop around every time I need more to get the best price & rarely use the same store twice. I have found using genuine inks to be far, far better than other makes, and perhaps it compensates for my paper & printer??

I haven't tried ModgePodge yet - but there is a thread or two about which'll help - I'm nervous of using it as the responses seem 50:50 in favour, and the projects you tend to want to use it for can be big & precious!

Glue? I use an everyday gluestick (one my son hasn't gummed up ) plus a Quicky glue pen for the edges/ corners for sticking paper to my card blanks. For sticking card to card I use double sided tape. I use glue dots to stick buttons & blooms in place, and if I want to stick something so it will never move again I use something like Diamond Glaze which doubles as a dimentional glue too. Oh & I love sticky foam pads 'n tape too

My everyday tools are a sharp blade, metal ruler, cutting mat & scissors. Sometimes I use punches, but if I've got a template or an element from the digikit I'm using then I use that & cut it out with my scissors - I like to use a kit to its max.

Mod Podge - it's like Marmite (do you get Marmite in America? it's bleurgh) I don't do Mod Podge

Printer - I do have a colour laser printer which I love but sometimes - like now - I have no ink and no pennies so I am using my ordinary inkjet printer on normal everyday printing with the cheapest compatible inks I can find.

So, what are you gonna make?

yeh my experience with modge podge has been that it is poop. LOL.. i didn't have much bubble issues.. but i did have humidity sticking together and being evil issues.

I'm not sure what I'm making yet.. I'm an over planner... LOL I have to have everything completely figured out before i start.

I have an old Epson printer, the R340. I only use Epson ink, and Epson paper.
I don't print out as much as you do I guess Jen. Even when I was cranking out projects pretty steadily my ink lasted at least 3 months though. ::shrugs::

ColleenSwerb said:

I have an old Epson printer, the R340. I only use Epson ink, and Epson paper.
I don't print out as much as you do I guess Jen. Even when I was cranking out projects pretty steadily my ink lasted at least 3 months though. ::shrugs::

Click to expand...

That's AWESOME! I'm really hoping my new fancy Epson will hold the ink longer!! We'll see...So far I've been using it a lot and I'm almost a month in and have well over half the inks still there! So that's good!!

Also, I want to say that I print SO much digi paper because I use it for almost ALL of my crafting projects. I'm on a few stamping design teams that I have submission requirements for, deadlines for, etc. I don't have shopping options available to me here on Maui for physical supplies such as cardstock and Designer patterned paper, etc. I can shop online for some of these things, but mostly I just go hybrid and print! I think in the long run it's cheaper (because I only print what I need to use and don't have to pay shipping), and ummm, ya know, I am on the SSD hybrid team, so, yeah. It's cheaper.

I always use the paper that Julie linked to for my hybrid projects and layout printing. Most of my hybrid projects are one sided (cards, notebook fronts, altered books, etc), so I get the single sided type.

I've never used Mod Podge. Most of the time I use a dry adhesive (like a tape runner or photo squares, though my favorite is the Xyron Cheetah) and leave things unsealed. Covered notebooks and altered books that I made years ago have held up just fine. I sealed my wall art for this month's challenge, and it was a pain. I probably didn't need to.

ColleenSwerb said:

I have an old Epson printer, the R340. I only use Epson ink, and Epson paper.
I don't print out as much as you do I guess Jen. Even when I was cranking out projects pretty steadily my ink lasted at least 3 months though. ::shrugs::

Click to expand...

I have the same printer, and I still like it a lot. Until this year I was printing all my layouts at home (probably 20 8.5x11 pages/month, when you take into account the multiple copies I sometimes had to print to go into several albums). Every 3 months sounds like a good estimate for how often I had to change inks. All my scrapelated printing is on the Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte, and I use Epson inks.

I had an Epson R800 printer and it finally crapped out so I got a cheap Canon printer and I was AMAZED at the quality of the prints. Its a Canon Pixma MP560 and I got it on sale for $89.99 last year.

I will say that definitely print on matte presentation paper rather than regular cardstock. Cardstock does suck up the ink and the colors are dull and not true to color. But matte presentation paper is just amazing!

BTW- do any of you have a Canon printer and if so do you find one brand of paper is better than another? I've always heard you are supposed to stick to the brand of paper that your printer is but if I can get by with another brand then Im good with that too.

Amber, I the same printer as you... I LOVE the Epson paper.

Amber, I have a Canon Pixma MP500 that is like 6 years old. I use the Epson paper for crafting, and just Office Depot plain paper for regular needs. I don't print my layouts at home. Too much ink. Plus I love the way my layouts look professionally printed.

Ditto to the matted paper, and I'm on the list of cheap Lexmark, crap-o printer. But the paper does great!
I'm also an anti modge podge. I have ATG that I use for most every. That and glue dots or diamond glaze. I have to order everything online since we live in SK. So I print a lot of my stuff.
Pop up dots/foam is your friend.

Thanks Heather and Julie!

I use the double sided matte photo paper from Target, it's by ColorWorks and is great! It's around $5 for 30 sheets.

I have a Kodak Printer, nothing too expensive but, I love it!!

I love Mod Podge so, I'm no help there!

I must be a weirdo, I love printing on cardstock!! I don't print a lot at home, I print almost exclusively through Staples and I love love love their 67 lb white card stock!!! I can print an 8.5x11 for $1 buck and a 17x11 for $3 bucks (I only print that size once in a blue moon!!). Even on the rare occasions I print at home I still use card stock (I think it's like 110lb weight from Wal Mart). I don't think it looks flat at all and the colors are very very vivid to me. These are all printed at Staples on that card stock:







And the cars I shared with you at your forum were printed at Staples!

I also swear by double sided matte presentation or photo paper.

I have a little cheapo kodak printer and I buy ink 3-4 times a year, when hybriding lots.Ink's baout $30 for it, which is very reasonable to me after my last printer where I was buying ink monthly at $50 a pop, lol.