Tag: business cards

Laminating One Side of Earring Cards

On By Michel McDonaldIn EtsyLeave a comment

Laminated earring cards

Yesterday I tried laminating my earring cards and punching the earring holes with the sideways U’s, but it wouldn’t work because the plastic is too thick to be able to punch through. Last night I thought, I wonder if I was able to laminate 2 cards back to back so both cards are laminated on the front only. If I could laminate one side, perhaps it would be thin enough. I was right, because it worked.

Today I took half of my earring cards and placed them all back to back inside the business card laminating pouches and ran them through the laminator. I actually ran them through several times. When they all came out the other side, I cut them around the edges of the cards and then I used the earring display card punch to make the holes, and it worked without any problems. I watched my show and then decided to run more through doing the same thing, but this time it didn’t work the same way. I kept having the same issues I was having when I was trying to punch the card with a full lamination. It just didn’t want to cooperate with me anymore.

The business card laminating pouches are 5Mil and the full size sheets are 3Mil, so I think I will just toss the ones that I have and just work with the ones that I have already punched and not worry about trying to make any more since I haven’t actually sold any earrings in a long time. So it’s really just a waste of my time, but I wanted to see if I could get it done, and I have, so I’m happy. Who knows if someone will buy earrings in the future. It might happen, or it might not, I don’t know. All this work could be for nothing, or perhaps it might bring me a lot of referrals if one person buys earrings.

So I’m happy I was able to figure it out, and hopefully I can get it to work again in the future.

Laminator

On By Michel McDonaldIn Etsy, Products I LikeLeave a comment

laminator

I have a funny story. My partner told me a few days ago out of the blue that he wanted a laminator to laminate his new insurance card that he recently got in the mail. I don’t know what happened to his last one that made him decide he wanted to laminate it, but I started thinking that this might be something both of us could find useful.

When I was in my early 20’s, I worked in a bath house. I was the guy in the office when you first checked in who took the money and gave you a key for a room or locker and handed you the towel. When a new customer would come in for a new membership, or when someone was renewing their membership, I would laminate the card for them. It wasn’t a huge laminator, it only laminated business card sized sheets.

When I was searching on Amazon for a laminator, I was under the assumption I could buy a small one specifically for business cards like the one I had at the bath house. I also naturally assumed they were expensive, like hundreds of dollars expensive. I was actually surprised to see how cheap they are. Well, the AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator is inexpensive. I did a little more research and found some at Office Depot/Office Max that are $100 and up. $21.65 is more in my price range lol. The sheets are less expensive than I thought. I figured while I’m getting a full sheet size laminator and the business card laminating sheets, I might as well also buy AmazonBasics full size Laminating Pouches. I mean, I’ve never needed them, but it could happen.

One thing I know I could use the business card sheets for is my Etsy shop earring cards. I have a earring display card punch and I print the design on a sheet of business cards. The earring cards are nice, but they are very flimsy because the card stock isn’t that thick. I figured that perhaps laminating them would make them stiff enough that they would work better for earrings. I don’t know if I can cut them on the edge of the cards, but I’ll experiment when I get them and find out.

I can also use these to laminate regular business cards to place in the padded envelope with every order. There are many possibilities for laminating things, and I’m sure I’ll think of something later down the road, like post cards and bookmarks. Maybe place mats at the dinner table or for the dog bowls. Who knows? I’m sure I’ll come up with some new things as time goes by.

One thing I noticed was that these laminating sheets don’t come with a foil pouch. The laminator at my last job required using a foil pouch. You put the card in the laminating pouch, then place that in a foil pouch that is paper on the outside, and foil on the inside, then you run it through the laminator. This one doesn’t do that, and I know this because I watched a video and the guy who made the video ran a full size sheet of paper in a full size laminating sheet straight through without a buffer. I know technology has come a long way since 1992/94, but still. I would just naturally assume if I ran plastic through a machine that has to melt the plastic to create a seal, that if not protected inside a card stock sheet with foil inside, it might perhaps melt all over the machine. But from what I saw in the video, the guy ran the full sheet in full sheet pouch without any buffer and it didn’t melt. It makes me nervous lol. I’ll try it and see how it goes when it arrives.

Holy Cow Delivery

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

Well Ron from Holy Cow Milk just came about 30 minutes ago with our yoplait, string cheese and bread.  I liked paying with PayPal because then I don’t have to use any checks but because of that person who responded in my first post for this company, I decided to pay by check from here on out.  At least if I pay by check I don’t have anything to lose because they don’t get their money until they deliver the goods.

I really love having milk delivered to my house instead of having to get it from the store.  Actually their milk is more expensive than the store by $1 per gallon because you can buy 2 gallons for $5 which is $2.50 each, Holy Cow charges $3.50 which if you go to the store and look that is still a very good price.  If you just buy 1 gallon of milk you are going to pay $5 for 1 gallon of the Albertson’s brand or the name brands like Foster Farms.  It just makes more sense to buy the Special Value milk for $5 for 2.

The thing I buy from Holy Cow is their bread for $1.50 a loaf, bread is expensive if you buy at the store.  They are outrageously expensive and with today’s economy you can’t get bread for less than $2.  The Albertson’s brand bread at the store is $1.79.

I also buy String Cheese which is like .35 cents.  I’ve never bought string cheese so I don’t know what that regular price is.  Yoplait is another thing I buy from them.  If you have gone to the store you will know that Yoplait is the most expensive yogurt on the shelves.  That stuff is over $1 each.  Holy Cow only charges .65 cents each.  That is the main reason I buy from them.  I can only get Yoplait when they are 20 for $10 at Albertson’s which makes them .50 cents each.  So .65 is a very good price and I’d rather give the money to Holy Cow than the big corporations.

I asked Ron to give us some business cards so we can pass them out in the neighborhood, I suggested magnet business cards that people can put on their fridge.  That is a very good idea.  I’m sure they are more expensive but you have to spend money to make money.