This guest post was written by Maria Merlino.
Hello Scrapbook Friends! May I introduce myself? My name is Maria Merlino and I’ve been asked to do a guest blog entry on one of my projects, the printable seed packets. I want to take you through the step-by-steps and give you my tips and tricks to make this an enjoyable project.
In addition to the practical seed saving work they do, these little envelopes are perfect for your Nature Walk scrapbook page, as they can hold any little collection of seeds, petals or leaves (I don’t recommend bugs —squished or otherwise!) that you may gather. The images print two to a page, so they are a good size after folding. I’ve given you an eclectic variety of images from which to select. To get started with the garden seed envelopes, you will need copy paper, an ink jet printer, scissors, and a glue stick. I also use an old, recycled catalogue for my disposable gluing surface. When the page gets too glue-y, turn to a fresh page.
To grab and size the image, right click directly onto the image. A small popup will give you choices. Click Copy. This will save the image to your clipboard. A note on the Clipboard— this is an invisible device that puts an image into your computer for later use. Open a blank document (I use Microsoft Office Word, but whatever you use for a blank document is fine). Now go to the Paste icon and click it. The image should be on the document. Fiddle with the size until it is a full page. Now you are ready to print.
For the seed packets, I set my printer preferences to plain paper and the Draft mode. If you print with Best or Photo or even the Text mode, too much ink is used and wasted! The images will print quickly and be somewhat faded but are still very viewable. I find that the less ink printing yields a more stable piece of paper and is less apt to tear or smear the printer ink . You can embellish with permanent markers later. Of course you can make one inky copy and have it printed with a laser at the copy shop. But that’s no fun! Homemade is best! I also used pastel paper for the black and white images for a different look.
After you’ve printed, use the scissors to carefully cut out the packet. Remember to keep the score lines intact. Fold where indicated, starting from the bottom, then to the left side and then a big fold-over from the left. Open up a page in your recycled catalogue, put your envelope face down, and carefully glue, remembering to keep the glue lines on the fold and not in the center of the paper. You will glue it shut if you do this. First add a tiny spot of glue to the inside corner of the envelope to help keep the bottom fold in place. Then run a line of glue along the side and bottom folds. Take the left half and fold it so that the back is now facing you. Make any little adjustments to square up the piece and use a flattener, like an old credit card, bone folder or lid to the glue stick, to set the creases. Don’t do anything to the top flap. Hooray! You have just completed one seed packet.
Disregard the previous advice if you plan on using the Nature Walk packets to put into a scrapbook; use the correct archival papers and inks appropriate for your album.
As part of the free downloads I created, there is a seed packet image with a Mother Banner. I like to use these to fill with flower seed for Mother’s Day or my mom’s birthday. If your mom is in a Heavenly Embrace, these are nice keepsakes for your siblings.
I have a photo tutorial that includes the free downloads here.
Here are the bonus Nature Walk Envelopes.
I hope everyone enjoyed reading and learning from my first blog post because I had a blast writing it for you! Please visit me on my Yahoo page for more free goodies.
