For this tutorial I decided to use the alphabet project I'm working on. I printed out letters on full sheets of paper and planned to cut the sheets in half to separate them. There are too ways you can do this if you're laminating something. You can laminate first and cut afterward, or you can cut first and then laminate the pieces. If you do it the second way you'll be cutting twice in the end because you will most likely need to cut off the excess contact paper. However, doing it the 2nd way you can leave a contact paper border. This will actually protect the paper just a little bit better since the first way leaves the tiniest window, the depth of the paper itself, for water and the like to seep in. Also, if you're like me, you might just like the way the clear border looks (makes it look really laminated); so that's the way I did it.
Print out all your pages and get down your paper cutter.
After wrecking a few pages because your cutter blade needs sharpening, switch to scissors.
Gaze adoringly at your contact paper.
-If you're wondering where to get contact paper in the first place, you can find it with the shelf lining paper in most stores or you can swing by Amazon and you'll find it on your doorstep. ;-)
Cut out two pieces of contact paper that are slightly bigger than the item you're laminating.
Take the first piece and peal off the backing. The most effective way I've found to do this is to get a really good grip on a corner and peal the backing off in one long swoop. If I do a little and then try to adjust my angle or grip, I tend to end up with kinks in my adhesive layer. Also, remember that touching any of the sticky with your fingers will leave finger prints that you can't wipe off. So if that matters to you, try to hold by the corners and edges as much as possible.
Lay that piece sticky side up on a hard, flat surface (kitchen table). Lay your paper-to-be-laminated down on top of the sticky contact paper. The thinner your paper-to-be-laminated is, the more difficult this will be. I used regular printer paper so I started by adhering the left edge of the W paper and then smoothing the rest of the paper down from that point. The next couple of steps might demonstrate this technique better.
Take your 2nd piece of contact paper and peal off the backing. With the sticky side down (so the sticky sides of the two pieces of contact paper will be facing each other), and starting with one edge, press firmly and smooth the 2nd piece of contact paper over the top of your printed paper. (You'll be using both hands for this, I just didn't have anyone to take pictures for me at this point.)
You'll want to go slowly at first until you get the hang of it.
Hopefully you won't have any bubbles once you're done adhering the top layer but if you do you can smooth them a little bit with an old credit card or similar plastic object. Depending on your project, a few bubbles aren't the end of the world but if you really don't want any you need to be extra slow and careful in the previous steps.
Now grab your scissors and trim off the excess contact paper until you have your desired border width (or no border at all)
For first timers I'd definitely recommended practicing on single items until you get the feel of the smoothing process. Once you develop some confidence in your skills you can move on to doing larger projects or multiples.
This picture shows the two handed system better. Smooth with one hand while using the other hand to keep the contact paper somewhat taut so it doesn't drop down and make bubbles.
Even after you think you're ready to try bigger stuff, you'll still need to keep a check on your speed because bubbles and skewed layering can happen to the best of us. (There aren't any problems in this picture but about 2 minutes later I got in a rush and botched two sheets in a row.)
So there you go! With about $3 in supplies and just a little more time and patience I will soon have 2 full alphabet sets, large and laminated. I'll be making a post (with free printables!) about the finished product and its use sometime in the next couple days but for now I just wanted to show you the laminating part. It's a simple project but I'm pretty excited about it so please check back and let me know what you think. Thanks!
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