Oh my goodness! It’s almost Valentine’s Day, but there’s still time to make a little keepsake for the one you love.

After recently acquiring a new INK-JET printer, we decided to experiment printing on Lutradur 70gsm.

(Please note, it is extremely important NOT to put Lutradur through a LASER printer, as the heat generated during the printing process may melt the Lutradur and damage the printer). Please ensure you check which sort of printer you have before proceeding.

The keyfob pictured above has been made from a double layer of Lutradur 70gsm, printed on one side and machine stitched together.

We noticed the text was much more defined on the keyfob than the bookmark. This may be due to the choice of font, i.e. Comic Sans being a simpler, rounder text than the Gabriola script font used for the bookmark.

To make the bookmark, we drew a text box (about 21cms x 5cms) on our computer and inserted our chosen message. We then printed the image on an A4 piece Lutradur 70gsm using our ink-jet printer.

Before machine stitching the Lutradur on to backing fabric, we sandwiched a couple of shaped pieces of Evolon (transfer painted yellow) to provide some extra colour.

To add further interest, we inserted about half a dozen small foil hearts, to move freely inside the bookmark. (The number of hearts could represent the number of years a couple have been together, or maybe the number of children they have?)

And finally, we added a couple of blue transfer painted (Evolon) hearts and attached a length of narrow ribbon at the base.

If you have any questions about this or any of our other projects, please do not hesitate to get in touch. In the meantime, we wish all our customers and followers a very happy Valentine’s Day!