USI advertises their "Big Mouth" heat laminating machine as "the best pouch laminator on the market today," and I couldn't agree more.  It gives professional results every time and allows you to laminate, mount your project on foam core board up to 1/4" thick, or laminate and mount in a single pass.  The Big Mouth costs about twice what you'd pay for most other standard-size heat laminators, but you definitely get what you pay for.  I went through two cheaper laminators in a few short years before investing in the Big Mouth, and it's been running strong for years.  Definitely a good investment!

The Xyron, a popular cold laminator,  can laminate one or both sides of your project; it can apply a thin, but permanent coat of adhesive; OR it can laminate and apply adhesive at the same time to make shiny stickers.  All this versatility,  and it doesn't even require electricity. It has an easy-to-operate hand crank and interchangeable cartridges for different applications.  You can pop them in and out to change from laminating to adhesive, for example, in just a minute.  I especially like the Xyron for creating candy wraps.  It also works well for bottle labels.

Laminating is a very easy process requiring no special instructions.  Just follow the manufacturer's instructions that come with whatever laminating machine you purchase.

Project Ideas

The "A Chores" and "B Chores" are assigned to Chelsea & Brittany by circling "A" or "B" next to their photos.  Since Kaysea is only 2½, she gets the same simple chores each week.  "D", "M" or "N" is also circled to indicate who's in charge of checking their chores each day (Dad, Mom, or Nanny).   When each day's chores have been completed, Dad, Mom or Nanny puts an X in the appropriate day's box (above each double row of angel hearts).

When one of the kids displays inappropriate behavior (breaks a house rule, talks back, etc.), they break an angel's heart--an X is placed over one of their hearts on the chart.  Unbroken angel hearts are added up on Friday night after dinner, and their awarded the Angel Hearts Reward that corresponds to the number of unbroken angel hearts they accumulated that week.

The Angel board was designed on an 8½"x11" design area in Print Artist 12.0 using Print Artist graphics.  It was printed on high-quality Great White paper, and heat laminated using a 5 mil. pouch laminant.  It was then glued between a red cardboard mat and a plain sheet of cardboard.  Self-adhesive magnets were applied to the back in the 4 corners.  A dry-erase marker is used to mark on the board (or you can use a grease marker made for overhead projector film).  At the end of the week, the board is wiped clean with a DRY paper towel.

Door signs are another useful laminated project.  These were designed in a 5½"x4" design area in Print Artist 12.0 using Print Artist graphics.  They were then printed on high-quality Great White paper, and heat laminated with the Big Mouth using USI's foam board laminating boards. The edge of the foam board can then be covered with satin ribbon (glue on) or left as-is.  I poke a hole for hanging into the foam board, centered near the top on the back, using needle-nose pliers.  A small white, self-adhesive, plastic hook is attached to the doors where these are hung.

My "Nanny's Sleeping" sign reminds the grandkids that Nanny is off-duty on the weekends and gets to try and sleep in.  It's come in real handy! <G>