Rub Ons

Rub Ons are so useful for saying what you want to say and then using them to alter almost any hard surface.

"Scrapbooking is cheaper than a therapist.
~Author Unknown"

While there is a great variety of ready-made transfers available, sometimes you cannot find just the right words, in the right font, in the right size and colour. And finding a transfer that has the right graphics can be equally as elusive!

With ready-made ones, once they are used they are gone and you have to buy more. Making your own means you can have as many as you want, with no leftover letters you will probably never use.

So how about learning to make your own?

If you have a computer, a printer, a word processing program and some acetate (overhead projector aka OHP sheets are great to use for this), you can make your own rub ons.

Here's how to make what is essentially a transfer sticker:

• First, go to your computer and open your word processing program
• Create the image or saying you want
• A step I always do next is to print out my image or saying on ordinary note paper to see that it is just as I want it. If not, I keep changing it and printing it out till it is right for my project. Use the same piece of paper so there's little waste - just put a different end of the paper into the printer each time. You can have four goes this way
• Once I am happy with my image or saying, I feed a piece of acetate or OHP film into the printer so that it will be printed on the smooth side (there's a smooth and a rough side of OHP film - make sure it gets printed on the smooth side)
• Convert your image to a mirror image and set the printer to best quality so you get a nice, thick covering of ink
• Print out your image or saying on the acetate - remember it will be a mirror image of what you want right now
• Let the image dry for about 10 minutes (if you touch it, it will smudge at this stage)

Congratulations! You have just created your first custom-made Rub On!

Now, how do you use them on your paper craft projects?

Rub ons are useful for:

• Being placed across several layers of paper
• Being placed onto items that cannot be put through a printer (have you tried putting a hand made box or a 12" x 12" scrapbook page through an ordinary printer lately??) or
• Applying finishing touches to scrapbook pages and cards

There are actually heaps of places you may find to use them.

Here's how to apply them:

• Find a wooden ice cream stick. (If it happens to be inside an ice cream at the moment, never fear! Eat the ice cream first then clean and dry the stick!)
• Position the rub on, smooth side down, on your project. Your words should now read the right way round and your images should be facing the right way - the way you want them to appear on your project
• Use your clean, dry ice cream stick to apply even and firm pressure on the image or words
• Keep pressing with the stick until the image leaves the acetate and adheres to your project. Carefully lift part of the acetate when you think the image or words have been transferred, and if not, put the acetate back in the same place and rub some more. If you have not lifted the entire piece of acetate, re-positioning it is much more accurate
• Once you have placed the transfer on your project, any residue on your acetate can be wiped off with a tissue and the acetate will be ready to be used to make your next custom-made transfer

Once your transfer has been positioned firmly on your project, stand back and admire it!

Who would have thought making your own Rub Ons could be so easy?

Do let me know if you make one of these yourself by telling me about it in the form below, especially if you find a new way of using them.

Have A Favourite Altered Art Piece?

Do you have a piece of altered art you have created? I'd love to see it.

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