I've just bought a laminator - tell me what you've laminated

[givemeaclue]

I have just bought a cheap laminator and have made some labels for craft drawers etc for the kids and some clothes baskets. any tips on:
-what can I laminate (can see I could get carried away here)
-any pics of your own laminations?
-nice pics/fonts/borders?

that can't have been true - the name of the mother would have been on the picture.

I have an A3 laminator.....

so have i.
i worry that it'll break where i only put a4 sheets in.

thought about laminating sheets that have blank music staves on, so that the junior choir can do "exercises" on them and not waste paper

Once laminated sausage and mash. It didn't work.

I laminate all sorts. Labels for the veg plot is a good one: you have to do it so there's a clear border round the edge of each little label you cut out, or you get water seeping in. Hole punched at the top (through the clear bit again) and put the biggest sort of cable tie through it.

To do pretty labels for containers (big plastic storage ones) I use wrapping paper. Cut sheets of it A4 size, then lay a piece of A6 plain paper in the centre. Laminate the whole thing then stick to the front of your box with stick-on velcro. To write on it, get OHP pens. They don't rub off, so they won't come off on your clothes when you walk past, you have to use a damp cloth to reuse.

At Christmas you can make calendars for all the family using your childrens laminated paintings with one of those little tear-off calendar booklets at the bottom.

FIL laminates photos of the grandchildren that you can then carry in your purse/wallet without them getting damaged.

I have laminated all the kids lego instructions, cut up playmobil boxes and laminate them so I know whats in each set. Generally any toys that have step by step instructions, game instructions so they don't get ruined.

Right, I want a laminator now! Which is the best one (cheap but not rubbish) to buy?

My work has an industrial A2 laminator

I thought about doing DS when he was little, but he was too big to get through the hole.

I have laminated instructions for things before though - washing machine programmes being a favourite. I'm the clothes washer in the house, but very rarely DH puts on a wash so then DH doesn't put on a delicates load at 90 degrees or put things on at the wrong temp. Was a godsend when I was whipped into hospital and he was left for two weeks on his own with DS as it saved him having to check every label.

For info the sheet says things like -
DS clothes: programme marked 30, 4 clicks to the right from off. 1 Fairy tablet.
Towel: programme marked 60, 2 clicks to the right from Off. 2 Bio tablets.

wolves - mine's Texet brand.

dead cheap, but not totally crap

see, Carpe, i would take a picture of the dial and mark the relevant bits, then laminate that with headings.

I see someone has already suggested laminating leaves.
DS's school made placemats from laminated dried flowers, it was autumn so I decided we'd laminate some leaves. The first one went through OK, THe second sheet disappeared into the laminator but didn't come out the other end....when it cooled down there was laminated mess all over the inside and the laminator was useless

nickelhasababy you may have just found my next project...

I'll confess to a squashed fly.

I was curious......

oh starfish :(

I've just thought of a few more things I would laminate if I had a laminator:

-recipes for the breadmachine. Although I know the basic brown/white ones off by heart, DP doesn't and always has to get the booklet out and rifle through it.

-basic recipes that the DC use frequently eg. muffins, fairy cakes etc

-DD's timetable and homework timetable for school

...and another.... the DCs made bookmarks at school. They could put in photos, their own drawings, leaves, anything really.

Another good idea for something personal they can make for grandparents.

I laminate lego instructions and the like, and tie them together with a treasury tags so they can just get chucked in the box and reused without getting damaged. Have also laminated swimming certificates so DD can't love them to death in her 'special things' cupboard, and laminated things look better stuck on the wall than non-laminated things. Also I've recently made labels for the trofast toy storage to stop me asking other people not to tidy up coz they always put things in the wrong boxes

Have also downloaded a font called 'trace' and typed up the alphabet and numbers and laminated them so the DCs can practice their letter writing.

I might be a bit too laminate-obsessed for my own good

I also laminate "shelf-talkers" for the shop.

I can't afford the special plastic things that you put labels and reviews in, so I do normal ones and laminate.
they look quite neat, actually.

How do you download a font so that you can use it?

you just have to find it, then download it - it'll appear in your downloads folder, and you can load it like you would a normal programme

I laminated A4 place mats (name and picture) for DS and friends at his 5th bday party, they took them home with their party bags, 3 years later 3 of the children still use them as their place mats at home.

I LOVE the placemats idea! I'm so doing that as a craft activity next time one of the DCs has a friend over!
Have learnt the hard/expensive way not to laminate things with glitter tho as if even one speck escapes it melts in the machine

I've just remembered - DD had a friend round and we cut out Charlie and Lola style butterfly wings from samples of wallpaper stolen from Homebase, stuck them onto a black paper body and laminated them.

This thread has got me all excited! My poor laminater keeps getting stolen by DH (he bought it for me so probably thinks he's entitled) and is left alone and unused in his office. Time to start nagging for it back I think!

Can anyone tell me how to laminate something smaller than A4 (or whatever the size of your laminater) and cut it down without the 2 sides coming apart? I must be doing something wrong.