Even though The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter
claims to be reusable, I have not found that to be the case... A couple years ago, when we first used this calendar, I didn't remove the stickers and when I went to reuse it again last year, they wouldn't peel off the background without tearing. Then, last year, I did take the stickers off, and yet they still curled up and lost some of their stickiness.
I wasn't too upset since I purchased a number of the calendars from LTP when they were on clearance. However, had I paid full price I would have definitely counted on the stickers being "reusable."
This year, Charlotte and I were talking about ways to make sure the stickers could be reused in the future, and agreed that Self-Sealing Laminating Sheets would probably be the easiest.
and am very pleased with how our stickers turned out. I finally have a set of stickers that we should be able to reuse year after year!
Originally I thought I would apply the stickers to card stock and then cut them out before laminating, but decided that would take way too much time just laminating them would make them sturdy enough.
It's hard to see in the pictures, but I laid the stickers face down on the front sheet of laminate. Even though the sticky side was up, I didn't have any problems peeling the protective paper off the back sheet and pressing the two sheets together.
It only took a few minutes to laminate all 50 stickers, using 3 sheets of the laminate.
They shouldn't take too long to cut out, but so far I've only completed the first week. (I'm not really a procrastinator... just really busy! At least that's what I tell myself!)
We are just using a little double sided tape to place the symbols onto our Garden poster, but if I had some Blu-Tak
I would use that instead of the tape.
I would use that instead of the tape.If any of you have any other suggestions or advice for reusing the stickers, please feel free to share in the comment box.
Also, while typing up this post, I noticed that Amazon currently has copies of The Garden of the Good Shepherd in stock (they keep selling out), if any of you would still like to purchase a copy.
Anyhow, we have been enjoying placing our "stickers" on the calendar each day, after reading the Bible verse, and my children are looking forward to our first Good Shepherd's Garden Party later this week!
Happy Easter Wednesday!!
Great Idea! I didn't have any problems with my stickers (at least I don't think I did since they all look fine?!?!), but I am going to use your suggestion since I want to make SURE they are able to be used for years to come!
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, don't cut too close to the edges of your stickers otherwise the laminate will come apart too.....been there and done that.......no fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks!! That had crossed my mind, but I forgot to mention that in the post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions! I was wondering how reuseable they would be after a few years. Charlotte's news is awesome!
ReplyDeleteJessica, I am a laminating queen as nothing comes through our doorway that I don't laminate to last (um) forever. :) I knew the stickers were going to be required year after year so I did mine immediately. I absolutely agree with the other commenter, anyone who wants to do this, please do not cut too close to the sticker edging. Enjoy year after year and let's not kid ourselves because, a hot laminator and pouches are a homeschooling mama's best friend. grin,grin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I'm going to peel off the first couple of days and laminate them too.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks for letting us know about the potential problem with the stickers. We started using ours already, but perhaps I could do the laminating going forward ...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I was wondering if the stickers were going to hold up to the little hands in my home.
ReplyDeleteHow about a magnet piece? Of course the whole sheet would have to be on a piece of magnet too, or a dry/erase/magnet board? I actually got the stickers for saints throughout the year from your blog (thanks for the idea!) and I didn't peel the sticky paper off. I "laminated" them with clear contact paper and put a piece of magnet on the back. Then made a calendar page from a big roll of paper (as a template, then every month I change the dates) and attach my saints to it. I forgot to mention, this sits on my refrigerator (kind of high so that the 2 year old doesn't get it, but the 7 and 6 year old can read them. I hope this makes sense =)
ReplyDeleteKeep bringing on the inspiration! I LOVE your blog!
Thank you for the great suggestions! We are using this for the first time this year and I have been skeptical that we could re-use the stickers next year. Problem solved! Love your blog!!!
ReplyDeleteAfter we removed the stickers from the board (last year) I noticed that they began to curl up. We did manage to get all the stickers off w/o tearing them though. To 'combat' the curls I placed the sheed under some heavy books.
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed a problem with them this year...yet. The laminating crossed my mind and seeing your success I'm going to try it out.
Thanks Jessica!