Back to School Fun with the Fellowes Laminator

My daughters went back to school for a few weeks ago, so I’m already overwhelmed with paper. I have papers with assignment lists for the entire year, worksheets, notices, guidelines and more.  Since things rarely last more than a few days around here without meeting some sticky fingers, I’ve been laminating all of our important papers. Now laminated, the papers will be much easier to keep clean and in great condition for the rest of the year.

But after that was done, I started having some serious fun with my new laminator!  🙂

First I made a cute chore chart. I just printed out a chore chart I created and inserted it between the sides of the laminating pouch. 

Then I slowly fed the folded edge of the pouch into the front of the laminator.

In just seconds, I had a great new custom chore chart for our family! The kids can use a dry-erase pen to check off what they’ve done each day and then wipe it clean at the end of the week. I love this!

Then, since the girls both love to read books, I made them each some fun bookmarks:

Next, I made some contact information cards for the girls’ backpacks and for the side of the fridge. The cards have all of our important and emergency phone numbers. 

I laminated lots of the kids’ special art projects, awards and school work that we’ll want to preserve for many years.  I’ve also printed out some worksheets for the girls to practice math and handwriting on.

In the kitchen, I laminated my favorite recipes and made myself a recipe measurement reference card to stick on the fridge.

I made a wipe-off calendar for the refrigerator too. I left the dates blank so I could fill it in each month. The dry-erase writing wipes off easily.

The Fellowes Saturn2 95 Laminator has been useful for so many projects! I’ve been having a ball with it, but we’ve also used it for a lot of important documents, papers and notices that we want preserved.  My husband laminates a lot of things for his files at work, so it’s been wonderful to have our own laminating machine at home. And the Fellowes Laminator is really easy to use, so I can finish a project in just minutes.

Right out of the box, the Fellowes Saturn2 95 Laminator is ready to go. Turn it on and after a few seconds it beeps and the blue snowflake light comes on to signal that the cold lamination (for self-adhesive laminating pouches) is ready. I’ve been using the laminating pouches that require heat, so I choose the button on top that matches the thickness of pouch I have (3mm, 4mm or 5mm – on the packages). The green light then blinks to let me know the machine is heating up. After a few minutes, the machine beeps several times and the red light with my chosen thickness (3mil in the pic below) comes on to alert me that it’s ready. It’s so simple!

Next, I just pop my art, paperwork, chart or project into the folded pouch and slowly insert the folded edge into the machine. It slowly feeds through and comes out the back, perfectly laminated!  So easy and so fast!

I can’t express how much I’m in love with this laminator! I’ve used one at my friend’s office for the past couple of years and it’s so complicated and frustrating and often ends up leaving bubbles and wrinkles in the final product. And hers gets really hot. You can smell it burning and have to be careful not to touch the wrong area or let your project get caught or it will melt and burn (scary!). The Fellowes Laminator is so much easier to use and even has a double insulated wall to keep the heat in so I can let my kids help me without worrying about them getting burned. If a project isn’t fed in straight and gets stalled, I can just pop the jam release lever and take the pouch out. Sooo much nicer than the other lamination machine I’ve used!

Fellowes has their own laminating idea center online to share lots of fun projects for home, work and school. Even though I’ve already done about 30 things, I’ve only just started. I can’t wait to make some of the fun things that I’ve found online, so you’ll definitely be seeing a lot more laminating crafts projects in the future – be prepared!  🙂

Be sure to check out the Fellowes Saturn2 95 Laminator for information on what you could do with your own laminator.

Right now through August 25th, friends of Mom Central can use the exclusive coupon code 87298 to get $30 off the regular price ($159.99) of a Fellowes Saturn2 95 at Staples.com! (while supplies last; maximum two machines per person)

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Fellowes and received a product sample to facilitate my review.