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Mrs. Dumpling, Las Vegas Age and Occupation: 27, Finance Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Real Estate Engagement Date: March, 2008 Wedding Date: March, 2009 Blogging Since: August 26, 2008 Venue: Catholic church ceremony & golf course reception About Me: I grew up in the Deep South, and while most people say I have a thick southern accent, I tend to think it only comes out when I need to use it. Living in Las Vegas has definitely been an adventure and Mr. Dumpling and I are loving every minute of it! We are planning a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a reception with lots of DIY! We might even get Elvis to show up! I'm a HUGE Beatles fan, love The Office and can't wait to become a Mrs.!
About Mrs. Dumpling

My First Attempt at Gocco

September 2nd, 2008 @ 1:50 pm by Mrs. Dumpling

Hello hive! I’d been waiting for my BFF/MOH to get her Gocco’d gift in the mail before I embarked on this post. She’s getting married in Canada next weekend and I couldn’t be more excited for her! I wanted to show her how happy I was to be part of her special day, so I decided to make her some stationery with her brand new last name. I love stationery, and I personally think that letter writing should be brought back in style. It seems like we can get so caught up in technology these days. Sure, emailing or text messaging is faster, but I love the personalized and thoughtful gesture of letter writing. It makes me happy!

So, I’ll move on to the project.

First off, please don’t get excited. I don’t have the Gocco skills of the Bees who Goccoed before me or any of the Etsy sellers out there. I’m just an overeager bride-to-be who always completely overestimates her level of craftiness. But, hey—I try! Before I got started, I literally stalked any blog or website that had a tutorial or an FAQ, especially this video from Paper Source.

This is the tidy craft table before the project.

I needed to press down really hard to get the image to transfer. I didn’t use the blue screen! Bad Dumpling!

And here is the craft table after I was finished. I’m messy!

I used light pink Simply Paper cards and envelopes from Michaels. They were about $10 for a set of 20. For ink, I used the gold color that comes standard in the PG-5 Gocco starter kit.

It took a few tries and I ruined about five cards before I got the hang of it. I used a poppy flower design from Google images and pasted it into Microsoft Word. Then, I typed her name in a text box and placed it beside the image. After I printed everything out using a laser printer (do not use ink jet!), I burned the design onto a Gocco screen. I’ve found that it’s best to keep pressing for a few seconds after the bulbs have flashed. Then, I inked the screen up and started pressing the image onto the pink cards. I know that most people use Photoshop or Illustrator to make their designs, but this was my first try and using Word worked out great for me. I’m just not as technically savvy as some of you out there are!

After the ink dried, I cut the corners using a rounded corner punch, also from Michaels, and put the stationery in a white silky bag.

The finished product! Too bad the blur over her last name makes it look wonky. Oh, privacy!

I’ll also be making our own invitations and save-the-dates with my Gocco, so any tips you’d like to give me are appreciated!

If there is one piece of advice you could give for someone using a Gocco, what would it be?

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23 Responses to “My First Attempt at Gocco”

1.
Guest Icon
Guest
LLKFSU

No advice, but those are very cute!

 
2.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Dumpling (message)  650 posts, Busy bee

And when I say “any of the Bees who Gocco’d before me, Im looking at you- Penguin, Cookie, Lovebird, Candy Corn, etc. You guys have mad Skillz.

 
3.
Guest Icon
Guest
Michelle

Great job! I love the design and the colors.

 
4.
Guest Icon
Guest
Diane

They’re beautiful! The gold-on-pink is genius, and I’m gonna steal the idea. Can’t wait to see what else you come up with.

 
5.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Cookie (message)  784 posts, Busy bee

@Miss Dumpling: Thanks for the shout-out, but girl you have mad skills too! Those cards are fab!

 
6.
KateMW
Hostess
KateMW (message)  2,714 posts, Sugar bee

Those look great! Mine arrives tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited!

How did you find such a cool image to print?

 
7.
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Guest
bethann

They look great! I have a friend getting married in a few weeks and I might steal your idea. Would you be willing to share the link to that image? I love it!

 
8.
frenchbulldog
Bee
frenchbulldog (message)  6,077 posts, Bee Keeper

Those turned out beautiful!

 
9.
Guest Icon
Guest
teresa

How did you find the poppy design you used? When I do a google images search, I get mostly photos, not so good for using as design elements on stationery.
Your invites are very cute! Like the gold & pink, too!

 
10.
Guest Icon
Guest
squishy622

Very cute! My advice would be that you don’t necessarily need to use a laser printer. I’ve done several very successful gocco projects using my inkjet (a Canon Pixma)…it depends on the brand I believe.

 
11.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Pomegranate (message)  956 posts, Busy bee

Oh those cards turned out adorable! I like the pink/gold combo.

 
12.
Mr. Mango
Member
Mr. Mango (message)  146 posts, Blushing bee

these look great!

 
13.
ljcadv
Member
ljcadv (message)  109 posts, Blushing bee

they look great!

My advice.. give yourself lots of time. Also test out different papers and ink combos, not all will work well. Like dark colors on dark colors… not good. Also so papers are more absorbant and soak in the ink more so keep that in mind. That being said, I love mine and am addicted to it.

 
14.
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Guest
linda

love poppies!

 
15.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Dumpling (message)  650 posts, Busy bee

@bethann: I cant find it anymore. Sorry! But have you tried istock? I got my other images from there and most of the time they can be modified. Its a great starting point, if anything.

 
16.
Guest Icon
Guest
Kim

they’re pretty! good job!

my advice for the gocco: always remember that a little ink goes a long way. :)

 
17.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Lemonade (message)  239 posts, Helper bee

I want a gocco too!! Super cute cards — you did a fantastic job!

 
18.
Guest Icon
Guest
Rachael

i agree!!! my note cards are uber fabulous!!! i can’t wait until i can actually use them! you did an amazing job. and it was only your first time! i can’t wait to see what else you can come up with. you so talented!!

 
19.
Guest Icon
Guest
Heather

great job! I love my gocco! My advice is the same as Kim, a little ink goes a looong way :)

 
20.
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Guest
Vic004

Wow, those are so purty!! I hope my first gocco experience will turn out as great as yours!!

 
21.
Mrs. Tiramisu
Bee
Mrs. Tiramisu (message)  878 posts, Busy bee

Ditto squishy622! I used my HP inkjet for invites, programs, bridesmaid gifts, shower thank yous…

These look great though… I am a huge fan of the gold ink, and it looks awesome on that pale pink!

 
22.
Guest Icon
Guest
bethann

yep I looked at istock, nothing quite as nice as your image. That’s ok though, I will find something. Thanks!

 
23.
Member Icon
Member
RyanT (message)  78 posts, Worker bee

Some of my favorite Gocco tips:
If your design doesn’t cover the whole screen mask out the empty space with cardboard before you flash the master with your bulbs. This allows you to put smaller designs in the other spaces later. Just clean the screen after printing(I use Simple Green instead of their cleaner) and you can put scotch tape over the older designs to stop them from printing when you re-use the screen later.

Old wire CD organizers tipped over on their side make great card drying racks.

Placing tracing paper on top and then ironing (on low) the design helps tighten up the xerox/laser print before you flash the master. This is especially helpful with type/text at smaller sizes.

Consider printing on strange papers. Printing on an old newspaper can make interesting results.

You don’t need the stamp kit to print somewhere other than the print bed. Just get an old credit card and squeegee the ink through the screen onto any porous surface.

 


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Mrs. Dumpling Mrs. Dumpling, Las Vegas Age and Occupation: 27, Finance Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Real Estate Engagement Date: March, 2008 Wedding Date: March, 2009 Blogging Since: August 26, 2008 Venue: Catholic church ceremony & golf course reception About Me: I grew up in the Deep South, and while most people say I have a thick southern accent, I tend to think it only comes out when I need to use it. Living in Las Vegas has definitely been an adventure and Mr. Dumpling and I are loving every minute of it! We are planning a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a reception with lots of DIY! We might even get Elvis to show up! I'm a HUGE Beatles fan, love The Office and can't wait to become a Mrs.!
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