Low ink,
straight cuts.

Let the paper be the color

A page of solid pastel fill can use several times the ink of the same page as outlines. Print the outline version onto colored card stock and you get the color for free — a pack of assorted pastel card stock costs less than one color cartridge and covers a whole board.

This is what an ink-saver set is for: the same pages, fills removed, outlines kept. Every Matchy Room download includes one. If a set you are buying doesn't offer it, ask why.

Draft gray, then commit

Print your first pass in grayscale or draft mode to check the layout, the spelling and the size. Only print the final color pass once the ruler test passes. Most wasted ink in a classroom goes on pages that were never going up.

Paper weights that survive

Cut on a line, never by eye

A cut line does two jobs: it tells you where to cut, and — if it is offset from the artwork — it gives you room to be imprecise. Ours sit 3–4 mm outside the design, which is roughly the width of a wobble. A cut line printed on the artwork edge is worse than none, because every cut shaves the design.

• A guillotine trimmer beats scissors for straight edges and beats both for speed — a stack of name tags in one afternoon rather than one evening.
• Square tiles beat curves. If a set offers a square-tile layout, use it: four straight cuts per letter instead of tracing a curve.
• Cut before you laminate for a crisp shape; cut after laminating, leaving a 2 mm sealed border, if the piece will be handled daily.

Laminating without regret

Lamination flattens color slightly and adds gloss, which can wash out a pale outline. It is why our outlines are drawn a step darker than they need to be on paper. Matte pouches read better under classroom lights than gloss, and 3 mil is enough for anything on a wall — 5 mil for what children hold.

Let pouches cool flat under a book. Warm lamination curls, and a curled desk plate peels off by October.

Next: choosing one palette for the whole room.