How to Print your Pretty Printables (The Ultimate Guide)

So you’ve purchased a pretty printable from our shop or downloaded one of our free printable resources and maybe you’re not quite sure what to do with it? I’m here to help! I’m going to show you how to print printables, the right way!

First of all, congratulations, you’ve likely saved yourself some money buying a printable resource. Way to go!

Printables are not only super fun but also help you organize the chaos in your life. They are hand crafted with love by people like to help you solve a problem, but best of all, you don’t have to wait for shipping. You can print these beauties right from your own home (or online if you prefer).

First a quick note: All of the printables I share here at Mindfulmazing are set up on 8.5 x 11 paper, and every printer has that option. The workbooks and journals are fit to print on 8.5×11 and no trimming is required, but if you are printing artwork or kids cards, you might need to trim the item, you can do it yourself or have a local print shop do it for you.

Before we get into some technical printing questions, we’ll start with fun stuff  — pretty binder supplies, and then below, we will talk about some common printing questions and I’ll show you exactly how to print printables.

Recommended Binder supplies

3 RING BINDERS

I always organize my printables in a binder. Sick of boring, one tone binders? I’m guessing you want a binder with some personality. Pretty binders are actually harder than you think to find. The Bloom series is my favourite. Click on any of these pictures to be taken to the binder product details.

                

BINDER DIVIDERS

Because I’m a bit of an organized freak, I like to have tabs to separate my sections. You can choose between dividers with pockets or without pockets. Here are some of my favorite binder dividers that I’ve used.

You might even want to throw in some sheet protectors to put over your important documents at the front of your binder.

Some other fun BINDER SUPPLIES

If you want to get really pretty, you could try a label maker, and labeling tape (black ink on white tape).  This will take your binder to the next out of this world level!

The one supply you are likely forgetting (that you MUST have) is a 3- hole– punch. I’d hate for you to get all your supplies and then realize you don’t have any way to get get your printables into your binder.  And no, don’t try to punch holes yourself!

You can either get a heavy duty one 3 hole punch, I like this one or a lighter one. I like the bigger one, it’s durable, steady and can punch lots of pages at once. The lighter one is good too and you can adjust the paper size if you are using a mini binder.

Ok, I saved the very best for last. This next item has the potential to change your life. No joke.  Have you heard of Frixion Pens? They are eraseable marker pens. Love at first sight. These pens are incredible! NO joke. Frixion Pens. Click here, click here!

I hope there is something here you will love.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out our free resources page where you find some awesome printables. Please check it out here.

Now onto some boring printing questions.

How to Print Printables

Printing from home

Do you have our own printer at home?

If so, you are off to a good start, you can download amazing printables at your free will (but, keep in mind the cost of printing in color).

Which is better, an ink jet or a laser jet printer?

Both printers are suitable, ink jet is great for photos and laser is great for lots of printing.

If you’ve been thinking about adding a printer to you home in this new digital age, some authority printable bloggers have stated that this printer is great. It prints with sharp colors and is wireless! Bonus.

What type of paper should I use?

Card stock paper for: is the perfection choice for printables, I like to use cardstock on all my printables, especially if I’m writing on them. I prefer the added durability. It’s great for cards, calendars, signs, journals.

Plain computer paper  is perfectly okay too. Especially for art prints that you intend to frame.

Help, my printable won’t print.

Don’t throw your computer out the window. Just yet anyways.

If you’re using cardstock perhaps your paper is too heavy. You’ve made your printer angry. You might have to play around with your printer settings. If there is an option for extra heavy paper, pick it, or try to manually feed your cardstock through by changing your printing tray to Tray 1 Manual in your printer settings.

Help, my PDF isn’t the correct size.
This is a tough one with all the different printables available out there. How do you know what size it is? Well, you don’t. Make sure “print actual size” or print at 100% options are checked in your printer settings. Uncheck the option that says “Fit to page”

Remember the colors might appear a little different depending on what device you originally looked at it on. Computers and phones are back lit so always appear a little more vibrant.

Printing Online

So maybe you don’t have a home printer, or you couldn’t even begin to remember how to set it up and connect it to actually print. Well don’t fret, it’s so easy to print your printable online and have it delivered right to you. (This better quality too).

Where is the best place to print online?
Here is a list of my favorite online printing vendors:

• CatPrint
• Digital Lizard
• SmartPress
• Staples (for the Canadian folk)

These printers are all good because you can print whatever you need (no minimum quantities).

Which sized paper do I choose when printing online?
As I mentioned, all of the printables I share are set up on 8.5 x 11 paper, so you will need to select this size and trim.

Printing locally

And if you have the time, take your PDF file on a backup stick into your print shop (like staples or, Office Max or FedEx Kinkos). Or you can also upload to their website and pick it up when it’s ready.

There you have it! If you have any other questions on printing your printables, you can email me here at tina@mindfulmazing.com.