My understanding is that >G doesn't mind people making promos for their own use. I can't imagine that's different for a "promo-that-will-never-happen" (*sniff*), but if I'm wrong about that, I'll happily take this down.
I've found that this method makes an acceptably rigid card. It is a bit more rigid than normal Sentinels cards, but far superior to just straight cardstock. Since you aren't going to be shuffling it, this isn't a huge problem. You may also find that the printed face can be a bit fragile, and may flake in spots. I sleeve mine, so this isn't a problem for me. Use of slightly different materials or printers or etc. may result in different mileage for you. I've tried a couple of materials, and for me this is a significantly cheaper and faster method than having the card commercially made, and produces quite acceptable results.
To make your very own America's Cleverest Legacy:
Supplies: Cardstock (I use 110 lb cardstock, which is the thickest I could find), color printer, glue stick, scissors, razor knife, metal straightedge, one SotM card, block of wood, black marker, light source (window with sun behind, monitor with white screen, etc.) scrapbooking quarter-circle corner cutter (if desired).
Step 1: Print out the front and proposed back of America's Cleverest Legacy. Easiest way that I found to do this is cut and paste them into Word (or other word processing program) and size appropriately. You can get the sizes identical by right-clicking on the image and choosing "Sizing". Don't forget that the borders are intentionally substantially wider than on the final card! The actual cards are roughly 2.48" wide - I sized the images at about 2.75", which gave me pretty close to normal borders. You can print them on the same page. For best results, do NOT try to print back-to-back on one piece of cardstock.
Step 2: Cut out the back of the card to the edge of the black borders as printed (not the size of the black borders on the finished card). This will be larger than the finished card. That's fine. Your edges don't need to be perfect, you will trim later, so scissors are fine.
Step 3: Flip over the "front" of the card (untrimmed!), and cover the back with glue from your glue stick. I recommend one pass overlapping slightly with the next, going slightly beyond where the black borders are on the other side, then I do one perpendicular pass at each edge. I do NOT recommend substituting liquid glue here. The extra moisture from the glue makes it too easy for the card to wrinkle/warp. Glue stick seems to be ideal.
Step 4: Hold your "front" up to your light source with the glue'd side towards you. Carefully align the top of your trimmed "back" with the top of the black borders on the "front", which you should be able to see through the front sheet due to the light source. Hold the top and gently drop into place. At this point, the back should be able to hold, but not be so firmly attached that you can't nudge it to get the sides to align as well to ensure a square alignment. Be careful here, as you are very vulnerable to wrinking at this point. If the "back" is only off slightly, but it seems pretty resistant to moving, leave it alone. Trust me.
Step 5: Fully adhere the back to the front. Simply pushing down and rubbing from the center of the card works well enough, but if you want to obsess here (who doesn't?), you can certainly use a credit card. Knuckles work better than fingertips here, as the moisture and oils on my fingertips is usually much more than on my knuckles.
Step 6: Put a scrap piece of paper over the back, and stick your card under a pile of papers/books to dry for about an hour. Depending on the amount of glue you used and the temperature, your time may be shorter or longer.
Step 7: While you are waiting, take your block of wood and trace the outline of your single SotM card on it. This will give you a rectangle that is SLIGHTLY LARGER than a Sentinels card. Take your metal straightedge and draw lines just barely inside the line you drew around the card. These lines should extend well past the borders of the card. You'll end up with something that looks like an elongated and non-italicized # sign.
Step 8: Grab your card from under the stack, carefully peel the scrap paper away (which will have stuck to your slight glue over-coverage. You DID over-cover, right?).
Step 9: Roughly trim the front to the size of the back that you adhered to it. Scissors are fine here.
Step 10: With the card front up (this is kinda important), place it on your prepared block of wood, and carefully center it, trying to make sure that all sides will have about the same amount of black border remaining after you cut along the lines.
Step 11: Choose one side of the card and CAREFULLY line your metal straightedge up with the corresponding # line for the side that you are cutting. I strongly recommend putting the straightedge on the main part of the card, rather than the piece you are cutting off. You are not likely to get enough pressure to keep the card from shifting by only putting the straightedge on the off-cut piece.
Step 12: While firmly pressing with all four fingers of one hand on the metal straightedge, carefully and lightly cut along the edge of your straightedge with your razor knife. Four to five light cuts here are FAR superior to one or two heavy ones. Heavy cuts are far more likely to tear the card, bunch up the cardstock, or shift the card. Again, please trust me here.
Step 13: Repeat Steps 10-12 for the other three sides. Don't forget to repeat Step 10, as no matter how careful you are repositioning the straightedge, the card is likely to shift.
Step 14: (optional) Use your corner cutter to round off the corners. The only one I have found rounds them off more than usual Sentinels cards. I just live with this. You could try to hold the card not fully in, and you get a closer approximation to the actual card shape, but I've been less happy with the results of this, as they tend to come out uneven. I've been happier with deeper but even rounds. Punch with the front up.
Step 15: (also optional) If you flip the card over to the back, you will likely have substantial whitening around the edge of the back, which is the slight roughening from your razor cut. I carefully use a black marker held at an oblique angle to blacken just the edge and as little of the face as possible. Failure to do this carefully results in a black line on the face of the art. Again, sadly, I speak from experience ;)
There you go! Go forth and play or destroy cards of the same type as cards discarded!
BLM
