Frequently Asked Questions

Go Make Something started in 2004, as a place for me to park all the stuff I’d written about how to make altered art and paper crafty things. I had all this how-to stuff that I’d written for various sites, and it was piling up in a way that made me think it should have its own home, rather than clutter up multiple sites, including my own personal web site. So, I built Go Make Something.

For a long while, I wrote weekly how-to lessons about whatever I was making at the moment. I stopped when people started being sort of mean and demanding about free content. It became particularly difficult to continually explain to those folks that no, I really couldn’t give them personalized how-to lessons for free, when I was teaching that very same thing they were demanding as an online class at Ten Two Studios to make the money that pays my bills.

Rather than continue to explain that not everything I know how to do is available for free, I decided to stop updating Go Make Something in 2012, and just let all the stuff I’d written already sit out here, in case someone might find it helpful.

This site is run by Lisa Vollrath, with no assistance. There is no web team behind this site. Just one woman, some blogging software, and sheer force of will, keeps this site up and running.

I have intentionally left any means of contacting me off this web site. This site, and all the content on it, is offered without support. Please don’t look for ways to contact me to ask questions about anything posted on GMS, or to request how-to lessons. Even if you do manage to get your message through, I won’t answer. I reserve my limited time online for answering messages from people who pay me, and dump everything else into the trash. Sorry, but that’s the way it is.

Comments have been disabled throughout the site due to abuse. Abuse by spammers, and also abuse by people who have nothing better to do than leave nasty comments. I decided to turn off commenting, rather than spend time on ads for sex toys and comments about my bad attitude.

If you were going to leave a nice comment on something, thank you for the good thoughts. You rock.

If you were going to ask a question, please be aware that all the content on this site is offered without support. I no longer answer any questions about anything posted on this site.

And if you were going to leave something nasty or mean, well, you can bite me.

Think of printers and printer paper as paints and canvas. The better the paints, and the better the canvas, the better the finished result.

If you’re using a cheapo home inkjet printer, and printing 20lb. bond with a 90 brightness, your printed images will look terrible. They’ll be grainy and faded.

However, if you have your images printed on a color laser printer, on 28lb. or 32lb. stock with a 98 brightness, your prints will sing.

Trust me. It’s how I make my living.

Find the thumbnail of the image you want. Point your cursor at the image, right click on it, and choose Save Link As. Save the image to your hard drive.

These instructions are for those of you using IE, Chrome or Firefox on a PC. Those using other browsers, Macs, or other devices are on your own.

The majority of the full page printables are sized at 7-1/2 x 10 inches to fit on standard letter-sized sheets. If you’re not getting full-sized images, the problem is probably with your printer settings. Since every printer and computer is configured differently, this is something you’ll have to work out on your end. I can’t help you with printing issues. Consult your computer and printer manuals to learn about how they’re configured, or call a local geek to help you out.

One thing that might help: don’t print from your browser. Save the images to your hard drive, and print them using graphics software.

Yes, you may use the printables to make things to swap. However, you may not use the printables themselves as swap materials. Sending your swap partner sheets of printables you’ve downloaded from GMS, or individual images you’ve cut from those sheets is a big no-no.

No. Under no circumstances may any images from Go Make Something be used on any web site or blog for any reason. You may post a link to the images, but not the images themselves.

You may always post your original artwork, made using images from GMS. It would be great if you included some text with your post that lets people know where you got your images.

You may not post the actual images that you have downloaded. Post a link to the images you used, not the actual image sheets.

You may post links to them and encourage other members to visit the site. Every page on the site has a share button on it, which might help you get the correct link to the correct place.

You may not upload images from Go Make Something to any online group, or email them to anyone else.

If you’re using printables in your work, and they need adjusting to suit your project, of course you should feel free to alter them.

If you colorize anything, and manage to recolor the entire sheet, get in touch—maybe we can make the colorized version available to the whole community.

I find this question particularly offensive, because seriously, I already give away a ton of stuff for free. Why do you expect me to also give away the stuff I sell to make a living? Just buy it from me! Feed the kitty! Keep my household in dog chow and bandwidth, and I’ll keep producing stuff—and some of that will probably end up posted on this site for free. Won’t you feel wonderful knowing you’ve contributed to the greater good?

If you’re too cheap, or too broke to spend a few dollars to purchase a product that I offer for sale, figure out how to make it with what you have. Please don’t suggest that I should give whatever you need to you for free, or that I should give you instructions for making something without using the Ten Two Studios product I’ve mentioned. It’s not gonna happen.

Please learn to use a search engine to find the products I mention. I cannot be your personal shopper.

If I know how to make it, and want to make it available for free, it’s probably posted around here somewhere. Please use the search box at the top of any page on this site to find it.

If it’s not posted here, you might try checking over at Ten Two Studios, where I have ‘zines, kits, and classes available for sale. You will have to pay me for anything posted there.

If it’s not here, and it’s not at Ten Two Studios, I don’t have it hidden away anywhere. Either I don’t know how to do it (yet), or I haven’t gotten around to it (yet), or I’m not interested in it.

If I know the manufacturer is still in business, and still making the stamp, I do try to mention their name in any lessons in which I use their products.

If the name is missing, it’s probably because the stamp isn’t available to the public. I’ve been stamping for quite a long time, and have stamps that are no longer being made, or were never made available to the public. Most projects do not require the exact stamp I use in the sample to achieve a finished project.

In short, get over it—you really don’t need that exact stamp.

Oh, don’t be an idiot—the whole three changes thing is an urban legend, created by some poor talentless fool who felt she had to justify stealing someone else’s pattern.

If you started with a blank piece of paper, and drew the pattern, it’s your original work. If you didn’t, it’s not. End of discussion.

If you think the answers are rude, well, you should read the emails I get. They’re mean and nasty, and I get tired of dealing with them—especially since I don’t ask for a single dime from anyone for using all the information and printables posted here.

Everything posted on this site is a gift, given out of the goodness of my tiny little coal-black heart. A heart which is stomped on with monotonous regularity by people who generally don’t even bother to say hello, or thank you. People who just go directly to the demanding and the complaining and the name calling. Try putting up with that for the many years I’ve been writing online, and see if your answers don’t start sounding a little snippy!