In a first aspect the invention may be said to reside in a laminated article, including: a first sheet of laminate material; a second sheet of laminate material, laminated to the first sheet; a decorative article laminated between the first and second sheets; and a writing sheet attached to the first or second sheet to enable information to be written on the writing sheet.

The laminated article therefore provides an article which is appealing to the eye and which can be used in a variety of different applications including those described above and the writing sheet provides an area upon which information can be written such as in the nature of a greeting card, or other such text as may be required by a user.

Preferably the writing sheet is adhered to the exterior surface of the first or second sheet but in other embodiments the writing sheet could be located between the first and second sheets with the first or second sheet having a window cut in it to provide access to the writing sheet so that the information can be written on the writing sheet.

Preferably the first and second sheets are joined together along an edge and the decorative article is located between the first and second sheets by locating the decorative

article on one of the sheets and folding the other sheet to bring the first and second sheets adjacent one another, and the first and second sheets are laminated together in a laminating machine to laminate the first and second sheets together and the decorative article between the first and second sheets.

Preferably the first and second sheets are transparent.

The decorative article may occupy substantially less area than the area of the laminated article whereby a substantially transparent visual effect is provided.

Preferably the decorative article is cut from paper or cardboard and has a metallic surface on at least one side.

Preferably the writing sheet comprises a sheet of paper.

The invention may also be said to reside in a method of forming a laminated article upon which information can be written, including: laminating a decorative article between a first sheet of laminate material and a second sheet of laminate material; and attaching a writing sheet to the first or second sheet of laminate material to enable information to be written on the writing sheet.

The invention, in a second aspect, may be also be said to reside in a laminated article, including: a first sheet of laminate material; a second sheet of laminate material, laminated to the first sheet; a decorative article laminated between the first and second sheets; and a magnet adhered to the first or second sheet.

The second aspect of the invention has particular application to use of the laminated article as a fridge magnet whereby the article can be stuck to a fridge by the magnet.

Preferably the first and second sheets are transparent.

The decorative article may occupy substantially less area than the area of the laminated article whereby a substantially transparent visual effect is provided.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view of a laminated article according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a view of the completed laminated article; and Figure 3 is a view of a laminated article according to a second aspect of the invention.

With reference to Figure 1, a conventional laminate material 10 is shown which comprises a first sheet 12 and a second sheet 14 hinged to the first sheet 12 along a hinge line 16. The material 10 is formed from transparent plastics material. A decorative article 18 is cut from cardboard or paper material which preferably has a metallic shiny coating on one side. The decorative article 18 can be of any desired shape or pictorial quality to provide a pleasing visual appearance. The decorative article 18 is located on the sheet 12 and the sheet 14 is folded over onto the sheet 12 in the direction of arrow A in Figure 1 so as to be adjacent the sheet 12. The laminate material 10 is then passed through a laminating machine schematically shown at 20 in Figure 1 so as to laminate the first sheet 12 to the second sheet 14 with the decorateive article 18 being laminated between the first and second

sheets 12 and 14.

Once the sheets 12 and 14 are laminated together in the laminating machine 20, a partly completed laminated product according to this invention is produced.

The partly completed laminated product may be cut to any desired size.

With reference to Figure 2, in order to complete the laminated article according to one emdboiment of the invention, a sheet of paper 40 is adhered to the first or second sheet 12 or 14 beside the decorative article 18 so the decorative article 18 can be seen through the sheets 12 and 14. The sheet of paper 40 provides a medium upon which a message can be written or printed.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, a laminated article shown in Figure 2 forms a greeting card and the sheet 40 may have a greeting printed upon it with room for a purchaser to write his own personal message to the intended recipient of the card.

In other embodiemnts, the laminated article may be used as a swing ticket in which case a punched hole 30 can be provided in one corner to enable the swing ticket to be connected to an article. The laminated article shown in Figure 2 could also be used as a bookmark, book cover or the like by cutting the laminated article to the required or desired size.

Figure 3 shows another embodiemnt of the invention in which the laminated article is formed in the same manner as Figure 1 with a decorative article (not shown) laminated between two sheets 12 and 14. In this embodiment, a magnet 70 is adhered to the sheet 12 so that the laminated article becomes a fridge magnet. In this embodiment of the

invention, the sheet of paper 40 shown in Figure 2 need not be included and the laminated article may only include the decorative article 18 within the laminate to provide an attractive fridge magnet which can be applied to a fridge.

Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described by way of example hereinabove.