A Sticky Situation

Glue, Love it or hate it?... My first memory is of Gloy, a sticky brown liquid which came in a bottle with a rubber top which you had to slit with a pair of scissors. It was disgusting stuff. I used it to stick my Brooke Bond Tea cards into their albums, I remember the butterfly one vividly. If this was not available I was allowed to mix flour and water into a paste, I still remember the smell. This was used to stick paper items into a scrapbook which had purple, blue and orange pages. Next came copydex, which was pure joy, I'm sure we used to get high on the smell! You could paint it on your hands and after a couple of minutes it would have dried so you could peel it off like a stretchy rubber. Luckily pva became available, which is what my children used. It was clean and washable, out of clothes that is! However,  the best innovation had to be Pritt sticks, the least messy of all, but, even today, they still dry out, miss bits and are not easy to use on small pieces of card or paper. I have also known things to fall off that I had thought were stuck on for life!

A few years ago, when I was making journals, I finally fell out with glue, big time. My paper and card started curling and I did not have the patience to weiigh them down under heavy objects for days on end. I wasted a lot of time and money on supplies at that time. Thanks to my friends on Facebook I did discover a special envelope adhesive which dried and then became active again once moistened. This was a breakthrough for my envelope making and I am eternally grateful. 

One day I was in Kendal, with a friend, when I discovered a small shop selling pretty papers. I had to go in and started chatting with the owner who also made her own notebooks. I asked her what she used to stick her paper to her card covers. 'Dry Adhesive' was her reply! She must have guessed from the look on my face that I did not understand. Double sided tape!...."Is that not cheating?" I asked. No she said "There are some snobs that say that only glue will do but I use tape for speed and efficiency" That was good enough for me.

A couple of months ago I got out my Sissix Big Shot Die Cutting machine and decided to give it another try. I had asked for it for my Birthday, last December but soon became bored with it after making a few heart cards. I started buying various other die shapes some of which were very small. Then came the dilema!....how was I going to stick these tiny pieces. Some were even too small for the double sided sticky squares and circles. So I asked Google then looked up the answers on Pinterest and youtube. How my creative life has been revolutionised by the internet! One of the first things I came across was the Xyron Sticker maker. This was great fun and very useful for small card buttons and letters. You put them into the machine and they come out attached to silicone paper with adhesive on the back. You can do a few at a time and they are ready when you need them. You just peel them off and stick them where you want.

The other thing I decided to try was a fine point glue pen from Zig. This comes out blue and then dries white. It was very useful for card flaps when I was making small pockets. It was very accurate, giving out a fine line and drying quickly. 

The third type of adhesive I came across was double sided sheets called 'stick it!' These had been developed especially for intricate dies. The one I wanted it for was my anchor, which has a very fine chain. You cut a puece to size and stick one side to a piece of card or paper. You then use that to die cut your shape in the Big Shot machine. When it is cut you peel the backing off, very easily and stick it down. Truly amazing!....

The anchor die cut, using Stick it!

You can see from the photo above, my latest obsession/project. I suddenly discovered that you could buy Filofax in all shapes, sizes and colours....including turquoise and purple!....and that you can take out all the inserts and make and decorate your own. This project used all the different die cuts and adhesives I had been experimenting with!

Stars and buttons stuck using the Xyron sticker machine

For the heart I used double sided tape on the straight edges and the Zig fine point glue pen on the curves and point

I used double sided tape for the gift tags

I Love these little library card pockets, I used the Zig fine point glue pen to stick the small tabs at the back

I bought the Xyron Sticker machine, Zig fine point glue pen and the Stick it! sheets all from ebay. There are some excellent video tutorials on youtube showing how to use all of them. 

I now have a second Filofax in purple, it is the pocket size whereas the Turquoise one is Personal size. I have put an A5 one on my Birthday list already!...

All ready to start decorating the interior, just need to buy some pretty papers.

Many thanks if you have read all of this sorry, it was a long and rambling one, but at least there were pretty pictures.

You can find me on Instagram as Blue Anchor Bay, as well as Facebook 

Love and best wishes, Jacqueline xxx