Creating Keepsakes Blog

Sticky Techniques

Have you ever wondered what you’d do with some of the many adhesive products you see on the market today? Like you, I often think, “I’m sure that product’s really cool—if only I knew what to do with it.” We’ve put together a few techniques using adhesive to get you started. Hopefully, they’ll answer a few questions for you, and get you playing to find some of your own great techniques. 

Adhesives Stickers

These fun adhesives will help you add a little sparkle to any project quickly. And they’re super easy to use!

Simply remove the backing from the sticker, place the design on your cardstock,  peel away the cover paper, and apply glitter.

It’s that quick! If you want to use a couple different colors of glitter, simply peel away only a portion of the cover paper, and apply your first glitter.

 Then peel away the remaining cover paper, and apply your second glitter. 

In just moments, you’ll have a fun, sparkly accent for your page. Our cute cupcake came from Baby Cakes Design Adhesives by Clearsnap.

Glue Pens

We all have a glue pen in our stash of tools. But your glue pen can do more than just adhere cardstock and photos to your page. It’s also the perfect tool to apply glitter to a small area, adding that little bit of zing to your page. I used my glue pen to add glitter to one of the flowers on my patterned paper.

 To create this effect, simply trace the outline with your glue pen,

add glitter and shake off the excess glitter. I loved this paper before, but the glitter just added that little something extra.

You can also use your glue pen to add dimension to your page by applying flock to buttons or brads.

Apply glue directly to the brad,

 dip the brad in flock,

 rub the flock into the glue with your finger,

shake off the excess, and you’ve got a colorful, flocked brad!

Try using the Zig 2-Way Glue pen by EK Sucess for this technique.

Glue Pads 

The best invention since white bread! Oh yes, I was that excited when I saw glue pads hit the market. They’re just like ink pads, but they’re glue! What a great way to apply glitter and flock to you pages. You can use them with stamps or to cover whole pieces of chipboard. For these projects, I used the Essential Glue Pad from Tsukineko.

To stamp an image, simply “ink” your stamp using the glue pad,

 stamp the image,

 and apply glitter or flock and shake off the excess.

Tip: One thing we found while using flock is that it works best with less intricate designs.

Another technique to try is covering an entire piece of chipboard with glitter or flock. First, simply press the chipboard onto the glue pad,

 then apply glitter or flock and shake off the excess.

It’s that easy. And once it’s dry, the glitter stays in place!

Adhesive Sheets 

Perhaps you couldn’t think of a use for a full sheet of adhesive, but I’m here to tell you, this is one product you’re going to want in your toolbox. It’s great for adhering those tiny or intricate elements your page, such a little letters. 

 Cut the sheet of adhesive to the desired size.

Then apply the adhesive sheet to your patterned paper or cardstock.

Cut out your letters or shape.

Remove the letters or shapes for the backing,

 and adhere to your page.

Using adhesive sheets is so much easier than trying to apply adhesive to tiny pieces. And if you’re using an alphabet die, you’ve got extra letters to use another day.

While adhesive sheets make light work of adhering tiny embellishments, you can also think big when it comes to this great product. Using a sheet of adhesive is also a great way to cover a large area of your page.

Here I’ve created a quick border for my page using a strip of adhesive and flock. Trim an adhesive sheet to the size of your page and apply to the edge. You’ve covered a large area of your page in no time! Give the 12″ x 12″ Adhesive Sheets from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L a try for these great project ideas.

We hope this quick look at a few adhesive techniques gets your creative juices flowing. Leave us a comment and let us know how you’re using these great adhesive products. We’ll select two winners from the comments to each win an adhesive grab bag.

Lara Penrod
Senior Editor