Now that you have your stamps, paper, and ink and you have your cut your paper into card bases, layers, and shapes, you’ll want to stick them together. Stampin’ Up! has several options. You may want to select one, but I use all of them. They each have their purposes and strengths. Here is a chart that shows suggested uses for the various adhesives.
Which Adhesive to Use
Introducing the new line of adhesives
Stampin’ Seal is a new adhesive. It is basically a double-stick tape without the tape part. The case holds the roll of tape and as you roll it on the paper, the adhesive is laid down along the trail while the tape part rolls back onto another wheel in the case. You can get Stampin’ Seal Refills. I even use it when wrapping gifts!
Stampin’ Seal+ is the strong brother of Stampin’ Seal. It is also double-stick tape without the tape part and is great for 3D projects. There are Stampin’ Seal+ refills for when you run out. The case fits either Stampin’ Seal or Stampin’ Seal+ refills.
Tear & Tape is a strong adhesive that comes on a roll of paper. It’s about 1/4″ wide, so it’s very convenient. We used to sell another product that used red plastic instead of the paper. I loved the strength of the adhesive but really hated that red strip!!! It was always full of static. You had to work to pull the strip off the project and then work again to get the static to release it into the trash. I literally cheered out loud when we started carrying Tear & Tape. It works like the “red line” tape but you can just tear off what you need and easily remove the paper strip. I call it TNT because it’s dynamite!
The Multipurpose Liquid Glue is strong and allows a bit of time to wiggle a layer to just the right place. You just need a tiny bit. It can squeeze out and while it dries clear, it remains sticky. I always keep my bottles tip down in a little jar so the glue is where I need it. Otherwise, I would need to wait for the glue to move slowly. It’s tempting to squeeze and shake to get it to move quickly. Then when it finally does start to come out, it comes out too quickly and sometimes keeps coming out. What a mess! But as you might notice in the chart above, it works great for everything but ribbon and it’s pretty cheap to use.
And another tip: Squeeze out some glue on a Silicone Mat and dab it with a wedge of Stamping Sponge. Then dab it on the back of detailed die cuts or Vellum.
The Fine Tip Glue is a thin adhesive kind of like Super Glue. It is not particularly sticky, so you will need to allow at least of few seconds to dry before your small embellishments and detailed paper cut-outs will stick. You can also apply the glue to the paper and allow to dry for a glossy look to your card stock. Looks great to create glass jars, shiny candy, or dew drops on flowers. Be absolutely sure to cap it tightly as soon as you’re done using this glue. You do not want the glue to dry in the tiny tube tip! There is a wire in the cap that will go into the tube to keep it open. Place this wire against your finger and then use your finger to guide the wire into the tube.
If the glue does dry in that tiny tube, try removing the tip and soaking it in very hot water or mineral spirits. Or you can also order replacement tips from me.
Specialized Adhesives
Stampin’ Dimensionals raise elements up a bit. It’s a rare project that I don’t use Dimensionals somewhere on it. You get 300 in a pack, and that’s not counting the edges which are very useful. They are a very easy and inexpensive way to add a lot to your projects. And now we also carry Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. These have 720 pieces. We used to have to cut up the regular ones for those small and/or skinny additions and now we don’t have to! And there are also Black Stampin’ Dimensionals Combo Packs with 200 standard size and 480 mini size, all black.
Foam Adhesive Strips are fantastic for shaker cards! I have bought carpet tape in the past. I had to cut it into narrower strips and it’s not really tall enough. The Foam Adhesive Strips solve all that, plus it’s narrow enough and flexible enough to make curves. It’s very easy to make shaker cards without the confetti escaping! And here’s a tip. Apply the adhesive strips to the Window Sheet, then before adding the confetti. Then finally pull off the strip and adhere the other layer.
Foam Adhesive Sheets can be cut with Paper Snips or with open dies and here’s where they shine. Adhere a sheet to card stock before cutting both layers with dies.
Mini Glue Dots work great when you need a tiny instant adhesive. They work great for holding down corners of card stock, larger embellishments, a tag, a bow, or whatever. You can roll them up into a ball to hide behind even a Baker’s Twine bow.
Adhesive Sheets give you 12 sheets, 6″ x 12″ each, that you can adhere to card stock or Designer Series Paper before running it through your die cutting machine.
Cling Adhesive has a very specialized roll. Have you become accustomed to the great stickiness of the cling and photopolymer stamps and then grabbed a retired stamp set that we knew as “clear mount” stamps? The clear mount stamps look just like cling stamps with the red rubber stamps and foam padding. But you had to keep both the blocks and the back of the stamps very clean or they didn’t always stick to the blocks. Now you can convert your clear mount stamps to cling stamps!
Other Tools for Adhesives
Silicone Craft Sheet is helpful when you are sticking tiny strips or other little things. It will keep your work surface clean. The adhesives don’t stick to the Silicone. It’s especially great when using a hot glue gun. If adhesive does stick, just wait for it to dry and flick it off. Or if you have lots of little bits of adhesive, cover the Silicone Craft Sheet with packing tape. When you remove the tape, the Silicone Sheet will be all clean.
Heat Tool and Take Your Pick What? These aren’t adhesives! But they are great sneaky tools for fixing adhesive oopsies. When (not if) you stick a paper layer in the wrong place, use the Heat Tool to warm whatever adhesive you used. Then use the spatula on your Take Your Pick tool to slip between the layers to gently separate them.
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