Welcome back everyone! It’s Carissa here with you today. For the Ellen Hutson LLC October newsletter, I really wanted to give you a good look at my favorite adhesives. I’m going to walk you through how I use these adhesives and my favorite applications for each one.
When I talk about adhesives, I generally talk about to categories, wet adhesives and dry adhesives. Dry adhesives give an instant bond and include things like tape runners, specialty tapes, foam adhesives and Stick It. Wet adhesives usually have a little open time, meaning they don’t bond instantaneously, and include things like glue, glue pens, Matte Medium and Glossy Accents.
I’m going to walk you through all of my favorites in the video below, but I wanted to include a few quick notes about each of these adhesives here.
Scotch ATG- This tape runner adhesive is one of my favorites. It gives an instant bond. It’s best for things like paper to paper applications. The instant bond is firm and permanent from the get go, so it’s not very forgiving if you have to reposition things. The refills are huge, (36 yards to be exact) so you can craft your little heart way without having to stop to refill. These large refills are also very economical, about 3 cents per foot. The general purpose refills are not acid free, so you scrappers out there may want to keep that in mind. It can also be a little bulky and heavy, so it’s not ideal for travel.
Tombow Stamp Runner- I go back and forth between the Tombow Stamp Runner and the ATG. I like both of them. The compact size of the Stamp Runner makes it a great option for an on the go crafter. The adhesive comes out in a dot pattern on your paper. This adhesive, also great for paper to paper applications, gives and instant bond. Because the bond on this isn’t super strong from the get go, it’s a little more forgiving if you have to reposition your pieces on your project. However, as the adhesive sits on your project, the bond strengthens and become permanent. This adhesive is acid free. The refills are about 40 feet long and average about 10 cents per foot.
Be Creative Tape – If the Scotch ATG is considered a firm bond, then the Be Creative Tape would be considered a very firm, very permanent bond. This bond is strong and secure from the start. The Be Creative Tape comes in a variety of widths, so you can choose the width that best suits your project. This adhesive is also available in sheets for die cutting. I use this adhesive for boxes, bags and envelopes. This very firm, permanent bond is also great for glitter, microbeads, flocking and even foiling. My favorite feature of this adhesive is that you can tear it. No scissors needed to get the size you need. Just lay it down and tear it to the length you need.
Stick It Adhesive – This is by FAR my favorite adhesive for die cutting. The backer paper is super thin, making it excellent for die cutting. I often apply large portions of this adhesive to card stock and then die cut it with intricate dies. This means my die cuts already have adhesive on the back. It’s perfect for those intricate word die cuts and other fine line die cuts. I also use this adhesive to adhere vellum. When used to adhere vellum to white card stock, you can’t see this stuff at all. It is a little more visible when attaching vellum to colored card stock, so keep that in mind. I’ll show you this in the video below. Another nice feature about this adhesive is that the bond is not permanent until you’ve really pressed it on to your project, allowing you to reposition something until it’s just right.
Scotch Foam Tape – I love my giant roll of foam tape. This adhesive can be torn to whatever size you need. Or you can use scissors to cut it down the middle to make narrow strips of foam adhesive. Just like other dry adhesives, the bond is instant. This adhesive adds dimension to your project, making it really pop. It’s a great thickness, but can be stacked up to add even more dimension. This is a must have in any crafters stash. Since there’s so much on a roll, you’ll get a lot of use out of it before it has to be replaced.
Ranger Multi Medium Matte – This wet adhesive is great for securing embellishments to your projects. This is my favorite adhesive for adhering sequins to my projects. Since this adhesive dries matte, if a little squeezes out the side of your embellishment, you won’t even notice it. If you put this adhesive on pretty thick, the open time is pretty long. You won’t get a super fast dry time with this adhesive, but you can be sure your precious embellies will be stuck for good with this one. The only thing I really wouldn’t use this for is felt. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to work well with felt.
Glossy Accents – This is an adhesive and a an embellishment all in one. The high shine and loft of Glossy Accents makes it perfect for adding shine to die cut shapes, words or stamped images. It dries to a high gloss finish and adds dimension to your project. It’s also a great, strong hold adhesive, perfect for embellishments. However, be careful that you don’t add so much that it oozes out the side of your embellishments. You won’t be happy with those results because it will be really noticeable on your finished project.
For both my Ranger Multi Medium Matte and Glossy Accents, I like to add the Quilled Creations Precision Tip to my bottles. This allows me to put down tiny drops of adhesive. I highly recommend this extra little addition.
Tombow Mono Multi Glue - This glue is another great option for adding embellishments. This glue, along with the Zig Two Way Glue pen, sets up a bit faster than the Multi Medium, while still giving you enough open time to make adjustments. If allowed to dry completely on a surface, it will dry tacky and repositionable. You can make your own pick up stick with this by adding a bit of this adhesive to a pencil eraser and allowing it to dry. I recommend this glue for wood veneers, paper to paper applications and felt. It gives a nice firm bond when used with any of these materials. It's my favorite for adhering felt die cuts to projects. The nozzle on this bottle can be a little wide for some applications, and can make it hard to add tiny amounts. If you need a precision application of this glue, try squirting some out on to a craft mat and adding it to your project with a toothpick or a scrap of card stock.
Zig Two Way Glue Pen - Just like the Tombow Mono Multi Glue, the Zig Two Way Glue Pen dries tacky and repositionable. This glue goes on blue and dries clear. The consistency of this glue is a little thinner than the Mono Multi Glue. This makes it my favorite glue for adding foil accents to projects. It's also a great adhesive for paper to paper applications. The fine roller ball tip allows you to easily add this adhesive to the back of intricate die cuts. It sets up really quickly, but still gives you a bit of time to scoot your piece over if needed. While I love this for foiling and for paper to paper applications, it's not my adhesive of choice for embellishments. This glue pen comes with three different tip choices, a roller ball, a chisel nib and a bullet nib. You can choose which one works best for your needs...or keep all three on hand like me!
Finally, we can't talk about adhesives without talking about the Therm O Web Adhesive Eraser. This little tool is great for erasing adhesive mistakes. It will pull tape runner up off of your project. It even works on some dried liquid adhesives. It's great to have on hand.
So there you have it! A look at my favorite adhesives and what I like to use them for. I hope you found this video helpful for you in choosing your next adhesive.
Don't forget to watch the video below, where I'll show you all of these in action!
Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day!
Watch The Video
You can watch this video in HD on our YouTube channel by clicking HERE.
