By Angie Felix

Using Glue Dots™

When it comes to gluing, every paper crafter has her favorite—the standard Photo Glue Stick or adhesive runner. But one type of adhesive doesn’t work for everything. Ever tried to adhere a tiny little bead using a glue stick? It can be a frustrating and downright sticky situation. Thankfully we have wonderful adhesive products like Glue Dots™ to make our lives easier.

What are Glue Dots™? Glue Dots™ are acid-free, double-sided, super-sticky adhesive dots that come in all different sizes and are great for attaching anything from paper or photos to ribbon, metal embellishments and more. Hot Off The Press designers Paris Dukes, Shauna Berglund-Immel and Susan Cobb love how great Glue Dots™ are for adding 3-D items in particular.

Shauna uses Glue Dots™ daily in her scrapbooking. “Glue Dots™ hold just about anything. They’re not messy and they’re very convenient—you don’t have to wait around for glue to dry!”

How are Glue Dots™ used? Glue Dots™ come in a box, on a roll of liner paper to keep them from sticking together. To use them, you simply unwind the liner to expose the Glue Dots™. Press the back of the item you want to adhere against a Glue Dot™ and peel away from the liner. Press the item into place on your project and voila!

You can also use your fingers to remove the Glue Dot™ from the liner and add it to the spot you desire. Shauna often puts a Glue Dot™ on her finger, then positions it behind a paper corner or other item that it’s tough to get adhesive onto.

Like Shauna, Paris also uses Glue Dots™ frequently. “Glue Dots™ are one of my favorite products,” she says. “I love to use them on ribbon knots, bows or behind a ribbon wrapped across a page or card.”

Designer Paris Dukes uses Glue Dots™ for a quick and convenient way to add buttons and ribbon to her pages and cards.

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Designer Paris Dukes uses Glue Dots™ for a quick and convenient way to add buttons and ribbon to her pages and cards.

Paris adds a Glue Dot™ to the back of the knot in a knotted ribbon or bow and likes to use a Glue Dot™ at each end of a ribbon strip to secure it across the front of a card. She also loves to use Glue Dots™ on buttons: “You just stick the button to the Glue Dot™, pull the Glue Dot™ away from the liner paper and you have an instant adhesive button!”

Paris, Shauna and Susan prefer to use Mini Glue Dots™ (which are about 1/4” in width) because of their small size. When you’re trying to adhere something small, they are easy to hide and still do the job.

Susan also recommends using your X-acto® knife to cut off just a small portion of a Glue Dot™ (only what you need) and adhere it to your object. Paris adds that you can also roll a Mini Glue Dot™ into a little ball to shrink its size for tiny objects or give an item a little dimension.

Some paper crafters prefer the regular Memory Glue Dots™, which are about 3/8” in width. For adding dimension, Pop Up Glue Dots™ are 1/8” thick and give even flat objects a lift. You may also be interested in trying out Glue Lines™: Either continuous lines of adhesive or 1” lines for quick and easy adhering of ribbon, twill or paper strips. Glue Dots™ are also great for kids’ crafts projects—no glue mess to clean up!

If you haven’t already tried them, pick up a box of Glue Dots™ today at your local craft store or order them from www.paperwishes.com. Try them on wood letters, Attachments™ Vinyl Tags or Ribbons, clay, fabric, mesh, beads, metal and more!