Which adhesive is the right one to use?

Glue, double sided tape, glue dots, foam tape, adhesive sheets….. SO. MANY. CHOICES!!

When it comes to your paper craft project, the adhesive you choose ultimately boils down to personal preference, and the project you are working on. Some adhesives are just better suited to certain projects.

What are my choices?

There are primarily four types of adhesive- tape, liquid, foam, and powder… wait what? Powder? Yup. And we will get to that in a minute.

In papercrafting, double-sided tape is the most common because it easily sticks two pieces of paper together. Liquid glue is another popular choice.

My personal preference is for double sided tape, because it doesn’t require drying time, and once it’s stuck, it’s stuck. Because it’s dry, the project will stay perfectly flat and smooth.

Glue is a good choice if you prefer to have some time to get things positioned just right, or you need to be able to move things around before they are permanently stuck. A little goes a long way, because adding too much could make your project buckle, or not lay flat.

It’s about to get sticky

Stampin’ Up! offers several types of tape for your projects. Clockwise from top right, we have Tear Tape, Stampin’ Seal, Stampin Seal+, adhesive sheets, and glue dots.

Each of these has its purpose, and all work well.

Tear Tape is the most economical (at the time of writing) for most projects. It is on a spool, is easy to tear using just your fingers, and offers a great hold. As with any papercrafting tool, it’s personal preference to decide which to use.

Stampin’ Seal is awesome for any papercraft project, while Stampin’ Seal+ is suited to 3D projects, and items that require a stronger hold. Glue dots are perfect for holding down small items and embellishments, and adhesive sheets are what you want to use on things that are more delicate- like die cuts, or on large surfaces where you don’t want adhesive poking through, like on vellum.

Dimensionals

If you want to give parts of your project a little bit of a lift and add interest, dimensionals are where it’s at. The foam pieces easily add height to your project.
Available as sheets, strips, and dots, you can use them to pop up sentiments, for shaker cards (strips), and to give die cut or punched pieces dimension. The foam sheets easily run through a die machine.

Glue & powder

Stampin’ Up! offers two types of glue. The fine tip glue pen, and multipurpose glue.

The fine tip pen lends itself well to intricate jobs, and areas where you need more control over how much glue is being used. Multipurpose glue is great for 3D projects, and cards. A little goes a long way, so use sparingly!

Heat and Stick powder is designed to be heated, and then used to stick down things that cover a larger area, such as gilding, or glitter.

No matter the adhesive you want to use, you will find the perfect one for your project. Sometimes, it just takes a little experimentation to find your favourite, and which ones you are comfortable using. You can check out Stampin’ Up!’s full offering of adhesives here.

You can download this handy chart to keep as a reference.

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