My Scrapbooking Blog

Welcome to the March 2010 Close to My Heart Product Spotlight Blog Hop. This month we are featuring one of my favorite products – Liquid Glass! I feel this is a must-have for everyone and you will see why in this post and throughout the blog hop.  This is a circle hop so if you started here just follow along until you make your way back to the blog you started on.  Enjoy!

There are really limitless ways to use Liquid Glass.  One of it’s great uses is to add dimension to paper or stamping.  The bottle’s fine tip makes it very easy to trace lines. You can also fill in tags for an epoxy look similar to page pebbles.  Now I would say the most common use for Liquid Glass is as an adhesive but I hear over and over from customers that they do not realize this.  It works great to adhere buttons, metals, ribbon, chipboard, and other ‘hard to stick’ items.  One of my favorite uses for it is to apply glitter!  It is so easy now to turn some of my older (less loved) paper into something new and sparkly and lovable once again.

Here are some examples of my use of Liquid Glass:

This is a layout I made for a swap and I’ve now added the pictures, title, and journaling.  I “dotted” Liquid Glass on the circle paper in the middle of a few of the snowflakes, then sprinkled with Prisma Glitter – bingo I’ve got my own bling paper!  BTW, I just love that snowflake stamp!Products used are all CTMH: Creative Basics Jingle Collection, Color Ready Alphabet – Hodge Podge, Sparkles, White Daisy Cardstock, White Daisy Embossing Powder, Versamark ink, Liquid Glass, Prisma Glitter, White Daisy brads, and New Fallen Snow Stamp Set.

To make my title letters I used a Color Ready Alphabet.  First I pulled off the outside leaving the letters on the backing.  As I went I cut it off so I wasn’t working with a large piece towards the end.
Then I added the liquid glass to the letters I wanted to use and added the glitter.  This is the first time that I’ve used this technique on letter stickers before adding them to my layout.  What I learned was that but doing them this way (and being sloppy with the Liquid Glass) it also made the letters sloppy in a way – but it was perfect for this layout.  You can see what I mean by looking at a closeup of the title (it is especially noticeable on the W).  Where I went overboard (out of the lines so to speak) when I added the Liquid Glass – that part stayed with the letter once it was dried and I pulled it off the sheet.  I really love the result but it was an accident.  I probably couldn’t have made it work if I had been trying!

This next one is a Workshop on the Go layout.  Notice how Liquid Glass was added to the dots on the polka dot paper for added dimension and a unique look.
Products used are all CTMH: Dimensional Elements in Color – Organic, Twitterpated Level 2 Paper Pack, Designer Ribbon Rounds Chocolate Collection, Natural Hemp, Brads Basic Assortment, Liquid Glass, Chocolate ink, Friendship Alphabet Large Stamp Set and Hello There Stamp Set.

In addition to the many ways to use Liquid Glass for scrapbooking and cards you can also use it around the house.  I have used mine to repair my shower curtain, to fix toys and Christmas ornaments, and it works great to keep those feet pads on the bottom of my dining room chairs!

Preventing clogs: As with any adhesive in a bottle there is a chance that the tip can get clogged.  First of all that is easy to fix by poking a pin down the bottle to clear it.  Personally I find this step rather annoying so here are some things that you can do to prevent the clog in the first place.  When you are finished using it, hold upright and let the glue settle to the bottom, then squeeze the bottle a couple times to make sure that air flows through the tip and it is clear of glue.  Another option is to store the bottle upside down (an empty ribbon round container works perfect for this).  I’ve used both of these methods and they both work well.  I’ve heard you can also keep a push pin in the tip but that’s too messy for me.

One thing is certain – I just love this stuff!  I encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t yet.  It is an inexpensive, versatile product and a little goes a long way!

Additional tips:
* Drying time varies depending on how much you use.
* Do not shake the bottle!  Shaking will cause bubbles.
* When applying try to keep a continual flow – avoid starting and stopping which also causes bubbles.
* You can tint your Liquid Glass by mixing with re-inker.
* Liquid Glass may alter the color of some of the CTMH inks so make sure you test your stamped image before applying it to your final project.
* Use Liquid Glass on the ends of your ribbon to prevent fraying.

To see more projects using Liquid Glass click here.

To purchase Liquid Glass online click here.

To continue the blog hop – visit Mary’s Blog!

For a complete list of participants, go to the previous post.

2010 Layout Challenge: #25 & 26 of 210.

Supplies (all CTMH unless otherwise noted): Tinkerin’ paper, Rustic Alphabet stamp set, inks, badge buttons, Liquid Glass, Imagine, and unknown ribbon.

I added Liquid Glass to the top of my stamped letters for the title.  It was a good choice for a wet/water theme.

Products used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted): Evensong Level 2 Paper Packet, Evergreen stamp set, Chocolate Alphabet Large, Evensong Stickease, Cranberry Ribbon Round, Liquid Glass, Holiday Fabric Tags, Jolee’s dimensional stickers by EK Success, and Kaisercraft Pearls.

I started these layouts before Christmas using the Evensong Workshop on the Go guides.  Then I made more pages with the paper that was left.  Today I finished them up by adding pictures, journaling, and embellishments.  I had to take the Santa and reindeer sticker apart to make it fit the way I wanted. It originally came to be adhered up/down the long way. I wanted mine to go across the top of the page. In order to make it work I took the middle reindeer off the reins and turned it around. I cut the reins in the middle because they were too long and hid the seam under the middle reindeer. It worked great. The only thing I regret is not taking the entire sticker off the backing. You can see how the middle reindeer doesn’t have the transparent sticker behind it. I just added my own adhesive and I think it looks much nicer. I didn’t notice it until it was already down and then there was no way it was going to come off nicely so it’s staying where it is and I’m calling it done.
Something I like to do is try to use up an entire paper packet.  I did that with the Evensong paper after I made my layouts by making the cards HERE.  It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to use it all up and it is also amazing just how much you can get out of one paper pack.
These are my first layouts of the year so I am starting at 5 of 210 for 2010!

Products used: DCWV The Spring II Mat Stacks, K&Company Rub-on Magic, CTMH Liquid Glass, CTMH White Daisy Ricrac, unknown snaps and vellum Thank You sticker.

I started off using the Sunday sketch at 365 cards and this is what I ended up with.  I wanted stitching around the edges but didn’t have the right thread.  Then I started handstitching and that was just too much work!  So I ended up with piercing around the border and snaps in the corners (to cover up where I started stitching.   I was originally thinking to use pop dots on the flowers but the liquid glass added the dimension that I wanted.

Challenge:
365 Super Sketchy Sunday – Day 253
Use Your Stash – Challenge Monday
The Pink Elephant – Challenge #40
Cute Card Thursday – Glitter Me Silly

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend.  I know I sure did!  I don’t have much time to scrap this week but I was able to get this layout done today.  I used Liquid Glass to apply the fiber around the edges of the flower.  For the center and the swirl I twisted two different fibers together and again applied with the Liquid Glass.

Products used: Rhonna Farrer paper, CTMH Just Bloom flowers, CTHM Sweet Leaf ink, CTMH Liquid Glass, Cricut Lyrical Letters cartridge, and fiber from my stash.