Kinds of Glue That are in My Craft Box, What's in Yours?

Oh my goodness...two posts in the same week! Yay!

Okay, so I know glue isn't all that exciting to talk about, and some of you crafters may know about these products anyways, but I just realized the other day that I have 5 different kinds of glue in my craft box and one bottle of paper glaze.

Three of the five are Aleene's products. I have Tacky glue, Fast Grab tacky glue, and jewelry super glue. I also have basic white school glue, and Martha Stewarts decoupage glue and sealer. So, what do I think of these products? Tacky Glue works pretty good, but not on slick surfaces, the glued stuff comes off very easily after the glue is dry. Seems to me that Tacky Glue is just glorified school glue, but that is just an opinion. Fast Grab works very well on slick surfaces and dries fairly quick and plays nice with Aleene's Paper Glaze. I like it and I think this will be my glue of choice with my bottle cap creations. Martha Stewarts glue is not all that...it has a brush attached to the lid, which I liked, but this glue was very runny and made a mess. It also ran colors from stuff printed on my ink jet printer. So, no I don't like it. Sorry Martha. Aleene's jewelry super glue works great also, sticks well to metal, but it has a strong odor that burns my eyes sometimes. So, I only use this occasionally and with a gas mask. No, not really, but may be a good idea...Last but not least is Aleene's Paper Glaze. what can I say? Does not run ink jet colors - actually highlights some colors that make them stand out. Seals very well too. Very happy with this glaze, despite the fact that it is a little pricey. I will probably buy my next bottle at Michaels with a 40% off coupon....shhh...don't tell anyone.Oh and I forgot one other product, which is Triple Thick Glaze. I use this on my paper creations to give them a nice shine and a hard finish. I really like it and the best thing is it doesn't smell!! Just slightly...

So, this was my exciting opinions about the types of glue/glaze in my box. What's in your box?

Handmade Soap...(from a kit, that is)!!

Yay! I finally did it. I have wanted to make soap for many months now and I did last week for the first time. I bought a kit at Michael's (with my 40% off coupon)that contained two clear plastic pump bottles, liquid concentrate and thickener, dye, fragrance, glass marbles and silk flowers. There also was a pound of glycerine soap and molds for bars. I made the liquid soap first, which was so easy! All I had to do was add warm water to the concentrate, add thickener and fragrance. Then added some marbles and silk flowers to the bottle and filled it with soap. Viola! Instant soap! It smells lovely and makes a pretty addition to my bathroom. As you can see, I have used quite a bit of it already. The bars were a bit trickier to make, the glycerin cooled pretty fast after melting, so I had to reheat a couple of times. I also learned that a little dye goes a long way. The purple bar was the first one I made and it turned out way too dark. I also made a pink bar that I let my daughter use in the shower that also tuned out dark. The green bar turned out real nice, the color was perfect and the pink flowers set it off nicely.

As for the kit, the directions were simple enough to follow, but I think tips about using too much dye and how quickly the glycerin cools would have been nice. They also did not label ANY of the items in the kit. I assumed that the powdery stuff was the thickener and the bottle of stuff was liquid concentrate. I had to look closely to see what color the dyes were. Ah well, I bought the kit for practice anyways and too see if I would like making soap. So, I came to the conclusion that I did like making soap and I will be making more in the future. I want to make my own concentrate if possible and add moisturizers to it because the stuff in the kit seemed to dry my hands a bit. I love the silk flowers and marbles inside the bottles. It's so pretty. I also want to try cold-process soap with lye, but I need to purchase equipment first. I checked out a couple of soap making books from the library and saw a LOT of soap that I want to try. I just need to find a supplier and get busy. Michael's doesn't carry a whole lot of soap-making supplies and neither does JoAnn's. I don't know of any local suppliers, so I guess I will have to purchase online. Any Tucson folks know of any suppliers here in town? I know there is a candle making supplier, but that doesn't help much.

Featured item!

Wow...it's been over a week since I updated. I have been busy with preparing for an upcoming craft show and others in the future and filing my taxes. I did it myself online using Turbo Tax and it was extemely easy...

Anyways, just wanted to update with a few favorite items from my shop. Right now I have two sets of Easter egg magnets listed in my shop, made by me with recycled paper. I have a couple of earlier posts about my paper creations. These were so fun to make and paint. I made a bunch as promos and hoping to get them out soon. I am hoping to post a more interesting topic soon...