Favorite Products: Clear Glaze Pens

Hello, crafty friends!

In today's post, I'd like to share another one of my favorite crafting products: Clear Glaze Pens! I credit my good friend and fellow instructor Katie for getting me hooked on these wonderful pens. I recently got her hooked on Wink of Stella Pens, so now we're even! :) I often include the Clear Glaze Pen on supply lists for classes, so I regularly hear how much our customers love this pen!

What's a Glaze Pen? 

 Here's some information from the Sakura company website:

The Glaze pens are the first pen of its kind to dry in 3-Dimensional form (3-D). The ink dries in a raised form that you can feel, and colors can be mixed to produce new hues. Glaze pens can be used on glass, plastic, vellum, glossy papers and a variety of other surfaces. It gives the embossed look without all the embossing tools!

Glaze Pens come in a variety of different colors, but my favorite is the CLEAR Glaze Pen. When you trace over words or an image, it gives the look of embossing and the color of the text or image still shows through! Even better, Glaze Pens dry very quickly so you can keep moving on your project!

You can see the effect in the picture below in which I traced around the edges of the holly leaves and berries but not the bow or the candy cane. This simple little detail really makes the holly stand out!

 
You can also transform ordinary paper into something special with the Clear Glaze Pen. Here I colored a few of the white polka dots on this paper, and now it looks like more expensive embossed paper, perfect for a Halloween card!

And here's how this flourish looks BEFORE:

...and AFTER the Clear Glaze Pen:

Next time you're at Memory Bound, look for the Clear Glaze Pens in the pen section near the front of the store. I'm confident that you'll quickly become addicted, too! :)

Janet

Favorite Products: Wink of Stella Pens!

 Hello, Memory Bound friends!

We all have favorite things. My list includes fuzzy socks, caramel lattes from Starbucks, and flowers picked from my garden. I also have several crafty products that I've come to love over the years. My newest favorites are Wink of Stella Pens. They're not new, but they're relatively new to me! I first learned about them on Jennifer McGuire's blog. (If you're not reading her blog, it's one of the best crafting blogs out there. Jennifer's tutorials are great!)

Wink of Stella pens come in lots of different colors. We carry the brush tip pens at Memory Bound, and they're super easy to use (just read the package instructions to see how to open them). They add a very subtle shimmer and the ink dries very quickly. The look is not quite as "blingy" as Stickles but very effective -- with virtually no drying time!

Here's a good picture of the Wink of Stella pen applied over a Copic colored image.

Here I used the clear pen over the top of natural cardstock "Memories" (cut with my Silhouette). In person, it almost looks like glitter paper!

Here I used the same pen over the holly berries, cut from red cardstock.

Here I used the silver pen on the star and the black pen on the bat. Super fun and easy!

Here I colored some of the embossed dots on this Silhouette tree for a very subtle effect.

In the video below, Jennifer McGuire describes many of her favorite crafty things, starting with the Wink of Stella pens. She explains how to open the pen and get the ink flowing (important to know!) and how to store them. (SPOILER ALERT: They need to be stored brush/label end up. Good to learn! *rushes to turn pens over* LOL) 

Stop in soon to pick up a Wink of Stella pen -- or several! I bet they'll soon become one of your favorites, too!

Janet

All About Blogs

Hello, Memory Bound friends! At Memory Bound, we've been talking a lot about blogs lately -- how they inspire us, encourage us, and make us smile every day. In the course of our conversation, we discovered that many of our staff members follow lots of blogs, but others were relatively new to the idea. So Dawn prepared this post, All About Blogs, to share with our Memory Bound friends. We hope that learning a bit about blogs opens up a world of inspiration for you!

Janet

BLOG – blog noun, verb, blogged, blog·ging. noun

a Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.

To put it into my own words, a blog is a website I visit on a regular basis for inspiration. Whether it be for recipes, scrapbooking, paper crafting, decorating, or whatever – there is a blog that is sure to give you ideas. I asked our staff to give me a list of their favorite blogs. I thought our Memory Bound customers would love to see the list of blogs we follow! Click on any of the links below to go directly to the blogs.

www.memorybound.blogspot.com

www.doodlebugblog.com

www.tammytutterow.typepad.com

www.timholtz.com/blog

www.kerryspapercrafts.com

www.hwtm.com   Hostess With The Mostess

www.wipkits.blogspot.com  Work In Progress

www.writeclickscrapbook.com

www.aliedwards.com

www.cathyzielske.typepad.com
www.jennifermcguireink.com

www.shari-design.blogspot.com

www.wendymckee.blogspot.com

www.cricutblog.org

Purely for laughs and giggles, plus great recipes and stories:

www.thepioneerwoman.com

Three of our Memory Bound staff members, Katie, Janet, and Diana, have their own blogs:

www.ablondeand3boys.blogspot.com

www.ofcatsandcardstock.blogspot.com

www.scrappinggrandma21.blogspot.com
                                

For those of you that would like to follow several blogs, it might be helpful to set up Google Reader. Google Reader allows you to keep up with your favorite blogs and see only the new content that has been added. You simply visit your Google Reader page each day to see what's new on the blogs you follow -- rather than having to check each individual blog for updates. If you would like to set this up, there are very easy-to-follow instructions at www.google.com/reader.  Go to the bottom of this page and click on “Take A Tour”.  This will provide you with step by step instructions. Once you have this set up, daily inspiration is just a couple of clicks away!

Dawn

Our Favorite Things: Adhesive

Here's a true confession: My kitchen pantry isn't very well-stocked. Every time I need to cook dinner (which is basically every day!), I have to run to the store to buy the ingredients. In fact, I don't think you could make anything (except for maybe Play-Doh) from what you'd find on my shelves. It's not very convenient (and it's actually kind of embarrassing when the check-out guy recognizes me...) to have to run to the grocery store every day, and it's certainly not very efficient!

But believe me, the opposite is true in my crafting area! (You can see where my priorities lie! LOL) Unlike my empty pantry, I keep an ample stock of all the basic supplies I know I'll need every time I work on a project. For me, that includes cardstock, striped paper :), and...ADHESIVE! I make a point NEVER to run out of adhesive. In fact, I buy it almost every time I go to Memory Bound!



These days, crafters are very fortunate to have a wide variety of adhesives from which to choose. In fact, there are so many adhesives -- for so many purposes -- that we all have our favorites! I asked our Memory Bound staff members to tell me which one is their "go to" adhesive and why. Maybe you'll see your favorite on this list or notice a new one to try!

Amanda: I use Tombow for my everyday scrapbooking. It comes out nicely and holds very well, yet if I needed to I could still pull a photo off of my layout without damaging my paper. I use the UHU Glue Stick anytime I am covering something with scrapbook paper. I use Tacky Tape when I am creating a project where I want a very strong hold, such as home decor projects, shadow boxes, and printer trays.

Bonnie: My favorite adhesive is E-Z Runner by Scrapbook Adhesives. I like it because it is easy to use and it sticks well. It is not refillable; just throw away the empty container and start a new one.

Dawn: My favorite is the Glue Glider PRO. I can change to any type of refill just by pulling out the refill and sliding the next one in. With so many types of refills, I have the exact one I need for any type of project. The Glue Glider PRO is designed to be the most comprehensive adhesive in the craft industry. Refills include PermaTac, PermaSquares, HighTac, ExtremeTac, Fabric Bond, Repositionable, and Wall Art.

Diana: My #1 adhesive is the Xyron 150 for everything small. I use Zip Dry glue for all things big. It drys flat without air pockets or waves. I like Glossy Accents for bigger embellishments and Glue Dots or Pop Dots for buttons.

Diane: My favorite adhesive is the Click 'n Stick white mounting squares from 3L. They are inexpensive and always sticky.

Janet (that's me!): My favorite is also the Click 'n Stick (and I'm not just copying Diane!). Actually, after my favorite adhesive was discontinued awhile back, Diane suggested I go back to using the Click 'n Stick. It's easy to use and control -- I use it each time I scrapbook. I also could not live without my Xyron 150 for small items!

Katie: My favorite adhesive is the Therm O Web. It's inexpensive, easy to use, plus it adheres cleanly (without breaks in the adhesive line) and it's easy to refill.

Kellie: I like the Therm O Web tape runner for several reasons. First of all -- it rolls on nicely and sticks great. It's easy to refill with a snap-in cartridge. And it's the best value because you get 50'. The dispenser is only $4.99 and refills are $3.99. Glossy Accents is my favorite liquid adhesive.

Michele: One of my favorites is the Glue Glider PRO. I like it because it holds a large amount of adhesive, so when I am working on a large project, I don't have to stop to reload adhesive as often. It also is very easy to switch between high tac and repositionable adhesive if needed for different projects.

Pat: My favorite is the Tombow Mono Dots Permanent Adhesive. It is super easy to refill and the shape is such that you can always tell which side is up and which side is down. AND best of all, it sticks really well!!

Tess: I like the Thermoweb tape runner. It doesn’t gum up on the dispenser!

I didn't ask these ladies about the contents of their pantries (maybe I SHOULD, huh?), but you can see that their adhesive bins are very well stocked. We each have at least one "go to" adhesive. So how about you? What's your favorite and why? Leave us a comment. We'd love to hear what you think!

Janet

A WRMK Follow Up by Katie

Janet previously posted how one of her favorite things is the 3-ring We are Memory Keepers albums. And I have to second that!!

I thought I would share how I have used the 3-ring binders for my scrapbooking needs.



My 2011 album is the WRMK red. LOVE IT!! I collect and keep loads of things that reflect our everyday life and WRMK offers a large variety of page protectors to keep it in! I use the 4x6 page protectors to house the photos that I do not want to scrapbook. Perfect for all those extra photos!!

(Sorry about my fingers showing in all the pictures!)

I love baseball card page protectors. They are perfect to hold loads of little things! Here are my son's favorite valentines.

My boys also love to draw and the 8.5 x 11 are great to show those off!

So many things come in 8 1/2 x 11. I use this size of page protectors for layouts, certificates, sport pictures, schedules and so many more items.

For this page, I used an 8x8page protector. (It's our dog's report card from the groomer! Told you, I save loads of things!)

Katie

My Favorite Things: WRMK 3-Ring Binders

I'm excited to share with everybody that I'm going to be blogging for Memory Bound! I've had my own blog for several years now and am excited to expand my horizons. We have lots of fun things planned!

Occasionally, I'll be sharing a few of our favorite things at Memory Bound. Of course, it is very hard to choose a favorite, but I'd have to say that the We Are Memory Keepers (WRMK) 3-ring binders are very high on my own list. Each time I teach a beginning scrapbooking class, I point new scrapbookers to these binders.

This photo shows just a part of the album display area at Memory Bound. You can see the WRMK 3-ring binders at the left side of the photo, in both 12x12 and 8.5x11 sizes and a variety of colors.

After using post-bound albums for many years, I switched over to WRMK's 12x12 leather binders a couple of years ago. I now have 17 -- yep, I just now counted them! -- WRMK albums on my shelves! I could seriously star in my own advertisement for these binders -- I love them THAT much!

Just in case you don't believe me :) here is a photo of one of my shelves! I have each album labeled with the year and number. I have three or four family albums for each year. (If that seems like a lot, it really isn't -- the albums include all of my daughter's school pages, too.)

I have to say that one of the reasons I love these albums is because they look pretty awesome sitting on my shelf, with all the spines lined up just so. It sort of brings out my inner librarian. :)

People often ask how many pages will fit in a WRMK binder. This one has 24 page protectors in it, with a total of 48 pages (two in each page protector back-to-back). I have found that the albums will hold approximately 30 page protectors (=60 pages), give or take a few, depending on how lumpy your pages are.

The WRMK page protectors are nice and roomy and very sturdy. The albums are also extremely durable. They hold up quite well to lots of handling. (And if you're like me, you LOVE it when friends and family handle your albums, because that means they are enjoying the fruits of your labor!)

Another reason I love these albums is because they easily accommodate mixed size page protectors. This is especially great if you have programs, certificates, and other 8.5x11 memorabilia to include in a 12x12 album. Just slide the item (such as the program in the above photo) into an 8.5x11 page projector along with the completed 12x12 pages for that event. This feature is a lifesaver for those of you working on senior albums, since you can keep your pages and full-size memorabilia together. How cool is THAT?

A final reason I love WRMK albums is because they are designed to accommodate WRMK divided page protectors. I think these things are just about the best product EVER! They are sold in a variety of configurations (the one at the above right is a 6-up horizontal page protector) and hold all of your extra photos. You can reserve one of the slots for journaling (as I did in the above photo) or fill them all with photos. As I worked on high school pages for my daughter's graduation open house, the divided page protectors were perfect for the extra photos of marching band, show choir, and other activities.

If you're not familiar with WRMK binders, check them out the next time you're at Memory Bound. I know you will love the quality and ease of use...not to mention how great they'll look sitting on YOUR shelf!

Janet