Helmar Creative Team

Sunny Sun Flowers

Hello everyone.

I hope it's a nice sunny day at your place. 

My creation is a reused wafer biscuit tin and some simple decorations.

I started by sanding off the outside of the tin with some sandpaper,

wiped it clean

then using the silicone glue

I have attached some macrame cord

round and round the outside of the tin covering it all from the base to the rim at the top. 

This needed a good 24 hours to dry.

Once dry, I have glued on some sunflowers and leaves using Scrap dots and super tac glue. 

I have used rubber bands to keep the flowers in place securely while it dried.

Once dried, I tidied up the rims and added a piece of hessian and some torn strips of brown material. 

When all dried I have finished off by adding some small pieces of hessian scraps amongst the flowers. 

List of products used 

Old wafer biscuit tin

sand paper

macrame cord

bunch of Sun flowers

strip of hessian

strip of torn material

Glues used 

Silicone Adhesive sealant 

https://www.helmar.com.au/Helmar-Products/silicone-adhesive-sealant.html

super tac glue 

https://www.helmar.com.au/Helmar-Products/super-tac-eva-glue.html

Liquid Scrap dots 

https://www.helmar.com.au/Helmar-Products/liquid-scrap-dots.html

 

Have a a great day creating

 

Jolly Cousins

Merry Christmas Helmar Fans, it's Raelene with you today.

I was having some major creative block but then I got this photo I just had to scrap it, it is special as it is one of my teens with his little cousin visiting Santa at the skate rink Christmas party (we had 3 months of no community transmission of covid so were able to safely attend this party), so on Friday I got out my Christmas scrapping stash and used my favourite strategy for scrapbooking - picking supplies that enhance the story or draw your attention to the main focus of the photo.

First I matted my photo with black and red cardstock, I put the black as the first matt as both boys have black in their clothing and red for Santa.  The black definitely improved how your eye is drawn to the photo.
I glued my photo down to the black with Helmar Acid Free Glue and once dry trimmed it to size, then I glued it to the red and trimmed to size.

 
Then I went through my papers and grabbed out 2 black based papers and some fun reds and greens to use with my photo.
I started by glueing the photo down to the 6x6 ho ho ho paper and then built my layers backwards, gluing with Helmar Acid Free Glue as I went.  Once they were all glued together I added Helmar Acid Free Glue anywhere I thought needed it and glued it down to my background paper.

Now it was embellishment time.  I needed to cover a parent face that was caught in the background of the photo so I went through my stickers and embellishments trying to work out the best way to do this.  In the end a Jolly sticker was perfect for it and it helped with the Title as up until this point all I knew was I wanted Cousins to be in the Title but had no idea what words to put with it.  Some of my alphas split so a tiny drop of Helmar Acid Free Glue got the layers back together.

I decided I wanted to use a mix of Christmas Tree stickers, die cuts and chipboard to carry forward the tree pattern in the background and enhance the bit of the tree in the photo.

I loved this cute little chipboard tree and decided to experiment with my Distress Inks and create a ombre effect.  I simply dabbed 2 shades of green on my craft sheet, spritzed with water and rubbed my tree in it being careful not to get the base in the dark green.  The effect is subtle, but I love it.
I finished the tree off by using a Liquitext gold pain pen to colour the baubles on it.

I splattered my background and layers with watered down paint from the gold paint pen and some green paint, to pull the colours from the little tree into the rest of the layout.

I then experimented with colouring some Christmas bauble chipboard but when playing around with my embellishments they didn't feel right so I left them off, hence the red paint and ink on my hands in the next photos.

I adhered some of my die cuts and my fussy cut tree down to my layout with Helmar Acid Free Glue.
Then I adhered my chipboard tree down with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive and one of my die cuts with Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots

 


I am really happy with how my layout turned out.

Items from my stash that I used include papers, wood 3D stickers from The Reject Shop, papers and fussy cut tree from a old Scrapping Fun Kits kit, die cuts from Pretty Little Studio, chipboard from Memorymaze, jolly sticker from Echo Park.  All are a few years old.


I hope this inspires you to get out your scrapping supplies after Christmas Day and get those Santa photos scrapped.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Junque Tags by Tamiko

Hey Hey Helmar friends and family, Tamiko here! Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner?  While we might not be attending any large parties, many of out gifts can be delivered easily with a little social distancing.  Now I will be honest, when I wrap I go all out. I use paper and twines and embellishments and tags and flowers on cards and packages.  This year I have not been out to buy buy buy more and more new papers.  I am using what I have and just having a helluva good time making things do what they do! Now I will be honest and tell you as soon as I made today's project, they were the actual gift.  I gifted them to my bestie Kathy.  Guess I gotta make more and I did, guess what?  Gifted those too! Ha ha, check them out!

 

Supplies needed for this project:

Helmar's 450 Quick Dry

Helmar's Super Tac Glue 

Paper scraps

Corrugated cardboard

Scissors

Label maker

Embellishments as needed

Hole puncher

String or twine

Canvas tags

Stapler

 

I love this project because I honestly just took bits and pieces and ripped things and just created piles to work from and I mixed matched and moshed things together. I exposed the ridges in corrugated on some parts, because I just wanted to. Created layers and layers and use good adhesives! On the papers I just used my Helmars Super Tac Glue because it was strong enough for thin papers. 

When attaching papers to the corrugated board I used a different adhesive. I used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry. I use that because it acts a filler.  The glue itself is a gel form, not fluid like our Super Tac Glue. The gel slithers into creases and almost cradles the papers against the non smooth surface.  The glue is also a bit sturdier for things other then just sheets paper.

Just a few more process photos... Each is self explanatory. The below pictures show how the Helmar 450 Quick Dry is for so much more then just paper.  Its my favorite goto adhesive of the entire line. I can use it on paper, but I don't have to! It's my FIRST CHOICE for things non-paper (smile). I also use the 450 Quick Dry to hold my string in place before I add a staple.  Is it necessary? No, is it more stable and able to withstand rough wear and tear usage, ABSOLUTELY!

Here I even use the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Glue to adhere board to canvas, yes fabriiiicccccc (sings like Oprah and giggles)

Hope you enjoyed these Junque Tags and that you take a moment to try to create your own. And remember we have all kinds of adhesives over at Helmar Worldwide and while ALL can be used with paper.  None of them are exclusive to PAPER ONLY! Happy Holidays!!

Christmas Vintage Style Acorns

Hello everyone, today I will be making some lovely glam vintage style acorns to hang on my tree, they are deceivingly easy with the help of Helmar glues.

What you will need:

Helmar Tacky Craft Glue and 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, a foam (or paper mache) egg shape, acrylic paint in a dark colour, fancy trims, thread for hanging, beads and bead cap and either guilding or foiling paper.

To start with you will paint your egg shape in the dark colour. I am using an old foam Easter egg I had in my stash, it is glittered but this will not matter, it was also on a stick and this came in very handy. I removed the little bow.

You will need to give your egg two or three thick coats of paint and allow to dry between each coat, this will help form a barrier and also peek through the foil/gilding.

Now that the paint is dry you will apply Helmar Tacky Craft Glue to the lower two thirds of the egg shape and then smooth is out with your finger.

Allow this to 'tack off' just a little bit and then using the 'dull' side of the foiling paper start to apply it to the egg. If you are using gilding paper you can just stick it on. You may need to do this twice depending on the coverage you get or want. You do not need a full coverage of the foil as we are looking for a 'vintage' look, the dark paint colour will show in places giving it an aged appeal.

Decide on the fancy trims you would like to use for the top of your Acorn, I'm using a little rhinestone trim and some silver beaded trim.  Once the egg is completely dry apply a bead of Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive around the egg above the half way mark to the wider end of the egg. Start to adhere your trims one row at a time.

 

When you get to the top of the egg you will need to make a hole all the way through the egg, use a large needle (or similar) for this. You can then either glue your large bead cap into place or thread it as you thread your smaller beads. 

It's important to note here that you shouldn't press too hard on the trims to the egg, this strong glue is not generally used on foam (that is why we paint a few layers to form a barrier) and will soften the egg slightly when the glue is still wet. Be sure to allow plenty of time for your trims to dry before threading it off.

To thread your Acorn, cut a generous length of your desired thread, it has to go through the egg twice and have a hanger (more than you think you need) and thread on one smaller bead (and the larger bead cap here if you chose to), take the needle through the egg and thread on another smaller bead.

Now take your need back through the bottom hole, back through the egg, the larger bead cap and the smaller bead.

Gently tie a double knot at the top of the smaller bead to secure everything in place and then tie it off in your desired hanging position and trim the thread ends neatly.

 

And there we have it, a lovely Vintage Style Acorn to hang on your tree or just make a few and place them in a bowl for a pretty decoration.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will give it a try, you can make them in any colour or style of your liking, burlap and string would give a lovely 'natural' look which would be great for that farmhouse appeal.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. 

Thank you so much for joining me this year on the Helmar Blog :)

Take care 

 

Jeanette xx