Helmar Creative Team

Holiday Memories - Seaside Stories with Debra

Hello Everyone,

Debra here to share with you my latest project for the Helmar Design Team.

Days at the beach are always fun, so was creating this layout.

 To secure the larger background pieces, I used Spray Adhesive.

I always take this glue outside to use, ensure you use in a well ventilated area.

Shells and Art Stones are adhered using the Helmar Acid Free Glue. This glue dries clear and

dries a little slower than the craft glue, giving me more time to place the elements.

The gauze pieces are adhered using the Helmar, Craft Glue Which is quick drying.

The clear drops attached to the flowers are attached using the Craft Glue,

which dries quickly and dries clear. I also used this glue to attach the chipboard

Flowers are attached using the 450  Quick Dry Adhesive,

This Dries clear and dries quickly.

 

 

Hope you like what I have created and may feel inspired to create using Helmar Adhesives.

Happy Creating

Debra

 

 

Ocean-themed Wall Hanging

Hi everyone, Nat here with a fun project to brighten up the cold Winter days here in South Australia!
I will be making a set of two ocean-themed wall plaques with items I have collected, and a few I recently found at the second-hand store.  Also, I have a go at techniques I am not too familiar with and learn a lot in doing so.

On a recent second-hand splurge I discovered a bag with six of these plaques in.  I will be using two of these for my project.  Firstly I will spread some PVA glue mixed with a little water over the plaques using my paint brush.  I am recycling some tissue paper by scrunching it up in my hands and laying it on top of the wet glue then sealing it with more of the PVA brushed over the top to create a nice texture for my backgrounds.

Once my glue is dry, I pull out my shell collection and some gorgeous sea-themed dangles (also found at the secondhand shop) and find an aesthetically pleasing combination of these for each plaque. 

The dangles have screw hooks in them and I remove these to use later.

Next I paint my pieces with some white Gesso and leave to dry.......

....... I then adhere them to my plaques using Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

Gesso is painted over both of the plaques to prepare them for some colour.  I will be using Distress Oxide Sprays to do this, starting with a coating of 'Old Paper'.  I spray a little onto my plaque, then some water and tilt my plaque to help move the ink around.  Next I use 'Mermaid Lagoon' to get a nice blue colour and 'Twisted Citron' (which I swapped out for the pictured 'Speckled Egg') for the contrasting green.  I further used the inks with a paint brush to add highlights and reach areas missed with the spraying.  My heat gun was used to dry in between layers to avoid my tissue paper getting soaked and creating holes (I did learn this as I went and had to patch up some small areas with more gesso and ink!)

I love the texture of the tissue paper and the colour of the inking.

I re-use the screw hooks from the dangles by inserting two to the bottom of the plaque that will be at the top of my wall hanging, and two to the top of the bottom plaque, approximately one centremetre from either side.  I will be using recycled jewellery chain to join my plaques together.

For a bit of extra sparkle I add a few speckles of silver leaf.  This is applied by painting a tiny amount of PVA where I want the leaf to adhere, gently pressing the leaf on to the glue and then after a minute - brushing the excess off with a paint brush.

The chains are added to join my pieces together.  These are purely for embellishment as I will be sticking both plaques to the wall.  I take my wall hanging out to the carport to give it a coat of Helmars Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish.  This will help seal the colour and silver leaf, making it easier to dust and giving it a nice gloss finish.

Now for finishing touches - I use the 450 Quick Dry again to stick down the words "Ocean Life" printed by my label maker, and a few small glass pebbles.

Here is the top plaque.........

.........and the bottom plaque.

There is a process video available on the making of my wall hanging here:

I had so much fun making this and hope you will give it a go, especially if, like me, you have a gazillion shells hanging around in boxes gathering dust!
Happy crafting and take care - Nat xxx

PRODUCTS USED:

Helmar

Craft and Hobby PVA Glue

450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish

Other

Wall plaques

Shells, stones, words and sea-themed pieces to decorate

Distress Oxide Inks (for this project I used 'Old Paper', 'Mermaid Lagoon' and 'Twisted Citron')

Gesso

Silver Leaf

Chain and hooks

Paint Brush

Water

Lamp Revived

This project has been waiting a long time to get completed and I have finally done it!

I’ve used an old wicker lamp with a very battered shade to create this project. 

I'm very happy with how it turned out!


So, for this project I have used a huge selection of laces and trims all attached to the lamp shade with Helmar Fabric Glue!

I have also painted the wicker base with white gesso very randomly.

and then painted the solid base with black gesso. 


I also painted the old shade with black gesso. 

Once dry I have gone in and started to glue my laces onto the lamp shade starting from the bottom working my way up to the top 

While the glued laces were drying I went and dry brushed some black gesso over the wicker base
I have finished this lamp off with some matching flowers added some extra lace trims around the base and the top of the lamp stand  and that’s about it 

I just love reinventing old finds from an Op Shop bringing them back in a new way 

Masterboard Tags & Journal Cards

Hi everyone, Nat here with an easy recycling project to make some pretty tags that I will use in future journals as writing spots.

I begin my project by making a masterboard using craft card from a book I deconstructed (packaging card or cardstock would be appropriate too).  I also grab my tub of book text scraps.  You can use any book pages for this, though a variety of text size, types and page discolouration adds to the interest of the finished collage.

First I sqeeze a good whack of the PVA glue into my pallet (I am working on a silicone mat with pallets included).

I add water to this until I have about a one third mix of water, and give it a stir to combine.  This makes the PVA easier to brush on.  You can always add more water or glue to get the consistency you require.

Next I use a large paintbrush to spread some glue on my base card and begin sticking down my text pieces.

Glue is also applied over the top of the book page pieces to seal them nicely.

Once my base piece is covered I leave it to dry.  My next task is to stencil some random patterns on my base using distress ink and a stencil brush.  I do one of my pages with purple and brown stencilling and the other with green and brown.

I grab my Archival Inks and Whichcraft Do You Do 'Documented' stamp set next and stamp these using black and brown inks on one page and green and brown on the other.

This is one of my two collaged masterboards complete and ready to make into ephemera.  I just need to trim the overhanging text page edges.

The Masterboards are cut into good sizes for journal cards and long tags.  I didn't do specific measurements for this as I don't mind them being different sizes.  I managed to get four tags and six journal cards from each base piece.

Now the fun begins - the embellishing!  I used Helmar's Tacky glue in a fine-tip applicator bottle to stick down book pictures, postage stamps, coloured book paper and other small pieces.

The tags had the top corners cut on an angle and the corners rounded for the journal cards.  I inked around the edges of all pieces and added paper for writing on the back.

I found fabric scraps to make tabs for my tags and used the Tacky Glue to stick these on.  Sewing around the edges of my pieces hold these tabs on firmly and finished my creations off nicely.

Here is a process video of this project:

This was such a fun project and the PVA glue worked so well to adhere my papers and seal them ready for my stencilling and stamping.  This is such an easy and fun way to make pretty tags and journal cards while recycling a pile of scraps too.

Hope you will give this project a go and have fun crafting!
xx Nat

PRODUCTS USED:

Helmar

Craft and Hobby PVA Glue

Tacky Craft Glue

Other

Book Page Scraps and Pictures

'Documented' Acrylic Stamps - from Whichcraft Do You Do

Packaging for the Masterboard Base

Distress Ink - Brown, Purple & Green

Archival Inks - Black, Brown & Green

Scrap Fabric for Tabs

Stencil Brush

Paint Brush

Water

 

Helmar Creative Team Call-Out 2024!

Helmar Creative Team Call 2024!

Helmar is an Australian owned business who distribute their products to different parts of the world. Helmar is a recognized market leader of adhesives, aerosol and chemical products. We are looking for new creative team members to promote our amazing Craft & Hobby products. If you’d like to be a part of one of the most creative and easy going design teams out there, while showcasing Helmar products and your talent, this call is for you!!!

We are looking for dedicated creative design team members who work well with deadlines and guidelines.            
Positions on the Helmar Creative Team are for a 6 month term beginning November 1st, 2022.

As a member of the Helmar Creative Team you will…

Receive a generous amount of Helmar products!

The possibility of a selection of products from our generous Preferred Partners throughout your term.

Now what does it take to be a part of the Helmar Team? Here are your responsibilities:

1-2 projects per month consisting of posts on the Helmar blog, your personal blog, sharing on Facebook and other social media platforms.

Keeping your personal blog and Facebook page up to date and linking and promoting Helmar products at every opportunity!

If you are interested in being part of the Helmar Creative team, please email the following information to [email protected]

• Name, address, daytime/evening phone number and email address.
• Short biography.
• Links to your online galleries, blogs, Facebook and other social media platforms.
• List other teams you are now on or have previously been on.
• A brief paragraph explaining what special attributes you will be bringing to the Helmar Creative Team.
• Two examples that will best showcase your work. Please ensure file sizes are not overly large or small, nothing over 1mb. Examples could be your Papercrafts, altered art, mixed media, craft projects, kid’s projects, home décor, etc. Make sure to list any special techniques you’ve used using adhesives.

Please submit your application to [email protected] by Friday 3rd May 2024.

No late submissions will be accepted.

 The new Helmar Design Team will be announced in May 2024.

At this time we are only accepting applications from Australia.

We look forward to seeing your applications!!

Groovy Retro Journal Cover

Hi everyone, Nat here - hope you are all doing well.
I would like to make a book cover for a future journal and thought I would take you along with me.  Get your sunglasses ready as we will be doing bright and Retro!

My first task is to take apart an old book. I pull out the book block (pages), and use my knife to cut down either side of the book spine to remove both the front and back covers.  The spine on this cover is too narrow for my journal and we will be making a new one.

I use my knife with a ruler to measure and cut two pieces of chipboard the same height as my book covers and one and three quarter inches wide.  I stick these two pieces together using Helmar 450 Quick Dry glue to make a nice sturdy spine piece.

To hold my three cover pieces in place, I use masking tape.  I place my pieces on my craft mat to help me line them up evenly then use the tape to stick both covers to the spine on the front and back sides.  I make sure to leave a little gap of a few millimetres between the spine and cover pieces to enable the covers to close.

I wish to use fabric over my cover pieces, however the fabric is a little sheer and the writing and colour of the cover pieces shows through.  Additionally, if not careful with the glue I choose it can seep through leaving marks.  I decided to try the Helmar Spray Adhesive to back my decorative fabric on to a plainer piece, therefore making it thicker to avoid these issues.  As I wanted a permanent adhesion, I sprayed both pieces, waited a few minutes for them to get tacky and carefully lay one atop the other.  It worked perfectly for this job!

Helmar fabric glue was then used on the outside of my cover to glue my fabric on.  Due to doubling up the fabric, I did not have to worry about anything showing through which made this task much easier.

I cut across the corners of the fabric and either sides of the spine to help me fold the fabric over without too much bulk and stuck it to the inside of my covers with the fabric glue.

Next to help reinforce the inside of the spine and to make it look neater I use a piece of linen that is just under the height of the cover and about one inch wider than the spine (on both sides) and stuck this down.

I had some offcuts of the fabric used for the cover and I adhered these to some scrap paper using the Spray Adhesive again. I cut two rectangle pieces out of these for pockets and sewed them onto some coloured book fly pages.  These were then decorated with some cool pictures from a digital kit I am using for this project called 'Groovy' by Joey the Cardmaker.  I used the Fabric glue to stick both of these pages with pockets to the inside of the front and back covers.

Now to decorate some more!

I grabbed some ric rac in different colours, flowers from an old dance costume (that definitely fit the retro era!) and some more of Joey's digital pieces to embellish my cover.  These were stuck down with Tacky and Fabric glue.

I folded the ric rac over the cover and adhered it to the inside of the book, adding the numbers '1960' to finish it off. 

I love the way my journal cover has turned out and I am looking forward to filling it up with all sorts of groovy!

Here is a process video of this project:

I hope this helps you with ideas on how to recycle an old book cover into a wonderful new journal cover and you have as much fun as I did making this one.
Take care, Nat xxx

PRODUCTS USED:

Helmar

Spray Adhesive

Tacky Craft Glue

450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Fabric Glue

Other

Groovy 1960s Digital Kit & Freebies (Joey Cardmaker)

Old Book Cover

Chipboard

Fabrics

Ric Rac

Flower Embellishments

Book Fly Pages

Vintage Resin Book Box by Amanda M

Helloooo Everyone......

Welcome to the New Year and the Month of Love...

Today I have for you a Vintage Resin Book Box

using a few of my go to products from Helmar.

Featured Products

Step 1

First off I have taken a Helmar  Glue Spreader and some PVA glue and coverd the

outsides of the book box, then I have attached some textured fibre sheets and let dry and trim if needed.

Step 2

Now paint all the pieces with black gesso. (not the inside of the box yet)

Step 3

This step is optional, but I have experimented with collageing some

tissue paper with PVA glue to give a more handmade feel.

When dry paint with black gesso.

Step 4

I have used some Lindy's starburst spray to add some colour to the covers.

Step 5

To make the galaxy effect on the inside, I have mixed some glitter flakes with some PVA Glue

and painted all over the inside, when dry I have given it a spray with some Crystal Kote Gloss Spray to finish it off.

Step 6

I have used some Vintage gold Wax to bring out the details on the covers, the resin pieces and the corners,

then using some 450 Quick dry Glue attach everything to the cover/box lid and allow to dry.

Step 6

Then to add a bit of contrast I have used some Gold foil Paint here and there.

More Pics

I hope you have enjoyed this project,

until next time

Happy Crafting

Hugz Amanda M

January Beach Layout- Helmar

Hello everyone,

Welcome to 2024.

Today I am sharing my inspiration layout for 2024 using Helmar Glues

Keeping with the Summer heat, I have created a summery beach layout, using a photo from our recent

summer beach holiday with the family.

I used a piece of corrugated cardboard tucked under my paper to introduced some texture, 

adding a light smearing of Gesso to the corrugated cardboard.

I used Helmar's Crafter's Choice Premium Craft Glue to adhere everything on my layout. 

I adhered thin cardboard on the back of all my embellishments and photo mat to add dimension,

giving a 3D effect to the completed layout.

I created lots of layouts, using louts of fussy cut pieces.

Once happy with the placement of every thing, I glued clusters of Art Stones, randomly

on my layout to give an added feeling of the beach.

Close Up 1

Close up 2

Close Up 3

My completed layout

I hope that you like what I have created .

I will be back again soon

Debra.

Notepads

Notepads

Helmar Creative Team Project

by Nicole Elmes

Hello to everyone, and welcome to my latest project for the Helmar Creative Team.

Things have been a little on the crazy side this past month, but, I am happy to have gotten this sweet but simple project done. I have been wanting to make these notepads for a while now and have to say I am very pleased with them.

Whether you are new to paper crafting, or a seasoned crafter just looking for something quick and simple, then hold onto your hats ladies and gents as this is a project you may like to try!

You will only need minimal supplies, for starters you will of course need the super fabulous Helmar Professional Acid Free Glue.

Next up you will need your pages, whether you decide to use blank paper or patterned papers, what size to make your notepads, or how many pages you use for each notepad is of course totally up to you. FYI, I went with 50 pages per notepad and made 3 different sizes - A5, A6 and a random size.

 I chose to go with patterned papers which I have printed at home.

Next you will want to cut them into your desired size/s

So, you will want to make up some little boards so as to keep the pages nice and tight together ready for gluing. I cut some thick chipboard/boxboard and wrapped them with baking paper. I cut them approximately the same width as the notepads x around 2” high. You will need 2 per notepad.

Next up, gather your pages and backing board (for the backing board I used 700gsm chipboard/boxboard) and make into a nice neat stack ensuring that the edge you are going to glue is as flat and even as possible. Now that you have done that you will place 2 of the little boards, one each side, and use binders clips to fasten it all together.

Time to get gluing! I prefer to put some Helmar Professional Acid Free glue into a little bowl and use a paintbrush to apply. You want to ensure that you use enough glue, but not too thick, to cover the entire spine, if you get any down the sides be ready to wipe it off ASAP. If you feel the need to add another coat of glue make sure the first layer is dry before continuing with the second coat.

Once the glue has dried, I suggest leaving them for about 30-45 minutes, it is then time to remove the binders clips and the little boards. To do this you will need either a thin craft knife, or a sharp padding knife. Simply put the knife between the little board and the first page and  slide the blade along ensuring it stays super flat so as to avoid cutting into the notepad, then repeat for the back, just remember to cut between the little board and the notepad backing board.

You can of course leave it and consider your project complete, or you could add a cover, which is what I chose to to! I printed the same design on the covers as I did for the pages, I then used heat foil to pretty them up a bit more (because I just can’t let things be!! lol).

The covers are cut to the same width as the notepads, just a little longer so that they can be wrapped over the top and adhered to the back. You will see an example of this below in the photo gallery.

So that’s it my friends, we’re done!

I hope you enjoy giving this one a go, I did!

Until next time, keep well and keep crafting xx

PHOTO GALLERY

Moody Blues Layout

Morning Helmar followers and fans, today I will be sharing with you a layout that has many layers its all paper and I have used my all time favorite Helmar 450 glue t create it. 

Many don't like 450 for this type of project as it dries so quickly but that's where you can use Helmar Acid Free Glue which will allow you the time to be able to lift and move your layers better than the 450.

My take on layouts is now that I will complete the majority of them in my art journals so the journals will contain a mixture of everything I do. This page has been completed on an A4 sizing roughly.

To create this LO  I started with my base which was chalk paint and patterned paper .

 
  once this section was completed I started adding my paper layers one of the things I really love about Helmar 450 is the small amount I need to use you will see from the below picture I have really only used a super fine line and this way my papers don't buckle but will stick and hold forever.

I continued with my layers only using the smallest amount of glue on each including the flowers 

You will see how little have used on the various layers as they all are not flushly stuck down but believe this adds depth and dimension  

This is my LO completed without the photo and as you can see the layers are all holding nicely



I hope you have enjoyed my share and I look forward to sharing my next project with you.

Happy creating Kim