Helmar Creative Team

Little Sparkly Tags

Today I am making some little sparkly tags, these may also be used as embellishments if you like  :)

This project was inspired by a youtube video which I will LINK HERE 

What you will need:

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, paper/cardstock (I used glitter cardstock), a small bowl and a variety of seqins, tiny beads and glitter and a hole punch if you want to make tags.

First of I have cut out some circles from glitter cardstock in a variety of sizes. As these will be used as small tags for gifts etc I kept them small at 1", 1.25" and 1.5". I also punched holes into them at this stage.

I then had a bit of fun making up a mixture of the sequins, beads and glitter in a small bowl, just enough to make a few of the tags.

Taking one of the circles, I applied Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive quite generously to the right side.

I then placed the circle into the sparkly mixture with the glue facing down, pressed firmly and then lifted it out. You have time to adjust the sparkly bits to your desired look and clear the punched hole before the glue dries. 

At this stage, you can add a little more glue to any parts that may need more filling, you can also add more glitter or even glitter glue.

I made a variety of the circle tags using different variations of the sparkly mixes.

You can see here how the same mix of the sparkles added to different coloured cardstock gives a much different look, one is made with white glitter cardstock and the other with silver glitter cardstock.

I do hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and will consider making some for yourself, they didn't take long at all and it's a great way to use up some of your sequin and bead stash. The majority of my sequins and beads have been found in op/thrift stores for just a few cents.

Thank you so much for joining me here on the Helmar Blog today and happy crafting everyone!

Jeanette xxx

 

Rise Up With Some Paper Lilacs

Hello Helmar Fans, Raelene with you today sharing the paper Lilacs I made for my husband's Disworld themed 40th Birthday.  My husband has been a Terry Pratchett fan since he was young and has been collecting his books for decades, he still has the first book he bought second hand with his pocket money so I really wanted to throw him a Discworld themed party.  I had lots of ideas for decorations and food and a epic cake I wanted to attempt but I ran out of time so only got to make the one decoration.

For those of you unfamiliar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld series I suggest heading to your nearest bookshop and grabbing The Colour of Magic, Hogfather or Nightwatch to get you started or watching The Colour of Magic or Hogfather or Going Postal on whichever streaming service you can find it on where you live.  It is well worth it.  Lilacs are what the rebellion wear in Nightwatch, hence the title of this post.

To make my Lilac I researched and found some videos of people making them and from those made my own plans, click here to see the video I found the most helpful.   I decided for added strength I would use Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere the florist wire to my paper/cardstock, Helmar Acid Free Glue for any paper on paper gluing and to use 3 shades of purple cardstock from the Purple Passion Cardstock Pack that Spotlight stocks. 
You will also need Green cardstock for your leaves, Green Florist Wire, Green Florist Tape (close to your leaf colour), some jewellery making tools (wire cutters and round nose pliers), small ball tool, small 4 or 5 petal flower punch and a scrap of foam to shape your flowers on and poke the wires into to let the glue dry when you add the base to the flower.

We had a bit of a working bee for punching and shaping flowers and we spread it out over a few weeks to try and reduce the repetitiveness. To make it go quicker I pre-cut each sheet into strips just wide enough to use the punch, One person would be punching, one would be shaping while I cut strips.

Once they were all punched and shaped it was time to add the wires and the bases.  I started by cutting the scraps of cardstock leftover from punching the flowers into small strips (I cut them about 1 inch by 1/4 inch as my flower punch was bigger than what is ideal for this project), then I put a drop of Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive on one end of the strip, I wiggled the wire in it and then folded the end just over the wire, set aside and do the next one.

 

Once the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive was dry I put a small amount of Helmar Acid Free Glue along the strip and tightly rolled it up, set aside to dry.
Once that was dry I added a dot of Helmar Acid Free Glue to the flower base and placed my flower onto it and set aside to dry.

  
 

Next I decided to put my florist tape half way up my paper base to give it a more natural flower base feel.  Just wind the florist tape around, starting half way down the flower base and firmly pressing as you go.

Then I created my leaves, I decided to create the same leaf as the lady in the above video but as my punch was much bigger I had to create bigger leaves just like I did with my flower bases.   I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere the wire into the fold as it gives a much stronger hold.

 

I followed the wiring instructions from the video but adapted towards the end as I had a few less flowers than she did and my flowers were bigger (worry I have no pics of this process as I was wiring at night and no one was around to take photos).

I hung my finished project on our DND cupboard door until the party and then on party day it went on the table nearest to hubby, I think it looks so good next to my Marzipan pigs.

LOVE IS .........

This month we celebrate Valentines day

but what is Valentines to you

to me it is Love for family and friends. 

So here is my creation...

To create this project I purchased some MDF letters that spelt the word LOVE,

gathered together all sorts of laces, trims and ribbons 

and an assortment of pinkish flowers, charms and lots of gems. 

I used 2 Helmar glues to create this project: 

Tiger Grip Adhesive and Fabric Glue.

So to start I have glued a thick strip of lace on each letter using the Tiger Grip adhesive .

Once dry I trimmed this wide lace back so the letters were more prominent. 

Next step was to add the different layers of lace, trims and ribbons on each of the letters using the Fabric Glue.

I have then moved on to add a beautiful piece of flower trim to all the letters. 

Now onto the fun part of prettying the letters up firstly I added gems to the centre’s of each daisy and I also added my 4 word charms. 

Then some pretty flower combinations and metal charms.

All completed! 

I hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day! 

Robot Pen/Pencil Holder

Hello Helmar Fans, it's Raelene with you today.
Hubby got me a pen/pencil holder with dividers in it from the clearance section at Officeworks years ago, it had marks on it and he thought I would like to alter it but I couldn't decide on how I wanted to alter it until now, so I grabbed it out and some old thin robot scrapbooking paper I got from Spotlight several years ago and set to work.  Yay for stash busting ;)

I started by trimming 2 piece of my paper to fit
 

I then ran some Helmar Acid Free Glue around the edge of one side of the pen holder and a squiggle in the middle, then spread it out with a foam brush and applied the middle of my paper to the side, Helmar Glue gives me the wiggle room needed to get a precise line up of paper to the edge and time to smooth things out.  Once I had the middle piece right I glued down the side pieces to the sides of the pen holder.

I repeated this with my other piece of paper.  I love that on one side the robots aligned perfectly and the other side it was so close that my only issue was having 2 blue together.

You could stop here but I didn't want to have 2 blue robots together so I went through my stash and found a robot die cut or sticker to adhere over the second blue robot. 

I decided to add some navy blue ribbon from my stash to the top and bottom edge of the pen holder using Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to get a strong hold on the paper, unfortunately my hand wasn't steady so I got some where I shouldn't but mistakes are just a embellishment away from being awesome.

I then started adding stars from my stash randomly over the pen holder so my robot covering the extra blue robot felt like he belonged and to cover some of my wibbly wobbly glue mistakes, then I just randomised to make it feel natural..
I adhered the die cut stars down with Helmar Acid Free glue.
I adhered the resin and sewing patch stars down with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

 

Apart from the resin and sewing patch stars everything is flat so the pen/pencil holder can sit on it's side for pens that need to be kept that way.
I love how it turned out, now to work out who gets it on their desk.  :)

 


It even works as a book end ;)

A Great Fix for a Foot Pedal

Warning:  This is not a 'pretty' post but it is a very 'useful' post :) :)

Last year I decided to take my Overlocking machine out of storage to get it fixed, it had been packed away for a number of years as it had seized up mechanically. Unfortunately I found that it had also been damaged while packed away. The foot pedal had snapped!

 

As I didn't really want to purchase a new one I decided to try to fix it myself.

Using my trusty Helmar Silicone Adhesive Sealant I applied a liberal amount to one side of the break, it had snapped on an angle so I made sure to be very generous.

 

I then carefully placed both pieces together and cleaned up the outside of the foot pedal as best I could without removing too much from around the break. I wrapped two elastic bands around the foot pedal to hold it in place while it dried.  The pedal was left for about 24 hours before removing the elastics. I checked the elastics every few hours to be sure they did not get stuck to the pedal as well.

 

Once the Helmar Silicone Adhesive Sealant had dried, I removed the elastics.

 

I then gave the foot pedal a good wipe over and it was fixed and ready to use again. 

 

I know that this isn't the prettiest foot pedal in the world and I do wish I had been a little more particular about tidying the silicone on the outside before it dried but it works as good as it should and it's a great fix until I can find a new one. I've been using my Overlocker for a few months now and  the pedal has been going great. 

Be sure to remember that you can use Helmar Silicone Adhesive Sealant for fixing many things around the home, plastics, metals and even glass.

I hope you found this blog post interesting and useful today, take care everyone :)

Jeanette xxx

Kim's Blog Post

Hello Helmar followers it's my turn on the blog today and I am going to share a layout I have created coastal suitable for boys.

I just love the papers and the cheeky image they have on them, so typical of little boys..... unfortunately I have not got a boy photo suitable to use yet.

 

I have collected and cut all my papers and am going to use my all time favorite product from Helmar that is the Helmar 450 Glue I can not speak highly enough of this product it adheres anything down solidly.

In the below photo you will how I just randomly apply the glue over the background of the paper and adhere it to the next layer I do this through all my creations and you do have time enough to lift and shift if needed before it is completely dry.

I just keep following this process of adhering layers until my layout is complete.

For my next layer I need to also include my chipboard element and again I have used Helmar 450 to secure that down and also the next layers of paper. What i would say here is that should you wish to keep more dimension to this layer over the chipboard you could always use some Helmar Scrap Dots 

I then added my next layers including the photo (or in my case a photo mat for where the photo will be placed) and I have used Helmar 450 again and as it is archival it wont damage the photo or papers in years to come.

And to complete my layout I have added some Ice Glaze & enamel Pigments from Aladine products in Glacier.

As a handy hint I always ensure when using my Helmar 450 hat I have wet ones on hand to clean the nozzle after use so that the glue doesn't set and dry on the nozzle, but what i have found should this happen is that you usually can always just pull the set glue off quite easily. Another little thing that I have found when i using Helmar 450 and gluing smaller pieces where the glue might should through as clear for example the I have now learnt to squeeze a small amount on to a plastic surface and then mix ink from a Tim Holtz reinker in to the glue and the glue will accept the colour and mix quite well. these little tips I use all the time when i am creating.  

I hope that yo have enjoyed my layout today and I look forward to sharing my next post with you shortly.

Happy Crafting Kim Kendell.

 

Mermaid wonder

Hi everyone

I just love the stamperia paper collections and this one especially. 

I have used and old paint spatula

to create this free standing mermaid sculpture...

so many pretty shells! 

Firstly, I created my base by prepping the paint spatula with some rustic mediums and attaching it to a small canvas coaster with a back brace support for stability.

 Next was to prepare my mermaid and fish. I cut them out of the paper and coated them in a clear gesso

then added a crackle paste medium and let it dry.

Once dry I added different coloured stamperia acrylic paints wiping off between layers -

using my most favourite glue; Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive I started attaching all my shells.

This took a couple of hours allowing 1 layer to securely dry before I added another layer. 

I have used the Tacky craft glue mixed with sand to add texture and realism to my sculpture once dry it is clear and looks like real sand!

Add a few mechanical cogs to accentuate the mermaids hair and Some other metal pieces as coral.

Back veiw

Front view 

Grateful Sloths by Tamiko

Hey hey Helmar family and friends, Tamiko here! I hope everyone is fairing well. I am very grateful for my Helmar family. During the pandemic I know I am not the first to realize how super slow my life has come, quite like that of a sloth (giggle) I am forced to change the pace and slow down immensely. My daughter is even clinging to me like never before and she is 15 (smile).I am reminded of out animal friends the sloth, when I create this picture. Check it out! 

Items needed for this project:

Helmars Super Tac Glue

Textbook/Painted/Scrapbook papers

Paper trimmer or scissors

Watercolor paper

Painters tape

Watercolor paint

Paint brush and water

Pens and pencils

 

First I glued the pages together using Helmar's Super Tac Glue. Attaching the bottom of one page to the top of another page. Then taking the bits and pieces of paper and collaging them to the textbook paper using the Super Tac Glue. I use Helmar's Super Tac Glue because it is very fluid and it adheres super fast. The page when it dries is as flexible as I need it to be.

After the page is dry, I decided I should've used larger book text paper (giggles).  I then measured by eye one half inch border on the backside of my watercolor paper. I also measured one and a half inches strips of the collaged paper and adhered the strips to the border I created on the back of the watercolor paper with Super Tac Glue, pretty side up. The back as shown will only show the book text.

 

I flipped the paper over and took some painter's tape created a border on the watercolor paper before I did my art on the page. 

 

I painted similar colors to the papers used in the frame of the art to create the final picture. I removed the painters tape and tada!

 

I hope you enjoyed today's project and you take time out to slow down and use somethings you already have and the best adhesive ever, any of the Helmar's Worldwide Adhesives should be more then accommodating!  See you next time! 

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.