6.26.2010

a night out with paper, scissors and glue dots

Last night a few of the neighborhood moms and I got together for our monthly night out. Usually we play bingo and nosh on snacks that we each bring, but this month I decided to shake things up by bringing an art project.
I chose bookmaking since it seems like an "adult" craft, rather than say, pom pom dolls, and also because most people don't realize that you can actually make books.

With materials leftover from various projects from my teaching days, I assembled the goods for a Coptic-bound book making party. Can a gathering of 4 people really be considered a party? Anyway, I have a tutorial here from last year on how to make this kind of book yourself, though I've linked to another site for the sewing technique.

I also brought along some Glue Dots, which I received as part of a Twitter Moms promotion, which included coming up with some fun ways to use Glue Dots in summer crafting..
Though I'm not a scrapbooker, Glue Dots are apparently really good for scrapbooking--convenient, acid-free, and easy to use. You can check out the Glue Dots Facebook fan page for more ideas and info.

Glue Dots come in a variety of sizes, and for the project I brought along the Dot N Go dispensers in the regular and mini sizes. They also work on materials beyond paper, like fabric, wood, metal, foam, you name it! They're quite sticky, so I imagine they could bond nearly anything.

We used it to assemble the books and to decorate the covers with scrapbooking paper.They're truly mess free, unlike glue sticks and bottled glue. You just roll the dispenser over the paper
making sure to cover the area that you want to stick something to. In this case, I wanted to decorate the inside cover of the book and cover the ribbon shadows that are holding the pages to the cover.
Then stick away!
Glue Dots are great for embellishing too, especially when you just want a touch of glue rather than a glob
It was really simple to add this flower to the cover and not worry about it sliding around waiting for glue to dry.
The mini Glue Dots worked perfectly on that tiny heart.
The hardest part is deciding what to use your book for. We discussed that at length last night, along with childbirth, going back to work, and women on parole (no lie! I confess, I brought that up--long story).

It was a fun night out for all of us moms and it's great to reconnect with our creative sides regularly, beyond the coloring books and construction paper animals, of course. And I'll definitely be using Glue Dots again for various projects, like cards and birthday banners. What are you going to make today?
Disclosure: I received samples of Glue Dots via a Twitter Moms summer crafting promotion with the possibility of winning an Amazon gift card for this post. I would have shared this with you anyway though!


8 comments:

Muthering Heights said...

That sounds like such a FUN evening. Your book came out so well...they're adorable!!

angie said...

Everything you do is fabulous. You have that eye that most of the population lacks. :)

Michelle @ Flying Giggles said...

I cannot wait to try glue dots, I don't think my creation will be half as good as yours! You have a great eye!

Gem said...

There's something else I wish I were good at...crafts! I can grow anything, I can craft anything...LOL!

that's such a cute idea though--perfect to make little journals =)

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