Remembrances of Glues Past...

I think kids had more free time when I was little.

I was contemplating today's Mix-Ability challenge yesterday and since the challenge is to design with glue, I had a pleasant flashback to elementary school and the beginning of my love affair with glue.

I know that Elmer's Paste is too pedestrian a subject to conjure up Marcel Proust with, but the fact of the matter is that the smell of that paste can instantly transport me back to Sul Ross Elementary. That yummy, pepperminty scent, and the delightful, soft texture of it. I have zero memories of the projects we made with the paste, but I vividly remember the paste. I thought it was SO amazing learning you could STICK things to things. Sometimes when I pass the school supply aisle I'm tempted to buy it just for nostalgia's sake.

I remember in later grades graduating to "real" Elmer's glue. The white glue that I love to this day. It also has a strangely pleasant, if not edible smell.

I remember - please tell me I'm not the only one - discovering that if you got it all over your hand, you could peel it off in one big sheet, and how, for some reason, that was endlessly entertaining. I also remember doing this a LOT in school. We must have had some nice quiet time back then where we were not being badgered, if I can remember a lot of times where I had the luxury of putting glue on my fingers and letting it dry. I'm glad we did. When I started reading Nancy Drew, I noticed what perfect fingerprints it made, which might have led to my obsession with forensic science.

Now, I don't go a day without using glue - are there people who don't? People who have an old bottle of glue, unloved and dry in a drawer? I should set up an outreach. An evangelical organization to reveal the wonders of glue to people whose sad souls are glueless.

So Birgit's challenge spoke to the kid in me. I took my grown-up glue - Tombow Mono Multi - and just wrote "hi" on a piece of watercolor paper. (I orginially tried this with glossy cardstock and alcohol ink and I didn't like it.) I waited for it to dry (thank you Breaking Bad, for being there for me in moments like this) and then sprayed the paper with water and dropped Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence and Green Galore re-inkers on it. Then I let that dry overnight and cleaned the ink off the glue with a Q-tip®. The background was made with the Stylish Stripes embossing folder and added some sequins.

Other than that, I've been busy making samples for the Unwind Retreat - you are going to love it! We are also giving away one of our helper aprons to a lucky winner - a zentangle apron, of course - handmade by the incredibly talented Melanie Hopes, the zentangle and sewing BOSS. :)

See you soon! :)