Saturday 12 September 2015

Behind Every Good Layout Is A Great Glue!

Hello and welcome back!

Today I want to talk about something that isn't dreadfully exciting but is actually really important to all our work. It's glue. Yep, glue. But this is no ordinary glue - it's Dusty Attic's Clear Gloss Varnish!

Firstly, I'll show you my layout then I can explain why Clear Gloss Varnish is sooo amazing!


Now here's the first interesting thing about Clear Gloss Varnish. Although it's a varnish, it's actually far more useful as a glue. I always use it to glue my chippies. It's fantastic for any item that needs a good strong glue to hold it in place. On this layout I've used it on every chippie, which actually is everything on my page. The only thing I don't use it for is to attach the photo. It depends on what quality your photo paper is but it can sometimes faintly show through. I stick to double-sided tape for the photos.


As you can see here, I've layered chippies on top of chippies on top of chippies. Some of those red flowers are only attached by a very small part of a petal or two, yet Clear Gloss Varnish is still strong enough to hold them.


I used Magicals, a couple of stamps and a bit of stencilling on the background but everything else on the layout is Dusty Attic chippies.

Now the second amazing thing about Clear Gloss Varnish is that it makes a fabulous glossy varnish - no surprises there! I use it on top of my chippies to add a gorgeous glossy finish. A hint: do this when your layout is otherwise finished. Apply the varnish direct from the bottle onto your chippies or other suitable embellishments. Then put it aside to dry overnight. Keep it out of the way of kids, animals or your own elbows while it dries!

Here are what my flowers looked like before I applied the varnish:



Here they are after the varnish, while the varnish was still wet.



And here they are the next day when the varnish has dried. Unfortunately, this isn't really showing the gloss as I took this photo on an overcast day.


And the third amazing reason for always using Clear Gloss Varnish? It doesn't dry up in the nozzle! Other similar products seem to be prone to doing this, meaning we forever have to unblock them with a pin, but not this one! Of course, if you leave it with the lid off for a period of time, any glue will dry out and block the nozzle.

So there you have it - Heather's hot tip for an easy, reliable, fuss-free glue - and varnish!

Here are the Dusty Attic products I used:

Branch #3 DA1094

Spring Blooms #2 DA1285

Elegant Swirls #9 DA1129

Hashtag Saying DA1076

Flutterbies #3 DA0766

Page Pebbles #7 DA1112

and of course......
Dusty in Colour Clear Gloss Varnish DA0901




Happy scrappin'!


Heather McMahon

22 comments:

  1. Your layout looks wonderful Heather! Love the red flowers flowing across your page! And sounds like a great product to use too.. Have a good weekend!

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  2. What a great product!! I love love love this! LOVING the colors and the layered chippies!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. Your layout is absolutly gorgeous !!

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  4. A gorgeous LO,i use glue all the time,however not the glue you refer to

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  5. Absolutely stunning Heather and yes that varnish sound pretty awesome. Will put it down on the list.

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  6. This is absolutely stunning Heather!! Love the red flower vine flowing across the page and the fact that you hand wrote the journaling .. makes it so much more personal doesn't it?? Sounds like a fabulous product too, might have to try it. Absolutely love this page!! xx

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  7. Aahhh Santorini...even the name sounds wonderful. A stunningly beautiful page with the chippy blooms extending gracefully out from the photo. Love the journalling right onto the page and the use of white space :D

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  8. Wow, what a gorgeous layout Heather. Love it.

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  9. So so pretty.....such a beautiful layout Heather! Love how you have frame the gorgeous photo with those chippies.

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  10. Like i said over at the DA blog....absolutely 100% agree with you re: this....& your LO is simply DIVINE...those colors against the white. STUNNING!!!

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  11. Gorgeous layout Cheryl! Love all the beautiful chipboard embellishments!

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  12. A really fantastic layout and that varnish sounds like the bomb! Great post!! You've done wonders with chippie!!!

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  13. What a gorgeous page, Heather! I'm such a fan of red, so I'm loving this!

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  14. What a stunning page....I love the bright red of your chippie blooms against the blue/green mixed media background.

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  15. WOW, Heather! This page is absolutely beautiful - gorgeous design and details!!! It's very eye-catching!!! I love what you did with your chippies! And I definitely NEED to try that varnish now! Thanks also for your visit to my blog! HUGS!!!

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  16. What a beautiful layout. I love the colours and how you have extended the flowers onto your layout
    It was good to see the difference of the flowers without and with the varnish, so much better with,
    Mary.

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  17. I love your blog title, so cute! And I love your layout even more, and the picture, the details, everything, you are awesome!

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  18. Hi Heather,
    Love your style and your page is so beautiful.
    Love the way you have continued the photo and your use of negative space only reinforces your gorgeous work!!
    Greetings from Chi-Town~

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  19. Stunning page - and I can see why the glue is key.

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  20. Stunning page Heather! Wow...love the design and the chippies are so perfect for the photo!
    Gorgeous photo too...that bouganvilla is just amazing! Looks like the perfect and idyllic holiday! ;-)

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  21. Oh my!! I love how you've replicated the bouquet of flowers in your layout from the photo.... how fabulous does that clear gloss look!!

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