Supplies you will need:

• AdTech® 0450 Lo-Temp Glue Gun  Click here to buy on Amazon
• AdTech® Multi-Temp Mini-Size Glue Sticks  Click here to buy on Amazon
• Battery-operated LED string lights (Must be LED bulbs that don’t heat up! This project has not been tested with plug-in LED lights.)
• Tiny beads for the eyes

IMPORTANT: Anything made with hot glue will start to melt above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not leave your finished project in a hot car, near a heater, run it through your clothes dryer, etc. 

Step one: Attach the glue stick to one of the lights.

The number of glue sticks you’ll need depends on how many LED lights you have on your string. I used 4-inch mini glue sticks and put one on each light. You can cut them down if you want smaller ghosts, or if your glue sticks happen to be a longer length. I cut mine down to about 2 1/2 inches long. You will also need extra glue sticks for the texture layers and arms.

Heat up your glue gun. I prefer a low-temperature glue gun for this project because it will make your glue stick base less soft while you’re working, and your hot glue will be less runny.

Pick up a glue stick and push the nozzle of the gun into the end of the glue stick to melt a divot into it – long enough to submerse the bulb part of the light.

IMMEDIATELY push one of the light bulbs into the glue divot to bond. Hold for a few seconds until it bonds. If it doesn’t bond all of the way, just add a little hot glue around the top of the bulb to bond it in place.

Tip: You can leave these glue stick lights as-is. They look pretty cool just as plain sticks and will put off more light than the bulbs alone. Another alternative to ghosts is to make icicle lights for the winter season. There are a ton of things you can do with glue sticks and lights!

Cut your sticks if necessary. I cut mine down to about 2 1/2 inches long.

Step two: Add hot glue layers.

Using your hot glue gun, add layers of hot glue over the glue stick base, alternating sides. If your glue stick base starts getting too warm and flexible, wait a few seconds before adding more hot glue.

Just keep adding lines of hot glue until you get the shape you want.

Step three: Add arms (optional).

If you want your ghosts to have arms, just add a blob of glue and hold your ghost at an angle so the blob “wings out”. You can also use AdTech’s Finger Guards to shape the arms once the glue has cooled a little.

Step four: Add the eyes.

You can add any kind of eyes. I found that tiny beads work well. Just hot glue the beads onto the head area.

That’s it! Each ghost takes a little bit of time, but you will end up with something really unique and inexpensive. I hope you enjoy this project using hot glue as a medium!

Love what you created? We will, too! Tag us in your image on Instagram, @adtech. Use the hashtags #glueasamedium and #thisishotglue so others can see your creation!

I happened upon a similar project over at Everyday Mom Ideas, and was inspired to create a new version using our AdTech® Crafter’s Gift Pack (available at Amazon and other retailers, and contains our Project Pro Glue Gun, MultiTemp Glue Sticks and Permanent Crafter’s Tape). Besides those items, all you need is some scrapbook paper and one or more small tree branches.

The original project called for wiring the leaves onto the branches. I decided to up the simplicity factor with hot glue. Worked like a charm!

Supplies you will need:

• AdTech® Crafter’s Gift Pack
  Click here to buy from Amazon and get 20% OFF with promo code 20STUDIO5643!!
• Small branches (We had several trees down due to a recent snow storm, so I used those branches.)
• Scrapbook paper in different colors & patterns
• Scissors
• Spray paint (optional)
• Container or vase for the base

Step one: Spray paint the branches (optional)

This is pretty self-explanatory. Shake the can well and spray outside away from objects… like cars, people and pets. You can spray the branches or leave them natural. I felt like white was more spring-y.

Step two: Make a paper sandwich

If you have large 12″ x 12″ paper like I did, you’ll want to cut it into more manageable pieces. I cut each large piece into quarters. (It really doesn’t matter what size. Just use a size that you are comfortable cutting leaves out of.)

Next, apply the Crafter’s Tape to the wrong side of one piece. I ran the tape one way every half inch or so, and then ran a couple of lines across the other way, and around the border.

Place another piece on it (wrongs sides together), so you see a different pattern on each side. Press together.

Step three: Cut the leaves

I didn’t make a template. I just cut out leaf shapes. Pretty easy!

Make a bunch of leaves – as many as you think you’ll need for your tree.

Step  four: Bend the leaves

I took a ruler and bent the leaves a little, to give it a nice effect and show off the undersides of the leaves more.

Step five: Hot glue the leaves to the branches.

Add a small drop of hot glue to the bottom of the leaf.

Touch the leaf to the branch and hold for a few seconds until it bonds. (No need to touch with your fingers. It bonds well just touching the leaf to the twig. Bonus!)

Just keep adding leaves until you get the look you want.

Step six: Add flowers (optional)

This is totally optional, but you can add some paper flowers if you’d like. I happened to have a flower punch kicking around, so I made some quick blooms. I used hot glue to adhere the layers, and a dab of hot glue and a small bead for the center.

That’s it! I hope you liked my version of this awesome project! If I could do it again, I would have made the leaves a little bigger for a fuller effect, but all in all I’m very happy with it. I got a lot of “oooohs and aaahhs” from the AdTech staff, and our receptionist, Cindy, will be taking it home for Easter. (The tree is about 3 feet wide, so I hope she has room!)

Love what you created? We will, too! Tag us in your image on Instagram, @adtech. Use the hashtags #glueasamedium and #thisishotglue so others can see your creation!

One of my favorite statement jewelry pieces is a crystal necklace, made by my good friend, Jessica. I get a lot of comments on it, likely because it combines three very unique elements: a crystal, a bullet casing, and a Day of the Dead skull bead.

For a while, I thought it would be cool to make some necklaces like this on my own… until I discovered that buying nice-looking crystals (cough, ones that didn’t look like they were made of plastic) could cost $10 a pop domestically. Yikes.

Then Chris pointed out that glue sticks look an awful lot like uncarved crystals. Light bulb moment! Suddenly she was taking Multi-Temp sticks and cutting the ends off to make faux “crystals” that looked like the real deal!

AdTech glue sticks are perfect for this because AdTech’s claim-to-fame is having the clearest glue sticks in the world. They don’t have that yellow undertone that a lot of generic sticks have, so when the “crystals” are complete, they have a pure, clear sheen. Also, they won’t turn yellow over time; they’ll stay clear. They’re just beautiful!

All right, let’s get down to how to make your own hot glue crystal necklace. They take less than 30 minutes!

Supplies you will need:

• AdTech® Multi-Temp glue sticks –> Click here to buy on Amazon (We highly recommend AdTech® glue sticks for jewelry because they don’t yellow!)
• Utility knife
• Clear nail polish (choose a non-yellowing brand if possible)
• Eye pins
• Bead caps (approximately 10-12mm in size)
• Necklace chain (if you use a pre-made chain with a large closure, you might also need jump rings)
• Jewelry pliers with wire cutter feature
• Le Plume alcohol markers in light colors

Step one: Choose your glue stick

Full-size glue sticks work well for crystal necklaces like mine, because they make a statement. If you want to do a pair of dangly earrings, you might choose the minis.

Step 2: Carve the sides

**Warning!** Safety first! Blade away from your body, guys!

Use a new blade, and be very careful! Holding the glue stick down along the edge of a cutting board and starting about 3 inches from the end, slice one side of the glue stick. It’s best to brace the knife along the cutting board as you go, keeping the slice as even as possible. Do this 5-7 times until all of the curved sides of the glue stick are gone.

Step 3: Carve the end to a point

Hold the glue stick at a 45 degree angle and slice from one of the flat sides towards the core of the glue stick. You want to do this in a quick “chopping” motion, hitting the cutting board as you do it. One fell swoop! That will give you the straightest angle cuts. Repeat this on an opposite side, and then repeat 2-3 more times until you are happy with the end of your crystal.

*Pro Tip: Look at crystals online to get an idea shapes found in nature.

Step 4: Shorten the stick

Use your knife and cut the crystal from the stick. At this point you can check to see how well your bead cap will fit the top. If needed, you can carve a little bit of the crystal away or round it to fit the bead cap better.

Step 5: Color your crystal (optional)

Our designer/marketer, Chris, was at a trade show with other craft companies and scored some Le Plume Alcohol Ink Markers from Marvy Uchida. They are perfect for tinting our hot glue projects! (Thanks, Rick C! We wish we knew about these when we did our Beach Glass earrings post…) If you don’t have any, we highly recommend you pick up a few – or a whole box! They are amazing.

For a natural look, less is more! Use very light colors. We used the lightest of the pastels for ours. You can also use more than one color per crystal for a rainbow effect. Chris likes to just add a stripe of color alond the center of each flat side. She does not color the ends or anything else. This gives the most natural look.

Step 6: Add bead cap and eye pin

Hot glue the bead cap to the top, keeping as straight as possible. Cut the eye pin to about 2/8″ long and push into the top of the crystal through the bead cap. If needed, hold the crystal upside down and push onto a hard surface.

Step 6: Seal and shine with clear polish

Choose a high-quality nail polish for this part so it’s non-yellowing. (We picture a cheap one above because it’s what we always have on hand for quick seals and repairs, but choose a brand you’re confident won’t taint your crystal over time.) Having the bead cap on prior to this step will make the crystal easier to handle. We discovered this after making a few crystals, so although the picture below doesn’t display the bead cap, this is the way we recommend you go!

Step 7: Add a chain

A simple ball-chain is best, because you won’t have to worry about squeezing a clasp through the eye-pin. If you want a fancier chain, loop a jump-ring through the eye-pin and close around your chain with pliers.

Love what you create? We’ll love it, too! Snap a pic and post on Instagram, and make sure you tag @adtech so we don’t miss it. If you want the world to see it, use our new hashtag #glueasamedium, too.

Now it’s time to get back on track, though, and we’ve got some AMAZING project ideas coming to you in the coming weeks! Kicking things off? Sea glass… made from hot glue.

That’s right. There are so many applications for this, my mind almost bursts. I remember being a kid and trying to find sea glass and sand dollars along the beach (I grew up near the coast), and some days I had awesome hauls, but most days were a bust. Imagine not only being able to make your own “sea glass,” but being able to make it into whatever shape you want. The possibilities are endless!

Here are the tools you’ll need:

• AdTech Full-Size HiTemp glue gun (You can also find AdTech glue guns and glue sticks at your local WalMart, as well as many craft/hardware stores)
• AdTech Full-Size MultiTemp glue sticks (AdTech glue sticks are strongly recommended, so your jewelry will be clear and won’t yellow!)
• Acrylic paint in sea glass colors (green, blue, etcetera) and a bit of water
• Silicone mat or parchment (baking) paper
• Paint brush or cotton swabs
• Paper towel
• Scissors
• Optional: Acrylic seal, matte (you can get this at most Michael’s stores, too – bring your coupon!)
• Leather punch (can be found at hardware store for about $10), or small paper punch such as a Cropodile
• Earring hooks
• Jump rings (to match earring hooks)
• Pliers
• Optional: Textured glass and vaseline, for making “glass” that looks like it came from a particular bottle or dish

Step one: Lay out your silicone mat.

A silicone mat is a vital tool for anyone working with hot glue. In this case, it is essential because you’re going to draw your designs directly on the mat and then peel them up. Alternatively, you can use a sheet parchment (baking) paper.

Step two: Warm up your glue gun.

Pro tip: Always keep your gun upright, on its stand, and never on its side. Although sometimes we set our glue guns on their sides to prevent them from dripping, this can cause the glue chamber to clog or overheat.

Step three: Mix acrylic paint in water.

Sea glass can vary from almost opaque to almost transparent, so dilute your colors according to how you’d like the sea glass to look, knowing that you’re going to use your fingers to rub a lot of the paint off.

Step four: Make shapes using hot glue.

If you want to make drop earrings, draw a teardrop with your glue gun and then fill in the open spaces. If you want circles, make circles by squeezing your glue gun trigger several times in the same spot about 1/2″ from your silicone mat.

If you’d like to create that “broken glass” look of sea glass you find along the beach (such as pictured in this post), keep pumping your glue to create a long, wide, flat sheet. (If you have more than one silicone mat, you could try lying the second one over the glue to ensure an even, flat surface.) Then, when it has cooled completely, you can use scissors to create “broken” edges. This is the method we used for the earrings in this post!

Step five: Allow glue to cool completely.

Depending on how much glue you’re using, this could take 10-15 minutes. You can expedite the process by tucking the silicone mat into the freezer for 5 minutes. I prefer to take a tea break, myself, and check my messages, but whatever works for you!

Step six: Peel and paint.

Peel your creations off the mat, trim any strings with scissors, and start adding color.

Because the paint will be watered down, cohesion will create little pockets of color on your piece and make it seem uneven. That’s okay. You’re actually going to rub a lot of the color into the glue using your fingers, and this will even it out.

Try to keep only a thin layer of paint on the surface to make the rubbing process easier and more effective. You can always add more color if you need to.

Step seven: Rub it off, rub it in.

Take a paper towel to the paint and wipe it off. Some stain will be left behind; this is what you want. When you’ve gotten as much off as you can with the paper towel, use your fingers to rub what’s left of the color into the glue. This will create that translucent effect as well as even out the color. Add more color as needed if you want the statement to be bolder.

Pro tip: Rubbing alcohol will usually help clean up any mistakes.

Step eight: Cut the glue into jagged pieces.

This step applies to any glue you didn’t pump out of your glue gun into the shape you wanted. Sea glass along the beach is rarely a perfect teardrop shape, for example, so for more authentic look you may want to trim the glue pieces down to more organic-looking pieces.

Pro tip: Cut at a slant, rather than straight up-and-down. When glass breaks, it breaks in a jagged way, so cutting at a slant will make the pieces look more glass-like. Of course, you can also use this technique to create a beveled effect, which is what we did for this pair of earrings!

Step nine (optional): Seal the acrylic.

Because acrylic is a water-based paint, if you get any moisture on your sea glass, they may possibly bleed. Follow the instructions on the acrylic seal container, and make sure you use matte seal to retain that sea glass texture you’ve created with the glue.

Step ten: Punch holes into the “sea glass.”

Use a small setting on your leather punch, find a safe spot for the hole, squeeze, and (this is important) twist gently. Once you’ve given a good firm twist in 180 degrees in either direction, you can pull the punch loose, and you should have a nice, round hole. Repeat on the second piece of sea glass. (If you’re using a paper punch, just punch as usual.)

Step eleven: Add jump rings and earring hooks.

Use your pliers to open 4 jump rings – two for each earring. Loop the first ring through each hole, and squeeze closed; then loop the second jump ring through the first. Before you close the second ring, loop on your earring hook.

Be sure before you close the second ring on each earring that the sea glass pieces are going to face the way you want them to face once the earrings are in your ears. The “front” of the sea glass should be facing the side of the earring where the bend in the hook faces out, not the part where it goes through your ear.

Step twelve: When you get compliments on your “sea glass” earrings, say, “These are hot glue!”

It’s amazing what you can do with hot glue when you think of it as a medium, and not just as a way to bind two other materials together. In the coming weeks, look forward to seeing how we use glue to make… well, we won’t give it away. You’ll just have to stay tuned and find out what you can create!

Maintenance tip: Do not store your earrings anywhere that might exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, as the glue will soften and reshape. It may also stick to things you don’t want it to! Never leave your earrings in a warm car, for example, as you may never be able to get them out…

Love what you created? Post it on Instagram, and tag @adtech so we can see it! Use our new hashtags #glueasamedium and #thisishotglue so the world can see it, too. Stay creative, keep creating!

Less than a week until Christmas! Are your gifts wrapped?

Mine haven’t even all arrived yet… I’ll probably be doing half my wrapping on Christmas Eve. Luckily I’ve had some experience making even last-second wrapping—once or twice using leftover papers I rummaged out of the closet!—look like I planned way ahead.

Here is one trick for making your giftwrapping look top of the line this year.

Use a glue (or tape) runner instead of single-sided tape.

I actually tried this for the first time this year. And guess what? It’s awesome.

Wrap your gifts the way you normally would, but instead of ripping off pieces of single-sided clear tape every time you need to seal a fold (and trying to do it one-handed because the other hand is keeping your creases tight), just run your clear glue runner along the inside of the paper, and seal.

This has two perks: The first, obviously, is that you don’t need 3 hands to do the job. But the second is that no one will ever see the tape—because it’s under the paper instead of over it! How was I not doing this all along??

Let’s use this gift I got for my niece as an example!

Look how clear it goes on!

Use two rows if you need to! Pro Tip: On the ends of your boxes, fold that last piece under once before you tape it down. This looks a little cleaner.

And… you’re done! What are your giftwrapping tricks? We’d love to hear! Leave a comment below or come tell us on Facebook!

Guys, we are officially ten days away from Christmas! Have you gotten all your shopping done yet?

I confess… I have not. (And thank heavens for Amazon Prime because I am down to the wire and I have a very large family!) If you haven’t gotten all your shopping done yet, you might be excited to know that we have one last giveaway going on in December, starting today, and whether you want the prize for you or a loved one, we are going to try to get it shipped to the winner in time for Christmas. Are you ready?

For those who haven’t been following along, here’s a quick recap: We’ve already given away two stockings this month to two lucky winners. Each stocking we’ve assembled has had a different theme. The first was a seamstress stocking, and was filled with all sorts of sewing goodies. The second was a scrapbooker’s stocking, and it was full of papers, ink pads, tape runners – the works.

The third and final stocking is the Creative Genius stocking, and it is potentially the COOLEST of the lot. Here’s what’s in it:

• A box of 500 assorted buttons in different sizes and colors
• A bag of mini wool pom-poms in happy hues
• An artist’s travel-size sketchbook
• 10 metallic pens in a variety of colors
• 12 mini spools of colored twine (a variety of colors)
• A pack of high quality wooden medallions
• A bag of Scrabble letter tiles
• A “Thanks!” calligraphy stamp from Paper Sushi
• An eight-block color wheel ink pad from Color Box
• Chalkboard labels in different shapes and sizes (not pictured)
• A white chalk marker
• An AdTech Project Pro glue gun
• A pack of 10″ mini Christmas Tree Scented glue sticks

… and it all comes in a cute stag stocking from Kaiti B Boutique.

Why am I so jazzed about this last stocking giveaway? Because it is filled to the cuff with cool art supplies that I myself am always looking for an excuse to buy:

Wool pom poms? Um, yes please.

Scrabble tiles?  Great art supply. I’ve seen them used for resin jewelry, writing out messages on the top of art supply boxes, and other cool re-purposing projects.

A stamp from Paper Sushi will up-level any project; a sketchbook would never go unused; and buttons? Who doesn’t love a good button?

Basically it’s the perfect “I don’t need an excuse” stocking of goodies for the artist, creative genius, or DIYer. It’s an “it just makes me happy” stocking for the right-brained individual. (A left-brained individual totally won’t get it…)

We’re giving this stocking away on Wednesday, December 20.

HOW TO ENTER:

• Follow the AdTech Studio on Instagram
• Heart the latest giveaway image (it looks like the image at the top of this post)
• Underneath the giveaway image, share a moment of your own creative genius that makes you proud

That’s it! For extra entries, tap a photo of something you’ve created using hot glue and tag @adtech so we can see some of your creative genius, and/or tag a friend under the giveaway image on Instagram. We can’t wait for someone to take home this colorful, inspiring stocking!

Here are some close-ups of a few of the amazing products you are going to get if you are the winner:

Again, we’re drawing the winner on Wednesday, December 20, so enter before then!

*This giveaway is only open to residents of the contiguous United States.

Time for another #giveaway!

Congrats to the winner of our first giveaway, Kayna! She’s a Rodan and Fields rep who has been hustling all year, and we are excited that she got our Seamstress’s Dream stocking as a little something for herself. She deserves it!

Our next giveaway is the Scrapbooker’s Delight stocking. This one is awesome! I was never much one for sewing, but I’ve scrapbooked for years and I can attest that this stocking is full, full, full of products and tools that any scrapbooker will love.

Here is what one lucky winner will receive:

• Die-cuts in a variety of shapes and pastel colors
• Dual-brush pens for bold and fine-tip doodles and captions
• A custom “love” calligraphy stamp from Paper Sushi
• An eight-tone color wheel ink pad from Color Box
• Adhesive squares for seamless adhering of paper and photos
• Laser-cut wooden triangle embellishments
• A box of 4 crafters’ tape runners from AdTech
• A single removable tape runner from AdTech
• A corner cutter for rounded edges on photos and pages
• Botanical washi tape in 3 pretty patterns
• One “I’d Rather Be Scrapbooking” mug
• Fiskars precision scissors
• One adhesive eraser from AdTech
• A set of 12 cactus-shaped paper clips (just because they’re cute!)

All of it comes in a bright and happy stocking from Kaiti B Boutique. Here are some close-ups of a few of the products in this stocking:

We’ve streamlined this second giveaway to make it easy for everyone. For this giveaway, we’re accepting entries on Facebook only. Here’s what you do!

1. Visit our Facebook page
2. Comment below the giveaway post (at the top of our page) by sharing one memory you are grateful for
3. Make sure you enter by December 15

That’s it!

If you want extra entries, you can “like,” “love,” or “wow” the post, and for every unique friend you tag in a separate comment, you receive one extra entry. No limits to how many times you may enter!

This giveaway is only open to residents of the contiguous US, just so we can get these guys shipped out with their best chance of arriving before Christmas. The winner will be drawn and announced on Facebook on December 15, 2018!

Head on over to Facebook and enter! Good luck!

All right, Matt hasn’t celebrated Christmas in several years. I am determined to make this one extra special to make up for what he’s missed. That includes baking sugar cookies for his co-workers, buying us ugly Christmas sweaters… and decorating, decorating, decorating!

I saw an advent calendar on Pinterest made with real tree branches, and it inspired this piece for our coffee table. I couldn’t get started making it until Advent had already begun, so this version only has three candles in it instead of four. I recycled three birch candle holders my dad made for me a few Christmases back, drilled to fit tea lights, and decided we’d just light the candles any night we were home, rather on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

This project is quick and simple to make (it took less than an hour, not including the candle holders, but if you have a drill and a saw they won’t add on more than ten minutes!), and it will make any room feel like Christmas. We’re using ours on our coffee table, and it has already changed the mood in our house!

Supplied I used:

• AdTech Project Pro glue gun
• AdTech Mini Multi-Temp Glue Sticks
• 10″ cake stand from Hobby Lobby
• Birch branch pieces of varying heights, drilled to fit tea lights
• Artificial pine branches (I chose flame retardant ones!)
• String of artificial red berries
• Glitter pinecones from Michael’s
• Wire cutters
• Paper for tracing
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Yankee Candle red apple tea lights

Step one:

Trace the top of the cake stand onto a sheet of paper, and cut out the circle to use a template.

Step two:

Using wire cutters, trim the artificial pine branches to arc around the circle template, glueing together as needed. Leave circle unfinished.

Step three:

Place candle holders onto template and wrap branches around to ensure these pieces will fit within the wreath. When you are sure you have the length correct, use hot glue to seal the circle.

Step four:

If using berry clusters, simply glue decoratively around the wreath. If using a string, wrap the string around the wreath to help bind it together, cutting only when enough has been used.

Step five:

Hot glue pinecones intermittently around the wreath.

Step six:

Wait for all pieces to set, then lift wreath and place atop the cake stand. Fill with candle holders, complete with tea lights.

Step seven:

Place on a table, light the candles, and enjoy!

*Be sure to keep the candles away from flammable materials for your safety.

If you’re anything like me, you start playing Christmas music the second that giant Thanksgiving meal has settled. (You might even start your holiday shopping in September…) So now that Thanksgiving is over and the leftovers are finding creative uses, I’m thinking about ways to make the next holiday super festive.

One of the ways I get into the holiday spirit is finding new and fun ways to decorate and wrap gifts. I’m excited to share a few holiday gift-wrapping techniques in the coming weeks, and today I’m kicking things off with these easy holiday gift tags.

We so carefully pick out papers and bows, but in my experience, the gift tag is an under-appreciated afterthought. It often doesn’t match the rest of the wrap job. This year I’m putting some more thought into it than usual. These tags one way I’ve drummed up to make gift tags more interesting, and they are super customizable, so the sky is the limit with what you can do with them!

Supplies:

• AdTech Project Pro glue gun
• AdTech Mini Multi-Temp glue sticks
• 2.5″ wooden gift tags from Michael’s
• Acrylic paints in seasonal colors
• Paint brush or sponge
• Sculpey clay in colors green, red, white, brown, and any other colors you think you’d like to use
• Craftsmart mini arrow cookie cutters
• Access to an oven
• Cooking sheet
• Christmas stamps small enough to fit the wooden tags
• Twine
• Mini star sprinkles
• Acrylic sealer (optional)

Christmas Tree gift tag:

On a clean, flat surface, roll out about 1 Tbs. green clay for Christmas tree. Punch with medium-sized arrow cookie cutter (from mini kit)—just one or several to make several trees.

Roll tiny green rounds of clay and twist into “branches.”

Press branches, big to small and from bottom to top, into arrow.

Press top of tree with star-shaped sprinkle, then remove (will melt otherwise in oven!).

Bake at 275 for 15-18 minutes and allow to cool.

Cover work area with newspaper or other protective barrier before painting tags. Paint and stamp wooden gift tag, leaving room for tree. (Use paint for stamp, not ink.)

Use hot glue to apply tree to tag.

Secure tag to gift using twine.

Pinecone gift tag:

On a clean, flat surface, roll out about 1 Tbs brown clay for pinecone. Punch with medium-sized arrow cookie cutter (from mini kit)—just one or several to make several pinecones. Then punch 8-10 tiny-size arrows from clay for every pinecone you want to make.

Cut the bottoms off the mini arrows using the edge of the cookie cutter, just leaving the points. Secure arrow tips to the medium-sized arrow, starting at the top and working to the bottom (note: this is opposite from the Christmas tree design).

Create larger arrow tips if needed to gradually increase the size of the “petals.”

Bake at 275 for 15-18 minutes and allow to cool.

Cover work area with newspaper or other protective barrier before painting tags. Paint tips of pinecones with white for a snow effect. Paint and stamp wooden gift tag, leaving room for pinecone. (Use paint for stamp, not ink.)

Use hot glue to apply pinecone to tag. Secure tag to gift using twine.

Peppermint gift tag:

On a clean, flat surface, roll 2 Tbs each of red and white clay into “logs” about an inch in diameter (do white first to prevent contamination).

Refrigerate the logs for 30-45 minutes.

Cut into sixths length-wise.

Create new logs in a peppermint design, alternating red and white pieces, and roll together to secure.

Use a piece of floss or thread to slice the logs into buttons.

Bake at 275 for 15 minutes and allow to cool.

Cover work area with newspaper or other protective barrier before painting tags. Paint and stamp wooden gift tag, leaving room for mints. (Use paint for stamp, not ink.)

Use hot glue to apply mints to tag.

Secure tag to gift using twine.

Going in a slightly different direction with this new series, which I hope to add to a couple times a month: Home renovation!

As mentioned in one or two previous posts, I recently moved into a new space. A move was long overdue. The space is larger, it’s closer to a lively downtown area, and (important to me as a photographer), it has a lot of windows!

However, as with any new living situation, it needs work—a few repairs, and a lot of personalization!

Altogether there are 6 areas that need attention…

• The entryway—the floor is old and deteriorating, the built-in coatrack is missing some hooks, and the door doesn’t quite fit the frame properly
• The dining area—this room needs more TLC than I will probably get to in my tenure here, but as a transition room between the kitchen and living room, it will at least get some new trim, a nice rug, and some furniture to make it feel more like a breakfast nook than a cave
• The living room—this room has already gotten a fresh coat of paint, but it’s also going to get some permanent shelving over the inactive fireplace, some new windows, and then personal touches like plants and curtains to make it more homey
• The bathroom—the best part about this space is the clawfoot tub; but whoever did work this room last did a shoddy job. LOTS of repairs needed here
• The kitchen—from mismatched cabinets and countertops to a cluttered setup, this room will probably require the most creativity. Coming soon to the Studio: Homemade handles for the cabinets! (To be installed after the room has been painted…)
• The office—an ornate room with new floors and lots of potential, this is where we will be starting today!

As described in the videos at the bottom of this post, the room which has been designated for my office has some pros and some cons. Pro: An ornate ceiling, which makes for a point of interest. Another pro: Although in a historical building, there is a new wood floor in this room, which just makes the space feel a little fresher, like there are endless possibilities in there.

Con: The walls have been finished with panel board, which is dated, unattractive, and ill-paired for the decorative ceiling. Another con: The ceilings are low and the room is asymmetrical. Final con: There are lots of cracks, gaps, and paint drips in this room. Today we’re dealing with the cracks!

AdTech, while known for their hot glue guns, has also come out with a variety of tools for home decorating and repair. One of these is the ProTouch, which is just about the most convenient caulking gun you’ll ever use.

It’s much more compact than your average caulking gun, which makes it easier to manipulate and accessible to people of all strengths and sizes (women who want to take on their own home repairs: get excited. This tool is super handy). It comes with a snap-on cap to preserve whatever silicone or caulking you don’t use (unlike a lot of those larger tubes, which dry up between uses). And you get two tips with the gun, for laying wide, flat lines, or long, thin seams.

If you’re unfamiliar with caulk, it’s literally a filler/sealer for those spaces where you don’t want moisture to end up or where you don’t want cracks to show. Silicone, a rubbery, water-and-heat-resistant material, is sometimes used around industrial sinks; traditional caulk, a white, chalky substance, is often used around home sinks and tubs. Both can be used for a variety of other projects, as well. For this project, we’re using the traditional caulk.

As you can see in the video and the photos, there were a lot of gaps between the panel board and the ceiling in the room which will be turned into my new office. Before painting the room, we cleaned the walls and ceiling, and we sealed up the cracks using caulk, wiping away excess with a damp sponge. This vastly improved the look of the space for the final painting project, and also helped to ensure that excess paint wouldn’t get caught in the cracks and turning into drips.

We also had to sand down old paint drips, remove almost 20 nails that had been left in the wall for the last paint job (why? heaven knows!), and spackle some holes that were simply too large to fill in with caulk.

As of this post, the room is at a point where you can almost never imagine it ever looking beautiful, but we’ve got big plans for it! Looking forward to sharing how different this room looks after a decent paint job….

Stay tuned!

For the last five or six years, I’ve basically missed Halloween. I’m definitely someone who wants to Go Big or Go Home on this holiday, so when I’ve had too much going on, I’ve just, well, skipped it.

This year I realized that if I don’t find a median between “Go Big” and “Go Home,” I’m never going to get to be a part of the fun dress-up tradition again… and I LOVE Halloween and I hate to miss it! So this year, I am going simple. I’m dressing up… as SnapChat!

Now, this will really only work if I can find a few other people to dress up with me. SnapChat filters change every day, so if someone doesn’t happen to see the one I choose for my costume, it won’t make any sense. But if 3-5 of us come together as different filters, I think it will be hard not to see right away what our costume is!

Below are 3 SnapChat filters that I found were super easy to replicate (even at the last minute!), and if you and your friends want to trick-or-treat together, each of you can use a different disguise below and still go out in “group costume.” Ready?

#1: Oh, Deer

SnapChat has offered different versions of the fawn, doe, and deer over the year I’ve been on the app—but I think anyone would quickly recognize this SnapChat filter. And of course if some people don’t, it can be just a deer, or even Bambi. 

All you need is a headband, some brown, taupe, and pink foam, glitter, and your AdTech Project Pro glue gun. This was the easiest of all the filters to recreate!

#2: I Heart U

Another headband and wire getup, this costume could be “Valentine’s Day Incarnate” if you party solo, or it could be the love filter on SnapChat if you go out with friends who dress as other filters. Two pink felts, this stencil, some stuffing, a headband, wire, and your AdTech Precision Pro will make this costume possible in less than an hour!

#3: Crown of Flowers

For this one, I borrowed a couple flower designs from this post. I thought the crown was perfect for the SnapChat disguise! I did make the flowers a little smaller than the blogger’s, even though on the filter they are quite large, because I thought the costume would be too ostentatious next to the other filters I recreated. In a group costume, everyone would notice the flower crown and kind-of not see every other filter.

If you’re in a hurry, I recommend maybe creating flowers this way instead, as I think the process might go a little faster. I used the AdTech LoTemp Mini to make the flowers bond fast without crinkling the paper.

What do you think? We’d love to hear your comments and see your costumes! Share with us over on Instagram and Facebook!

Setting a table for a feast (or even just a large group) calls for some strategy. To keep the mood relaxed and enjoyable, you want to balance a variety of comforting cues with cleanliness and spaciousness—meaning, you want familiar aromas to fill the air and decorations to abound… and you also want to keep the table clear of dirty dishes and make sure each guest has enough elbow room.

Sounds simple enough—until you realize you want to put both a gorgeous centerpiece and your carefully prepared meal in the same spot on the table. Or that you’ve invited twelve, but only have enough china for ten. Then suddenly you find yourself saying something you never thought you’d say before: “The rules for a traditional table setting would come in really handy right about now!”

I’ve got you covered. Back in the day, I had to learn for a job which silverware was used for what—and in so learning, I actually learned the right way to set a table at the same time. As you plan to host holiday meals this year, consider these 5 handy tips for maintaining the energy of your party from appetizers to dessert.

#1: Plan to keep the food in the kitchen.

Some decisions are best made in advance, and this is one of them. Either plan to forego the cornucopias, gourds, and other fall decorations at the table and go forth with the take-one-and-pass-it tradition when it comes to food… or choose to decorate a formal table and keep it fresh all evening by leaving the food in the kitchen. I recommend the latter.

Here’s why: When food is the centerpiece, the table stops being lovely after that first round of serving. Water glasses get tipped over; serving spoons fall out of the sweet potatoes right onto your fine linens; gravy sloshes out of the boat—not to mention that the dishes themselves look ransacked.

Also, at occasions like Thanksgiving, with large groups of people, the amount of food can really interfere with the atmosphere, because there’s simply too much on the table. If you keep the food in the kitchen, there’s only one room to deep-clean once the meal is over, and you can decorate the center of your table with festive decorations that hold up all evening, give your guests their space, and look great for pictures.

#2: Set the table intuitively.

Large meals often take a long time to prepare—which is how multi-course meals were invented. While your guests are waiting for the entree to be ready, their hunger is kept at bay with small dishes, like salad and bread.

If you opt for multiple courses, set your table “top down.” This means have all the dishes your guests will need already at their place settings, with the first dish they will use on top, and the last dish they will use on the bottom. As each course is completed, the used dishes can be taken away, and the next piece of dinnerware that is needed will be ready and waiting underneath, clean and fresh for the coming course.

When it comes to silverware, place the first piece your guests will need at the outermost position (like a butter knife for a bread course or a salad fork for a starter salad). Remember that traditionally, to keep folks from digging in before the blessing, forks are placed on the left side of the plate (harder to reach for the large population of right-handed people), and spoons and knives are placed on the right. Knives should be placed with the blade facing inward.

If you like, you may wrap the first course’s silverware in the handkerchiefs or napkins guests will place on their laps, and position this silverware either above the place setting or directly on the topmost dish (pictured), and position all other courses’ silverware in their traditional locations on either side of the place setting. The napkin rings in this post are a great way to make place settings festive.

#3: Use placemats to designate each guest’s space.

Tables can get tight very quickly without some intentional planning. One thing you can do to ensure everyone has a little acre at the table is to put down placemats.

The technique I’ve used here is to layer two different placemats—one large, and one small. The larger placemat accommodates the silverware on either side of the guest’s entree plate, as well as the water and wine glasses.* The smaller draws the eye in to the food. Together, they offer each guest the impression that his space has been specially prepared for him, and he is welcome to get comfortable there.

Depending on whether you plan to serve a different wine with each course, how many napkins/kerchiefs each guest receives, you might opt to use a single placemat to keep the table feeling breathable and spacious.

*Guests are traditionally offered water before a meal, often alongside bread, intended to cleanse the palette. The water should be available all evening long, so water and wine glass should be separate.

#4: Leverage the season if you’re short on coordinating dishes.

As you can see at this table I’ve set, each place has approximately the same pieces—an entree plate, an appetizer plate, and a salad bowl. But not all the pieces coordinate from place setting to place setting. That’s okay!

The chances of you inviting the precise number of guests that you have coordinating china is slim. Especially in the autumn, when all the colors of the season work together, you can mix and match to create a curated, cozy effect. This can also help to put your guests at ease if they’re not entirely used to sitting at a completely formal table.

#5: Tier your centerpiece decorations.

There are two things you want to avoid when decorating the center of the table for a large meal: One, having centerpieces that are too tall for your guests to speak easily with one another across the table, and two, having centerpiece decorations that are too low and therefore come off as “flat.” Both provide distractions throughout the meal.

You can find a happy medium by using a three-tier system for decorations. For example, you can have a “tall tier” of tall, slim candles every 18 inches or so down the middle of the table; a “medium tier” of bowls of dried-cranberry-filled water and floating tea lights; and a “low tier” of greenery and small embellishments, such as gilded pinecones or dragon tears. See this post for how to create gilded pinecones and custom candle sticks that you can use as two of your centerpiece tiers!

The rest is up to you! The right food, music, games, and conversation will keep your meal merry all night long. Share the images you take of your formal table with us! We’d love to see!