Finishing Touches & Adhesive Lessons

I've gotten a bit of scrapbook work done in the new craft room during the last week, and there's no comparing the before and after differences.  Any kinks have now been worked out to all satisfaction!  Now, having said that...

During the weekend of transition, my loving husband wanted to put in a new system for punch storage.  NO!  I couldn't take another thought of more arranging.  He wasted no time today to rectify this and went out and purchased/assembled the adapted wooden shoe storage unit.  It's more than adequate to store my entire, extremely limited, punch inventory, with plenty of room to spare.  Tomorrow this system goes into place with minimum disruption.  He also bought and put in place an additional unit to organize the laser printer, printer paper reams, with an additional small shelf area for quick mailing supply access.  After completing this last small task, there will be no more talk of reorganizing for months, perhaps even years; however, the flesh is weak.

Miracles of miracles, the mini-album is 99.9% complete.  One major mistake made in the beginning was punching holes in the book board (homemade) before tearing a single page out of the pad.  In all fairness, the video never mentioned the need, and as a novice, I didn't realize how important this would be until much too late.  So the book was finished, sans holes.  No problem, we'd drill small holes into the completed covers and make up hole reinforcements to cover the blemishes.  No problem.  Except!  The front cover came out exactly as prescribed; the back, no so much.  The holes were drilled on the wrong side.  I'm so disheartened at the moment.  There doesn't seem to be a viable solution, unless crying counts.  A solution does exist.  I just don't know what that might be as of now.  So much fussy cutting on the back, no more paper to replace it with; blah, blah.  Inspiration will come, hopefully soon.  Regardless, this is a lesson that will never be forgotten.  That's part of the learning experience; but at such a great cost.  *moan*


I learned a great deal during the construction.  Yes, the greatest error was the holes; but less dramatically was adhesive function.  LO's tend to be very forgiving, no moving parts, no stresses, and the page protectors contain/protect whatever might come loose.  Conversely, mini-albums with all their pockets and tags, pages turning, etc, demand a higher degree of adhesive mastery.  

I learned:

1.  Murphy's Law applies to scrapbooking in general and adhesives specifically
2. Zip Dry paper glue means paper-on-paper 
3. ATG glue buckles under stress/movement
4. You get what you pay for; super strong double-sided red tape pays for itself in reduced frustration levels, measured in seconds
5. Glue dots are woosies
6.  Wet glue does not include Elmer's School glue
7. All glues take longer to set than expected, except when attaching large pieces onto pages within a precise 1/4 inch border, in which case, at that very moment, all glue becomes instantaneously and irreparably bonded to paper
8. There exists a substantial "bite" difference between the textured and smooth sides of paper
9. It's highly recommend not to Superglue your tongue to the lips, and keep in mind some glues are highly flammable (especially important if interested in keeping eyebrows nice and smooth)  *kidding folks! except for the Superglue part*

In the midst of placing the new unit upon the desk tomorrow I hope to put the finishing touches to a LO, long in the coming.  

Remember:  that which does not destroy us, makes us stronger!