In The Craft Room: 4/18/23
I suppose I should write “In The Craft Room With Ivy”. Because that was what it was yesterday when I was trying to create a bookmark for my new craft room series.
This poor bookmark has been through it. I didn’t realize my craft skills were quite so rusty.
And I also had no idea that they make stickers differently these days. Because I haven’t worked with stickers in at least 20 years.
I had a couple of packages of stickers I ordered from Amazon. When I went to remove them from the backing, I was stumped. How on earth did you get the stickers separated from the backing?
Have you seen stickers these days? They’re completely different. I don’t think they’re for the senior set.
You can’t at all see where the separation is from the backing. All you can do is scrape your fingernail till you manage to catch an edge that shows you’re making progress.
I probably tried for a good 30 minutes to remove one sticker yesterday afternoon. Finally I thought: Well maybe you have to cut around them. But the thought of cutting around flowers and ferns did not at all appeal to me.
There must be something I am missing, I thought.
So I went to my laptop and looked up the stickers on Amazon.
Nothing in the description said anything at all about removing them from the backing.
But in the reviews there was mention of how hard it was to remove the stickers. So I wasn’t the only one having trouble. I felt somewhat vindicated.
Back to the drawing board. I sat down again and took tweezers and literally dug into the backing trying to free at least a bit of the sticker. What insanity.
What happened to the old stickers that were so easy to deal with?
Finally, finally I was able to get one small edge up.
I felt victorious after all that. Because by that time my nerves were on the edge.
I have taken several photos of the finished bookmark, but I can’t seem to get a clear image. Maybe it’s for the best.
What happened to stickers that had no clear edging? I don’t like this kind at all. You can see the clear edging once you apply them too.
But I wanted to see it through. I threw one failed bookmark out the other day before I even got to the point of applying anything decorative. So I was determined to keep going.
Then I attempted to put a hole at the top of the bookmark for a ribbon.
I had not thought of this when I used a piece of cardboard from something as a base. Then added a piece of lavender card stock on either side. And by that time, it was pretty thick.
I could not get a hole in the thick bookmark no matter how much I tried.
So I waited on this part till Greg got here. You could see the marks I’d made in the bookmark, but he must have let it slip when he began to apply pressure to the hole punch.
Because horror of horrors, it isn’t centered! CLEARLY not centered. And anything not centered makes me slightly crazy.
But this morning I took the bookmark into the craft room, with Ivy trailing behind me, and finished it.
Which means I put a ribbon through the hole and attempted to “hide” the fact that the hole was not centered. And in doing so, I just attracted the eye to it.
I put another one of those horridly difficult stickers near it to try to camouflage the fact that it was really off-center. On top of the piece of laminate I affixed to both sides.
And I just made it worse. Because these crazy stickers with their clear siding shows right up on top of the laminate!
So do I call this craft session a win or a fail? I’d say it’s close to the middle leaning a bit toward fail. It isn’t at all what I had in mind when I began making this thing.
I didn’t realize that making a bookmark could be so stressful. I’ve made dozens of them over the years and didn’t have any trouble. But this was long before the terribly difficult-to-remove stickers came along.
Who had the idea to manufacture and market these crazy things?
All I can say is they need to make senior-friendly stickers. And I need to get my crafting skills up to par.
Brenda try a Cricut weeding tool, it’s perfect for lifting up a part of the sticker to peel it off. you could also use a safety pin or a needle.
I bought some sticker books from Amazon made by “eyelike”. I did just double checked and they are pretty easy to remove just by bending at the corner. But, they do have a white border and background, not clear.
P.S. I see the chipboard stickers are now being called dimensional stickers, and they are available on Amazon.
Evidently LOTS of crafters have problems getting the backing off of stickers based on a brief search I did online. I don’t know anything about stickers and such, but I did see something about some stickers with backing that is slit down the center and that makes it much easier to peel off the backing by folding the sticker along the slit and then using tweezers or a fingernail to get under the backing to lift it off. I don’t know if this is something you might use, but some years back when I was on vacation I went to a small town “general store” and found some gorgeous “stickers” – made of chipboard with adhesive on the back on each piece. They are sturdy and about 1/16th of an inch thick, so not flat like the usual stickers. At that time – 2016 – I paid $1.49 for a pack that has 22 pieces of all different sizes. There are birds, butterflies, dragonflies, some florals, bird’s nests of all different shapes and sizes, beautifully colored and a few with plastic “jewels” on them. They are really pretty. The chipboard pieces have adhesive on the back and stick well, and they lift right off the back panel they’re all “stuck” on with no problem. The name on the pack is K&Company. I see online they make scrapbooking supplies and the price has gone up on their various chipboard packs.
Brenda i found a place that has beautiful stickers and other items you may like its called Taperlogy i found it online. I think you may like this website Have a great day
Thank you!
Yes.. you happened to get the newer transparent stickers! That is the “thing” now and all the rage.. but very hard to get backing off! I do love the look though as they look so real on the paper, like they were almost painted on. You can get matte ones that aren’t shiny. Also, if you go to doverpublications.com they have sticker books (of everything!) that are like the old stickers we knew and loved. Each page is a white shiny page and the stickers are so easy to peel right off! You can also get the old kind of stickers at The Dollar Tree, or Dollar Store, or those sorts of stores. Ours here in Madras, OR has an entire wall of them! You can buy them online too I think.. dollartree.com but have to buy in bulk I think. A “pokey tool” which is like a little awl, gets those transparent sticker backings off pretty quickly! Have fun! Marilyn
I don’t know about them being “all the rage” but I was near to the point of rage trying to figure out how to remove them!
Knaid Watercolor Birds and Flowers Stickers Set – Decorative Sticker for Scrapbooking, Kid DIY Arts Crafts, Album, Bullet Journaling, Junk Journal, Planners,
I don’t know how to share an Amazon link, but this was the description for some very pretty stickers. I don’t know if they would work any better for you or not.
Thank you!
I think your bookmark is pretty. Of course, I am partial to purple, lol. If the cardboard made it too thick to punch a hole in, can you just glue the two purple sides together and then laminate them?
Well, I certainly learned a lot from this bookmark. I will be making changes before I tackle another one! That’s exactly what I should have done.
I can totally relate to your dilemma with the stickers! My great grandson had stickers that I couldn’t remove from the backing. I was thinking to myself, am I getting so old I can’t even figure out how to get these stickers off! It seems as though everything in life is so complicated as you get older!
That’s exactly what I was thinking! I thought: what have things come to when I can’t even figure out how to remove a sticker from its backing?
look into a crop-a-dile to punch thicker pieces
Will do! Thanks!
Yes! The Crop A Dile by We R Memory Keepers can be found on scrapbook.com or Amazon. Be sure you get the hole punch as they also have one that is a corner tag punch which does corners on tags. That hold punch will punch through many layers of cardboard! Needs some hand strength though. You can always punch through each side first, and then glue them together. Regular punches are about worthless to punch through anything more than one piece of cardstock! Marilyn
I love that poppy bookmark! Botanicals are so beautiful. You’re making me think this could be fun to do (despite the struggles!). But I don’t even have any supplies to make a start.
Cats love paper. My dearly departed Snickety would have had a field day. he used to love laying on magazines then tearing the paper. Go figure!
Keep it up! Soon you find your Zen where you get so lost in creating, time will fly & even frustrations will have more rewards.
Ivy normally loves to tear up paper. But she left my paper alone. I already had the scrapbook paper from years ago. I just needed stickers and laminate sheets, which I ordered from Amazon.
I disagree with Ivy on something! She looks askance at that bookmark (last photo) while thinking, “meh!” while I’m admiring its beauty and your creative talent. Once again, you’re recycling something simple into an expensive looking result!
I’ve struggled with those “ghost-edged” stickers myself with the grandkids! Ugh!
I had no idea that’s what kind of stickers they were until they arrived from Amazon and I opened them yesterday. What a nightmare they are. Why was the old way they made them done away with I wonder?
It is so lovely to see more of Ivy! I would have loved it if my cat had wanted to sit nearby when I was crafting, he wasn’t much for getting on tables or desks.
Yes I agree about the stickers, they are terribly irritating. I have some really pretty ones but they stay in the box because of the time it takes to free them from the backing. I haven’t so far found a good and easy way of removing them from the backing.
Every time Ivy hears me go in there and sit down at the yellow table she is right there pronto. She is so curious about all the things in the boxes.
I think it’s a huge WIN because you persevered and got it done! I think it’s lovely. I understand how you feel but remember you haven’t done any crafting in quite a while. Do not give up, please.
I’m not giving up. I was just surprised that it was such a challenge!
Brenda, gotta say, been there, did that. I use lots of different things in my art journals, stickers also, so was excited to get the new transparent mushroom, flowers, butterflies, and birds stickers, on e-Bay. Well when I received them, I thought the seller had made a mistake, because they weren’t sticking to anything. DUH…..I found out just like you did, ( I have very very short finger nails) that was how to get the backing off. Anyway, that was last year, now I’m pretty fast getting the backing off, but I know, just like you, it drove me nuts at first. You’ll get the hang of it too, no problem.
Hugs from the deep new snow of Wisconsin, where last week we sat outside in the 80 degree sunshine.
I tried using tweezers too.
Don’t give up just yet. Because the bookmarks you showed us are very pretty.
Not giving up! I won’t let one day of frustration stop me.
Love this post! You are so much fun to follow. I get it, everything seems more complicated these days. But, I do think your finished product looks beautiful. Keep the crafting going.
Brenda
My daughter said there is a special tool to catch the edge of those stickers. I am sorry it was difficult.
I guess you would check Amazon.
Will do.
I will. I wish I’d known about the stickers though. I ordered mostly botanicals like ferns and such. How do you get that stuff off of fern fronds???