I don't want to belabor the whole miracle glue thing, but as I wandered the aisles of Michael's this morning, I was astounded at the amount of Halloween decorations out already (this whole season always comes well before I am ready).

And as I walked down aisle after aisle (I have to go down every aisle even if I only run in for one thing - I think that it is the curse of the creative mind, but I digress...) and got past my shock at how fast the seasons are changing, I actually got into the spirit of the whole thing.

...but then it hit me...

What a more perfect way to decorate for a fleeting holiday like Halloween than using the impermanent/permanent homemade glue? (if you missed the recipe, I posted it here on Wednesday's blog post - if you are really liking the sound of this glue, but don't want to go through the trouble of making it yourself, Daylilies will have their own version of this recipe all bottled and ready to send to you available on website by the end of September.)

Just bear with me one more moment - yesterday I was so caught up with the possibilities that this glue and some basic paper would have with my Thanksgiving dinner table that I did not give any time to think about how easy it would be to put up and take down decorations on windows.

Yes, windows.

The reality of this situation is that warm water dissolves the glue, so anything you glue (paper only, of course) to the window can easily be taken down with a sponge and some warm water.

What could be more perfect?

Black cats, jack-o-lanterns, bats, spider webs, witches hats....

I am headed back to the studio - I am right in the middle of designing a family fun pack for preschoolers and their families for Daylilies, but I really wanted to share my creative thought for the day. But don't just take my word on it... mix up some glue and give it a try yourself. And don't just limit this idea to Halloween! Christmas is coming, then New Year's, and Valentines... or how about pink flamingos for someone's birthday...? I can't wait to see your pictures (send to debra at dayliliescreative.com).

I had so much to say yesterday that I literally ran out of space. The reason that I was so excited about the permanent-til-wet quality of the miracle glue is because whatever I do can be undone. And so, I tested out the theory with the vase. I had bigger plans and I wanted to make sure that my suspicions were right; that this glue would indeed unglue itself with warm water.

After decorating the vase, it took less than 5 minutes under warm water to bring it back to its original clear glass. (This is when I did a little dance of joy.)

You see, it really is only a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. I don't have a lot of time, but I do like a beautiful Thanksgiving table.

Enter the miracle glue.

This year, I can use that glue to make my plain old glass plates just a little more festive. And then, when the holiday dinner is over, my plain glass plates can once again be my plain glass plates.

This is easy. This is quick. This is inexpensive. And this is fun (if not sticky) to do.

Here are my project pics (2 plates and a beer glass):

So what exactly did I do? Well, I turned on my computer and powered up Word so that I could print 'Thankful' in a nice font that would fit where I wanted it to go.

Then, I printed the page with my words on it - onto a piece of lightweight vellum. You could use whatever paper you wanted... I chose the vellum because I wanted the whole frosted effect, but if you would rather have a bright orange background, then use orange paper - this project should definitely be done your own way.

With paper in hand, I trimmed it to the size I wanted and then put glue on the plate (or glass) first before I stuck the paper down, making sure that there were no air bubbles under the paper. You can glue the paper first, but I found that this glue tended to make the lightweight paper curl and stick together before I could get it in place.

Finally, I did a quick sweep of glue over the paper just to seal and protect the paper from ripping.

Done.

The plate with the leaves was done much the same way, except I traced some clipart onto some scraps of the kite paper I had leftover from a previous project (still) and then glued them down as I did with the vellum and the words.

An easy project that will make any Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or Easter, or Halloween, or...) table/party much more festive. If you (or your kids) take on this project, will you send me pictures of your festive table? Email me at daylilies@dayliliescreative.com.

When I made the sandwich wrappers last week, I discovered that what I really needed was food grade glue. It just wouldn't have worked to wrap food in something that could be harmful. So, off I went in search of 'edible' glue.

Okay - so I did an web search and read a whole lot of blog posts about glue (yup, glue) and I found a recipe for mucilage. Apparently it makes a good sticker - you paint the glue on the back of your sticker project, let it dry, and then when licked, the sticker becomes sticky like a postage stamp would. I had no intention of making a sticker, but I figured if you can lick the stuff, then it should work for gluing on the sandwich wraps.

Here is the recipe as I found it on canteach.ca:

Envelope Mucilage:

6 tbsp pure white vinegar

4 packets of unflavoured gelatin

1 tbsp of peppermint extract

Bring vinegar to a boil and add gelatin. Stir til completely dissolved and add peppermint extract. Mix well.

I halved the recipe and I still had ALOT of glue. This stuff is really strong. But this glue gels to hard as soon as it cools, so you have to microwave it or warm the glue container in hot water long enough to bring it back to liquid. I also didn't use the peppermint extract.

But the real reason that I write about this glue now... is that this is miracle stuff!

If you brush it and stick it like you would normal white glue, this is very strong stuff! But more importantly, this glue is permanent until it meets warm water. And I think that this has seriously fantastic possibilities. I even tested out this theory:

I made a basic glass vase a little more fun with some old newspaper scraps and some of the leftover pieces of kite paper from my recent projects. Add a little of that miracle glue, and this is what the project looked like:

And the best news? When I don't like it anymore and want to make a change, I just have to hold the vase under warm water, and I am back to my clean and basic glass vase - ready to do something new.