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Are glitter glues created equal? I don't think so... Nuvo Drops or Pearls? Shimmer pens. Yes Please!

Are glitter glues created equal?  I don't think so... 

Which dimensional drop do I use and what is best for my project?  Also, we are going to talk about a few tips to jazz some cards up!

Come craft with me!


Today I played around with the following:

  • Nuvo Drops by Tonic Studios vs. liquid pearls by Ranger
  • Dollar Store glitter glue vs. Stickles by Ranger
  • And to add some glittery touches my favorite, Close To My Heart shimmer brushes
Where can you find them?

Nuvo drops:  www.tonic-studios.com
Stickles: https://jennifergamblin.closetomyheart.com/
CTMH shimmer brushes:  https://jennifergamblin.closetomyheart.com
Liquid pearls:  https://jennifergamblin.closetomyheart.com/

I bought some glitter glue from Dollar Tree because I am a craft hoarder and wanted to test it out.  Its 3 large bottles for whole dollar!  I couldn't resist.  


I created a few tests of $ tree glitter glue vs. my stickles and other than the stickles being the obvious winner, there may be some uses for this cheap glitter glue after all as I performed better than I expected.

  • Top 2 rows is the $ tree glitter 
  • Notice how the dot is very clear and see through, it also was difficult to get a good small dot.  I tried again at the top and the dot was not very uniform.
  • Bottom dots are the Stickles, its a very strong nice color and very glittery.  Also a really uniform nice dot.
  • Stickles dries much faster and doesn't spread out as much which is nice.





I used stickles on some wooden clothes pins below:

Notice how the purple ($ Tree) is very spotty with the glitter while the red (stickles) has tons of glitter and color?


I used purple $ Tree glitter glue for the dots on the card below.  The dots seemed to spread due to the wetness in it and some smooshed together.  

The clear dots in the bottom right hand corner were done with Stickles.  They remained the same size, did not spread, and look nicer.



I could see using $ Tree glitter glue for fun or kid crafts but I wouldn't use it on my cards or scrapbook pages.  It just looks really bad in my opinion and takes every longer than Stickles to dry.  Maybe if you were going to paint a glitter sheen onto the top of something it would be okay.  Even then I would use Stickles.  It doesn't look like there is enough glitter in it.  

What would you do with the $ Tree glitter glue?  Leave me a comment below and let me know.


The next couple items I tested out were the Nuvo Drops and  Liquid Pearls.


I like both for different reasons.

Nuvo I like for dimensional dots.  
Liquid Pearls seemed stiffer and harder to squeeze from bottle and it was harder to get a rounded top.  However, you can use them to watercolor.  


The yellow dots below were made with Nuvo, Notice how uniform they look?
The purple dots were done with Liquid Pearls and I couldn't get the peak off of them.

If you tap the bottom of your paper, the dots will usually flatten out.  Could it be that my Liquid Pearls are old?  Idk, let me know if you have experience with it?

I used the Nuvo Crystal Drops in the color Dandelion Yellow.
In Liquid Pearls I used Orchid.



You can buy small dots like this but you are going to pay 3.00 or so for a sheet.  With Nuvo you can make them as big or as small as you would like, they are at your fingertips, and you do not need to find the sticker sheet. They dry popped up and are 3 dimensional.

                             

What I found about liquid pearls is that if you take Liquid Pearls and mix them with a bit of water they made a beautiful water color effect.  Use this to paint over stamped images!   I used the Orchid color.




As I was adding liquid Pearls to the card below I decided to use my finger and wipe around on the embossed card front to create more a painted look.  I really like how it turned out.





Close To My Heart Shimmer Brush

This provides a light hint of glitter to your projects.  Below I added it over the ink to the beetle and sentiment and it really makes it pop.  These come in a wide variety of colors and match our CTMH inks.  I used the clear color.


With the options above, I would choose Stickles for my go to glitter glue, shimmer pens by CTMH for your light glitter, Nuvo Drops for 3D dimensionals, and Liquid pearls for coverage, painting, or watercolor.

I also have tried and like to use the brand Wink of Stella shimmer pens.  They seem to be more expensive and do essentially the same thing as Close to My Heart so I choose to go with CTMH (and they match my inks/paper colors)

Let me know what you think.

Is there anything you would like to see tested out?  Let me know in the comments!


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