Top 6 Adhesives for Paper Crafts

As a longtime crafter, I am always on the lookout for glues and adhesives for a variety paper crafts but often rely on my favourite go-to items. Whether it be double-sided glue tape for gluing larger pieces of paper, two-way glue pens for gluing finer cuts or adhesive foam to make embellishments pop, I always make sure to have some on hand, especially for those last minute projects. Below I highlight my top 6 adhesives for paper crafts.

Top 6 Adhesives for Paper Crafts

1. Advanced Tape Glider (ATG)

When I first started making my own greeting cards using my Cricut Expression way back when, I needed a way to adhere layered mattes on my card fronts and sometimes white mattes on the inside for the message if I had chosen a dark coloured card base. Regular glue sticks did not work well for me and white glue was messy, warped the paper and took too long to dry. I had my eye on the SScotch Advanced Tape Glider and waited until it went on sale at Michaels. It has come in handy for making cards in bulk and I often use the 30% or 40% off coupon to buy refills. 

• PROS: Each refill contains 36 yards/32.9 metres of tape per roll so they last me a long time and the permanent adhesive is strong. 
• CONS: Sometimes the tape slides off the front roller.

2. 2-Way Glue Pen

This is my go-to for gluing finer cuts of paper, namely sentiments or any letter cutouts. And because it is a liquid, you have some felixibility when adhering so you have a little bit of time to adjust before it dries. My favourite pen is the Zig squeeze and roll fine ball point pen. 

• PROS: It is blue when wet so you can see where you have applied it but dries clear. 
• CONS: With certain black or dark coloured card stock, it may cause the colour of the card stock to bleed if you need to adjust the position.

3. Glue Dots

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Glue dots are very much glue the globs of glue you find on the back of your new bank cards that you get in the mail. They are great for adhering items that you want the recipient to be able to remove, such as gift cards, or if you want to glue embellishments such as flowers or other embelisshments that are not made of paper. I use them when adhering DIY magnets to card fronts. Scroll throught the Instagram images above to view an example.

• PROS: They offer removable and super strength, as well as mini dots. 
• CONS: They sometimes don't stick when peeling off the backing. If this happens, I find pressing really hard on the dot before removing the backing will work.

4. Adhesive Foam

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When adding layers to cake toppers or greeting cards, I love to add some dimension by using double sided adheisve foam tape to glue the layers together. I buy my rolls at Dollarama, which are usually in the aisle with painter's tape and are called Mouting Tape. I also learned a hack recently where you can stick strips of the tape onto a cutting mat and use a precision knife to cut them into smaller squares or strips. 

• PROS: A roll from the dollar store is pretty inexpensive and lasts me a long time.
• CONS: Once you apply, it is very, very difficult to remove so there is next to no wiggle room to adjust.

5. Precision Craft Glue

After seeing a lot of crafters using Bearly Art craft glue, I ordered a bottle online to give it a try. My favourite feature is that it includes a fine tip nib and a needle to clean out the nibs in between usages. It doesn't warp paper nearly as much as regular white glue and it is very strong once dry. 

• PROS: It dries clear and a little goes a long way.
• CONS: I haven't been able to find it locally and it costs more online than I care to pay for.

6. Double-Sided Glue Tape

This is a mini version of the advanced tape glider and it is great for smaller cuts as you can more easily apply it with precision. I buy them at the Dollarama and keep them on hand for those times when I need to quickly throw together a greeting card or even at school when I want to avoid warping from white glue or something more permanent than glue sticks. 

• PROS: It's easy to use and the dollar store version is fairly inexpensive.
• CONS: The tape length is only 8 metres the dispensers are non-refillable.