Challenge - Success

Success - I believe we all view success differently. Some say success is when you achieve greatness through a job, making it to the top. Become wealthy beyond ones own means. For others success can be the little things in life. The first steps after a terrifying accident, a child's first words, a cure for a decease.
Think about this word: Success. What does it mean to you?
In this challenge I would like you to make a page

1: where you journal about what the word means to you.
-or-

2: using a quote or poem as inspiration.

-or-

3: where you journal about the success you would like to achieve or maybe wish for others to achieve.
Feel free to read through the quotes, poetry, etc, below to use as your inspiration.

Success [link to Wikipedia]

Success - definitions:

1: obsolete : outcome, result 

2:

    a : degree or measure of succeeding

    b : favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence 

3: one that succeeds

Titles:
1: Bittersweet Success
2: Color of Success
3: I'm the Most Successful Failure
4: Nothing Succeeds Like Success
5: Overnight Success
6: Sudden Success

Quotes:
1: Success comes in cans. Failure comes in can'ts. (Unknown)
2: Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. (General George S. Patton)
3: Success is measured not by what you gain, but what you overcome. (Unknown)
4: Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. (Booker T. Washington)
5: There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it. (Christopher Darlington Morley)
6: Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. (Al Bernstein)
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True Success by C. Hoppe

I hope my achievements in life shall be these:
That I will have fought for what was right and fair,
that I will have risked for that which mattered,
that I will have given help to those who were in need,
That I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Success by Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and love much,
to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children,
to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others,
to give of one's self,
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition,
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation,
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have fun doing this challenge.

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process. The Journey!

And if you feel up to it, please share pictures of your art journal pages at our Flickr gallery HERE

Challenge - 05

Let's play with masking tape this week. Some of you may have heard of something called Washi Tape. It is making tape with pretty patterns, colors, etc. You can see two rolls in the photo above. Washi Tape is a lot of fun to play with, but I find that it is ridiculously expensive. And we all know that when our art supplies are expensive we hesitate using them and just end up hoarding instead. What fun are art supplies if we wont use them.

So instead I use regular masking tape. You can find so many different brands, sizes, textures, and 'stickiness strength' (quality). You can use these different tapes for textures or even decoration on your pages. And they are fun to play with. Just always remember they are masking tapes which are made to be removed again so they might not always stick too well, and might even come off when getting wet. I also include medical tape in my collection, but again, it is made to come off, so keep that in mind when you use it.

I am going to show you two ways to use tape on your pages. This first one is the regular Add, Paint, Remove way:

First I added a few lines of masking tape to my pages. It really depends on your paper how well this will work. Some paper will tear when you pull off the tape, and in other instances, it will come off really nicely. My journal that I used here is an old children's dictionary where I covered the pages with some really cheap gesso.

Next I applied some acrylic paint using an old plastic card. Just scrape it on. Dont worry about being neat.

I then gently removed the tape while the paint is still somewhat wet. You can see how the tape removed some of my gesso from the page, but I like that "worn" look, so it is OK with me.

On this next one I am going to use the tape to create texture. So I will not be removing the tape again.

I used several different brands of masking tape and medical tape to create various different textures on my background. And because I am not going to remove the tape again I used my finger to really rub over the tape to make sure it was sticking to the paper.

Again I used my plastic card to apply the paint. 

This is the result of the first one. After I applied the paint and removed the tape I didn't do anything else. This page is now ready in my journal to be used soon. 

And this is the result of the second version. I used primary cyan, phthalo blue, and turquoise green. I used the hair dryer to dry the paint just a little between colors. Just to make sure it didnt become mud. Then I added some titanium white to the entire page. Just a thin layer.
I then took my little water spray bottle and just sprayed a little water on the page. Just to allow for a few drops (mist). I quickly scraped over the water droplets with a clean plastic card and it produced the effect you see in the photo.

THE CHALLENGE:
This week I would love to see you all play a little with some tape. You can use the techniques I used above or you can make up your own. Any way you choose to do this challenge is fine. As long as you play with tape, the cheap kind.
You can choose to just make a background to use later or you can do a finished page.

SAMPLE:

I thought I would add this page I just made from the background from this challenge. It didnt turn out at all the way it was supposed to LOL. I was testing a homemade spray paint which turned out it didnt work at all the way I wanted it to work. But since we all will have pages that dont turn out the way we wanted them to I thought I would share mine.

I added the butterfly and lady. Then I had my little spray paint snafu. Then I decided to try out some new crayons and I used those to just apply more color.

Then I stamped words to a couple of pieces of masking tape. I used a hair dryer to set the ink. Then I tore them to size and used a glue stick to adhere them to the page. 

To stamp the words on the tape I tore off a couple of longer pieces of tape and applied them to a glossy piece of card board. Then I stamped on the words. Since I had the tape on glossy cardboard it came off easily and I could then tear to size and apply to my page.  

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process.

Have Fun!

And if you do feel up to it, please share pages at our Flickr gallery HERE

If interested in checking out some Japanese Washi Tape you can take a look CuteTape.com I personally don't feel that washi tape is a necessity to make beautiful art. I think you can make beautiful art with just any kind of cheap or found tape. You might also consider adding other types of tape to your stash.

Duck Brand has all sorts of fun tapes. Duct tape now comes in all sorts of colors and patterns. Some of my favorite tapes from Duck Brand are their Printed EZ Start tape, especially the Paisley one. Yummy. Again, they are not a necessity. Just for fun!

ATTENTION MEMBERS: Happy Hump Day

Happy Hump Day
I hope you are all having a fantastic week.

I wanted to just hop in and let you know about a few things.

1. I have set up a couple of polls over there to the right. If you could take a moment to vote in them so I can get to know you all a little better. It is easier for me to come up with new stuff for you if I know your needs.

2. Please feel free to use the comments on the posts as a way to dialog with your fellow art journalers. Don't be shy.

3. Any time you have a question, suggestion, or request please let me know. Either post a comment here on the blog, or shoot me an email imsoto2@gmail.com

4. I was wondering if any of you would be interested in starting a letter journal? Basically it is a journal where you dedicate a page to each letter of the alphabet. For example A could be Alive, B could be Bold, C could be Courage, etc. You choose how fast you want to work, you choose the words, etc.
I think it could be a fun project to run along side your regular journal. And you can do it hands-on or digitally, which ever you choose. Let me know what you think?

5. Would you like me to set up a forum for us to use? Might be a nice way to get to know each other.

Have a fantastic rest of the week and I look forward to hearing from all of you!

And also I would like to thank all of you who have been shopping at Twisted Scrapper Boutique and been using your coupons. Much appreciated and I hope you enjoy your new products.

Challenge - Courage

Courage - We all need it and we all have it (at least to some degree). Some people think of courage when they see a fire figther going into a burning building or a soldier travel to a far away land, but courage can also be a single mom raising 5 children on a minimum wage, or a grandmother fighting a fierce decease. How do you define courage?

In this challenge I would like you to make a page journaling about

1: someone you know who you feel is courageous

-or-

2: what the word courage means to you

-or-

3: something you feel you need courage to live through.

Feel free to read through the quotes, poetry, etc, below to use as your inspiration.

Courage [link to Wikipedia]

Courage - definition:
mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

Titles:
1: One Man with courage is a Majority.
2: Dawn begins at midnight.
3: Courage Under Fire.
4: Have Courage, Be Careful.

Quotes:
1: Sometimes you just have to take a leap and build your wings on the way down. (Kobi Yamada)
2: Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. (Mary Tyler Moore)
3: Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. (Mary Anne Radmacher)
4: Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. (George S. Patton)
5: Creativity takes courage! (Henry Matisse)
6: Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. (Winston Churchill)
7: Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cautious Man

There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played.
He never risked, he never tried,
He never sang or prayed.

And when he one day passed away,
His insurance was denied.
For since he never really lived,
They claimed he never died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have fun doing this challenge.

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process. The Journey!

And if you feel up to it, please share pictures of your art journal pages at our Flickr gallery HERE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SAMPLES:
These pages are all some I made a couple of years ago. All are digital art journal pages.

1. This one started out as a letter to myself. About what I wanted in life and how I was going to get there. I was supposed to share this letter, but because some of my wishes for the future involved other people I just could not share. I covered up the letter, did a little art work, and added my small title. I just NEED a little Courage. I still do.

In your art journal you can always cover up things by adding a new layer. you can choose to do this if you want to share your pages, or maybe you want to hide something from yourself. This is especially useful when you use your art journal as therapy. You can write down your most inner secrets. Cover it up. And only YOU will know it is there.

2. In this one I tried to use symbols to define the word Courage. Touching the lions nose would require a lot of courage, but in this one the lion symbolizes all those things I fear.

Using symbolism is great when you just can not find the words to describe how you feel, or what you want to express. Sometimes this can produce some extremely personal pages. People will tell you how great your page is, but ONLY YOU will know the true meaning of the page.

3. There is not much to say about this page. I loved the quote and wanted to use it. You can also tell on this one that it was in my earlier days doing art journaling. I hadnt quite made the jump from scrapbooking to art journals. I am not saying there is anything wrong with my choice of elements, but to make it look like an art journal I personally feel that the shadows should be a little less, and the blending a little more.

Challenge - 04

Scrapbooks vs. Art Journals - It is not everyone, but a lot of art journalers are people who started out with scrapbooking. And I know there are a lot of people who scrapbook who would love to try out art journaling, but just don't know how. I wont claim to have the "cure", but maybe this exercise will help just a few people find out if art journaling is for them... or not.

And even if you are not into scrapbooking or a beginner art journaler, this exercise will still be fun for you.

Today, I would like you to go download this zip: Challenge 04 Download.
It includes 2 vintage photos that were also included in the Pack 05 Member Download. You can use any photos, but for this exercise I feel it is easier with photos of people you do not know.

Choose one of the photos. Look at it. Really look at it. What do you see? People from the past. Ok. Now look deeper. What do you really see? Look into their heads, into their hearts, into their souls. Do you feel it?

Now, start your art journal page. Add some color and texture. Or maybe just some doodles. Remember an art journal page does not have to involve hours of painting and collaging. You can do your pages using just a pack of crayons, or some Dollar Store watercolors.
After you have decided which direction you want to go, start applying the feelings you got from the photo to the page. Did it make you sad? Maybe it reminded you of a poem? Or maybe it evoked feelings that made you want to write your own poetry. Or did it make you think of just one word. Write it down on the page. You don't have to do fancy writing, or even give it a title. Just transfer your feelings from the photo to the page the best way you can. And don't worry. You can keep your page private. It is your journal. You don't have to allow others to read it if you don't want to.

You may have noticed that I did not ask you to actually use the photo on your page. I would like it if you could make this a page without a photo. I know this is where scrapbookers feel the big difference. And if you absolutely can not do this page without a photo, then I would like it if you do not use the photo in the traditional way. Tear it up, paint it over, change it! Just do not apply the photo and then add a pretty frame. This is not a scrapbook. This is an Art Journal.
If you choose to work with one of your own photos, then I suggest you print a copy so you do not destroy the original.

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process.

Have Fun!

And if you do feel up to it, please share pages at our Flickr gallery HERE

NOTE: This challenge could be done digitally too, but to really get the feel of it, I suggest you do it hands-on. If you don't have an art journal yet, a scrap of paper, a pack of crayons, and some markers will do just fine for this challenge.

SAMPLE:

For this one I printed one of the photos from the zip. For some reason everything I print today comes out blue, so instead of fretting over that I decided to make a blue page. I used watercolor to make my background. Just added a lot of color and it became a very streaky. So I sprayed on some more water and used my hair dryer to move the water around until it dried completely.

I cut all the sides off the photo and then cut the photo into 8 pieces. Glued the pieces to the background using Inkssentials Collage glue stick. I drew an edge around the photo pieces first using a Sharpie Poster-paint Pen, and then when that was dry I added a few more lines using a white Sakura Glaze pen.

I then added a title using some cheap letter stamps and dollar store ink.

When everything was dry, I started writing my "feelings" down on the page. I scribbled on purpose. And I made the text rather small cause I had a lot to write and I think that the smaller the text the few people read it. Kinda keeping it private, but not. Also I used a white Sakura Glaze pen. It goes on clear, but dries white, so it is kinda hard to see what you are doing. It takes a few minutes to actually show what you wrote.

Last I used some stencils, sequin waste, and  Color Box Cat's Eye pigment to add a little more interest to the page.

The photo, title and the accents are not necessary to make an art journal page. I added the photo because I had chosen to do this page in one of my larger art journals. The pages are quite large and I felt I needed something more to fill my page. I added the title to "explain" what I was trying to show with the photo. In the end I added the accents to help cover up some of the more personal writing.

ATTENTION MEMBERS: Back home

We are back home from the funeral in San Diego.
On Monday we were rear-ended by a crazy driver. Not much damage to the van, just a few dents under the bumper and then a crack and a small hole in the actual bumper. We thought we were doing ok too, but I seem to have some issues with my right arm. A little pain in the neck, back, and right shoulder. But otherwise ok. Rudy has some neck pain, and Ben is doing just fine. I had x-rays done yesterday, and they came up perfect, so at least nothing is broken.

Anyway,
I am going to work on some goodies for you all today, and post them as soon as they are done.

Have a great weekend! Oh, remember I love to hear from you and if you have some pages you would like to share you can do so in our Flickr Gallery.
Thank you to those of you who have already shared. I will go check out your pages today :)

ATTENTION MEMBERS: Travel Plans

Good afternoon.
I wanted to come in and let you all know that I will be going out of town starting this weekend, and will be back sometime in the middle of next week. We lost our Super Nana early Wednesday morning and we will be headed out to San Diego, CA to attend her funeral.
This means that your Member Downloads next week will be later in the week instead of Monday as usual. I hope this is not too much of an inconvenience. I will post them as soon as I can. It has just been hard to get anything done around here this past week.

I will "see" you all next week. I will bring my phone, so I can keep up on comments and emails, so if you need ANYTHING, please just let me know. I love hearing from you all.

Challenge - Dance

We all dance at some point in our lives, be it at a ball, wedding, or possibly when we are all alone. Maybe you do not dance. Maybe you only dance in your thoughts, dreams, and heart. I love to dance when I am alone. All alone.

In this challenge I would like you to make a page

1: where you journal about when you like to dance. Do you love going to big balls so you can put on a flowing gown and waltz all night long, or do you love to hit the clubs and boogie (or whatever the young people call it these day) to some loud music, or maybe you only dance when no one can see you.

-or-

2: using a quote or poem as inspiration.

-or-

3: where you share why you don't dance.

Feel free to read through the quotes, poetry, etc, below to use as your inspiration.

Dance [link to Wikipedia]

Dance - definitions:
intransitive verb
1: to engage in or perform a dance
2: to move or seem to move up and down or about in a quick or lively manner
transitive verb
1: to perform or take part in as a dancer
2: to cause to dance
3: to bring into a specified condition by dancing

Titles:
1: All She Wants to Do is Dance
2: Dance Allows Your Dreams to Speak
3: Dance Any Way You Wanna
4: I Dance, Therefore I Am
5: Dance like no one is watching
6: Why Walk When You Can Dance?

Quotes:
1: Anyone who thinks only sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.
2: Let us read and let us dance. Two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. (Voltaire)
3: Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time, like dew on the tip of a leaf.
4: Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!
5: You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart.
6: We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Live Your Life

Dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never get hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
Live like there's heaven on earth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dance by Garth Brooks

Lookin' back,
On the memory of
The dance we shared,
Beneath the stars above
For a moment,
All the world was right
How could I have known,
That you'd ever say goodbye?

And now,
I'm glad I didn't know
The way It all would end
The way It all would go
Our lives,
Are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain,
But I'da had to miss the dance.

Holding you,
I held everything
For a moment,
Wasn't I a king?
But If I'd only known,
How the king would fall
Hey who's to say,
You know I might have changed it all

And now,
I'm glad I didn't know
The way It all would end
The way It all would go
Our lives,
Are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain,
But I'da had to miss the dance

It's my life,
It's better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
But I'da had to miss,
The dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have fun doing this challenge.

REMEMBER: Art Journaling is not about the beginning or the end. It is all about the process. The Journey!

And if you feel up to it, please share pictures of your art journal pages at our Flickr gallery HERE

Tea Dye

I love using old books for my collage fodder, and the older and more yellow/tan it looks, the better. However, it is usually pretty hard to find books like that around here. Usually if I just paint over the paper pieces it doesn't really matter, but once in a while I want the old paper pieces to show. So what do I do. Well, I could buy Distress Ink and/or Stain. But to be honest I don't like the result much, and the price is not for my budget either. So instead, why not use tea. Plain and simple tea.

There are so many different instructions for tea dye to be found online and it can get really frustrating when you try out several ways and nothing works. So I decided I would share with you a true and tried version of the instructions.

The tea I use is just plain tea. I believe the brand is Medova, but you probably can not get that in the US as it is a European brand. It is similar to a breakfast tea. So just choose a regular plain black tea. Add a couple of cups of water to a small pot and add 3-4 tea bags. Or brew the way you normally do. Let the tea steep for a couple of hours while the tea water cools. Leave the tea bags in the water.

Use book pages that are slightly porous, it will help the tea get absorbed into the paper.



If you can, I suggest you stand outside. If not, then maybe add some paper towels to a baking pan so you do not get tea all over your table/desk. I stood outside with mine and used my composter as a table. I took a couple pieces of paper towel and put the paper I wanted to dye on top of the paper towels.



I then took the tea bag and used it as a sponge to "paint" the tea onto the paper. I then hung the paper on my clothes line with a couple of clothes pins. If you wait just a few minutes and let the tea sit a little in puddles on you paper before hanging it, you can achieve some cool color looks on your paper.
Hang your paper. Let it dry, and then repeat until you get the darkness of tea stain that you like.



On this piece of paper I painted with tea three times. I think it turned out very nice and it looks almost like really old book pages.



As you can see in this picture I left a small puddle to soak before hanging it and it turned out like an old water stain. Just what I was looking for.

I suggested above to stay outside doing this as it will get messy. You should probably also wear gloves as it will stain your fingers really badly. And of course being outside you can easily hang the papers on a clothes line. It will drip so don't hang the paper indoors.

When I did these paper the other day it started out really nicely with about 90F degrees and no wind. By the time I was done the wind had picked up badly and I was having a really hard time working with papers outdoors. I am sure the neighbors had fun watching me.

I did try out various techniques before I decided this one was the best. Like dipping the paper in a pan of tea. It could work, but when I took the paper from the pan, the tea either rolled right off the paper, or the paper had become too saturated and fell to pieces. I also tried adding tea to a fingertip sprayer and sprayed the paper while it was hanging. I could not saturate it enough to actually leave any color in the paper.

You can also use this technique to add a little age to some ribbons and string. Take the ribbon you want to dye and crumble it in your hand then dip into the tea. Make sure you saturate it plenty, then hang it on the clothes line while still crumbled. Do not straighten the ribbon. When it is crumbled you will achieve more color in some areas than in others and it will look just like something you pulled out of Granny's attic.

DISCLAIMER: Tea stains! I am not to be held reliable for any stains on tile, clothing, or any other places you didn't want it.

Have fun!

DigitalCorner: Paperworn Art Styles

I rarely find anything when it comes to digital art journaling that I suggest for others or see as "must haves", except when it comes to Tangie Baxter's Paperworn Art Style. These styles for PS and PSE are truly essential to doing fantastic art journal pages digitally.
I would never tell you that you had to spend money on anything you don't want. But I am 100% certain that this is an investment you would not regret. Some of you probably already have this style set.



If you look at the black and white texts at the bottom of this image you can see that it looks like the text is applied on top of the painted background. This is just not realistic looking. If you then apply the style, you can see that the text blends with the painted background similar to what it would do in real life.

The style set comes with 7 styles and 1 action. I use PSE6 so can only tell you how well the styles work with my software. The action only works in PhotoShop, not PhotoShop Elements. The 7 different styles work differently depending on your background and the color of the layer you want to apply the style to. It is really just a question of trying out each one. Some times it doesn't work at all if the background doesn't have the right texture or color, but most times you will get some very nice effects. And it is not just for text. You can use it for any kind of element you want to add to your art journal pages. Of course to make it look realistic it works best for painted elements and background.

These styles come both as commercial use and personal use. If you purchase the commercial use set you can sell your derivative works. For example if you ever decide to make cards, or maybe sell your pages. If you purchase the personal use set you may not sell derivative works. Honestly I suggest the commercial use version. With the commercial use version you are always safe to use it. Both for selling your works and should you ever want to publish your pages.

Tangie Baxter's Paperworn Art Styles - Commercial Use version.
Tangie Baxter's Paperworn Art Styles - Personal Use version.

Without style:


With style:


Without style:


With style:

Glue, glue, oh wonderful glue...

Glue is probably one of the most important ingredients in art journaling, altered art, well most crafts really. And yes you can use the cheap stuff here too. I have a couple of favorites, and I will tell you about them and you can try them out too.

Mod Podge vs. Gel Mediums.
I use Mod Podge for most of my glue needs. I use both matte and gloss, but for collaging I always use the matte variety. When you use Mod Podge you might want to move quickly cause it is water based and will dry quickly when you only apply a thin layer. Also I feel that the quicker I move the less bubbles wrinkles I will get. When I apply collage pieces to my art using Mod Podge I always use a plastic card to smooth the piece to lessen the chance of bubbles and wrinkles. Usually you can get 16 oz of Matte Mod Podge for around $6. No matter where you go. Walmart is usually a little cheaper than other places.
There are also several places online where you can get it at a discounted price such as Dick Blick or Create for Less.

I have been told by so many people that the only adhesive to use for art journaling (collaging) is Golden Gel Mediums. I recently decided that I should try it. So I spent $10.61 (+shipping) for 8 oz of Golden Soft Gel (matte).
Honestly I was not impressed. I don't feel it does anything that Mod Podge can't do. I actually got a little annoyed with it. You have to use so much more of it to make it really stick. And even after it is smoothed out with a plastic card it still leaves bubbles. It appears that the bubbles actually come from where there is no glue. So you have to be extra careful that you cover your area 100% with the glue.
If you must try it out, please just buy a small jar. 8 oz is the smallest I think. Compare the quality and quantity to how much you pay. I am sure Mod Podge will be OK for your projects.

Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue - I actually really like this glue, just not for collaging. It it permanent and sticks really great. It just stays tacky for so long. You will want to use this for adhering heavy items. For example if you add small pieces of hardware, silk flowers, etc. Just don't use it where the glue might be "showing", as in collaging, cause it will stay tacky for quite some time.
It has two applicators. One pen tip and one broad tip. I really like to use the pen tip to add just a dap of glue.
This product does contain Natural Rubber Latex, so not good if you have latex/rubber allergies.

UHU Stic - This is again one of those glue sticks that was recommended for art journaling and again I was not impressed. I also paid a lot more as I bought mine at Michael's. I honestly do not think it is worth the money. It tends to get "stringy", and then becomes a mess to work with.

Scotch Wrinkle-Free Glue Stick - This glue is worthless. Yes it is true that it is wrinkle free, but applying it is like trying to use hot string cheese.
I will not recommend this one.

Inkssentials Collage Glue Stick - I have just started trying this one out and I am actually quite impressed with this one. It has wonderful stickiness, and so far I have not had issues with it getting stringy. And it is priced perfectly at just $1.65 at Scrapbooking Warehouse.

So in the end I will recommend Plaid Mod Podge (Matte) and Inkssentials Collage Glue Stick. Both are reasonably priced and both gets the job done.
Of course I will suggest that you use up all the adhesive you have in the house before you go buy more, but keep these two in mind when the time comes.

I haven't tried out all the adhesives available, and I am sure there are many more out there that will work wonderfully. If you have a favorite glue, I would love to hear about it so I too can try it out.