Tag Archives: tips

Going Cordless

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going cordlessI use hot glue. A lot. And the projects on this blog? 99.9% of them use hot glue in some way, shape, or form. Hot glue is the perfect solution when you don’t have much time, but need something to stick quick. The drawback, of course, is that hot glue guns need to be plugged into an electrical outlet in order to operate.

That’s fine if you’re making a project at your desk. But not so fine when you need to glue projects for 22 kids and their caregivers. During out workshops, kids either have to carry their projects to hot glue stations, or I have to walk around the program area, dragging a cumbersome daisy chain of extension cords behind me.

That was why I was so very, very excited to learn that hot glue guns were going cordless.

Today, I’m reviewing the Imaginisce i●bond cordless hot glue gun. It retails for around $30 and requires 4 AA batteries to operate. I’ll cut to the chase…it doesn’t really work that well. The Imaginisce burns through batteries like crazy. Just one hour of use and the batteries are dead (I tested this twice, with new batteries each time). Also, the batteries just don’t seem to have the same oomph my plug in glue guns have. The glue isn’t as hot, and it dries quicker with less adhesive properties. I tested this with the glue sticks that came with the gun, and with another brand of stick.

Interestingly, Imaginisce added an LED light to the end of their glue gun, presumably to illuminate your work area. But if you’re working in sunlight or with a light on, you can already see your area clearly, right? Unless you like to craft in the dark?

glue gun lightSo the LED light wasn’t very useful. Mostly, it allowed me to take cool pictures like this:

glue gun in vault

I will admit, the cordless aspect of the glue gun was sheer heaven. I could go anywhere! No dragging cords! No knocking things over on my desk! But the trade off was a glue gun that didn’t heat up or last very long. If, however, you have a small job to do in a limited amount of time, the Imaginisce glue gun could work for you. But I since I use my glue guns for heavy construction, this cordless model’s batteries just didn’t produce.

Looks like I’ll remain tethered for the time being.

Stroller Parking

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stroller parking Today, I will address an issue that affects anyone who coordinates programs with children – be it in a library, children’s museum, or activity room. Like silent pack animals they wait, blocking doors, tracking mud, and leaving behind a smatterings of Cheerios. The issue of which I speak, of course, is strollers.

Strollers are an essential item in parenting life, especially when siblings are at different stages of crawling, walking, and dodging up mall escalators. Strollers are a one-stop shops for snacks, naps, diapering necessities, and sanitation rituals.

The problem, however, begins when strollers start wandering into areas that need to be kept clear. Our gallery is small, so we mounted a sign asking people to leave their strollers by the front door (strollers carrying sleeping occupants being the exception of course). The sign sort of worked. But when bad weather set in and muddy slush was being tracked to the back of the gallery where babies were crawling, we realized we needed to strengthen our front door message.

That’s when I hit on the idea of stroller parking.

First, I purchased a 3′ x 22′ non-skid rug runner (it’s rubber backed for those inevitable wet stroller wheels). With shipping, it cost $256. Then, Marissa and I made parking lines with yellow masking tape. It was that simple.

stroller parking rugWell, it worked like magic. Immediately, strollers started parking in tidy little lines at the front of our gallery. And it’s still going strong! Since stroller parking started over a year ago, we haven’t had any strollers wandering into the gallery. Here’s a shot on a busy Monday morning, all parked and proper.

monday morning stroller parkingEvery once in a while a masking tape line gets ripped and we have to replace it. Otherwise, this little parking lot takes care of itself! Mind you, we still have a sign up. I think you need both the rug and the sign to get this to work. Recently, we re-purposed an old gallery element as a new sign post:

lamp post signBest of all, the lamp’s sign holder is open on both sides. So as you’re exiting the gallery, you can read the final sentences from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

lamp post back

Poetry, Like Water Flowing

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soaked poetIt all started when Marissa ask me if I wanted a shower notepad. Whaaaat? It turns out that, yes, there is a writing device specifically designed for the shower. Intrigued, I donned my black beret and turtleneck and headed to the bathroom to pen some poetry on the Aqua Notes Waterproof Notepad.

aqua notes waterproof note padAqua Notes retails on Amazon for $8. The set includes a 40 sheet pad that’s perforated for easy tearing, and an “aqua pencil.” The pad (which is 3.5″ x 5.25″) has two suction cups on the back. The pencil has a suction cup holder as well.

I expected the paper to feel a little waxy or stiff. Nope. It just seemed a little thicker and smoother than your typical computer printer paper. There was no indication that it was waterproof at all. The notepads are recyclable and non-toxic, with soy based ink and wind energy fueling the printing process. Which is really cool. But does it work? YES IT DOES.

As you can see, I was able to write with no trouble. The pencil and the notepad magically deflected all water, and the lettering was sharp and crisp with no smudging.

initial pad testRipping the pages off the notepad, however, was considerably more difficult than a regular pad. You had to line up the perforation just right. Unintentional bonus for those of you composing long poems – the wet pages stuck to the walls of the shower like a felt board. They stayed up there too! Pages stuck to my shower wall at 1pm were still going strong at 9pm. I removed them, noting that they peeled off easily and left no marks.

One problem I did notice was that after its initial use, the pad stays damp and the pages clump together. You really have to pull them apart. You can remedy this by taking the pad out of the shower for a day to dry out. But I will say this – even soaking wet and clumped together, the pad still worked!

The aqua pencil has an eraser, so we tested that too (writing in the shower is funny, but editing in the shower really gave me a chuckle). When erasing, the writing first appears to liquefy like ink. A quick brush of the hand or a spray of the shower nozzle, and it’s gone!

the eraser testIn terms of hardware, the suction cups held up well. For two weeks, the notepad clung to the wall, even after my kids discovered it and were sliding it, pulling it, and enthusiastically illustrating on it. Their testing efforts also revealed that once an individual page is removed from the shower, it takes about 45 minutes to completely dry.

shower artworkAnd just in case you are wondering:

  1. Does the aqua pencil write and erase on regular paper?
    YES, very well!
  2. Can the special paper handle ballpoint, gel, permanent, and washable marker ink?
    YES! However, the washable marker went on smudgy and took longer to dry.
  3. If you submerge the pad in a tub filled with several inches of water, does it still work?

testing in tub

The product test was a success, but would you actually use this in the shower? That’s totally up to you, but I will say that Katie found an online review in which a husband and wife used the notepad to jot down potential baby names. Eventually, one of those shower-inspired names became the baby’s name.

I defy you to find a cuter use of the Aqua Notes Waterproof Notepad.