How to make
your own custom lick-and-stick stickers - Corn Syrup Method.
Method
#1 (Corn Syrup Method)
Sticker
Sticky Stuff Ingredients:
1 packet (1/4 oz.)
unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
1 T. cold water
3 T. boiling water
1/2 t. white corn syrup
1/2 t. flavor extract of your choice *
Directions:
After you have gathered all of the pictures
that you want to make into stickers, and carefully trimmed around the
image, it’s time to make the solution that will be used to transform
the pictures into stickers. Since the solution “sets” fairly quickly
make sure that all of the images are gathered before beginning the
process of mixing the solution:
1. In a small bowl,
sprinkle gelatin into cold water. Put aside until soft.
2. Pour softened gelatin into 1/2 cup boiling
water and stir until completely dissolved.
3. Add corn syrup and extract. Mix thoroughly.
4. Brush mixture thinly onto the back of
picture that you want to turn into a sticker. Paper
may curl but will straighten when the sticker is applied!
5. Let stickers dry, sticky side up, on a piece
of aluminum foil.
6. After sticker are dry, you just moisten to
activate the glue and apply as stickers! Makes
4 ounces.
If you store the gum mixture (the sticky
stuff), in a pill bottle or other airtight container, it will keep
several months. It will gel, but to return to a liquid, just put the
container in a bowl of hot water. Warm
an hour before use.Similarly,
if glue should harden while brushing on, place sealed container holding
glue in a large pan of hot water and let glue soften.
*
You
can make this fun by alternating the kind of extract you use....try
lemon, orange, strawberry, or rootbeer for variation. But be careful,
you might catch the kids licking all the sticky stuff off trying to
find the flavor they like best. Another idea is to vary the extract
flavoring by the subject of the stickers...use coconut for a tropical
theme or peppermint for the Christmas holidays.
Tips for Finding
Images:
The first
step in this project is to choose the images that the children would
like to make into stickers. But don’t worry, there are oodles of
sources of interesting and fun pictures such as:
Old
magazines – Set the kids up with a big pile of old magazines
that they can use to find pictures of things that interest them.
Encourage kids to look for letters in magazines or newspapers and then
find a picture of an object that starts with each letter.
Old
catalogs – A great source for fun pictures of familiar
characters that are appealing to kids is old catalogs, such as the
Disney Store catalog.
The
Web – Pictures of favorite animated friends can also be found
on the Internet. A parent or older sibling can print out pictures or
characters or objects and then let younger kids add the coloring.
Create
their own – Kids can also draw their own pictures on plain
paper and color them with crayons or markers.
Old
photos – If you have extra copies of photos that are no
longer needed. Kids can cut out the important people or
places from the photos and make stickers from these.
Storybooks
– If your child has a favorite storybook, make color photocopies of
some of the illustrations and let the child cut out the parts he likes
best.
Greeting
cards – Old greeting cards from birthdays or holidays often
have cute images that appeal to little ones.
