The story of the wedding invitations using the Kandi Kane applicator

Those who read this blog will know that my daughter Natalie is getting married to Rob in September this year. We have had a busy time the last 2yrs with weddings as my son Matthew married Karen last year, so its been a very hectic couple of years.
Natalie asked if I would make her invitations and I did not think what a huge thing it would be. However, some what down the line with nearly 300 under my belt I really do now! So construction was down to me and printing down to Dad!
They are very simple in Ivory card, which open out to be tri folded with details in the middle and lower pocket for the RSVP.
We wanted to have a diamond on the centre of the outside bow and at first I used stick on ones, that did not stick. Then I found the Kandi Kane applicator online and thought I would give it a go.

1. Heat up your Kandi Kane
I found that an old wooden chopping board was great, as the first time a used a table place setting and it melted !! The instructions do not tell you how hot this applicator gets so PLEASE be so careful. I burnt my finger first time I used it. I would not let children under 12 use it at all and even older ones I would watch as it could be very dangerous.

2.Get your bag of hot fix gems
I got mine from Ebay and they were really cheap. They have to be hot fix gems and they have glue on the back. Can I also say the glue on the stone also gets very hot!

3.Lay out your gems and start picking up!
You have to then lay out your gems on the board gem face up, I like to lay out a few to save time. Then when your Kandi Kane its hot (it take seconds) you can pick up your stones. You have all different head sizes to fit all sorts of gems. They have a little dip on top and this is were your stones fits. Hold the applicator like a pen. Then tap in down on the gem, it should pick up the stone right away. Once it has tip the applicator up and watch the glue melt.

4.  Lets gem!
When the glue has melted you are ready to fix the gem to your chosen surface. The gem should stay in the holder and you then just gently tap it onto the area you want to stick it to and by magic it drops out. The stone is very hot still so watch your fingers. If you do drop the stone you can pick it up and put it back and re heat if you are quick, but please use tweezers as they are hot. If the gem gets stuck use a pin to get it out again.

5. Finished item!
Then you are all done and I think you will agree they look good. Have a go but don't make 300 lol

Hope you enjoyed my quick run through using the kandi kane. They are fun and you can buy gems in all sort of sizes and colours. They fix to anything and stay and stay. I went mad at first and stuck them on anything that did not move. By the way I bought mine from Ebay but I think you can get them all over the place, or something similar to it.