CoCo loves to decorate with Gel-Clings. She has them for every season. Co-workers at the grocery store where she works tell her that it’s easy to keep them from year to year.
I had a lot of trouble. Gels ripped or folded. Colors “bled:” Santa’s beard became red, the snowman greyed like a February thaw. Gels dried out, and cat hair clung to the clings. ‘
Here’s what I came up with. Almost painless:
What you’ll need:
Gel-clings
Scissors
Zip-lock storage bags
Cutting board (optional)
Step 1: Lay Gel-Clings on Wax paper. No touching.
Use wax paper, not plastic wrap. Plastic wrap allows the colors to migrate and bleed into other pieces. Why? I don’t know. But trust me. Even if the original pieces touched in the packaging, like eyes inside a face, separate them for storage.
Lay the pieces on the waxed paper. Do not let pieces touch each other. Not even a little bit.
I try to measure the waxed paper to match the width of the Zip-lock. I’m might be a little too frugal. It’s not really necessary. I use a 1 gallon Zip-lock and fold one edge to match the size.
CoCo likes to put the Gel-Clings on bathroom mirrors, at the front door, and on any window. I use a cutting board to rest the waxed paper. It provides a flat surface to work on.
Step 2:
Put another piece of waxed paper over the first. Line up the folded edges. Add more Gel-Clings. The color will not bleed through the paper, so no need to keep like Gels together.
Still, it’s pretty amazing how my old eyes work. Sometimes for me to see which layer I’m working on. So if you have a lot of the same Gels, I suggest “stacking” them. Just because it’s easier to see what I’m doing.
Keep going with more layers. I ended up with five layers. End with a layer of waxed paper. Remember what I said about the plastic wrap? The Ziplock will allow bleeding, too.
Step 3: Trim the waxed paper to fit.
I slip the Zip-lock over the end of the cutting board and measure. Even though I try to measure, I’m never exact, so mine always need a little trimming.
Note: CoCo did a few by herself, and didn’t measure at all. She put everything on one long sheet, covered them with a separate sheet, and just cut around the Gel-Clings. Her method is faster if you just have a few to work with.
Step 4: Slide the stacked Gel-Clings into the Ziplock.
Remember that folded edge in Step 1? I slide that edge in first. That gives a little more structure to the slide . Zip the bag closed.
Step 5: Store the Gel-Clings in a flat box.
I got an old file box, which is about the same size as the Gel-Clings. I store Gel-Clings for every season in one box. Because….
There’s always a few Gel-Clings that I want to keep up for a while. Plus, to be honest, there’s always a few that I miss.
Disclosure: I got a basket of Zip-lock at a BlogHer drawing last summer. They did not otherwise compensate me for this post. CoCo paid for all the Gel-Clings.
Note: I have no remedy for the cat hair. Eventually the Gels get to dusty/linty and they must go. I try to do that when CoCo is a work.
Do you decorate with Gel-Clings? Do you bother to save them, or look forward to buying new ones each year? Can you tell I spent a lifetime writing instructions?