My Favorites - Part 3 - 3M Scotch ATG 714 - Adhesive Transfer Gun

Oops. So I'm a few days late! Was out of the house a lot last week and didn't get a chance to take these photos so I could blog about them. No one likes a blog entry without pictures.

So, without further ado, I present my 3rd scrapbooking favorite - the 3M Scotch ATG 714. I know what you are thinking - what is that thing, and how can she be so excited about a tape gun?

Last fall, I attended an intensive 3 day scrapbooking event, CKU (Creating Keepsakes University) when it rolled into town. I had a great time, and I loved that the event was very educationally driven - the classes moved fast, and we did a LOT of scrapping. The only problem? I had horrible adhesive issues. I had only packed a smaller sized scrapbook adhesive, and without fail, I would run out in the midst of a class - so I missed useful tips and instruction while fumbling with the refill as the class around me happily scrapped away. From then on, I was on a mission to find an adhesive that wouldn't just run out every time I made more than a few pages in a day.

Enter the ATG gun. This thing holds a 36 yard (yes that's YARDS, not feet) roll of adhesive. I was worried about it's size and weight, but this thing was designed for use by professional framers - it is amazingly ergonomic and well balanced. The size is not an issue, unless you are really tight on space going to a crop (though it seems everyone I see at those events rolls in with a giant stroller big enough to pack all my clothes into for a 3 week trip to Italy...so I don't think space would be an issue).

So, anyway, 36 yards of 1/4" wide adhesive. And guess what? The adhesive is soo much cheaper per foot than most of the other popular scrapbook adhesives out there. Those that know me, know I'm all about stuff that works well, and stuff that is a good value, so this was just a no-brainer for me. Yep, it was an investment up front because of the cost of the gun - but I made that back really fast in the savings on adhesive. And I've never run out in the midst of an intense scrapbooking session since :)

So, now on to the pictures - since those who have never used one before might have some questions loading the adhesive for the first time, I took a picture of mine opened up to demonstrate - keep in mind I was in the middle of a roll so I just tore off the used portion so I could thread the remainder onto the gun for demonstration purposes. A new roll would have the plaid liner portion at the beginning of the roll, and you would take that end and thread it into the gun.


I added the arrows to show the direction that you would thread the tape. You thread it over the first roller, then under the 2nd one, then it goes back over the adhesive roll over to the back wheel. I have a closeup of the back wheel below:

It goes into one notch and out the other notch - this catches the tape onto the back wheel so the tape from the used portion of the roll will roll up on the back wheel. After putting on the new roll, you would put the black cover back on this back wheel so that it holds the tape in place and keeps it from flopping off the wheel as it turns.

After the first or second refill, it was second nature to me to put in the refills, but I figured in case anyone was bad at spatial relations like I am, this might help the first time you use it.

I offer the ATG gun in my store HERE, and the refills HERE. The gun itself does not come with any adhesive, so you will need to purchase some before you can use it. All the ATG adhesive I carry is acid-free (not all ATG tapes are).

So, hard as it is to believe, this is one of my favorite scrapbooking purchases - no it's not as glamorous as some scrapbooking goodies, but it is a workhorse, and I love it!