While assembling some cards this morning I found myself applying a technique I use all the time to correct a common challenge, so I figured I'd share it here while I was thinking about it:

You know when you wrap a ribbon around an upper layer for your card…. and anchor it down on the back side with SNAIL adhesive…… but 3 days after you've finished your card that nice snug ribbon you'd carefully attached suddenly seems a bit slack?  And then shortly after that, one of the ends has completely come untucked from behind that layer? Darn! WHY does that always happen?!?

Well, what's going on is that the ribbon ends are under stress being unnaturally bent around that layer of cardstock, and SNAIL is not a strong enough adhesive to win out over the long haul against elements that are heavy or under constant stress. (Same reason you wouldn't choose SNAIL adhesive to assemble a box.)

So the solution is to use an alternate type of (stronger) adhesive on those ribbon ends.  I used to advise a layer of Sticky Strip placed parallel to the edge of the cardstock as shown along the left edge of my 2nd example. (Don't forget to peel off the red cover before adhering to the card base, of course!) 

But Sticky Strip is a bit pricey and requires more application dexterity than the simpler version I usually use now:  a quick squirt of Tombow Multi-purpose Glue as shown on the ribbon end on the right.  Once that is attached to your card base and the glue dries, that ribbon end is not going anywhere!  

So try using the SNAIL adhesive just long enough to set the ribbon ends in place after wrapping them around to the back, and then add a squirt of Tombow Multi-purpose Glue on each ribbon end as you anchor that upper layer onto your card base.

And let me know what you think!