My First Attempt at Creating a Textured Painting with Hot Glue...or Elmer's...

I haven't been on much lately.  I've been too busy off in crafting world!  Pinterest has totally inspired me.  My family thinks I've gone completely insane...well, more so than usual anyway.

I will spare you the multitude of projects I have been dabbling in...we would be here all day....

However, after spending part of the night and most of the day on this latest one, I'm sharing!

I've been saving cans, boxes, jars, bottles and any other containers I can think of.  In my search for recycling projects, I ran across the idea to turn a cereal box into an artist's canvas.  I have tons of cereal boxes...most of which are currently 1/3 full of stale, old cereal.  I was intrigued.

But wait!  There's more!  The artist not only used a cereal box for the canvas, he used hot glue to trace flowers and create the beginnings of a painting!!!  Cool!!!  Tim Coffey Art has SO many neat ideas.  (I tried to link the direct video, but it didn't work...sorry!)

Here's a picture of his finished project.  (Yes, his is MUCH more professional.)

Anyway, I loved the idea...but last night I got this crazy art bug and didn't want to take the time to prep the box.  So I used a panel instead.  Another day I'll actually do the cereal box thing, but this was a 2:00 in the morning experiment.  So I may not have been at my full mental capacity...  :)

The tutorial example used flowers, but I have to be different...and more difficult.  It's a flaw.  So I went with butterflies.  Was this a good choice for my first experiment?  Probably not, but I ran with it anyway.

I printed out some basic coloring pictures of butterflies and glued them on my panel.   It was at that point that I made my first mistake.  My high temp glue gun didn't work well.  I think it's just way too hot.  I have since experimented on cardboard (not wanting to waste another panel...or cereal box...I do get smarter eventually...).  The problem was the high temp.  Low temp seems to work great.  I just made some swirlies and squiggles to see, and they turned out fantastic.  So the next time I try this, I know what I need to do!

At 2:00 AM I wasn't that bright.  I used Elmer's.  Hey, it worked!  (Note:  hot glue is better...it is a bigger, more solid shape) Once I finished outlining the butterflies, I decided I needed a flower.  Not wanting to go back to the internet and printer, I free-handed this with the glue.  It was easy, so it turned out ok.

After letting the glue dry overnight...which was difficult for me...I woke up this morning and dug in with both heels.

I painted, wiped, painted, glazed, etc for hours...it was a little obsessive I must say...

But here's the finished product!

I like it!  Of course, the smaller butterfly doesn't look exactly right...and I can pick out a zillion little things...  But overall, for my first attempt and the fact that it was Elmer's and not hot glue, it's not bad!  I believe I'll actually hang this on my wall.

I can't wait to do another one....correctly.  :)