Embellishments made with hot glue

I have been having a lot of fun with a hot glue gun! They are inexpensive now, and most of us have one in the house somewhere, so I thought I would give it a go and see what I could do.
For the embellishment on the tag:

1. Trail the hot glue in the centre of a heatproof, non stick craft mat, and make a circle about 2" by 3". It needs to be pretty well filled in with glue, no gaps.

2. While it's still hot, fold an unused corner of the craft mat and lay over the top of your circle. Gently smooth it down. This will give you a nice smooth and flat finish.

3. Stamp into the warm glue with a stamp of your choice. I have used a ruler stamp. If your glue has cooled a bit too much, heat for a few seconds with a heat gun, then stamp.
Remember, if you don't like it at any stage you can remelt it with the heat gun and start again (phew!)

4. When cool, use metalic rub ons or gold leafing pen to rub colour into the imprinted image. You can then use a contrasting colour to rub over the top if you like. Chalks, inks, and acrylic paint also work.

To make the wing:

I used a buzz and bloom chipboard wing as a template, which I drew around with felt pen on the craft mat. You might be fine to do it freehand though. I then let the got glue drip onto the outline and trailed it across the middle to make the pattern. Make sure the centre lines are attached to the outline, so it will stay in one peice when you move it. While the glue was still hot, I sprinkled fine glitter over the top. You can also use embossing powders, or use rub on wax when cool.

You can then peel it off the mat and glue it wherever you want it. I have found Ranger's Diamond Glaze glues it brilliantly. Dont try gluing it with more hot glue, it just melts in to your work of art!

This is all so much easier than it sounds :)

Other ideas for hot glue:

1. Use it as a photo transfer method, by pressing your photocoppied picture into it. When cool, dampen with water and roll the wet paper off.

2. Liberally trail the gue on a heat proof craft mat to make random shapes, the more 'holey' the better. Colour as desribed above.

3. Put a blob in the centre of a silk flower. Add glitter or gold leaf while still hot. Brush away the excess.

Have fun, and let me know how you get on!