Using Your Glue Gun to Create Stencils!

Hello and happy day everyone!  Today we are starting a New Challenge over at the Sisterhood for Snarky Stampers, and Edna Says: "T" is for Technique! Now, if you are a regular visitor to my little blog space you know that I LOVE to try and share new and wonderful ways to use what you already have on hand in different, and sometimes unusual ways.

... and that is what I am going to share with you today - So raise your hand if you have one (or six?) hot glue guns hidden away in a drawer collecting dust.  I Do! I Do!

 

But I pulled them out at Christmas and discovered, totally by accident, that the hot glue on my craft mat, once dried, peels off easily and perfectly intact - and my creative brain exploded with ideas!  "Why can't I make my own stencils with hot glue?  But I CAN!"

Now I am not the first person to discover this and if you search YouTube you will find many, many videos of people sharing this technique, but for a few minutes it felt good to think that it was ME that discovered this wonderful way to make me some background stencils using stuff I already have!

So in a whole bunch of photos to follow I am sharing my process, a few of the backgrounds I created and of course a few cards I made using those backgrounds... Enjoy!!

Use a craft mat and a hot glue gun, that's pretty much it!  I sectioned off an area with masking tape to create a 6x8 inch stencil space, but it really was not necessary... I free handed the first few; circles are totally easy and for me, so are hearts... just make sure everything is attached.

 

Here is the circle stencil after it had cooled and some backgrounds I created using it with my sprays.  Usually I do not use my sprays with stencils because I am never happy with the results, but because the glue stencil is so heavy it worked beautifully with my sprays, very little seeped underneath, like it usually does.  I was quite pleased with how these backgrounds turned out.

Then I decided to get fancy and instead of winging it I drew a pattern on my craft mat with a marker. (Note: Do NOT use your alcohol ink markers if you want to remove the pattern from your craft mat after you are done.) 

It worked beautifully and I used this stencil to create a background in my art journal.  I love the lumpy, bumpy, imperfect-ness of this pattern.

I think I had the most fun with the two heart stencils I made, a vertical and a horizontal, and using all my red, pink, fuchsia and gold sprays...

I am not sure which I like better, the backgrounds I created or the inky paper towels that are left behind - SWOON!

So, if you are not hung up on perfect images, there really is really no limit to what you can create with your glue gun.   I think I will try to make some word stencils my next go around.  And now here are the cards I created using these backgrounds.

Suzi Blu - Mademoiselle

You might think that the colors are too vibrant and the patterns too loud, but actually those same colors and patterns enhance the images I painted and cut out and mounted on these card bases... Note:  All images used are Unity Stamps created by Suzi Blu.

Suzi Blu - Serenity Angel

 

Suzi Blu - Chickadee and Me

Suzi Blu - Spring Flower Chic

Suzi Blu - Gypsy Warrior

Suzi Blu - Party Love

Suzi Blu - Serenity Angel

Suzi Blu - You Are Loved

So that's it for today... quite enough for one read I think.  I hope you enjoyed this New-To-Me Technique and that it inspires you to pull out that old glue gun and give it a try.  And if it does, why not link up your New Technique-inspired project to our "T" is for Technique Challenge... you have until Friday, January 26th and we always choose a Queen of Snark and her Princesses.

As always, thank you for popping in to see what I am up to and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing. 

Lynne Mizera, 

for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Go HERE for Suzi Blu Unity Stamps Used: