This is another craft we created with our "leftover art" (you know, the art that doesn't quite make it to the scrapbook!).
We had done a textured painting project a while ago, and I still had some of the paintings left, and so I thought it might be nice to use these paintings instead of colored paper or magazine cut outs for our collage, just as something cool and different! Plus, we used up a lot of that art that you just never quite know what to do with!
So first, I cut the paintings into strips to make it easier for the little kids to then cut into small squares.

After we cut the strips into squares, I drew a simple heart, and my toddler and preschooler got busy gluing in the painted squares!

Here is my toddler busy at work!

Almost done....

Add a bit of glitter, and it looks spectacular! (If I may say so myself, ahem!) The texture and vibrant mixture of colors is quite exceptional!

By the way, if you want to see the other activity we made out of leftover art, click here!

Here's a fun and remarkably simple craft for such a stunning outcome.
What you need:
wood glue (white glue)
light colored construction paper or heavy white paper
paints (any type will do really, depending on the look you want)
wide paint brush (about half an inch)
What to do:
"Paint" a picture with the wood glue. Let it dry completely. This took a good 3 or 4 hours for us. Here's an example of a picture I "painted" with the glue.

After it's completely dry, you will hardly be able to see the picture or pattern, but it will be raised, which creates a beautiful 3D effect. Plus it's fun for little kids to make the pictures seemingly appear out of nowhere and it's exciting for them to see what it will turn out to be!
Here's the picture after my 2 daughters painted over it:

Here's my daughter glue painting her own picture:

There is so much you can do with this simple craft--we just did our little kiddie versions, where I "painted" a picture with the wood glue, let it dry for a few hours, and they just painted with a wide brush over it and the invisible pictures magically appeared! But I imagine you could get really creative and use it for all sorts of things, such as picture frames, cards, household decorations, with patterns, on clay pots and mugs, etc. The end result is just beautiful! I think I'm going to try other things with it as well, as when my older kids saw it, they all wanted to do it as well!