"Beautiful" Mixed Media Canvas

Hi all,

The other day my sis sent me some pictures of my beautiful niece, dressed up for Carnival.

When they were visiting recently I had already noticed the growth my niece had gone through again, turning her into a real adolescent little lady instead of a kid. The costume she picked and the tough pose that went with it, emphasised everything even more: she's becoming a beautiful woman with a mind of her own.

Looks aren't everything, but luckily she has a beautiful heart that goes along with her exterior as well. She adores her nephew (my son), as if he were her own brother.

That being said, those pictures and the moodboard over at

Our Mixed Media Moods,

immediately inspired me to create my own little gothic fairytale about her.

The current More Than Words Challenge made me refine my theme and

settle on the word that was already bouncing through my head the entire time anyway: BEAUTIFUL.

The butterflies symbolising her fragile frame ready to take off

on what will be her greatest adventure: LIFE.

The new moodboard of the Creative Embellishments March Challenge 

sparked my imagination even more.

I've used some of their chipboard butterflies on my layout as well.

Down to business ;)

Adhere a Studio Light 'Industrial' Collection paper to a canvas with TCW gelmedium.

Apply black modeling paste through a (Andy Skinner?) snakeskin stencil.

 Apply Viva Decor 'Rusty Paper' through the Tim Holtz swirl stencil (032).

Flick some Tattered Angels Glimmermist onto the page, after spraying water onto certain areas first. Then splatter some more around. On this project I used:

*Dragonfly *Verdigris *Boardwalk *Rolling Tide *Simply Sheer Teal *Simply Sheer Black *Baseboard Wave

Using your diecutting machine, cut out the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock from brown paper and apply the Viva Decor Rusty Paper onto it.

Finally I found use for this mirror frame I bought on vacation many years ago. I tried using different paints and mediums to age, rust and distress it, only to find the smooth surface was hard to work on. I used a base coat of Tattered Angels High Impact Paint Metallic Silver, then tried to use the Tattered Angels Paint Kit Rusty metal. I used some more Viva Decor Rust Paste and who knows what to achieve the effect I ended up with.

I gave the full picture of my niece wings. They came from a broken butterfly Christmas ornament.

I made her hair 'real' by unravelling some rope and pushing it through the picture.

I played with my composition by adding chipboard and wood butterflies from Creative Embellishments and Action.

The word 'Beautiful' is from 13Arts.

I gave most of the chipboard the same treatment by coloring it with 2 or 3 different shades of

Tattered Angels Glimmermist, then adding one step crackle medium.

I glued some beads to the butterflies, and on some other places..

Behind the clock I used a very small scaled Moroccan tile chipboard from Scrapiniec.

The words "You are beautiful inside and out"come from a sheet of Kaisercraft paper. I cut them up, colored them and glazed them.

Using my hot glue gun, I drew branch shapes underneath the frame and on the top left of it. I used glimmermists and glimmerglaze Tail Fin to color them a bit.

I colored a piece of bandage and cut/shred it into strips, placing them underneath the main picture.

I colored the sides with black gesso and then used several stencils and black modeling paste to give them some pattern. I gave the sides some color with glimmermists and water.

To give the canvas a little extra, I added a piece of canvas which was also colored in the shades of the project, then stapled it to the sides and top.

I'll leave you with some more close-ups. Comments and questions are always welcome!

Find me on Facebook too: Less is Bore!

And Instagram: mandylessisbore

Happy scrapping!

Words & Paintery February Challenge, Art Journal Cover

Hi everyone!

Back to show you my designteam interpretation of the Words & Paintery February Challenge. I hope this colorful moodboard will inspire you to play along with us too. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the colors, but the team made some wonderful projects and I love my art journal cover too!

You have until March 15 to come up with something ;)

STEP 1

Get yourself an album with a cover you can embellish.

STEP 2

Apply white gesso on the cover, let it dry.

Then use a Prima stencil with TCW light & fluffy modeling paste to create a pattern.

STEP 3

Use another stencil, TCW "Art is" (261S), to create a little more patterned background. Through the CCB/TCW bloghop I got to work with this light & fluffy modeling paste and I ADORE it. If you use your heatgun the paste gets very puffy!

STEP 4

 Adhere some different frames and cover them in white gesso.

(Frames are from Prima, Action, Aliexpress.)

STEP 5

Since I recently bought myself a Bigshot, I'm learning to use it. I found that this craft foam runs very easily through the machine, gives volume and it's easily painted in another color. Finally some use for that stash of outdated crafting stuff. I don't remember what brand the die is from, but it's a tiny one. Diecut some of the figures, cut them into pieces and adhere them to the cover.

Later on I added a bit more on the upper right side, those frames needed to be connected more somehow.

  STEP 6

Use Tattered Angels glimmermists in the shades Apple, Pink Coral and True Turquoise,

and spray the cover.

Adhere the tea infuser to the cover. (This was actually the beginning of my project, to create something revolving around its oily colorblend.)

 STEP 7

Stamp some dots using a small Prima stamp, Versamark ink and

Frantage Embossing Enamel 'Aged Teal'.

STEP 8

Cover a chipboard/grungeboard letter 'A' with  bit of lace. aint the letter with TCW Gold Gesso. Add Prima Finnabair Texture Paste White Crackle, allow to dry on its own. Spray Tattered Angels glimmermists Apple, Pink Coral and True Turquoise. Add clear crackle medium and another layer of TCW Gold Gesso.

(Keep playing until you're happy with the result.)

 STEP 9

Add various embellishments like a metal lightbulb charm, little cameo, Scraberry's mask, Scrap Unlimited face, metal zipper pull, metal half birdcage, metal bird charm, wood window frame cut to size and metal wings from Scrapberry's.

Spray them in the colors glimmermist used before, and brush some TCW Gold Gesso over the surfaces.

STEP 10

Color the letters 'R' and 'T' with the pink and blue glimmermist and add a layer of clear crackle medium.

Use TCW Gel Medium and Prima Arts Stones in 2 sizes to give the project a little more depth and structure. Sprinkle some blue mica flakes over certain areas as well.

I'll leave you with some more pictures and close-ups, hoping to have inspired you to create something equally colorful and join our challenge.

You can find me on Facebook too: Less is Bore

Instagram: mandylessisbore

HAPPY SCRAPPING!

"Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch" altered mixed media box fall

Hi everyone!

I'm here to show you my interpretation of the latest Canvas Corp Brands September #challenge. It's being featured on the Canvas Corp Brands blog today! In case you're interested to know how and what I did, I'm asking that you head on over to the Canvas Corp Brands blog. I will show you some close-ups, but the step by step is on their blog.

My little box is Autumn themed and as you can see on the moodboard, almost anything goes! The form of your art can be anything you like too. Please check out the link to their challenge and consider playing along, you have until October 5th so no excuses ;)

 Not only do they have some great prizes up for grabs, you will also be invited as a guest designer in December! How cool is that? 

Canvas Corp Brands blog

Before you click the link to find out, I hope you'll have a look at some of the close-ups of my project though. The box is 8 by 8 inches big and from #Scrapiniec. 

The picture shows my husband putting our boy Connor, little over 7 months back then, amidst a whole bunch of pumpkins. I wanted to continue the pumpkins '3D' and went on a miniature-pumpkin hunt some weeks before everything fall-related finally hit the stores. I succeeded in a huge garden centre though.

These adorable #chipboard gates are from Scrapiniec also and I had a blast aging them. (I'll show you how on the Canvas Corp Blog!)

It's getting old, but these chipboard spiderwebs are also from Scrapiniec. 

The 'cutest pumpkin in the patch' was made from a wood frame and aged, chalkboard sticker and some stamping. Again, the explanation is on the Canvas Corp blog!

Hope you enjoyed the close-ups. Come find me on facebook too: lessisbore

And Instagram: mandylessisbore

Play along with the challenge if you like it! 

Happy scrapping!

Words & Paintery August Challenge Mixed Media Layout "Love & Peace"

Hi everyone,

I'm back to show you my second layout as designteam member of the 'Words & Paintery' challenge blog. Their August challenge just went live! 

Please check out the link to the blog: 

Words & Paintery August challenge. 

You have until September 15 to play along with us, by using the moodboard below.

4

Starting out with this piece of beautifil paper from #Primamarketing, 'Perfecto' from the Cigar Box Secrets line, and this lovely vintage slide-turned-photo with my young mom on it. She was in her teens, so it was the sixties: Peace, Love. The picture was taken during their summer holiday: flip flops.

Using #modelingpaste and #TatteredAngels #glimmermist 'Rusty Red' and #Lindysstampgang' Starburst purple, I used a #Primamarketing #Finnabair #doilie #stencil on my paper. Usually I blend my modeling paste a little before applying it with a mist, then spray something on it once I'm done too.

Stamped some images of my recently puirchased #Prima #Finnabair background stamp set, with #Tim Holtz #distress ink 'mahogany'.

Glued #lace to the #MDF circle, and gave it a coat of white #gesso.

Sprayed the circle with #Tatteredangels #glimmermist 'Red Lobster' and 'Rusty Red'. On the left side of the paper I stenciled a bit of text with a #13Arts #stencil, modeling paste and purple mist. Sadly my mixture bled through the stencil. Hopelessly. Forcing me to stray from my initial design idea. Once again. I had to cover that left section up, so I chose to use a smaller picture on that side.

I added red and purple #flowers, red #crochet flowers my aunt made for me, a little 'Peace' charm, and the wood word LOVE.

Once everything was in place I dabbed everything with white gesso, softening the colors. Added a few purple glitter #swirls and #chipboard hearts too. 

And messed up the part above the circle by spraying a little too much Glimmermist. Sigh...

Gave the word 'LOVE' a bit of glimmer with glimmermist 'Red Lobster' and added a #onestepcrackle medium. Gotta love #crackle.

Hope you like it anyway. The color scheme was extremely difficult for me! It would be great if you would join us and show us your interpretation!

My Facebook: Less is bore!

Instagram: mandylessisbore

HAPPY SCRAPPING!