"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 December Challenge, Shadowbox

Once Upon A Time...

there lived a little Gothic Blythe doll, 

named Devon of Salem, in a tiny house in the Woods. 

Her tricycle was parked outside. Christmas Stockings hung on the fireplace mantel and a few presents were lying at the foot of the decorated Christmas tree. A new doll was already showing her porcelain face. The chandelier in the top of the house lit up the scene, showing the ghostly reflection in the old mirror.

Then something happened...

Strolling the woods the other day, I stumbled upon this little house. As I got nearer, birds stopped whistling and I felt a chill in the air. Around me there was no sign of frost or snow. The little house however, seemed to be frozen in time. Snow and ice covered the entire scene, from the wood rooftop with the little bird's nest on it, to the fireplace, mirror, Christmas tree, presents, and even Devon herself.

Twas an eery scene... Sad... Breathtakingly beautiful though! 

Was there magic involved? A spell? Fear?

Click here to watch my video showing all the details!

Canvas Corp Brands Challenge Reminder "Christmas where you are"

Hi everyone,

Did you see the December challenge over at  the Canvas Corp Brands blog?

The moodboard is a very loose inspiration, the idea is that you create something showing us what Christmas is like where you live. You still have until January 5, 2017 to compete!

As a reminder, I created a project of my own. You can see how I did it, in the

Canvas Corp Brands Challenge Reminder blogpost, with step by step pictures and a supply list.

So please, hop on over there if you're interested in creating something similar!

Hoping to have sparked your imagination to create your own shabby chic and rustic Christmas decoration, I will leave you with some close-ups.

Maybe I'll see your entry in our challenge!

For now, Happy Holidays.

And Happy Scrapping.

www.facebook.com/lessisbore

www.instagram.com/mandylessisbore

 No, don't worry, it's not set on fire, as someone thought ;)

I wrapped a LED light string around the embroidery hoop.

Which you can see in the Canvas Corp Brands post!

"Motorcycle Moments" 'Movember Challenge" Mixed Media Origins Layout

Hi all!

Back to show you my designteam take on the Canvas Corp Brands "Movember" challenge.

You can find the challenge with inspiring moodboard here: canvascorpbrands movember challenge.

You still have until December 5 to compete, and win an amazing prize package!

You can find the post featuring my layout here: "motorcyle moments".

Before I'll show you the pictures, I want to inform you that you will find step by step pictures on the Canvas Corp Brands blog. You can find a list of supplies (many yummy 7Gypsies and Tattered Angels were used of course) and an explanation on the blog. I would love for you to pop over there and have a look!

I hope to have inspired you with this layout, to give this challenge your own spin. What's not to love about men, rust and transportation after all?

If you want to see more of my work, come find me on Facebook too: lessisbore

And 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!

Fall Dreamcatcher 'Words & Paintery' September challenge

Hi everybody!

Back to show you my third project as a 'Words & Paintery' designteam member already, 

can you believe it?

You can find the current #challenge here: 

words & paintery challenge september

You have until October 15 to play along with us!

At first the pink part of the moodboard had me worried... 

But it blended in beautifully with the fall-themed brown and orange! 

The quote screamed 'FALL' to me. And I had the perfect picture to add to it... My pouting little boy, who refused to pose and smile for me last year during Fall. (My gosh, this picture is almost a year old?!) Suddenly the quote becomes a little sarcastic ;)

I wanted to do this project #dreamcatcher style and decided to use this embroidery hoop of 8 inches broad. Though instead of the normal dreamcatcher 'webbing' I made a #spiderweb instead. Seemed more befitting to the theme and season! I used hemp cord to do it. (If you don't quite remember the technique from kindergarten anymore, #Google is your friend!)

 

Since I seem to use various sorts of #rust paste on all my projects lately, this one was no exception. Viva Decor's #Rustypaper was applied to this one and allowed to dry. Once dry, I applied some #Prima #Finnabair #rustpaste as well, in the orange color. I sort of wanted to mimic wood and didn't want to use branches, and wrapping ribbon around the hoop didn't tickle my fancy either.

 Next step: adding ribbon and wool to the lower half of the hoop. I used some #burlap ribbon, some blended wool and later on I added some #seambinding ribbon in the exact shade of pink of the color scheme. Sadly I neglected to take pictures of the spraying of the seambinding ribbon with #TatteredAngels #glimmermist in the colors 'Peach Delight' and 'Rusty Red'. Drying this with your heatgun while you have crumpled it will give you permanent creases. 

Just beware not to melt the ribbon...

Then came the time to adhere leaves, both fabric and wood, 

and later on some acorns, to the ribbons. 

I attached them with my glue gun.

Time to embellish the center of the dreamcatcher. 

I matted the picture onto a piece of burlap of which I frayed and inked the edges. 

I lay the picture down onto two slices of wood and some more leaves. Added some acorns, a little wood fox, mushrooms, berries and metal leaves.

When everything was in place I splattered my project with white #gesso,

 blended with glimmermist 'Walnut Gold'.

The word 'Fall' is a #Scrapiniec #chipboard of which I cut off the '#'. 

Painted it with glimmermist #chalkboard 'Baby Pink', 

then added some #glimmerglam 'Golden Godess' with a brush. 

After that I added some one step #crackle medium.

On the picture below you can see some of the seambinding ribbon on the left. Love its texture after crumpling, and the way the colors blend. Or are more like spots. Gives it a vintage feel!

Well, I hope my take on the moodboard inspired you to participate as well! Remember, you have until October 15 to play along!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Come find me on Facebook too: lessisbore

And Instagram: mandylessisbore

Happy Scrapping!