"Treasure" Mixed Media layout

Hi all,

For some time already I had my mind set on the 7dots papers. I hesitated on the "Cold Country" collection, though. On second thought the colours did speak to me. Once they arrived the colours weren't as intense as I'd hoped. That's okay though. Paper is just a background you can adjust, after all. 

Furthermore I had seen the deliciously intense colour scheme with rich purple, green and bright blue from the February challenge over at the Words and Paintery blog. But I simply had to add some cobalt blue and gold to make it a bit more 'peacock'. Yumm...

To make those intense colours even more intense, I wanted to use Inka Gold metallics. The challenge asked for glitter and shine, so they can have it!

After working with these creamy pastes I am totally in love. I cannot imagine life without them anymore :P

Velvet flowers, Prima star vines, metal embellishments coloured gold, feathers and Inka Gold applied through stencils, and there you have it...

A creamy, rich, intense, velvety, luxurious, warm layout that makes Connor's eyes POP! 

The radiance of a treasure cave filled to the brim. The way I feel about my little boy. He's my greatest treasure.

Like it? Leave me a note!

You can also stop by my facebookpage "Less is bore!"

Or check me out on Instagram: mandylessisbore

Take care!

Mixed media layout "No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you..."

Hiya fans :P

Had the chance to scrap another layout this weekend. And this one is sooo sweet, it'll hurt your teeth... 

Ready? Set... Go!

Here's a close-up so you can see the quote I used. "No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like on the inside."
I typed that myself on an old typewriter. Mounted the quote onto a wooden frame, which I coloured purple with Inka Gold. Then I covered both frame and text with one step crackle medium. (Way thicker on the frame ofcourse, I needed my quote to remain visible! So I brushed that area thinly.) Patience is the key here, do not try to speed the crackle process up with your heatgun, because you'll end up with broken bubbles.
So, once dry I inked it with some aqua ink.

You also see part of the angel's wing I stenciled. I used glass bead texture gel mixed with a pearl medium. The tiny butterflies are mirrors, which I gave a layer of pearl alcohol inkt first, and afterwards I covered them with glass beads texture gel.

The blue heart you see peeking out from underneath it all was also a mirror. I gave that a coat of the same mixture I used to stencil my big damask swirl with. A blend of crackle paste and an aqua blue Dylusion spray ink/mist. In my opinion the paste didn't crackle as much as I hoped for. But the stencil was hard to handle because it was so big and I didn't want to risk smearing too much in unwanted places, so.

I used modelling paste to stencil the text on the top left and bottom right. Afterwards I sprayed and inked those parts, as well as the rest of the page lightly here and there, with lilac and blue. 

Almost forgot to mention that I practically distress every page I do, by tearing up the edges and sides with a

 special tool. I ink the sides too.

The flower wreath is a piece meant for home decor. I bent it into a heart shape and added blue flowers to the existing pink ones.

I suppose that's all there really is to it! Let me know if you want to learn more. Comments are always very welcome.

Happy scrapping! 

I never knew how much I loved your daddy, until I saw how much he loved you.

Hi fans, 

High time to scrap a layout with a very touching quote about fathers. It really shows the way I felt, and still feel. Seeing with how much love and adoration my husband handled our son, completely melted me. It deepened the feelings of love I had for my husband with immeasurable depths...

"I never knew how much I loved your daddy, until I saw how much he loved you..."

To emphasize the fragileness and tenderness I chose to use light, delicate colours and neutrals. Lace and flowers added to the soft feel. 

The most precious jewels you'll ever wear around your neck, are the arms of your children.

Hi there,

After having a great day over at my father in laws and his wife, this picture of Connor and me really showed our happiness! 

An instant inspiration to scrap with bright and sunny colours. I did the background myself. Once again I messed up the first attempt because the colours didn't do what they were supposed to do. Also, working neatly with stencils without having paint or gesso or modelling paste seeping through the cracks proves to be a challenge!

However, I am pleased with the outcome. The bright colours remind me of these happy, carefree days and the bits of sparkle here and there represent the precious 'jewels' around my neck. Because let's face it: there is nothing more precious in the world! :)

Take care!

Such a big miracle in such a little boy.

There was a little boy named Connor, whose birth was truly a miracle to everyone around him. His parents hadn't really counted on having a baby anymore, after all those years of wishing, hoping and trying.

But he came anyway... 

And to him, the entire world is/was one big miracle. 

"Such a big miracle, in such a little boy..."

I wanted to give this page a sort of religious feel to emphasize the miracle theme, hence the church windows and everything that goes with them: branches, flowers, owls, locks, keys, etc. 

And ooooh how I fell in love with the little church windows and Tim Holtz crackle rock candy! 

Remember,  miracles do happen! Take care!

Adore

Hello once more,

Here's another layout featuring my little man. I love this picture! It's funny how you visualise an entirely different paper colour at first. I ended up using this one from my much loved but not much used "Rockstar" paper stack. These colours gave the picture way more attention than my initial idea would have done.

These days I couldn't scrap without my mists, crackle paints and stencils!

A layout I'm actually content with once again. If you like it too, leave me a comment!

Take care!

A moment in my belly, a lifetime in my heart

Hello again,

Of course I had to scrap a picture of my (rather modest looking) pregnant belly too! On a canvas, Finnabair style. I ran into a heart shaped canvas, which seemed perfect for this topic.
I embellished, gesso'ed and created an embellical cord with my glue gun, from my belly to a heart shaped charm in which I'd glued a little glass baby, depicting my woom.

It was hard to settle on a quote, but I went with "A moment in my belly, a lifetime in my heart." Because that's simply the truth. ♡♥♡

I used pastel colours, even made my own lilac spraymist. All in all I'm happy with the result, though the whole thing seems somewhat opaque.  I may have to add some of my recently discovered Inka Gold creams... ;)

Just like chocolates, comments make me happy :) (Luckily they're less fattening,  lol)

Take care!

"The sky is NOT the limit!" Also, cowboy & king

Hello once more,

Wanting to try a more mixed media style involving gears etc, I used a picture of Connor wearing his pilot hat. (Because with me the embellishments always have to suit the theme.)
It was my first attempt in smearing gesso all over the metal embellishments (as a preparation for misting them) and I have to say I am pleased with the outcome. The whole layout happened fairly quick, it all came together like magic!

Imagine my surprise when I totally messed up the following 2 layouts. I am never doing that again, working on 2 layouts simultaneously.

The layout of Connor with the cowboy hat started out on a brown timber background with a black swirl. When I added gesso rays through a stencil it only went downhill from there. I re thunk the whole thing and decided the sepia picture needed a background that would make it pop.
Once I had settled on that it still didn't go smoothly. I finished the layout but I'm not very content about it.

Maybe it was hard because the photo had an emotional aspect for me. The morning I took those pictures all was well. But that afternoon we were involved in a car accident. Shaking off the image of Connor covered in millions of glass splinters (from our shattered rear window) is a hard thing to do. I thought I'd lost him, right then and there. And he wasn't even 4 months old... :{
In that sense the layout doesn't do my feelings justice at all. It's a simple layout with a touch of the "Western Cowboy" feel in it, without being too obvious.

Then, the other layout didn't do what I wanted it to. I had fallen in love with the paper: a royal blue flockprint, damask and stripes... I was going for red, white and blue because of a clothing tag I wanted to use along with it.
Well, the red on my gesso'ed damask turned out PINK...! Several layers of white paint, gesso and gesso mixed with white paint didn't help one bit.
In the end I was able to colour the pink a bit more sandy and decided to embellish most of that part, because I didn't wanna give up just yet. It would be a shame of the wasted paper!
In the end the layout kinda came together thanx to a few touches of green. But it's not of my favourites.

Ah well, I blame it on the new techniques I am trying as well. I haven't practiced enough to know what happens when you do this and that. And it proves once more I am not someone who can just begin, smear something on the page and have my artistic abilities make everything come together like magic. I have to think things through. But I have learned a lot in the process and am happy to apply this new knowledge in my future projects! ;)

If you have any more knowledge to share or wish to learn from my mistakes, drop me a line! Take care in the meantime!

"My little green man"

Hello again,

The first layout I did after the project for my mom was a layout starring one of my favourite pictures ever of Connor. He was wrapped tightly in the belly sack, 6 weeks old and refusing to sleep, when I took this picture. He looks like a little elf to me there. ♥

From the moment he started to see more clearly he was fascinated by the trees, wind and sky. When we were walking he'd gaze at the trees like they were the most amazing thing he had ever seen. It always calmed him when he was crying for some reason.

And so "My little green man" was born...

Comments are always much appreciated! Take care!

Finally... I have returned...

Hello there,

I had already sort of decided to start a new blog and call it "Less is Bore... Encore" or "Less is Bore, once more" but I'm sticking with this blog anyways.

Okay, so, why my absence?  Life got in the way. In the best way. Because since my last post I have become a mommy! Connor is already over 18 months even... Whoops...
He's a great boy. Adventurous, funny, sweet at times. Handsome. He really was the one thing missing in our lives. ♡♥

So before he came, we had to clean out the room that was to become his. Then paint and decorate it. Then ofcourse there was the time our whole life revolved around our little man. And it still does. Obviously... ;)

But, we redid the attic as well. Painted it, had a carpenter install some (sliding) doors and straighten out the crooked furnace.
So I'm back to where I once started to scrap: the attic. And while I still haven't sorted everything out (knowing me that will probably never happen anyway...) I have truly recovered my mojo there!

I don't think I have ever scrapped this much in a row! I finally have the cutest subject to scrap about, maybe that's why? While he's sleeping I relive the precious moments we shared by working with his pictures.

I also made a new 'object' featuring my deceased mom's picture.  Because the layout I did on her which was standing in the room, clashed with our (new) living room colours.

I'll try and update this blog with my latest projects, stick with me!

Take care... And I LOVE it if you'd leave me a comment! :)

Our freshly re-born home

Hey there,

I've been a busy girl again lately... Once more NOT in my beautiful scrap-room though... Hubby and I had wanted to change our livingroom for quite some time already. So I started to look around for furniture as I had NO idea what I wanted. I figured once I found the pieces of furniture my heart wanted, the rest would follow. It did happen, but VERY slowly... And I am still sorta in between 2 styles. That's okay though. No need to follow the flock and stick to 1 exact style...
Everything in our house was terra cotta coloured or a lighter shade of it: the walls, ceilings, windowpanes, doors. Every freaking room! All our furniture was made of dark brown wood. So we sort of lived in a cave, LOL. With Indian/Eastern accessories such as a large wall-fan, a temple rug, etc. Or as one of my colleagues pointed out: like being in a Chinese restaurant.

The upperpiece of our mantle was not symmetrical so we had that straightened out by a carpenter, much better! Most walls are painted off-white except for the ones on the side of the mantle. They're a taupe/mauve kind of colour. I LOVE it! We're still awaiting our dining-room table unfortunately. That's gonna be a light/greyish kind of wood with 2 huge column-shaped legs. Like in a monestary or castle. Ofcourse I still need to get curtains and stuff...

By now the TV has been replaced with an enormous flatscreen that belonged to my dad :) I like the chandelier very much too. I wanted a shape like that, not the usual shape. I bought it in a store in our town, how lucky is that? The woman told me it's old and she bought it in Belgium, but it came from France.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


I made my own wall-art ofcourse, that wall desperately needed a splash of colour! I saved some of the wallpaint so it's the exact same colour as on the opposite walls! It's a triptych consisting of 3 canvasses, the middle one is 60x60 cm, the other ones are 30x60 cm. I applied gesso on them and just went with the flow. The iron ornaments came from my grandma's closet and I painted them to look silver, they were a sort of golden shade. Glad I saved them though :) I handcut and hand-sew the heart in the middle.

Some serious T-shirt pimpin'!!!

Hey there,

Gosh, back so soon? Yup, 'cause I actually managed to create something! If all goes well, my friend Monique and I will be going to the Scrap a Fairytale weekend again, it's supposed to take place mid June. So, I thought it'd be fun if we made a T-shirt to wear to that event. A scrap shirt.

So, yesterday Monique came over and we were quite busy for many hours. She did a purple one, I did a fuchsia one. (Only my favorite color in the whole wide world!!!) It's a shame we didn't do any 'pre-pics', but I guess you know what a plane Tee looks like, right? :P

First, I stamped on the checkered background, then, I scrapped the letters "SCRAP" on the background. I made the 'S' out of 2 colours felt, the 'C' was made with metal studs and paint, the 'R' was made from white buttons, the 'A' was made from eyelets with silver ribbon laced through it and the 'P' was formed from ric-rac-ribbon.

I added a patch with 'punk', 'cause well, I scrap and I dig punky outfits/music/scrappin'/etc. I like to be/dress sweet and feminine with a little punky edge, you know?

Anyway, here's the result. I'm kinda proud of it, I have to add. (Well, all but the 'C' , I kinda messed that one up, but it will have to do...)

If you like it, let me know! If you have any questions about something I did, write me!

See ya! Happy scrappin'! XOXO

Of all the things you wear, your EXPRESSION is the most important...

Hello my scrappy-friends, I am here again! I am still enjoying my holidays.

We went to Brugge (in Belgium) the week before last one, and I had a good time. It was pretty. although it resembled some Dutch cities. Which, according to my hubby (who is very good at remembering random unimportant crap but keeps forgetting about things that matter), was logical since most of the city was built during the time it still belonged to the Netherlands. Aaah, that makes sense. But we had fun, saw the sights, took a boat-trip over the canals, and went to the beach where we got a (reddish) tan, teehee. ;)

We saw 2 movies in Brugge, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian and WALL-E. And I have to say, both actors are the cutest!!! Ben Barnes who plays Prince Caspian is a hotty, and the movie was good, better than the first part! And Wall-e is totally adorable, I am in love with him! He's so clumsy and sweet, you HAVE to see this pic! It's good for loads of laughs as well.

Last week we continued to pimp our backyard. We got a brandnew fab lounge-set I am very pleased about! My sweet daddy offered to pay half, so that increased my budget immediately! Thanx, dad! You're the best!!! Got some great lanterns to go with it, and a rectangular sunshade. Finally, after all those years, my yard is coming together! In the meantime my dad has been busy painting the outside of our house, which was very necessairy. And hubby has been busy with the garden at the front of our house (which is empty now, apart from sand...) and fixing cars and motorcycles of people I dont even know. :S

I am beginning to become one of those people who doesn't need to go away from home to relax. I enjoy myself thoroughly amongst my own stuff, being able to do what I want and when I want it. And if I want to go shopping, I go shopping. Not in those crappy Belgium towns. You can't shop decently there. They're not even into scrapping yet! :O

Just as I was beginning to think I wouldn't scrap anything this vacation, the right hormones finally kicked back in...I scrapped an LO with a kinda vague pic of me, but beautiful and arty looking. Got the look I went for, so I am pleased with it. :) Almost. Hehehe.

The quote on the LO ("Off all the things you wear, your expression is the most important") is appropiate for me, since I am someone who doesn't love herself, or accepts her appearance. Eventhough I know it's not your looks, but the radiation of your inner beauty that matters. I don't judge my friends by their appearance either, but by their character. And I shouldn't even care what strangers think about me. They don't know me. And sure, I have gained weight again. But it's not as if being thin made life easier for me. 

I am starting off with some pics of a LO I did in January, about my wishes back then. Nothing has changed, because I still long for all those things. It's called "I wish..."

Enjoy, be inspired, create, and leave comments please!!! Me like comments! =)

Here's the LO I was talking about earlier, it's called "GLOW". I finished this yesterday. Well, technically, this morning, after altering it some more to my satisfaction...:P