"Words & Paintery" May Challenge, Shabby Steampunk Shack

Hi all,

Time for a new challenge over at Words & Paintery! You can find it HERE

Check out the nice 'n rusty moodboard, the designteam's interpretations and play along!

You have until June 15.

So, I started out with this cute, little, crooked house.

My assistant and I started rusting a bunch of things: some diecut pipes I made with my Bigshot, using my latest Tim Holtz pipes die and cardboard. A gear-clockwork thingy, loose gears. I wasn't sure what I wanted to use, so we just rusted some items, using mostly my Viva Decor Rust paste.

I gave the house a coat of greenish acrylic paint, then a coat of crackle medium,

then another coat of blue acrylic paint. I sanded it a bit, too.

 Once the Rust Paste was dry, I dropped some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Brass onto some parts and rubbed some Inka Gold - Turquoise onto other parts.

I added the pipes and gears where I liked them and glued everything in place. I sprinkled some Infusions - Sleight Blue on my project and sprayed water to activate it. The black soot gave it an even more realistic distressed feel.

Using gel medium, I added micro beads in gold an black on my project here and there.

I sprinkled and dropped some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Verdrigris onto my project too, for a finishing touch. It's a wonderful copper color with turquoise.

I wrapped some wire around the upper pipe and lower tap,

and strung some teardrop shaped beads in the wire.

The text 'Memory Lane' is from a 7Dots sheet.

To the backside of the window, I stapled some chicken wire and rusted it a bit.

 I hope my take will have inspired you to create something too!

You can find me on Facebook too: Less is Bore

And Instagram: mandylessisbore

HAPPY SCRAPPING!

"Angel" Mixed media canvas tribute

 "Though we cry tears of sadness
for the loss of our loved ones,
So the angels weep tears of joy
For the return of their's."

Hey everyone,

I'm back to show you a canvas I made for many reasons. One of the reasons is that it is the tenth 'anniversary' of my mother's death today. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Some memories fade unfortunately, while others stay put in my heart forever. I still miss her so much. Her warmth, our bond, her laughter, her naughty, funny and vibrant nature, her creativity, her advice, her hugs, our talks on the phone, our shopping trips. 

So when I saw the 'Angels' challenge' from the 13Arts blog come by, I knew I wanted to create something for/about my mom. (I even miss that I can't make gifts for her anymore...)

My mom loved angels so much, she actually became one. The poem above says it all. She believed dearly in angels, and she found comfort in knowing she was needed in heaven even more, than here on earth. Though she had a really hard time leaving us behind. She fought her battle against cancer for as long as humanly possible. And then some more.  

Watching slip her away into heaven is something I will never forget, for as long as I live and breathe. 

You still have until the 27th of March to join in their challenge!

Also, the March challenge over at the Words & Paintery blog really spoke to me. You still have until April 15 to join in! The colors really inspired me to use them on my angel canvas. My mother was a very feminine woman. 

And the words? They are the words my mother used to live by. She tried to make her dreams come true and enjoyed all the little things that every day brought. She had had a rough childhood and knew she had to make her own happiness. 

Sadly these words have become even more true when she passed away at age 52. Her early death has made us realize to seize the day. Nothing lasts forever indeed.

So... where to start? 

I wanted to try to use a picture of mother collage style. So I made a copy and applied it to the canvas with gel medium. Let that dry and worked around it in the meantime.

Recently I purchased this 'wings stencil' from Sandra's Hobbyshop and thought the wing shapes would fit nicely into a heart shaped canvas. I applied gesso to the canvas first after having read that someone had had trouble with the crackle paste. Unfortunately, the gesso might have been the source of that same trouble I also experienced later on: the crackle paste was so immensely cracked, the bits were practically standing upright! I could flick them all right off. I decided to put a coat of gel medium on the canvas first, then applied the texture paste once more. This time I kept the layer thinner as well.

Luckily, the paste stuck this time.

Below you can see the result of the cracked wings. Some bits are still almost chipping off, but I sealed everything with gel medium. Which I did whilst blending it a bit with Finnabair Art Ingredients Opal Mica Powder, peach colored.

The picture came out okay, and I coated it with a clear crackle medium. Unfortunately I applied it too thickly, cracking up my mother's face too much, so I tried 'collaging' the same picture over it, in the hopes of a better result. (I can already tell you it didn't work. I could peel the picture right off, revealing nothing but the deeply cracked picture once more.)

Around the top and sides of the wings I stenciled little stars with modeling paste. I wanted the wings to stay in focus, not clutter them. 

So I decided to put the emphasis on the bottom half of the canvas, by embellishing a skirt-like shape. First I adhered a bit of lace, but I might as well not have, since it's not showing anywhere anymore, LOL. Then I added some more embellishments.

Not shown on this picture yet, is the bit I added later, above the 'waist' of my mother. I wasn't happy with the outcome of the blouse, so I covered that up mostly.

Then it was time to cover everything in gesso.

Once the gesso had dried, I sprayed, using 3 different colors. I used 2 glimmermists: pink poodle and crimson.

And for the lighter shade of pink, I used Lindy's Stamp Gang: Sunset Pink.

I set off the stars from the background with a bit of Silver Inka Gold.

I added some Prima Art Stones here and there with gel medium, and sprayed those too. For a bit more glitter I added Glimmerglam: Chandelier over the wings, the picture, the shirt and wherever else it was needed.

I'll leave you with some more shots, and hope you like it. My only regret is adding the too big cracks to my mom's head. Also I have to admit I found it difficult to embellish this one, because I wanted the wings to remain uncluttered.

Comments and questions are always welcome!

You can also follow me on Facebook: Less is bore!

Or find me on Instagram: mandylessisbore

Happy scrapping!

"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!

Canvas Corp Brands mixed media 4 by 4 canvas 'Finnabair style'

 Hi all!

It feels like it's been forever since I created something and shared it, though I know it's not. Not really. It's just been very busy around here because my little man turned 3 years old last Thursday! That meant shopping for a present, extra grocery shopping, celebrating his actual birthday with a select few and then on to baking cake, muffins, preparing the place where the party was held (grandpa's bar) and the actual party itself. 

Connor liked lighting the candles and blowing them out (a gazillion times) even more than the presents...

Back to normal life after those celebrations, so time was short again. and I wanted to start/finish the mini canvas for the Canvas Corp Crew so badly! It's a small canvas ( 4 by 4 inch) everyone in the Canvas Corp Crew is supposed to decorate to show (off) their own style. Today I was finally able to put the final touch on my 4 by 4 inch canvas, and even more importantly, take daylight pictures of it.

It has to be said that I work different on canvas than I do when I scrap layouts. Lately I like the canvas method a whole lot, and I want to try and incorporate this style more into my regular layouts. I'm not sure what to call it, besides the 'Finnabair' mixed media style.

Here you can see how tiny the canvas is. And the rawness of the cloth shows too. This is pure canvas, whereas usually canvasses for artists are treated with a layer of gesso already. I decided not to do that to this one, to see how the pure canvas would work with the mists.

First I applied some modeling paste through the 2 stencils, as you see below. A negative and positive version of the same pattern.

Because of the size of the canvas I didn't add more stenciling, just went ahead with embellishing. a lace border, lace figure, some chipboard and wood figures, a metal Prima picture frame, some flowers and a leave, and a cute little cherub watching where I was headed.

Next I covered it all in white gesso. After the gesso I added some glass beads texture gel here and there. Coincidentally I spotted the back of my mannequin and it was crackled. It hit me that that was because of the glue. 

Recently I saw a video of a woman who made her own crackle effect by covering an object with white glue (this was Tacky Glue from another store), let it dry a bit and then added paint while the glue was still sticky. It caused crackles indeed! The only shame is, you didn't see them anymore after I had sprayed the whole thing. (But hey, it works!)

Also I mixed some 13Arts Magic Powder with my gesso, to create some structure paste. I put that on the mannequin, swirl, scissors and crown.

Really, it's all just playing with textures until you like what you've accomplished.

I have no more further steps to show you now, but the finished canvas. I spray and ink until I'm satisfied. It's just playing and discovering what I like and what not. 

What I did not like was how the mists turned out on the un-gessoe'd parts. They looked a bit filthy. So I would advise you to apply some base coat on the canvas after all. Yes, the colors soaked in more intense, but like I said, they looked a bit filthy.

The glimmermists were first to go. I used Periwinkle Bouquet, Verdigris, Walnut Gold and Boardwalk for this canvas. Very shimmery colors and beautiful shades. I love the copper glimmer in the Verdigris!

On the text (which again is my scrap (and life) motto: 'Less is Bore') I used 2 shades of Glimmer Glam: Tail Fin and Tanzanite. They dried a bit glossy, which was exactly what I wanted. However, when I played with the coloring some more, I ended up dulling them somewhat, so I added a bit of (Tim Holtz) one step crackle medium. (Any brand will do.) I also added some more on the mannequin, because she looked a bit too boring to me.  

I gave the whole canvas a finish with some Inka Gold. On the main section I used Browngold. On the metal items I added later, like the little feet, handle and corner bits, I added some Hydrangea and Turquoise Inka Gold.

Hope you like it! Let me know! ;) 

My facebookpage is: Less is Bore!

Happy scrapping!

Sea themed mixed media canvas

Hey all,

Recently I started working on a mixed media canvas with a beach theme. This is going to be a gift for my friend Monique who (finally, LOL) gave birth to her daughter. She shared the decorating of the new baby's room with me, and I was inspired immediately to do a canvas once I saw the sea/beach theme. Running into a steering wheel with the perfect size brought my ideas even more to life!

I started out with a blank 12' by 12' canvas and painted the upper 2/3 section with a light blue paint. The section below that is supposed to be the sea, I painted that with a mix of texture paste and teal mica.

The bottom section is supposed to be the sand/beach so I painted it with a structure paint turned a sandy colour and sprinkled sand on it afterwards. 

First, I draped some fishing net over the canvas.

Then I started embellishing with everything sea/beach themed I could think off. 

A firehouse, shells, seastars, fish, boats, seahorses, a bottled message, anchors, steering wheels, beach houses, slippers, seagulls. 

Quite the colorful display :P My aim was to end up with the colours of the canvas, because those are the colours of the baby's room. 

So I added a few coats of gesso on everything. Painted a few clouds with gesso while I was at it.

Then it was finally time to bring out the glimmermists and Lindy's stamp gang sprays!

I'm ashamed to say that I have about 50 different colors... But still didn't really have the colors I had envisioned! 

I chose for a blue/grayish one for the top section, a mint one for the sea part and a brownish tone for the bottom part.

In the meantime I distressed the too white steering wheel all sorts of ways. 

Covered it with a crackle medium and painted light blue over that. Felt it became too blue then so I added some more white paint. Brushed a few little streaks of Inka Gold here and there, etc.

Because I needed 3 e's I couldn't use any of the chipboard alpha's I had wanted to use. Chose for these felt alpha's instead and altered them later on by painting them with a mixture of glass beads texture gel mixed with mica powder teal.

Once my spraying was done it was time to emphasise everything with Inka Gold. I chose to use an anthracite color. 

Afterwards I added some of the glass beads texture gel here and there, which I probably should have done earlier. It dried up looking very shiny and glassy, absorbing the Inka Gold. So I redid those bits a little.

I wasn't happy yet but that's just me. So I sprayed a different tone of brown at the bottom section, and used my glass beads texture gel with teal mica powder (left over from coloring the alpha's) here and there some more. Used a bit of brown Inka Gold to emphasise things, after I tried to dry brush some parts with a linen colored paint.

Finally I was (rather) happy and glued some thick rope around the steering wheel and canvas. Which I sprayed with the same color sprays I used on the canvas. Glued the steering wheel down and then it was done.

I really hope my friend will like it. It's not as subtle as I was planning. Though she's not into pastels, these aren't the exact colors of the baby's room either. Well, it's a gift I lovingly made for her and her baby and that's what counts. Right? ;)

Happy scrapping and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! You can find me on Facebook too: Less is bore!