"You're a rainbow full of possibilities" Mixed media layout February inspiration board Scraps of Darkness

Hi everyone,

How have you been? 

Despite my silence I have been busy! If all will go accordingly, my first layout ever will soon be published on the Canvas Corp Brands Blog! Can you imagine how proud and excited I am??? 

The layout I am blogging about is not that layout however, of course ;)

This particular layout was inspired by the moodboard over at the Scraps of darkness and scraps of elegance mixed media scrap community. It's their February Inspiration board Challenge!

I had been wanting to scrap a particular picture of Connor and his dad in the swimming pool already, where they sat leaning against all sorts of rainbow colored slides and structures. Connor was about a half year old then, I think.

Because of the rainbow I had in mind, I needed a rather white background paper. This one from 13Arts, called Fly Away "Imagine", suited my need perfectly. 

The circle in the background is also from 13Arts, however I have recently bought whole rolls of this decor fabric at a local store that sells everything and anything (it's called Action). I used gel medium to glue it to the background and let it dry overnight.

The next day I added a layer of gesso all over the circle, then sought out some stencils to use with modeling paste. 

Hardly worth all the effort, because the shapes that were large enough still vanished in the fabric, and the smaller shapes became sort of a blur. But whatever, I created some texture ;)

Threw in some nail caviar (micro beads) assorted beads from my jewelry making stash also.

Time to add some chipboard. Among my chipboard shapes there is also the Scrapiniec Monograce "R". (Of the entire alphabet I won and am slowly but steadily scrapping away.)

I wanted to emphasize the idea that Connor still has endless possibilities, so I used some arrows to indicate him moving forward, etc.

Once all my embellishments were in place it was time for some more layers of gesso...

Then the spraying started. I just used the colors in my stash, not really regarding what brand they were, just picked them because of their color. After everything had dried overnight, I did notice differences. 

Tattered Angels glimmermists dry very nicely (noticed that on my little canvas too), but the Maya Mist and Dylusions tend to stay very wet.

Which does not come in handy if you want to coat everything with gesso, by dabbing it with a sponge brush. Something that succeeded very well I might add, while I was creating the layout I made before this one. (The layout that I mentioned before at the top and will hopefully be on the Canvas Corp Brands blog!)

However this time the gesso simply picked up the colors, especially the red and blue. The wet inks. Well...

So...

I just played some more and re-added some spray inks, and even coated the whole with a pearlescent glimmermist for more glimmer.

Once I had settled on the best and most clear way to add the rest of my quote "You're a rainbow full of possibilities" I gave the Scrapiniec Monograce "R" a few dabs of black gesso. 

Hope you like it! Comments are always most welcome, followers on my facebookpage Less is bore! and my Instagram mandylessisbore even more.

I'll leave you with some close-ups and wish you

Happy Scrapping!

Cinnamon sidecart (Kaneel & Zijspan) Mixed media layout

Hey everyone! 

So I have returned with the next layout in my 'scrapiniec alphabet challenge'. 

We're having some time off, the dental  laboratory I work at is always closed from Christmas until New years and my husband Pascal is a school teacher. 

So yeah, we get to sleep in alternating, one of us has to go downstairs to take care of Connor (who's almost 3 years old) while the other can catch up on some much needed sleep. (Our little man hardly ever sleeps through the entire night and wakes up around 6.30 every day.)

Thinking about what to do with all my letters, I suddenly got an idea for the 'Z': ZIJSPAN. Which is Dutch for 'sidecart'.

My husband loves to ride motorcycles and didn't want to wait until Connor was old enough to take him along. So, he bought a motorcycle with a sidecart!

A lovely, vintage, blue, German 'AWO' motorcycle from the fifties. 

And Connor and he have been going for rides ever since Connor was about a 1,5 years old. Connor enjoys the 'speed' very much, even though it's hardly any faster than a moped, LOL. (They are overtaken by cyclists even...)

And the husband? He loves to share his passion with his little man.

Anyways, gears popped up in my head too for this layout, obviously. So I altered the Z a little by adding some (half) gears. Quite happy with the result so far.

Then I made my own blend to recreate the tire tracks (with a Tim Holtz stencil) by mixing a gray structure paint, black gesso, some 13Arts Magic powder to give it more structure, and cinnamon. (Which in retrospective could have been left out easily, it didn't show. But it smelled great when I dried the tracks with my heatgun, hahaha.)

After application I sprinkled some sand on the tracks.

I stamped some numeric and text stamps (not entirely random) over the page with black ink. When I found out this particular piece of paper wasn't very sturdy (Echo Park collection something something, from my stash, a few years old at least) I adhered it to a piece of plain black cardboard. Then I distressed the edges and inked them with black as well.

Then it was time for the gears, which I wanted to have 'surrounding' my picture. I glued them down and let them dry overnight. (Bedtime anyway, so.)

Next, I gave my gears and the 'Z' a coat of anthracite Inka Gold. (Which was hard with all the teeth and points and holes. Took me forever! Spraying them beforehand would have been easier I think.)

After unsuccessfully trying to mix gel medium with cinnamon (my almost 3-year old boy asked me if it was poop...) I simply applied the gel medium on my gears and shook the cinnamon on top. I let it dry and tapped the excess off. And them brushed some more. And sneezed. (But the effect is worth it!) 

After I painted the edges of my Z with a dark blue glimmermist I gave it the same cinnamon treatment as the gears. 

To make my gear-wreath more exciting I twirled some iron wire along it in loops and glued down some (non functional) Christmas lights. Added some chain, brushed some silver micro beads/ nail caviar on the gears (blended in gel medium), added a bit of turquoise alcohol ink to emphasise the rust and then added some crackle medium. Once that dried I inked it a little to bring out the cracks more and dull the shine somewhat. Next day I brushed some brown/gold Inka Gold over the micro beads because the silver stood out too much.

Meanwhile I basically gave the Z the same treatment. I adhered it to a piece of currogated cardboard (which I altered with 2 shades of silver/anthracite and a rust colour Inka Gold and... yes... here it comes... cinnamon! ;) )

Made the rest of the word 'Zijspan' on my Dymo labelwriter and added a few word stickers from 7dots 'Nature Walk'.  (Altered their color a little and covered them in crackle medium.) 

Glued a little licence plate from Prima with the text 'Dreamroad' to the bottom of the page and altered it with alcohol ink and crackle medium. 

There you have it, my cinnamon sidecart layout. Hope you like it. Comments are much appreciated. 

Also, you can keep up with me through my facebookpage Less is bore! 

Or you can follow me on Instagram: ladyguinevere77

I'll leave you with a few more close-ups! 

Happy scrapping everyone!