Mixed media canvas "First...vacation"

Hey all,

Have you seen the new challenge over at Canvas Corp Brands? Are you going to give it a try? I simply adore the summery moodboard!

When asked which one of the crew wanted to provide an example, I jumped upon the chance immediately! The pictures of Connors first vacation abroad, last year, were still waiting to be scrapped. 

And this theme gave me the chance to finally give the new Mixed Media origins papers a try as well! I received them only a couple of days before so I was very curious. 

The paper feels more like a fabric and though supple to handle, cannot be torn. It needs to be cut. (Meaning it doesn't tear up easily when you get it all wet with your mediums, very good!)

So cutting the paper was my starting point, since the canvas I wanted to use was wider than the sheet. (The canvas measures 12 by 16 inches)

I adhered the 2 pieces of paper to my canvas using gel medium. The section of the Canvas that wasn't covered with paper, became my sandy path. Put gel medium on it and then bird sand (for an actual bird from a store carrying pet supplies). After allowing it to dry, I shook off the excess.

Around the edges of the Canvas and along the edges of the sand path, I applied white crackle paste.


 I let this dry overnight and then started my coloring by spraying Tattered Angels glimmermist 'chalkboard French Vanilla' on the sand path because it was too white for my liking.


For the seahorse I used two shades of Tattered Angels glimmerglam to get the perfect color, 'Tailfin' and 'Blue Topaz'. I then covered the seahorse with one step (translucent) crackle medium by Tim Holtz and sprinkled some microbeads and 13 Arts glass filler on top of it. Let it all (air) dry, sprayed some Tattered Angels Glimmermist "crushed shells" to emphasise the cracks and get a more vibrant color.

I proceeded to color the other parts of the paper with different shades of Tattered Angels glimmermist: patina for the sky, crushed seashells for the lighthouse, edges covered with crackle paste and seahorse's background, maya blue for the compass and some drips on the page.

Colored some Scrapiniec chipboard seaweed pieces with Tattered Angels glimmerglam Caspian Sea and tiny glass beads. Glued them to the bottom corners of the Canvas, let them dry and then added real seastars, shells and some small chippies like a steering wheel, anchor and seahorses.

The Canvas Corp aqua Burlap flower came on a little too strong for my taste, so I simply covered the edges with white gesso.
Underneath the burlap flower is a fabric tag, which I gave a more distressed look by brushing and spraying Tattered Angels glimmermists 'Crushed seashells' and 'Maya blue' onto it, plus a little white gesso.
Onto the tag I used tiny letter stickers for my text. (Unfortunately my initial idea wouldn't fit...)
I mounted a Scrapiniec Monograce 'F' (altered with glimmermist, glimmerglam and white gesso) onto a slice of wood and added a little seagull and some little shells. Tied the bottle filled with sand to one of the burlap flower's loose threads.

Alongside my pictures I adhered straws to create borders. Underneath the picture is a little cardstock doilie I coated with white gesso, some 'shell discs' and some sisal thread.

Wrapped the corners and sides with some netting. 

The clusters of shells are complemented by some microbeads, small 13 Arts glass beads  and flass filler and Prima/Finnabair art pebbles. Completed with a bit of white crackle paste here and there, for example on the chipboard seahorse. Followed by Tattered Angels glimmermists of course.

This picture sort of captured the beautiful twinkle that the glittermists and glass beads gave in the sunlight.

Normally I scrap more elaborate, but I didn't want to overshadow the beautiful paper. Plus the 2 pictures made the canvas full pretty quickly.
Hope I've shown you what you can do with the Mixed Media Origins papers. Questions and comments are always welcome!

Come find me on Facebook too: lessisbore
And on Instagram: mandylessisbore

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!