That’s the challenge today on GA – Nancy chose “shabby chic” and to be quite honest, I went OTT with the shabby… well, there was so much paint around this morning, and you know what I’m like when I get paints out!

Dawn

I’ve been seeing quite a bit of the corrugated cardboard around again late last year and now too, so in an effort to be good, recycle and declutter, I went looking for cardboard this morning. This was one of those boxes you get catfood puches in – nice cardboard, but tricky to dis-assemble without tearing… unless you poke the tine(s) of a fork in a groove, push and flick! Push as far as you can and the top paper lifts and you can tear it up nicely without ripping all the layers. Great texture! [The gold spots are simple round paper fasteners].

Once I’d done that, I gessoed and painted it, naturally! Lots of dry brushing – oh and in the interests of science, or the need to experiment – playing what if? – I used a toothbrush to paint with. This toothbrush has uneven lengthed bristles and so you get a more random texture and stroke…

While it was drying (before I cut out the arch), I used the remaining paint plus, in my altered book, preparing a piece for tomorrow [Mixed Media Monday]. Then I decided to see whether I can paint a picture on a bamboo placemat, with a toothbrush… it’s coming along nicely! I bet some people reading this think I’m demented – using a fork on cardboard, painting with a toothbrush, covering textbooks with paint, trying to paint on placemats, etc. It’s just having fun and I can’t stand waiting for paint to dry!

The image I used for the arch is from my seemingly never-ending stack of Miniatures by Crafty Individuals, which I love! I see they’ve brought out some new papers and stamps recently… I am tempted but my pockets are “to let” at the moment, which is probably why I’m experimenting so much! 😉