Sing Out My soul!

It feels good to be back doing challenges again. I don't usually miss Bloggers Challenge, but Christmas, grandchildren, and other obligations took up so much of my time.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! Mine was wonderful. But now it's back to reality.

This week the Bloggers Challenge is sparkle and shine. I know its hard to see sparkle and shine on a scanned image. You'll just have to trust me that there's a lot of sparkle and shine on this card. The cardstock is metallic and the frame around the birds is a combination of rock candy stickles and rock candy dry glitter. Of course the bling ribbon across the top fits the challenge theme as well. All of the stamps are from the Artistic Outpost songbirds sheet. I'm also entering this card in the monthly Artistic Outpost referral challenge. The layout of the card is based on the Mojo Monday sketch challenge. The challenge at Cheery Lynn is faux or real lace. I used the Cheery Lynn Dutch doily frame die and the Japanese lace pattern die as my faux lace.

This is a blog hop. Can't wait to see what you create!

I wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year!

Season's Greetings

When I saw this Stampendous stamp, I knew it had to be part of my collection. It works perfectly for this month's Stampendous challenge which is CAS Christmas card. When I look at these adorable children, I just know they're going on a sleigh ride and the song Jingle Bells starts going through my head.

Gift Box

This month Stampsmith challenged us with handmade holidays. I decided that creating a handmade gift box was the way I would go. I love this ballerina from Stampsmith. Whenever I see her, I think of the Nutcracker ballet. I think she adds the Christmas spirit to this pillow box gift box (Tim Holtz die).

Joy to the World

Since Tim Holtz started the 12 Tags of 2012 in February, he promised an extra tag for January somewhere along the way. Well, here it is. The music tissue paper over the grungeboard pointsettia is so cool, and so Tim! I love the dimension and texture of this tag. I even got to use one of my grungeboard flourishes that I had bought back when grungeboard was a new item. I'm so happy that I was able to complete all 12 tags--and on time too!
I'm also entering this tag in a few other challenges: Creative Belli has a Christmas theme; Artistic Stamper has a home for Christmas theme; and Great Impressions has an anything goes theme.

Winter Joy

This month Tim Holtz shared two tags for his 12 Tags of 2012. One is for December and one is to make up for the one missed in January. Here is the first tag. I love doing Tim's tutorial tags. Often his tags are a great excuse to use stamps and other supplies from his collection that I just had to have, but never got around to using. This snowman is the perfect example. I love the dimension on this tag. By the way, the word "Joy" is cut from his mirror card. Wow, what a gorgeous shine in person.
I am also entering this tag in several challenges: Simon Says Stamp has the theme anything goes; Cornish Heritage Farms has a winter theme; Inspiration Journal wants to see the word Joy and using broken China ink is a plus. (Happy birthday, Joy.)

Merry, Merry Christmas

I've been very busy baking Christmas cookies, wrapping gifts, taking my grandson to a concert, visiting friends, and all the wonderful Christmas activities that come with the season. I'll get back to my art after a little Christmas break.  However, I did want to send out my holiday greeting to all my friends. I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a healthy new year.
Since I haven't had a chance to create any art recently, I thought I'd share my daughter's art. Kerry has become quite the nail artist. Here are her Christmas nails. Aren't they fabulous!

CHAPTER 22: Christmas-tide in Wonderland! Week 2

From a Fairy to a Child

LADY dear, if Fairies mayFor a moment lay asideCunning tricks and elfish play,'Tis at happy Christmas-tide.

We have heared the children say -Gentle children, whom we love -Long ago, on Christmas Day,Came a message from above.

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,They remember it again -Echo still the joyful sound,'Peace on earth, good-will to men.'

Yet the hearts must child-like beWhere such heavenly guests abide.Unto children, in their glee,All the year is Christmas-tide.

Thus, forgetting tricks and playFor a moment, Lady dear,We would wish you, if we may,Merry Christmas, glad New Year.
--Lewis Carroll, Christmas, 1887.

The Design Team at The Altered Alice wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! This month the design team brings you their holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings to The Altered Alice and to our other readers.

We do not have a sponsor this month, so we are just sharing for the joy of Christmas in Wonderland, and we hope that you will share too. We will have honorable mentions, so play along for the glory if not a prize!

 

To celebrate the season, The Altered Alice brings you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Check out the website to view the beautiful images as well as the inspiration and greetings sent by the individual DT members.

 

 My Inspiration for you:

For my Christmas greeting I created ornaments using images mostly from various past sponsors. Here you see them decorating my door wreath. All of the ornament tops were cut from metallic cardstock using Cheery Lynn ornament die-cuts. The images were stamped on shrink plastic, colored with Tombow markers, die-cut using a Spellbinders die and shrunk. The two parts of the ornament are attached using a jump ring.

Alice from Red Eowyn

Caterpillar from Alpha stamps

Mad Hatter from TJ Designs

Red Queen from Red Eowyn

Tweedles from Red Eowyn

White Rabbit from Alpha Stamps

Hopefully everyone enjoys a wonderful and happy holiday season!

Holy Night

The days are getting shorter and Christmas is getting nearer and I am getting busier. (I know I'm not alone.) I stole a little time to make this Christmas card for a few challenges.
Bloggers challenge had the theme scene it. I used the sketch from Mojo Monday as my layout. Cheery Lynn wants to say happy holidays. (the three snowflakes are Cheery Lynn dies) Tuesday Throwdown's theme is white Christmas. Simon Says Stamp is looking for snowflakes. Marks Finest Paper simple Salutations challenge is to show a church.
To make my card is used two stamps from Stampscapes for my scene. I stamped the images with white ink on navy cardstock. The snowflakes on the image were die-cut using Cheery Lynn dies. The lower snowflake border was cut using a Tim Holtz on the edge die. The sentiment (salutation) is from a Club Scrap stamp.
Next...I promised my grandson that we could make a few more ornaments for our tree, so I'm off to the studio.

All Stitched Up

This week's challenge at Bloggers Challenge is All stitched up. I went with faux stitching on my quilt pattern background and my sentiment. Believe me, my real stitching isn't that straight. I cut two pieces of design paper into triangles using a Sizzix die and adhered them onto a scrap piece of cardstock. My stitches come from my favorite Signo pen. The sentiment was also cut using a Tim Holtz die. I decided that the card should remain rather CAS.

Joy to the World

Here's another try at a monochromatic white card. I really love how this card turned out (not how it photographed). I tried to vary the whites and added a little silver glass glitter for contrast.  I started with plain white cardstock for my base. Then I used a piece of shimmery white cardstock for the background panel. I dry embossed the panel with Tim Holtz's angel wings and highlighted them with picket fence distress stickles. The sentiment was cut from cryogen white cardstock using the Tim Holtz Stacked Word Christmas Decorative Strip and then highlighted it with picket fence distress stickles. The ornaments were cut from a Spellbinders die. The images were stamped using Stampsmith angels in London fog memento ink on Ranger specialty cardstock and die cut with a circle die. These were adhered to the ornaments. Using glossy accents around the images I added Stampendous glass glitter. I think that this gave the ornaments a real vintage look.
I am entering my card into several challenges. The Stampsmith challenge is monochromatic white. The Stampendous challenge is to use some Stampendous essentials (the glass glitter).The Ink on My Fingers Sunday challenge is vintage. Simon Says Stamp has an anything goes challenge. Marks Finest Papers Friends of Speedy has a Christmas challenge.

Home for the Holidays

It's now less than four weeks until Christmas. It's time to think about holiday decorations. On my card, the wreath has been hung and Christmas tree decorations adorn the doorway.
I'll be entering my card in a number of challenges. At City Crafter we have the theme, I'll be home for Christmas. Cheery Lynn wants to see non-traditional Christmas colors. Fashionable Stamping has the theme Home Sweet Home. Cornish Heritage Farms wants to see trees.
The door (Screen Door with Cat) and the wreath (center die cut from Polynesian Sails Oval) are both Cheery Lynn dies. The background brick wall is an embossing folder from Sizzix. The tree stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms. The sentiment and tree designs are from Our Daily Bread Designs.

Peace on Earth

White on white cards are beautiful in person, but they are impossible for me to scan. Trust me when I say that IRL this card looks "way better".
I had my card ready to post yesterday for Bloggers Challenge which had the theme countdown to Christmas, but I didn't make it. My daughter had to work and I had the grandkids who were both under the weather. I never got a chance to get on the computer. Oh well, know my heart was there.
To make my card, I used Cryogen cardstock for the base. I love the sparkle in the paper. Over that I adhered a layer of vellum which had snowflakes lightly embossed on it. The ornaments were die cut using a Spellbinders die. The top one was stamped (Heartfelt Creations) and embossed with white embossing powder. [You'll have to trust me on this one.] The bottom ornament is stamped (Third Coast) using pumice stone  distress ink and is popped up. To finish the card I used a border of lace trim.
Yes, it's time to hang the ornaments. So I'm also entering my card into the Third Coast Challenge which is countdown to Christmas.

Joyeux Noel

I love it when great techniques and wonderful stamps come together with a great sketch layout. The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge this week is the texture fade technique from p. 64 of Tim's book. Also on this card is the reflections stamping technique from p.64 --last week's challenge. All of the image and sentiment stamps are from Artistic Outpost with the challenge of anything goes. I Brake for Challenges wants to see holidays. And, of course the sketch I used is from the Mojo Monday challenge. The texture fade is from Sizzix and the Background is made from the reflections stamps of Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous)

Thankful

This is my version of the November tag for 12 Tags of 2012. I thought that it was appropriate to post it as we prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. I love everything about fall (except that winter is close behind). Tim's colors, stamps, and dies are perfect for autumn projects.
I am also entering my tag in the Simon Says Stamp and Show, the SweetStamps challenge of Thank You, and the challenge at Creative Belli which is thankful/gratitude.
Wishing everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving a happy and joyous holiday!

Angelic

This week Cheery Lynn had the challenge of Tag, You're It. Take a Word wants to see angels. Kraft Journal has a holiday challenge theme.
My tag starts with a kraft tag. The red panel was cut using my Cheery Lynn Celtic Chain mega die set. The Angel was die cut (Cheery Lynn)  from silver metallic paper. She is a wonderful angel. The sentiment was stamped with Staz-On on the metallic paper using an old stamp in my collection. The corner evergreen boughs were cut using the Cheery Lynn wreath strip. I think this angel will be on many of my Christmas cards this year.

Thomas Kinkade scene

The current challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms is to use a Thomas Kinkade stamp. The Thomas Kinkade images are very detailed and very beautiful. I stamped my stamp (CHF) in sienna. I love the monochromatic look for the Kinkade stamps. I used an Outline Sticker for my sentiment. The frame is cut using a Spellbinders die.

Give Thanks

Since Thanksgiving is only five days away, several sites had a challenge relating to the theme of Thanksgiving, the fall holiday of the harvest. At Cheery Lynn autumn colors is the challenge. Kraft Journal says it's turkey time. Tuesday Throwdown has the theme of thankful for you. Simon Says Stamp wants to see Thanksgiving, while Creative Belli has harvest/fruit as its theme.
To make my card I started with a piece of white cardstock for the background. I die cut the image design using Cheery Lynn's Fall Harvest 2 die. To color the image, I used distress stickles and ice stickles. The result is a very sparkly, colorful image. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz's chit chat stickers.

Christmas Cardinal

I know I've been MIA from my blog and from challenges lately. I have been trying to keep up with my 2 year old granddaughter more than usual, but on the art front I have a great announcement. I was invited to join the Scrapbook News Review team as a staffer. I've been spending a bit of time trying to get up to speed with them. It's exciting that my cards and art will be published on a regular basis and I'll be doing a few tutorials too.
Now back to my card. I had a peaceful day today, so I finally was able to catch up with my Blogger's Challenge card. The theme this week is birds of a feather. I'll also be able to share my card in a number of other challenges. Hels at Ink on my Fingers also had a bird challenge. Three Muses is looking for animals. Marks Finest Papers Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is pop it up (use pop dots). Both the bow and the cardinal are popped.  Artistic Stamper has an anything goes challenge. Great Impressions wants to see holiday creativity.
To create my card I used design paper from My Mind's Eye for the background panel. The cardinal is from Heartfelt Creations. I stamped and embossed him on red cardstock. The wreath and bow are die cut using Tim Holtz's die. The sentiment is an Outlines Sticker and was placed on a label die cut using a Spellbinders die.

Week 2, CHAPTER 21: Gratitude

'You ought to return thanks in a neat speech,' the Red Queen said, frowning at Alice as she spoke. . . .In fact it was rather difficult for her to keep in her place while she made her speech: the two Queens pushed her so, one on each side, that they nearly lifted her up into the air:
'I rise to return thanks--' Alice began: and she really DID rise as she spoke, several inches; but she got hold of the edge of the table, and managed to pull herself down again.-- Chapter 9, Through the Looking Glass

The US Thanksgiving holiday is this month, and many people are dedicating the month to a spirit of gratitude; after all there is nothing like counting your blessings to make you realize how many blessings there are! Our theme this month is GRATITUDE, and you can interpret that any way you like as long as you explain it in your post. Enter by Friday, Nov. 23; all entries are welcome but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances instead of one. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post to have additional chances at the prize, which is quite wonderful!
The theme ties in nicely with this month's sponsor, Nature's Blessings, who have offered a $30 shopping spree to the randomly chosen winner! Lynne Phelps (the Altered Alice's Mad Hatter) says, "Nature's Blessings stamps were the beginning of my love affair with Alice in Wonderland stamping, as they have beautiful rubber versions of the original Tenniel illustrations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland AND Through the Looking Glass. Without Nature's Blessings, The Altered Alice might not exist!" And I could say the same.
In the words of Nature's Blessings:
As avid readers and bibliophiles, we fell in love with the beautiful line drawings in the books in our family library. Our antiquarian stamps are a collection of our favorite images. If your tastes range from the classically elegant to the quirky and fun, then we make stamps for you! We also offer a variety of original art: be sure to visit John Wagner's page of Calligraphy and Art Lettering, and Laura Ann's pages of stamps for holidays and special occasions.
My inspiration for you this week:

November starts the season of holiday celebration. There are holiday dinners and parties galore. When one is invited to dinner or a party, one way to show gratitude is to bring a hostess gift. My post today shares a couple of hostess gifts I made to show thanks.
I started with a simple thank you card. I used a piece of My Mind's Eye designer paper for the background.  My focal stamp, from Nature's Blessings, was colored with tombow markers and then framed with solid cardstock. The sentiment is from Club Scrap. A little trick I tried was to put a bit of picket fence distress stain where I planned to stamp the sentiment. You can still see the designer paper, but the sentiment is gently highlighted.

My first gift is a nightlight. The blank shade and light came together.  I decorated the shade by adding a piece of light colored design paper. Although it is only barely visible in the photo, I added the phrase "Thank You" along one edge. I stamped the stamp (Nature's Blessings) and die cut it in a circle along with a circular layering panel. The image was colored using Tombow markers. I attached a piece of lace along the bottom of the shade. Then I added the image panel. Finally a second piece of lace was attached along the top. I think the night light would make a lovely hostess gift.

 

My second hospitality gift is a set of glass coasters with an insert space for images. The base is made of wood. I sponge painted the base with Claudine Hellmuth blue paint. Once it was dry, I stamped the sentiment (Artistic Outpost) with Staz-On on one side of the base. For each of the four coasters, I stamped a different image (Nature's Blessings) and colored the images with Tombow markers.
Here are the four individual coasters.

Guess What

All of the Rogue Redhead Designs unmounted rubber stamp plates are on sale until November 11, 2012! It's a great time to go Rogue with your stamping! Check out the website for more information - http://www.rogueredheaddesigns.com/
These low prices won't last long!  The full-size stamp plates are now available for US$15.40 (Reg. US$22.00), the half-size plates are on sale for US$10.50 (Reg. US$15.00) and the minis are now available for the low price of US$5.25 (Reg. US$7.50). Get in on the bargains while they last!
While you are getting these great savings, don't forget to stock up on EZ-Mount Cling Foam and EZ-Mount Storage Panels too!
For my card I used stamps from Rogue Redhead Designs Floriculture, Just Sayin', and Nature Notes. I do love how well these stamps mix and match.

I am entering this card in several challenges. The layout I chose to follow is the current Mojo Monday sketch. I am quite late for Friday's Bloggers Challenge. The theme is give thanks. Inspiration Journal also has a theme of gratitude. The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge is to use the Ink Pallette: Alcohol Ink technique from p. 52 of Tim's book. All of the coloring of the images and the metal flower was done using the alcohol inks from the pallette. Funkie Junkie is a great sponsor of this challenge. All of the paper used is from Club Scrap. I just love this fall paper.

Friend

As you can probably tell, I've had a fun weekend working in my studio. This card was created for the challenges at SweetStamps which was Black Magic, a technique, and for City Crafters which was 3 + 1 = Cute (to use 3 pattern papers and 1 solid cardstock on our card).
My image was done using the Black Magic technique. The SweetStamps blog describes the technique in detail. To sum up what I did, I stamped the SweetStamp image in Versamark on solid black cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder. I colored the white lines with Copics. The end result is quite striking in real life. I added a black bow and a stenciled sentiment.
My background was done using the colleged circles background (Technique Junkies (Aug/Sep 2011). My circles were made from three different printed designer papers.

For the Man in Your Life

Take a pretty scene stamp, a beautiful sentiment, and some distress stains and you can create a beautiful card for the man in your life. The challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is masculine and the challenge at Simon Says Stamp is get in shape (not a square or rectangle card). My image stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs. It works perfectly with Spellbinders #18 dies. The sentiment is a rub on that I recently rediscovered in my stash. To color the card I used the distress stain dip technique from the current TJ newsletter.

Funny Halloween

Here's one last Halloween challenge card. At Stampotique Designers we were challenged to create one more funny Halloween card. (The challenge did come out on Halloween day.) To create my card I stamped Tangled Enthusiasm and Twinkie on kraft cardstock and colored them with Tombow markers. I masked them and stamped and embossed  owl tree behind them. The two jack-o-lanterns are Sizzix dies. They are actually cut from orange cardstock, but my scanner always fades the orange cardstock. Hopefully this card brings a smile to your face.

Happy Halloween

Joshua's Pumpkin from the Pumpkin Farm

Joshua as Spider Man

My little ladybug, Jayda

Happy Halloween from my family to yours.

Florals

I am slowly getting back into my usual challenges. This card represents the Stampotique Designers Challenge #69 which is Scrap it and the Stampendous monthly challenge of fabulous florals.As I'm not usually a scrapper, I went with a scrap card rather than page. The image is of my dear daughter standing at the gate of Mt. Vernon. (Since the deadlines for these challenges are here, I had to temporarily use this image. Of course, my printer ink went low just as I printed this. As soon as I replenish the ink, I will replace the photo and upgrade the blog picture.) The floral image on the card is from Stampendous and the bees are from Stampotique. I used the marker watercoloring technique (TJ June/July 2008) to color the flowers.

Case Study Inspiration

Stampotique Designers Challenge 71 was to case one of the Design Team. I chose to case Kim Howard's card from her September 5th posting.

When I saw this card, I knew I could use my new  Baby Cthulhu stamp.

As a coincidence this layout also works well with the sketch challenge at the Marks Finest Papers Friends of Speedy challenge.

Believing in Ghosts

Stampotique's new policy of grouping all of its weekly challenges into one monthly drawing certainly has given me a chance to catch up with challenges I would otherwise have missed. This card is for Challenge 70 - backgrounds. I am also entering this card in the Take a Word challenge with the theme wings.
I used the stamp Heads as my background. I stamped it with Versamark and then embossed it with cement white embossing powder. I wanted to do Leopard Queen in bright colors to counterbalance the black and white. She is popped out from the background. The sentiment was created from Tim Holtz's ChitChat.

Autumn Leaves

I have always loved the Old Gristmill stamps from Artistic Outpost. As I worked on the technique challenge from Compendium of Curiosities II, I knew I wanted to use these stamps. All of the stamped images and sentiment come from that stamp set.  Our CC II challenge is Crumpled Kraft Suede from p. 40 of Tim's book. (This challenge is generously sponsored by the Funkie Junkie.) Simon Says Stamp wants to see autumn leaves. Kraft Journal's theme is bangles and bows. The monthly challenge at Artistic Outpost is anything goes.
The crumpled kraft sued technique is awesome. To feel the background panel on my card, it is hard to believe that it started off as a piece of kraft paper. Now it feels almost leatherlike. I tried to keep a very rustic feel to the card. All of the framing is done with wood paper. The copper perfect pearls adds zest to the background and leaves. For the bow, I used raffia.