Bee Hive

First of all, I know you've noticed that I piled several blog posts together in a short period of time. There's a good (or bad) explanation. My Internet went out on me and I had to borrow a neighbors to get these posted.

Black and white and a splask of color is the theme of the Stampotique Designers challenge this week. All of the stamps used on my card are from Stampotique. Using my stamp positioner, I was able to stack the hexagons together to make a honeycomb. The bee and the stars are painted with sunshine yellow Creative Inspirations paint. The bees wings have a bit of fairy dust paint on them.

Autumn Morn

It's the time of the year when Autumn is a popular theme for challenges. This week four of my favorite challenges had autumn as their theme: Stampsmith, Kraft Journal, Tuesday Throwdown, and I Brake for Challenges.

My image is from Stampsmith's Bridal Morn. When I saw the image I envisioned her sitting beneath a tree with leaves beginning to change color. The image is stamped on a very smooth cardstock and is colored with Prisma colored pencils. The background was done with a batik technique. First I stamped the Oak Leaf background stamp (Heartfelt Creations) with versamark and heat embossed it using a clear powder. Then I smooshed the cardstock with spiced marmalade, green olive and mustard distress inks. I wiped the ink off the embossed areas leaving the leaves imprint on an autumn colored background. All of the layers were adhered to a kraft card base.

Sail Away

The challenge at Rogue Redhead Designs this month is "Think Outside the ATC". Simon Says Stamp and Show an ATC. As you can see these two challenges work well together. I love to use texture when I create my art. Since I was using the new Beach Babes stamps from Rogue Redhead Designs to create a beach scene, what more appropriate to use than sand. It seems that at a stamp show some time back one vendor was selling Mudd Puddles, the sand that sticks. Of course, I had to have several jars of the product. Today it came in handy since the Malibu Beach jar was perfect for my atc. I don't know if the scan shows just how textured the sand is, but if not, picture the look and the feel of the beach. To make the sea and sky, I stamped the texture stamp from the set with Broken China distress stain and colored in the area of the sea. I cut out the little fellow and colored him with Copics and adhered him to the card. I cut out an image of the kite and attached a string to it and to the boy. The sentiment, also from that stamp set seemed appropriate to the kite flying scene.

Late for your Birthday

This month Artistic Stamper challenged us to use numbers in our work. I made a card filled with clocks and clocks are full of numbers. To create my window card I cut windows in my base card and in my overlay. I used a piece of packaging acetate for my window image. I used the Technique Junkie technique Acetate Smooch from the Dec "09/Jan '10 newsletter for my image. I stamped the image (from Artistic Outpost Wonderland Collage) in Stazon on one side of the acetate and used Smooch paint to color the image. The front panel was embossed using a texture fade and highlighted with walnut stain distress ink. I added my sentiment which was done on my label printer. I think this is a fun belated birthday card. However, I'd like to also add two pieces of advice for a card like this. First, give lots of time for the Smooch to dry. If you leave puddles when coloring, it takes a long time to dry. And second, related to the first, don't try to dry the Smooch in the acetate with your heat gun. It does buckle and warp. (Hmmm, how would I know that.) Then you have to start over -- see point one again.

Birthday Butterflies

This week the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown is pearls. As you see, the flourish is made completely with pearls. I really enjoyed making this card. I have been viewing the class by Jennifer McGuire at Inspiration Showcase. It's a fabulous class. Each day she shows several techniques and gives examples using the techniques. My background is a result of yesterday and today's class. The technique is called distress ink watercolor. To create the background I used victorian velvet for the base and wild honey to stamp. I used the butterfly background stamp from Chapel Road Artstamps. The flower is from My Mind's Eye, the sentiment is a gold outline sticker, and the butterflies were cut from Cheery Lynn dies.

Tribute to Teens

As soon as I saw the Random Redhead challenge at Gingersnap Creations, I knew which stamp I wanted to use. The challenge is A Tribute to Teenagers. I won this stamp about a year ago. It's from Tickled Pink, an Australian company. I think she is so cute, but don't tell her.
The teenage years are confusing and I thought she says it all with her skull hairpiece, streaked hair, and a rose in her hand. My background is designer paper which I cut and pieced in the checkerboard pattern --some flowery paper and a bit of the dark purple/black.
The sentiment is computer generated, "The main problem with teenagers is that they are just like their parents were at their age."

Autumn Leaves

Who's Got the button? is the theme at Bloggers Challenge this week. As I checked my button box I found these cute leaf buttons, and since the weather has turned a bit chilly in Chicago, I decided to go with an autumn leaves theme. Using the embellished circles technique from the Apr/May 2011 TJ newsletter, I stamped various types of circles across my card. The leaves became the embellishments. The circle stamps are SU and Club Scrap. The sentiment has been in my stash a long time and I don't remember who made it.
This card also qualifies for the Three Muses challenge of Autumn and the Critter Sketch challenge which was an inspiration challenge based on this

photo. I focused on the autumn leaves in reds, yellows, greens and browns.

CHAPTER 7: Text as Nonsense Week 2

Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: `-- and I thought I'd try and find my way to the top of that hill -- ' `When you say "hill,"' the Queen interrupted, `I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.' `No, I shouldn't,' said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: `a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense -- ' The Red Queen shook her head, `You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, ` but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!' -- Chapter 2, Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.

Using text as pattern is a trend right now that I really love. Your challenge is to use text as nonsense - not to read but as pattern on your project! Of course you can still have words or sentiments, but we also need to see text used in a non-reading way. I have a stack of old books and dictionaries that I use for this purpose.

Our sponsor is Stamp Attack, a British company that is well known (among other things) for their fantastic Alice stamp plates which have sold to customers all over the world. In fact, Helena Bonham Carter, the actress who played the Red Queen in the Tim Burton Alice movie, purchased sets of Alice stamps from Stamp Attack, which were then delivered to the studio!  Enabler alert: Stamp Attack offers speedy worldwide shipping for only £1 on unmounted stamp orders, so go on and check out their beautiful stamps!

The winner will receive a Stamp Attack gift certificate for £13.50, which is equivalent to one of the stamp plates that the design team will be using!

You have until Friday, September 23 to enter your creation and the winner and honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday of the month, September 25.  All kinds of projects are welcome, they do not have to be "altered art" and as always, entries that feature some aspect of Wonderland are given two chances instead of one in the random prize drawing. You may enter multiple times as long as each project is on a separate post.

We are also saying goodbye to our  current crop of guest designers, so please leave them some special love this month as their projects have been FABULOUS! Thanks so much ladies, you have added so much to The Altered Alice! And stay tuned, there will be some special design team announcements next month too!

And now for my bit of inspiration for this challenge--

My project this month is a box of notecards. I just thought that with a challenge of text, a box of notecards was perfect. I made the box using a piece of Club Scrap paper which has faint text all over it. It is almost impossible to see on the scan, but it's there. The pattern for the box is from the Fancy Folds and Motion Paper Crafts CD from Technique Junkies. To embellish the box I stamped the word Nonsense (TJ Designs) around the four sides and added punched spades and clubs. On the top of the box is a stamped frog messenger (Stamp Attack) holding an envelope. He was cut out and adhered to a panel with some of the words from Jabberwocky--how much more nonsense can we get.
There are 12 notecards in the box. Four are stamped with Alice, four with the Mad Hatter, and four with the rabbit. (All these stamps are from Stamp Attack). I love these silhouette stamps with the words running across them. To finish the cards, I masked the character and stamped a border using a Club Scrap stamp and the sentiment "Curiouser and Curiouser" (Oxford Impressions) across the card. Not only do I have a cool Alice project, but it's practical too.

Rarest of Flowers

This week the Try That Technique challenge is Background Whimsy technique. My card uses the dye ink version. My background stamp is the Floral Background stamp from Chapel Road Artstamps. The ribbon come from my ribbon stash. The flower is made using the Spellbinders Anemone Flower Topper die. don't you think that the background and the background stamp were made for each other?

Stars

It's Blogger's Challenge Friday and the theme is stars (any way we choose to interpret it. I'm late in posting this week, so I decided a quick card was in order. I went to my Graphic 45 paper pad, Curtain Call for my background and for my image of Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence is backed by two stars cut from my Coluzzle. This way I have both kinds of stars represented on my card.

The reason I'm behind in my challenge card is that today is my wonderful Grandson Joshua's 5th birthday. I've been busy with helping his Mom with school celebration and just plain old Grandson/Nana  time.










I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created. I'll be visiting blogs in between celebrating.

Not a card

This week the challenge at Critter Sketch is anything but a card. This wall hanging was created using a plaque I bought decades ago when I was doing tole painting. I stained it using walnut distress stain. The off white background is gesso which I stamped a basketweave stamp into and then highlighted with wild honey distress ink. The basket is a wood paper diecut using a Heartfelt Creations/spellbinders die. The flowers and leaves are cut from Coke Zero cans and colored using alcohol inks. The flower centers are brads with antique linen distress stickles.

Love is in the Air

The latest Stampsmith challenge is fabulous faux. I used an image and sentiment  from the Stampsmith Kiss Me You Fool sheet. For my background I used the faux marbling technique from the Oct/Nov 2009 Technique Junkies newsletter.  The sentiment "Love is in the Air" is accentuated by a champagne colored pearl flourish.
This card also fits the Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers which has the theme of Love.

Birthday Balloons

Here's a card which is a bit different from my usual. First of all, it's done in primary colors. (Gingersnap 116 challenge) The challenge at Created by Hand is birthday/balloons and it's Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp and Show. The card is a bit larger than my usual -- 5 1/2 x5 1/2 inches square.
To create this card I used the Kitchen Sink Multi Step Bunch O' Balloons stamps for the focal image. I adhered the image layer to layers of blue and yellow . Then I adhered everything to a red card base.  The corners were embellished with corner outline stickers. The sentiment was stamped on a pennant die cut from Spellbinders.

Color Recipe: (All inks are Adirondack unless noted)
Balloons -- 1 peach bellini, 2 watermelon, 3 lady bug (memento), 4 ruby (club scrap), 5 cranberry
Strings -- 1 coffee, 2 jet black

Celebrating Labor Day

The challenge this week at The Kraft Journal is celebrations in honor of the Labor Day weekend. This card also meets the challenge 114 at Gingersnap Creations as I will explain.
As I began making this card, I had the basic idea in mind of creating a Labor Day card. I had this wonderful Rosie the Riveter stamp from the Artistic Outpost Hero stamp sheet and the flag background stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs. I wasn't sure how I was going to ink up the flag stamp to keep the colors where I wanted them. In the meantime, I pulled out a babywipe for the Gingersnap challenge so that it could start to dry a little. That's when the flash went off. I could use my watercolor crayons on the stamp and use the wet babywipe to stamp on. Watercolor crayons need the wet to work. It was a match extraordinaire. That's how these two challenges came together. The sentiment is a combination of a part of a Club Scrap stamp (Celebrate) plus letter stickers from my stash (Labor). This was one of those cards that brought a smile to my face as I finished it.

Post-It Note Book

This week my Blogger's Challenge is a little different. The challenge was monochromatic blues. Instead of a card, I decided to use my inchie stampbord along with my Inchie Designs and Inchy Words stamps from Chapel Road Artstamps to make a little gift for my dd who has started back to school. It's a book to hold 3x3 inch post-it-notes. I love making books and this is a mini-version of a book. The pack of post-it-notes fits into a pocket on the back cover, so it's refillable. The cover is made with chipboard covered with navy blue paper.  The cover consists of 9 inch square stampboard tiles which I stamped and edged in blues and glued to the cover. (Stampbord is a wonderful surface to stamp on. If you are unfamiliar with stampbord, check out this SITE for more detail.) I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else interpreted this challenge. Happy Friday.