Paris Journey

This week the Grungy Monday challenge was a fabulous one. Linda challenge us to use the video tutorial Tim Holtz Presents: Perfect Distress. I have been a fan of perfect pearls since they came out years ago, and yes, I have every color. Sometimes I just forget about them. Unfortunately, a flatbed scanner just doesn't pick up the shimmer like I wish it would. All stamps used are from the Tim Holtz collection. For the background I stamped the Environs of Paris map in crushed olive distress ink. I stamped Moulin Rouge (one of my favorite stamps from Tim and it's autographed) in aged mahogany. I used biscotti perfect pearls over it. From that point I just started playing with stamps. I am always amazed that when I am doing a Tim Holtz technique, it seems that I can do nothing wrong. The colors, images, words can all be mixed together on the card and it always looks great. It goes against the logical side of my brain, but that's the creative process.

Pretty in Pink

As October nears the end, I thought I would  publish one more card for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pretty flowers are from Outlines Rubber Stamps.

My card meets the criteria for several challenges. The design of the card is based on Sketch 212 from the Mojo Monday challenge. Critter Sketch is challenging us to use 3 different pattern papers (Panel framing flowers and ribbon, 2nd panel behind flowers, and patterned vellum). The challenge at Outlines Rubber Stamps is Pretty in Pink.

Raven Skull

I created this card for the Gingersnap Creations Theme Challenge of Ravens. all this month Gingersnap has been celebrating Edgar Allen Poe. Since this is also Halloween weekend, I wanted to keep in the spirit. My ravens are from Rubber Bandit. I just love the raven with words from Poe's poem on it. On the background panel I embossed the large gate using a Cuttlebug folder on black cardstock and then highlighted it with white ink. The skull came about when I used my Pumpkin Jack die on my last card. When I held the die upside down, I saw a skull. I used the die on white cardstock, shaded it with black soot distress ink. The mouth was made using a part of a TH zigzag stamp. The nose was left over from the pennant die cut I used on my last card. For the eyes I cut two ovals. Tim always says that his dies can be used in more than one way.
I am also entering my card on a new challenge site to me. The challenge at Take a Word is black and white.
Happy Halloween!

Sir Jack-O-Lantern

I'll be sorry to see the Halloween season come to an end. It has been so much fun creating Halloween art. This week's Bloggers Challenge is Happy Haunting. I just received my Pumpkin Jack die (Tim Holtz) in the mail and had to use it. I had planned to use the faux leather technique on the orange paper for texture, but I found this paper which already had texture, so I just added some ripe persimmon distress ink direct to paper. I don't have the Movers and Shakers face die, so I improvised. I used the On the Edge Pennants die. The eyes and nose are cut from the larger pennant. The mouth is the part that comes between the cutting of both pennants. The background is made using the double embossing technique. First I embossed the wavy lines and highlighted them in purple (seedless preserves distress ink); then, I used the Halloween words texture fade and highlighted the raised areas with ripe persimmon. The monacle and metal "trick" tag I found when I was going through some of my forgotten stash. Timely, eh?
I am entering this card into several challenges this week: Kraft Journal -- Anything Goes (background panel is kraft), Created by Hand -- Halloween/Tag Dies, I Brake for Challenges -- Halloween, and Inspiration Emporium -- Black, Purple, and Orange.
Happy Halloween!

Vintage Seamstress

This week the Technique Junkies Try That Technique challenge is Faux tiles from the Jun/Jul 2011 newsletter. I like this technique because it has such a vintage look.  The thought of vintage brought to my mind this Sew Much to Do stamp from Chapel Road Artstamps. I stamped the image and created the tiles. I decided that that buttons would be the perfect embellishments for my card. Did you notice that the entire card is done in shades of brown? Well, since Simon Says Stamp and Show has a one color challenge this week, my card works well for it.

Autumn and Thanksgiving

Would you believe that Thanksgiving is one calendar month from tomorrow. Where is the time going? Hels, at Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge gave us the theme of Autumn or Colors of Autumn.  I really enjoyed making this card. I got to use one of my favorite Thanksgiving stamps. It's from Paper Inspirations. (I've had it for years and it's wood mounted so I'm not sure it's available any more.) I also got to use my Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die for the side border. The image is colored using Copics. The leaves were colored using Pan Pastels. The image panel and border were adhered to a brown panel and then to a kraft card base.

Fall Blooms

I have to admit that this weeks Bloggers Challenge gave me a bit of problem at first. Lisa gave us the challenge of  Fall Blooms. I spent some time trying to match what I considered to be autumn blooming flowers to what I had in my stamp collection. At first I considered doing sunflowers, but if you saw what my sunflowers looked like right now, you'd understand why I chose not to.  Anyway, I finally decided to use goldenrod. I used a stamp from Stamp Zia, stamped it in green for the stems and colored the flowers with Smooch paint. I found a poem on the Internet which mentioned goldenrod and my card came to life. I'm really looking forward to how everyone else interpreted this theme.

Serenity

When I began my card I knew that I wanted to work on a card for Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge. Hels challenged us to use leaves on our work. The sketch at Mojo Monday seemed a great place to start. Then it happened. My muse went off somewhere..I'm guessing to take a nap.  Nothing was coming together. Fortunately my muse returned today and this is the result. A bit of design paper, an embossing folder with pumpkins, a leaf border punch, a flower die, and a great stamp from Artistic Outpost's Serenity sheet and voila, an autumn card is born which meets both challenges.

Tim in Ten

The Grungy Monday challenge this week is to create a greeting card using at least one Tim Holtz product in ten minutes or less. I did it in slightly less than 10 minutes. However, this was only because we could think it through and gather our supplies before starting the timer. For my background panel I used part of a piece of striped paper from a TH paper stack. Then I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss stripes on the panel. I edged the panel with weathered wood distress ink. I then took a piece of ribbon and dyed it with broken china distress stain and did a quick dry with my heat gun. The image panel was done using the umbrella man texture trade and one of the reverse lettering stamps. I stamped inside the embossing folder and ran my cardstock through my vagabond. I highlighted umbrella man with black soot embossing ink. The panel was edged in broken china distress ink. The sentiment was stamped on a journaling ticket. Then everything was layered and adhered to the base card. Whew, it was a race against time, but I did it and moreso, I like what I did. It took me longer to write about my card, than to make it.
I am also entering my card in Simon Says Stamp and Show stripes. Although not vivid, the background panel is printed with wide stripes and then dry embossed using a stripes folder.

Nostalgic

At Creative Belli Blog the current challenge is Flower Soft, Felt or Chunky Glitter. As you can hopefully see, I chose to use flowersoft.  I was in a bit of a retro mood as I was creating my card. I started with my image from the Generation Redux stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost and paired it with the sentiment from Typography. The image was colored using Copics and then cut using a Spellbinders die. I used ivory Flower Soft on the flowers behind her. The image is mounted on a doily die cut (Cheery Lynn). The background is a piece of designer paper from My Mind's Eye.
Yes, life is good.

Witch and Stuff

The Kraft Journal challenge this week is Spooky Stuff. The challenge at Created by Hand is Witches/Circles. To create this card, I started with a black card base. All of the layers are die cuts or cut image. The moon was cut out of yellow cardstock using a Spellbinders circle die. I then painted it with rock candy crackle paint. The houses are done using the townscape on-the-edge-die from Tim Holtz. I added light kraft paper behind the houses for the windows. The tree was die cut twice using branch tree--once in brown and once in kraft layered so the brown shadowed the kraft. The witch (Oxford Impressions) was stamped on olive cardstock with archival jet black ink. The hat and cape were paperpieced TJ newsletter, Feb 2003). Halloween is a fun cardmaking time of year.

Halloween Tag

The challenge at the Stampotique Designers Blog is It'sTag Time. I started out with a black glossy tag. I thought that Heads, the Owl, and Puss Puss were perfect stamps to create a Halloween tag. I added the word Halloween and the Jack-O-Lantern from Artistic Outpost to finish the tag. This tag makes me smile. It was a lot of fun to make.

Stamps used:
Stampotique
3040 Owl With Wings
6097 Heads
6105 Puss Puss
Artistic Outpost Vintage Halloween sheet
sentiment
pumpkin

Distressed Window Technique

This week the Technique Junkies Try That Technique challenge is Distressed Window from the Oct/Nov 2011 newsletter. I used several stamps from Chapel Road Art Stamps to create this card. The background stamps are floral background,  butterfly background, and mesh background. The sentiment is from Four Small Poems. The butterfly is cut from metal using a Cheery Lynn butterfly die.

CAS Holiday Card

Stampendous Impressions is challenging us to create a CAS holiday card. To keep with the holiday spirit, I started with a silver panel and with an embossing folder, I dry embossed the frame on the panel. The bird is an outline sticker. I used Creative Inspirations paints in copper, garnet, and evergreen to color him. The sentiment is a rub-on. As a result, I have a very shimmery and festive, but CAS holiday card.

Once Upon a Midnight...Alcohol Inks and Tag

I really love the take that Gingersnap Creations has on the challenges for the month of October. It's Go Poe month...perfect for the month of spookiness. The supply challenge 122 is alcohol inks. Again I had an idea, but I wasn't sure it would work. I knew how to do the polished stone technique with alcohol inks on glossy, but I didn't know what would happen if I stamped an image and masked it before using the technique. I started by cutting my tag from glossy paper using the Tim Holtz large tag die.  I stamped the raven (Rubber Bandit stamps) and masked it with eclipse tape. Then I applied the alcohol inks. As you can see, it worked. The feathers, sentiment (Rubber Bandit) and other bird (Tim Holtz) were stamped with Archival Ink on the alcohol inks. The raven might say "Nevermore" but I think I'll try this technique again.

Spread Your Wings

Things With Wings is this week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show. This was an opportunity to use this stamp from Lost Coast Designs which I have had for ages. To color her I used Creative Inspirations Paints. The frame die is from Cheery Lynn.

October Pink

Think Pink is the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought I would create a card in honor of the cause.  I used the sketch for the Mojo 210 challenge. At Created by Hand the challenge is candy/pennant dies.
To create my card I used my Tim Holtz pennant die and cut two pennants and layered them so that the solid pink would border the print. The beautiful print is a vellum print from Club Scrap. (Hmmm, does eye candy meet the candy part of the challenge?) The  ribbon and sentiment stamps are from Kitchen Sink stamps.

In the Style of Poe

Gingersnap Creations is celebrating the style of Edgar Allen Poe this month and this week's challenge is Horror Stories. It was fun doing a little research for this challenge, or maybe less research and more review. I hadn't read a Poe story since college and that was so many moons ago. Poe wrote some pretty scary stuff. I had had some ideas in mind, but when I looked at the Masque of the Red Death, this Stampland stamp jumped into my mind and stayed there. I could just see all of the rich partying in their fine costumes to avoid the plague. However, the walls are now covered in blood. Well, metallic russet lumiere paint stamped on glossy black cardstock with one of Tim Holtz' splatter stamps. This was a great challenge. Can't wait to continue to "Go Poe."

Halloween Tim Holtz Style

This week Bloggers Challenge is cardboard. Immediately I knew I wanted to make a book. Since the challenge at Grungy Monday is A Holtz-ian Halloween , I decided that the challenges would work together well.

Starting with Bloggers Challenge, although not readily visible, I used cardboard in two places--one is for the cover of the book and the other is for the cover leaf.

Here is the cardboard before I wrapped the cover. I used it for front and back and book spine.
For the leaf I covered and piece of cardboard with a dictionary page and die cut it using one of Tim Holtz' dies.



The book is based on one Tim shared on his blog in February. He called it his Valentine mini-book. For the inside I used a  Halloween page from his seasonal paper stack. I varied from Tim's technique by adding a cover to the folded paper. In addition to his technique, I used a number of stamps and embellishments from the Tim Holtz line, hence, it is definitely A Tim Holtzian Halloween book. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll stop talking, and share a few of the pages with you.

 

Pocket tags

Floral Tag

This month the rebel challenge at Rogue Redhead Designs is "Tag Line", which is to include a quotation on a tag. I chose to use the stamps and quote from the Rogue Redhead Designs Floriculture sheet. All of the stamps used are from Floriculture except the top border which is from Relish Reading. I stamped the quote on white cardstock and die cut it with a circle die. The border was cut using the Spellbinders butterfly circles. The tag background has an interesting story. A while back I bought several bottles of Memory Mist especially because I liked how it reacted with water, and then I promptly forgot I had them. I was reminded today when I found a tag I had made back then. I liked the look so I dug up my Memory Mists. This background was sprayed first with water and then with Margarita Memory Mist. I love the darks and lights of the spray. My ribbon was white before I stained it with peeled paint distress stain.

Shared Moments

When I saw the Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead challenge theme "Shared Moments" I had a definite stamp in mind. Then as I was paging throught my stamp images and came across this image from Oxford Impressions. I knew I had to use it for this theme. A girl and her dad, what a priceless shared moment. I kept the card fairly simple and masculine. I think the image and sentiment says it all.
The challenge theme at The Kraft Journal is"To Die Cut for". These Spellbinders dies were perfect for my image and to frame it. Of course, my base card is paper from the Kraft Outlet. The leaves are outline stickers which I colored with Smooch paint.

Humorous Birthday

This week the Stampotique Designers Challenge is humorous birthday. I love the image of Relaxin and I could just see her expressing this sentiment. I even used the faux leather technique on the background to go along with the wrinkles idea. She is colored with Copics.

Wonderful

This card began with the sketch from the Critter Sketch challenge.  The background was done using the Double the Fun technique which was the challenge for Technique Junkies Try That Technique. I did find that cutting package acetate with a Spellbinders die was almost impossible, but the Tim Holtz Sizzix dies went through like butter. Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge was looking for the complementary colors blue and orange.  My main image is from I Brake for Stamps. I thought she was beautiful for the Girl Power challenge at I Brake for Challenges. Her dress was paper pieced, the challenge at Creative Belli. Both the stamp and the paper have been in my collection a long while. The sentiment, from The Angel Company, has also been waiting a long time to be used.

CHAPTER 8: Celebrating the Mad Hatter, with Twinkles! Week 2

Before I launch into this month's challenge, I have a few messages for the Alice lovers out there. First, the White Rabbit sends his greetings. We had a lovely visit while I was in Orlando last week.

TheMad Hatter also sends his love. My grandson and I had a rollicking time at the Mad Hatter's tea party...just in time for our challenge this month.

Now for this month's challenge.

The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,)

`--it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!

How I wonder what you're at!"

You know the song, perhaps?'

`I've heard something like it,' said Alice.

`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:--

"Up above the world you fly,

Like a tea-tray in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle--"'

-- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Here at The Altered Alice we celebrate Mad Hatter's Day twice a year as the date is taken from the price on his hat - ten shillings and a sixpence or 10/6. That means it is on October 6 here in the United States, and on June 10 in the United Kingdom. But mainly it is just a great reason to party with the Mad Hatter twice a year! Your challenge is to celebrate the Mad Hatter, and as OPTIONS you can use something that twinkles or shines AND/OR you can bring some spookiness into it since we are all having a "Twinkle twinkle little bat" sing-along around our mad tea table!

Our prize this month is an A5 sized unmounted stamp set from IndigoBlu (a £13 value), or an equivalent amount of A6 stamps. IndigoBlu is a fantastic new British stamp company that makes "Quintessentially English Rubber Stamps" right there in England.

In fact IndigoBlu is sponsoring The Altered Alice for October AND November, and the design team will be working with these two fantastic Alice stamp sets, titled appropriately "Alice I" and "Alice II". Most Americans don't know what A5 and A6 mean so I'll just tell you, these sets are huge!

I encourage you to go visit IndigoBlu.com . All stamps are on sale right now with their introductory pricing, but that won't last forever, and the designs are all wonderful!  In addition, the Head Honcho Alfie says

"The Altered Alice readers can take 10% OFF during the challenge; just use coupon code AlteredAlice in the voucher code box at checkout!" 

Thanks Alfie!

Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post. As always, entries that feature Wonderland in some way will get two chances in the drawing instead of one.

Now for my challenge piece(s).

To celebrate Mad Hatter Day, USA, I created an easel card with a drawer. As the Mad Hatter sits at his table contemplating his watch, a bat hovers over his shoulder. The background was made using a texture fade. I highlighted the rays first with the new seasonal release distress ink ripe persimmon. Isn't it a yummy Halloween color? I then added orange marmalade stickles to add some twinkle. The card sits on a box with a drawer. The box is covered with Graphics45 paper from the Halloween in Wonderland pad. I used the purple with the Hatter's hats. Again a little Halloween color. The moon and star on some of the hats were colored with a sparkle gel pen for more twinkle.
I wanted to put something inside the drawer, and I considered candy. However, the drawer wouldn't hold enough candy and candy isn't too arty. So I decided to make domino pins instead featuring some of the stamps from the IndigoBlu stamp sets,

Aren't they darling? In keeping with the "twinkle" theme, I used Creative Inspirations Paints to color the dominoes. Believe me, they really shimmer.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Mad Hatter's Day!

Might as Well Dance

I love when Simon Says Stamp and Show challenges us to create something in the Wendy Vecchi style. It does make me think a little outside of my box. I combined this challenge with Created by Hand's challenge of masks/ovals and Gingersnap Creations'  Color Challenge to use turquoise, blue, and purple.
I used chip board for the base of my wall hanging and covered it with a piece of Tim Holtz release kraft paper and die cut it. I used faded jeans distress stain to color the die cut. The sentiment is from Club Scrap. I know that mask has several meanings in the stamping world, but in the honor of Halloween I decided to use a mask stamp from Stamp Zia.  I love how the colors, shapes and textures came together.

Halloween Frenzy

This card meets a number of challenges this week and month. Let me start by saying that Hels at Ink on my Fingers challenged us with the theme Mojo. At first I just scratched my head. I had no idea how to do a theme representing mojo. After thinking a while, I realized that my mojo is exhilerated when I am able to combine (meaningfully) several swaps together.

Mojo Monday's sketch is often a starting point. Two challenges involved Halloween -- Tuesday Throwdown and Stampsmith. For the Stampsmith challenge we had to use at least one Stampsmith stamp. I used the witch from the Wizard of Oz stamp sheet. The Spicy Supply Challenge at Gingersnap creations is to use crimpers.  The orange panel is made from metal. Crimpers and metal are a match made in heaven.
Here I have a card which satisfies five challenges and my mojo is very happy.

Fallin' For You

Whew, I'm late posting after being missing in action for two Fridays. The first Friday I had no computer since my Internet went out. Last Friday I was on my way back from visiting Mickey Mouse in Florida. Now that computer problems and my trip are behind me, I should get back into my groove again.
This week at Bloggers Challenge Lisa challenged us to use the theme Fallin' for You and interpret it however we chose.
As you see, I took it two directions--a little love scene among the fall leaves. My image is from Stampsmith and the large oak leaf is a stamp from Stampland. I stamped the couple using a mortise mask and then stamped the image on glossy paper. I then masked the image and stamped the leaf and cut it out. The background panel was done using the wrinkle free distress technique. Layered over the panel are strips of fall leaves which were cut using a punch. (It's such a great punch, and I almost didn't buy it.)
I'm also entering this card in the Kraft Journal challenge which is lavish layers and The Artistic Stamper challenge which is autumn colors.