Chapter 24, Week 2: Romance in Wonderland

...next [came] the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens...

The theme of this quote is couples, and that's what we celebrate in February with Valentine's Day. For the month of February, we are celebrating Romance in Wonderland! As always, you may enter any project that fits the challenge theme, but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are encouraged but each must be on a separate post; enter by Feb. 23.

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We are using the fabulous Steampunk Romance images by Simply Betty Stamps . The people pictured in this stamp line resemble grown-up characters in Wonderland, don't you think? You should also check out the whimsical Alice in Wonderland collection. Here is what the oh, so talented Betty has to say:

Simply Betty Stamps started in 2010, when I was forced to close my little scrapbook store due to my last baby coming early. I was home, with a preemie couldn't do much but draw, craft, and had just discovered blogging! I started to nose around about digis, how could I do this, how could I do that? Slowly but surely Simply Betty Stamps was born! I have a quirky sense of humor and I believe it shows in my images. I have immortalized my kids in my images as it is what I love creating with, their everyday shenanigans and goofy ways. I love sharing my creativity, I can't tell you how awesome it is to see others creating with SBS images! I look forward to continuing to bring in the quirkiness to crafters across the globe and look forward to many years of fun images.

It's week 2 of our Romance in Wonderland Challenge at The Altered Alice and I've done a couple of tags using more of the fabulous Steampunk Romance images from Simply Betty.

First off is Romance Annie who makes a fabulous Alice, don'tcha think?  On her way to the croquet field Alice stops to pluck a rose from the Queen's tree where the cards are busily painting them red.  I've used a book page for the background and colored only the roses, which helps set the stage.

Alice looks quite smitten as she smells the sweet fragrance and begins to pluck the rose petals in hopes of discovering if her true love shares her feelings.  The sentiments are done with my Dymo label maker and "He loves me" is flanked by my ever present Alpha Beads  (so happy they include hearts).

And the happy result?  He LOVES her!  (How could he not?)  I have to confess, when I did this as a child, it always came out this way because I'd count the petals and toss those that didn't end in my favor.  LOL  The fabric roses along the bottom were painted with Distress reinkers and I've finished it off with some gorgeous tassel trim that I've been hoarding.  Ah yes, love blooms in Wonderland!

And so you might ask, who is the object of her affection?  Why none other than the Hatter, played by Romance Mercius, of course.  Personally, I always thought they had a bit of a thing going.  I have to admit, this image makes my heart go pitter pat.  He sooo reminds me of my high school Sweetheart, all tall dark and handsome with gorgeous flowing locks (it was the 70's).  One long cool drink of water...MMmmm...!!!  (No, my hubby rarely visits my blog, and if he did, I dare say he wouldn't read this far.  LOL)

I tried to keep the color scheme going, as they are companion tags, using the same background DP but going a bit darker and more masculine here.  He's colored with Copics (as is Alice) and the sentiment is a mix of the Cuttlebug Postage Stamp Alphabet and Dymo labels to further tie the two together.

Couldn't resist a bit of metal, being Steampunk and all, and the key to my heart seemed fitting.  Besides, if you notice, the darker backgound DP is lttle keyholes.  His goggles are tiny hearts.  We call these "love goggles" around here, through which you see only beauty in the object of your affection.  (Pretty much wear them 24/7, thank GOD!)

Finally, the hatter's watch has fallen from his pocket indicating it's "Time for ROMANCE".    The clock face and mad hat are from Artchix Studio and the ball chain from Tim Holtz.  Please don't be late to enter the Romance in Wonderland challenge at the Altered Alice.  You have until Feb 23rd from a chance to win the $15 gift certificate from Simply Betty Stamps, but I noticed today that the Romance  Steampunk images are on sale for only $2.00 (more than 50% off!) so I'd go grab them up ASAP as I'm not sure how long that will last.

Finally, I'm entering my tags in the Simply Steampunk Anything Goes Challenge, the Simply Challenged Anything Goes Challenge, the Whimsical Wednesday Textile challenge (fabric roses, ribbon, tassel and velvet trims), Sentimental Sundays Love is in the Air, the Outlawz Paper a la Mode Anything but a Card Challenge, the February GDT Challenge on The Smeared and Smudged Forum and the brand new Movie Magic Monthly's very first challenge which is Alice in Wonderland.  WooHoo!  Be sure to check them out.   Fab inspiration and lots of my buddies on the DT there.