The Altered Alice Chapter 25: Mad as a March Hare

The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear. Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.' `Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare. `It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied. `Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.' The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.' -- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
 

We're so excited at The Altered Alice to be working with the fun, fabulous, quirky stamps from The Octopode Factory this month.  Lily has offered a generous $30 gift certificate to The Octopode Factory to one random winner so I'm sure you'll all be putting your crafty thinking caps on.

 [ Etsy Store - Digital | Rubber Stamps | Blog | Challenge Blog | Facebook | Flickr ]

The talented Lily Chilvers started The Octopode Factory when she was only seventeen and they were an instant hit. Originally available only in digital form, they are now also available in rubber stamps, and she has a wealth of amazing Alice in Wonderland images. Be sure to check out these wacky images through the links above!

For this challenge I took an inexpensive Walmart frame and turned it into a working clock with works from the local craft store. Instead of a pocket watch image, I chose Octopode's quirky Clockwork flower

 

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 I printed Clockwork Flower several times so I could fussy cut and layer it, adding some "butter" to the gears which were cut with Spellbinders dies.  It's colored with metallic Sharpies.  I also added to the "stem" so it would run the entire length of the frame.
 

 

The "Tick tock" is included with the stamp and was cut apart to add to the background.  All of the fab DP is from Heidi Grace.  I really thought it had a Wonderland feel.  Of course I added some alpha beads but didn't realize that I'd misquoted the text until just now.  It should read "Two days wrong"  OOPS!  This is gonna bug me to no end, but I can't correct it without ripping the background.  Sometimes Glossy Accents can be a little too permanent.  BUMMER!  Please ignore and promise me you won't tell.

 

 

The term "Mad as a hare’ which was common during Carroll's time, alludes to the crazy capers of the male hare during March, it's rutting season, and the straw on his head in the original Tenniel illustrations was also a symbol of madness. (from Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site)

Umm..., well this March Hare looks anything but randy and I dare say he'll need more than a cuppa before he's ready for any "crazy capers".  LOL  Where he isn't paper pieced, he's colored with Copics and is available individually HERE or as part of the 6 stamp Wonderful World of Wonderland set HERE.  The teapot is also paper pieced and is available as part of the 11 stamp Alice Elements set.

As March is the month we celebrate the mad March Hare, ANYTHING GOES is our challenge.

Please remember that although we're called The Altered Alice any and all projects are welcome.  This is the place to "get your Alice on"! 

You have until Friday, March 29 to enter your creations. As always, multiple entries are allowed but each must be on a separate post. All entries are welcome, but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. And what a prize it is! A $30 gift certificate for digital images from the fabulous, fantastical world of The Octopode Factory!

 

I'm also entering this in the Movie Magic Monthly Alice in Wonderland Challenge, the 2 Sisters Fairytales/Fantasy challenge (I'm hoping this fits), Emergency Crafters Mad as a March Hare, Hotshot Craft anything but a Card and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

The Altered Alice Chapter Six Challenge:Painting the Roses RED

I am totally honored and excited to announce that I have joined The Altered Alice Design Team! Each month I've ooohed and aaahed over the fabulous "Alice" projects by the talented artists there and to be able to craft among them is a dream come true. So on to this month's challenge.

'A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went nearer to watch them, and just as she came up to them she heard one of them say, `Look out now, Five! Don't go splashing paint over me like that!'
-- Chapter 8, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Of course you know, that they were painting the roses red to avoid angering the Queen of Hearts, so this month's challenge is to use paint on your project. Each member of the Design Team received some glorious shimmering garnet paint from this month's sponsor, Creative Inspirations [Store/Blog]. The winner of this month's challenge will received their choice of 5 (of the 60!) available colors. WooHoo!

I've altered a $1.00 wooden frame from M's by covering it with DP from Stampin'UP and finishing the edges with velvet rick rack and tiny ball trim. The fabulous Queen of Hearts is a digi image by Mo Manning. She was printed 4 times, colored with Copics, and fussy cut to give the layered decoupage effect.

Here you can get a better idea of the dimension. Many crafters who use this technique color their image once, scan it to their computer and print out the desired number of copies. Nope, I didn't do that but it sure would have saved a lot of time. (Note to self: become familiar with the scanner, so coloring doesn't take you all day) Then, if I could just teach Goliath or Jezzie to fussy cut, I'd be all set.

The queen is obviously very upset about the white roses which have just begun to be painted with the Creative Inspirations paint. The large Grungeboard letters were embossed, gessoed (because they're sort of grey and I wanted the gorgeous clear garnet shade to shine), and painted with 2 coats for a really intense RED.

I wish you could see the beautiful shimmer, but my camera doesn't seem to be picking it up, so you'll just have to take my word for it. To highlight the embossing (Swiss Dots, Diamonds in the Rough, and the Roses European Edition) I used some black acrylic paint, and quickly rubbed most of it off. the paint brush is embellished with ribbon and a Fleur de Lis by Jolee's Boutique (because I thought it looked regal, LOL) The rest of the phrase (black letters) were cut with my Cuttlebug Curls and Swirls Alphabet.

The roses were made from tissue paper using a technique I remembered from my childhood, when the only magazine that had crafting articles was Better Homes and Gardens. The leaves are a stamp from Heartfelt Creations. This particular one does not have coordinating Spellbinders dies so I cut them out too.

The Altered Alice challenges begin the first Sunday of each month, with weekly inspiration posts by various members of the Design Team. Winners are announced the last Sunday of the month and you have until the Friday before at 8:00 pm EDT to submit your work. That means you have until Friday, August 26th to get your "Alice" on. I sure hope you'll follow me down the rabbit hole.

BBTB2 Blog Hop - Bless this Nest

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Let's celebrate with a BBTB2 Blog Hop with candy galore. If you've arrived from wonderfully creative Theresa's blog you're on the right track. If not, hop on back to BTBB2 to start at the beginning because you wouldn't want to miss a thing. This week our fabulously talented DT sister Jeri chose the Bless the Nest cut from the Sweethearts cartridge. Funny, this project just grew and grew. I started making a shaped card, then decided on a little hanging, and ended up adding the big frame from the Camp Out cartridge (stretched to fit in DS) so now this baby measures 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. The welded leaves are from Heritage and the nest is from Give a Hoot. The gorgeous papers are from the DCWV Linen Stack. I just LOVE it. The flowers were a gift from my sweet friend Leah.

The background shadow cut and the regular words were cut twice to give even more depth and dimension (and the fact that my first color choice wasn't exactly what I wanted and why waste the cut? LOL) There's quite a bit of popping as you can see. Now hop along to my dear friend and uber talented DT sister CAROLE'S BLOG, but before you do, be sure to leave a comment here to win a $30.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops! Be sure to stop back this FRIDAY to see who WINS!!!!

And just in case there's any snag in the hop order, here's the list and have a great holiday! Anybody barbequeing? I'm doing Cornish hens on the outdoor rotisserie...YUMBO!

BBTB2

Julie

Jeri

Enfys

Jeannie

Theresa

Donna (ME!)

Carole

Marina

Heather

Sandi

Twinkle Twinkle FREE.cut File now available! (Thanks for being patient!)

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that the FREE .cut file and full instructions for the Twinkle Twinkle Baby Frame you saw at Everyday Cricut are available HERE at Custom Crops. Thanks again for your patience and support. Would sure appreciate comments on the CC site (as well as here) I know it's a PITA to have to sign in, but... TIA. xxD

Twinkle Twinkle Baby Frame

Just LOOK at that FACE! That's my dear friend Margie's newest grandson Angelo and she graciously allowed me to use his photo for my Everday Cricut project for today. I'd been dying to use my new Nursery Rhymes cartridge because I LOVE those darling silhouettes. The star is from George and I encourage any of you who never had a baby bug (like me) to go ahead and invest in that cart because it really has THE BEST basic shapes of anything out there. For some reason the shadow of the star looked better to me than the regular cut so I used it for all of the frame layers and just decreased the size by 1/4 inch each time while increasing the size of the inner circle to get the layered mat effect. I seem to be on a bit of a blue and yellow kick here (remember the Mother's Day card HERE?) Well I knew I had the perfect paper (thank heaven I could FIND it with the giant MESS in my craft room) with the little stars and moon so I just couldn't help myself.

Anyway, read all about my Frame HERE at Everyday Cricut, and if you haven't already be sure to scroll down a bit to enter to win my K& Co paper pad and the Just Because Background and Sentiment Downloadable Printable Stamps from The Cutting Cafe. A number of my DT sisters have sets they are giving away so be sure to check it out. My winners will be announced Friday so you all come back now, ya hear?

Stampotique Challenge Think Outside the Box

I told you I was REALLY excited to get my Stampotique order. Do you believe this is my second post today? And notice they're BOTH using Stampotique stamps. (Breathe deep Sandy! LOL) On the Stampotique Designer's Challenge Blog we're to "think out of the box" which I took to mean "do something other than a card" so I looked at the stuff I've been collecting to alter and came across this paper mache frame I got on clearance after Valentine's Day and figured if I screwed it up, no big deal. (It was WAY cheap!) My worries were, of course, that I would screw up the stamping since I planned to stamp directly on the frame and it was curved, and you know my stamping woes, etc., etc. Well miraculously I stamped Marci cleanly and I was so excited that I was almost afraid to do anything else. LOL I decided not to add any color because I intended to put a particularly unattractive kindergarten pic of me in it (which is black and white) but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I couldn't find it. "Cute" is a rub on and "as a" is done with Studio K Epoxy stickers. Then I added buttons and inked a tiny bit around the edges and that was it. Not nearly as creative or elaborate as the other entries, but I figured I better quit while I was ahead.

The Cuttlebug Spot Altered Frame

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we were asked to alter frames. I am totally loving these altered projects for a change. My frame is $1.00 a 8x8 plain wooden one from M's. I first applied a coat of gesso to give it some "tooth" to adhere my paper. It's irridescent CS from the Recollections Precious Metals pack and I used one of the 5x7" Cuttlebug "Romance" folders to emboss. So how did I do it with minimal seams and the pattern going all the right way? First I cut the CS into 2 "L" shapes. The top "L" went into the folder and embossed the entire long vertical way, and to about an inch from the shorter horizontal end at the top. When I went to emboss the other "L", however, the pattern would have been upside down so (now don't faint or anything) I CUT THE FOLDER along the top. Yup, I cut that baby right in half along the fold to allow me to emboss from the top edge. No biggie, I'd done it before with my Swiss Dots, and the pattern sort of just clicks into place. You just have to make sure you don't lose half of it though, or you're screwed. LOL Anyway, this leaves about an inch of unembossed area at the end of both horizontal sections. I found one of the wider floral Cuttlebug borders that sort of coordinated with the pattern I'd already embossed to fill in the gap. Voila! All embossed with only 2 seam(conveniently covered with embellies)!

I really couldn't find an appropriate picture to put in the frame so I went to The Cutting Cafe and downloaded words from the truly elegant Valentine's Big Stuff. (In case you didn't notice from the previous post I LOVE these printable stamps because they work for so many occasions; wedding, anniversaries, home decor and of course, Valentine's Day). I chose the words I wanted, resized them to fit and printed them is a matching cocoa color using my Printmaster program. Then I punched out a small butterfly (gotta love Martha) to finish it off. Even if you planned to give the frame as a gift to be used with a picture, having something elegant in the center makes it so much more professional and it could be kept "as is" (like I intend to) to use as a home decor piece. Be sure to stop by The Cutting Cafe to see what's new. Regina is adding things almost DAILY, WooHoo!

I used one of my rapidly growing collection of MS punch around the page sets to do the 5" frame around the opening and cut the center out with my Nesties Labels One and popped it with dimensionals. Then I cut an ivory frame and adhered adhesive pearls. The small flowers are "wedding confetti" from M's some with punched centers, some with just pearls. The large butterfly is the Cuttlebug cut and emboss set. I colored one of the flowers, one of the centers and the butterfly shadow with my Copics. Finally, to finish it further, I used pearls around the entire perimeter and May Arts velvet rick rack along the edge. Be sure to stop by The Cuttlebug Spot to see the amazing creations by my DT sisters and be sure to leave a comment there to win a $20.00 gift certificate from Custom Crops.

Genuine Tough Guy Frame

After doing The Cuttlebug Spot Blog Hop back in July where we used a previous technique and I chose embossing something other than paper I so loved that diamond plate folder using metal that I decided to alter a frame in a similar manner. I've been collecting loads of Tim Holtz products and was anxious to use them again and submitted this project for the Design Team at Custom Crops. The grungeboard letters were embossed with the new Herringbone folder which to me looks like tire tread. All of the products (with the exception of the inexpensive base frame and a few screws (yup, I had DH cutting off the threads again) are available at Custom Crops. To view the article with step by step instructions click HERE. The article also reveals the identity of my "Genuine Tough Guy." Thanks for taking a peek and I'd love it if you could leave a comment on the Custom Crops site as well as here.