The Altered Alice Fall Colors

"`Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.
Nobody moved. `Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) `You're nothing but a pack of cards!'
At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face."

-- Chapter 12, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Perhaps the Wonderland story took place in the Fall. It's the time of year when the days grow shorter, there's a nip in the air and the trees are giving up their green for the vibrant hues of burgundy, scarlet, orange, chartruese and gold. This month your challenge at The Altered Alice is to create a project drenched in the colors of Autumn.

My teapot is hand cut from a template from Gem's cottage using DP from K&Co over a card stock base. The window in the front was cut with my Nesties to reveal the tea party scene.

Our prize again 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 "Quintessential 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 Altered Alice in the voucher code box at checkout! Thanks Alfie!

This stamp is from the "Alice II" set and is colored with Copic and inked with Distress. It's recessed from the frame, but there is still plenty of room to fill the pot with tea or other goodies.

I've cut a tea tray using my Nesties Grand Labels One and added autumn leaves to both the tray and the teapot lid. The leaves were either punched or cut with the Cuttlebug Maple leaf and stamped with the crackle stamp from the "Alice I "set before embossing. Please visit The Altered Alice to see our first week's inspiration pieces and we invite you to play along. Our challenges begin the first Sunday of the month, with new inspiration each week and run through the Friday before the last Sunday when the winner and honorable mentions are announced. Hope to see you down the rabbit hole.

Celebrating The Mad Hatter with Twinkles

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

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 schillings 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!

My project this month is the Hatter's tea cup made from a Sizzix Bigz die run through my Big Shot. Because there were no layering features, I cut the cup several times and added layers of DP from the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland stack and also popped the rims and handle. Instead of using the saucer from the die, I substituted my Oval Nesties to more easily layer that as well. The Hatter Stamp is on the Alice II set from our fabulous sponsor this month, IndigoBlu. I've added a small bat brad and gem to the center of the clock and a black rosette made from a Tim Holtz die and Stickled around the edges for some "twinkle".

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 "Quintessential 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!

On the tea bag tag I've added a glittered bat cut from a large EK Success border punch and another gem for more sparkle.

The frame was cut twice using my Nesties Fleur di Lis Squares from adhesive Fun Foam and stuck together to hold the wire for my purple glittered flying bats. These were also trimmed from the border punch, run through my Xyron and sprinkled with Doodlebug Sugar Coating.

They were backed in black for a shadow effect and WooHoo, more gems! "Twinkle, twinkle" little bats..." Be sure to stop by The Altered Alice for more inspiration from the DT and welcome Retta as a permanent member. She, Tracy and I make up the first week's offerings. We have new ones every week so don't forget to pop in every to The Altered Alice every Sunday. October is a long month with five Sundays, so you'll have no excuse not to join us in our Mad Tea Party celebrating Mad Hatter Day, US style! Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Just make sure YOUR watch is not two days slow! Go get your "Alice" on!

I also entering this in The Corrosive Challenge Blog Purple Passion challenge, the Forever Night anything Goes Challenge, and the new ABC Anything Goes Challenge where my dear friend, Leah, is a new Design Team member. WooHoo, Leah and the newly relaunched ABC Challenges!