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.

Macabre Monday Freaker's Free For All!

Huh, you say? That's the Minion's term for "Anything Goes" (within the spirit of Haunted Design House, of course.) You know, sometimes that's even harder for me. I printed about a gazillion images and had the hardest time deciding what to use. I've been a bit ADD and the thought of coloring became a bit overwhelming today so I went the CAS route (so unusual for me) but LOVE how it turned out. I took our own Teri's Gothic Heart image from Delicious Doodles and sized it to fit the Love Hurts heart from the Tiddly Inks Basement that I'd printed in red. The sentiment is computer generated, the background embossing is the Tim Holtz Poison label and I've used MS border punches for the graveyard and drippy goo.

Gothic heart was printed twice and fussy cut around the skull and then just the top half and popped for dimension atop the TI heart which was also popped. Cool, no coloring, just 4 square gems for the corners and that was it. Now aren't ya just dying to bring out your dark side? Hey, with no parameters...Woohoo! If you need more inspiration, go take a look at Haunted Design House and don't forget our Wretched Wednesday when the slackers (OOPS! I mean Glo and whomever else screwed around this weekend instead of completing their DT commitments) post their projects. They're always FAB with all that extra time they have and all. LOL Just teasing, guys. xx I'm also entering this in the Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Hearts Challenge, the Corrosive Challenge Love Bites, Sentimental Sundays Feel the Love Challenge, and of course, Delicious Doodles All Loved Up Challenge.

Someone to Watch Over me

This week our Macabre Monday challenge at Haunted Design House is Gods and Monsters. You can choose from those of Greek Mythology, a classic movie, or some bizarre divination from a tale from long ago. I'm not sure I'd call this lovely gargoyle a monster, but it's gonna have to work for this challenge. The fab image is the very first I fell in love with from our dear Teri at Delicious Doodles HERE. (P.S. if you're not into creepy, there are tons of just plain beautiful digis at Delicious Doodles as well.) I just love gargoyles.

Besides the architectural purpose of diverting rain from the roof away from the side of a building to keep the water from eroding the mortar, non water spitting grotesques, also known as gargoyles, are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits. My little guy is gonna sit on my desk and keep me nice and safe. I'm sort of bummed you can't see the embossing here under the sentiment. I used the Tim Holtz Bricked folder from Sizzix because I thought that was fitting.

This was my first attempt at a twisted easel and I used my Nesties Large Octogons to construct the base. The roses are from Recollections. Everything I've used for this card I've had for WELL over 6 months so I'm entering it in the Simply Create challenge and the monochromatic color scheme qualifies it for the 4 Crafty Chicks challenge as well. I'm also entering it in the Sentimental Sundays Anything Goes challenge, and Simon Says Stamp and Show Things with Wings.

This great image requires no coloring and just begs to be decoupaged. He was printed 6 times and I fussy cut up a storm. Just LOVE the way he pops off the page. The Minions truly enjoyed this one so pop by HDH for some inspiration and be sure to visit often this month. Besides Creepy Glowbugg's post on Wednesday with the Gruesome Twosome announcement and such, we're also bringing you all around cool and spooky stuff to make your October the best month EVER!

BBTB2 Baseball Challenge

Another Monday, another BBTB2 challenge, chosen this time by our fab sister, Karen. The baseball cut she suggested is on the Life's a Party cartridge, but I didn't have that one so I used Sports Mania, an oldie I may have used, maybe...once? Remember, you can always substitute a similar cut because we want everyone to have a chance to play along. I made a shaped card using the mitt, also on SM and the "have a Ball" sentiment from Birthday Bash. I chose the colors of the SF Giants, they DID win the World Series last year, after all. I wasn't thrilled with it at first because it looked unbalanced. Thought about putting the SF logo at the top left but it wasn't working. I asked DH and he suggested a pennant. WooHoo! That did the trick. The pennant is also from SM and I welded "Yea" using Plantin Schoolbook RolyPoly font. Thought this could be used for a number of occasions.

The mitt looked best all glued together to show the stitching detail, so I really hadn't planned on this many layers, but as usual, it just grew. Conveniently, I was able to stick the pennant under the baseball and shadow because of the way I'd placed the foam underneath. Then I just added a few adhesive beads from M's. My DT sisters have come up with super creative takes on this challenge, so be sure to stop by BBTB2 and have a look. We'd love to have you play along with a "new" project, and remember, you have 2 weeks to complete it. I'm also entering this in the Cards for Men, Anything Goes Challenge, the 365 Cards Sports Team Color Challenge and Sentimental Sundays Shaped Card Challenge. For some reason, blogger has decided to screw up my Blog so at the moment, all my sidebar stuff is at the bottom of the posts. I'm quite frustrated with it all but afraid to mess with it further, hoping it will come to it's senses and go back the way it was on it's own. When I go into "DESIGN", it still shows my original configuration so I'm hoping it's them, not me. Oh, and if you'd like a chance at some "Card Candi" and would like to see what Jacob has been up to, click HERE.

The Cuttlebug Spot Inspired by a Book Challenge

Yea! The Cuttlebug Spot is back and we're full of inspiration, both for our readers AND the Design Team. Each week this month we are asked to be inspired by something and today's inspiration is a book. Of course my mind went immediately to "Alice in Wonderland", but I thought I'd branch out a bit and used some of my new Cuttlebug goodies so I chose "Bambi" instead. (Yes, it was a book before it was a movie.) I actually have 2 new folders that feature a deer but decided that this Sizzix Dearly folder by Basic Grey was the way to go. It's actually a Christmas folder and has some snowflakes, etc. on it so I did some major fussy cutting to extract the deer and swirly foliage from the background. The fabulous frame is the new Cuttlebug Carly Emboss Plus Folder and I've colored the embossed areas with a white gel pen.

The frame is popped for dimension and I added two Nesties Petite Scalloped Oval layers around the opening. There's additional texture with Swiss Dots (a new folder, I actually WORE OUT the old one) behind and the sentiment is a clear stamp from the Oh Deer! Technique Tuesday set, mounted on Nesties Mega Ovals and Scalloped Mega Ovals LG. (Do you believe all of the Ovals they have? VERY confusing!) Final touches were some butterflies punched with an MS punch and the ever present adhesive pearls.

I'm getting somewhat anxious here since I've got lots to do today, so I may have jumped the gun a bit by posting before the new challenge is on The Cuttlebug Spot blog, but be sure to pop by later to check out the fab new creations by the team. I'm also entering this in the Sentimental Sundays Celebrate Friendship (plus sentiment) challenge.

Blue Christmas

Don't ask. No, I'm no further along with ANYTHING I actually HAVE to do. DH wanted to go to Carmel yesterday so I ditched my decorating and DT card plans and off we went. Even with crap weather it's a magical town.

This card, however, has been in my mind for quite awhile, and oops, yes, it's another KennyK (can't help it, I LOVE them and I sure had good luck last time). This image is Devilish Donna (wonder why she's my FAVE, LOL) with a little Santa hat from Xmas Accessories. She's colored with Copics with some added shimmer from Spica pens with some Stickles on her hat for good measure. The card stock is some shimmery Bazzil with a glitter paper mat and the pine boughs and snowflakes are MS punches. With the added gems, pearls and yummy ribbon, I think this will definitely qualify for the Digital Tuesday Sparkling Christmas (plus digi) Challenge as well as the Copic Creations challenge which is also Sparkle, don't you? I'm also entering it in the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Show Us Some Snow. (Tell me this challenge blog isn't right up my alley. LOL)

See her little tear? I've been listening to Christmas music and "Blue Christmas" really gets to me. In fact, nearly all Christmas songs make me tear up, not just the sad ones. What's up with that? Does anyone else get highly emotional during the holidays? So as you can imagine, this card is inspired by that song and fits in with the Sentimental Sundays Inspired by a Song Challenge.

Of course the sentiment should come as no surprise. Hope it's okay for the challenge that's it's on the inside. Just couldn't make it fit on the front. And I decorated it, no less. Quite the labor of love. I sure hope you all are with your loved ones this Christmas, but if anybody is missing anybody out there, this card's for you. xx