The Altered Alice Week 3 Chapter 18: Now You See Him...Now You Don't

`Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?' `I should like it very much,' said Alice, `but I haven't been invited yet. `You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished. Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again. -- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Just like the Cheshire Cat, we would like you to make a card where things appear and disappear! It could be as simple as a tag in a pocket or something more interactive and fun.  Check out The Altered Alice for links to loads of examples.  Your project does not need to be a card and the hidden element does not need to be a cat. Enter by August 24 , and the winner will receive three digi stamps from our sponsor!

Our sponsor this month is Dilly Beans, featuring the whimsical art of Megan Suarez, famous for her charming big-eyed girls!  You can see the digi stamps and collage sheets on her blog, Dilly Beans Stamps. There is also a Dilly Beans design team challenge blog (where it just so happens I'm a designer, WOOHOO!) and an Etsy shop with Megan's artwork to inspire you. Dilly Beans offers four Alice-related digi stamps: Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat and some whimsical mushrooms.

I've used these 4 stamps along with one of the Whimsy Trees and Heart Flowers (Hmmm...can't find that one at the mo) for my Swing Card.  I used a U-Tube video HERE for my card.As you open the card, the cut portion swings and the cat disappears.

All except for his smile, that is. 

I've used quotes from the book to tell the story.

Now he reappears before the Queen.

 

Here's the card fully open.  I really enjoyed playing with the collage effect on the whimsical DP from K&Co.  All images are either Paper pieced or colored with Copics, and the card fold allowed me to pop both Alice and the Queen for dimension without keeping it from closing completely.  There is tons more inspiration on The Altered Alice Blog so be sure to scroll down to see all of the projects from my super talented and creative DT sisters.  (I think we might be a little behind in posting this week's inspiration, so be sure to come back and check it out.)  There are still more than 5 days left in this challenge so come on and play with us.  The challenge isn't THAT hard, and we only have a few entries, so your chances of winning are that much greater.  You don't even HAVE to use an Alice theme, but you do get two chances if you do.  Hope to see you soon!

Tiddly Inks Celebrate With Us! Challenge

WooHoo! Today is Christy Croll's Birthday! I'm sure you all know this, but Christy is the owner, illustrator, and all around fabby lady of Tiddly Inks and we're celebrating the day with a challenge in her honor. Christy's favorite colors are red, black and white so create a card with those colors (and a Tiddly Inks image) for our Celebrate With Us Challenge and you're IN! Christy has been in a creative frenzy with TONS of cool new images in THE SHOP and I thought I had this card all worked out until I saw this new one, Christine. It's Christy's self portrait so previous plans flew out the window so I could put the Birthday Girl (spelled out in Alpha Beads) herself on her card. She's colored with Copics and obviously came with me to my hair appt yesterday because she too, now has many more red highlights in her hair, LOL. (Honestly, you should go for it, Christy!)

I used my new Nesties Lacey Circles to create a Swing Card using the video HERE. I used Bo Bunny Sugar Dot paper, black peelie borders and my Dymo Label Maker for the outside sentiment.

As you open the card, that lacy circle swings around to reveal...

Wicked Fun! (Now don't we ALL want that for our birthday?) She's another of the NEW RELEASES available at the TI Shop (including some brand new Cute Girls, Gothic Cute Girls AND Gothic Pin-Ups and there's MORE!!!!!!! Christy has a yummy new freebie available on her blog HERE (so be sure to stop by, snag it, and leave her some birthday love) AND...

How about THIS?!!!!! There is a super SALE going on at the Tiddly Inks Shop right now! Today ONLY!!! with 25% off everything! Oldies, New Releases, Digi paper, YOU NAME IT! No minimums, no coupons, no restrictions...LET'S PARTY!!!!!

The Cuttlebug Spot Tri-Fold Card

This is my second post of the day, so please scroll down for my Tiddly Inks card, and don't forget the BBTB2 blog hop (in case you missed it yesterday. There's candy involved.)

All month at The Cuttlebug Spot we'll be focusing on card folds. This week it's tri-folds and because it's fast approaching, we're to make one with a Valentine's theme. When Googling tri-fold cards I came upon a number of different styles but I finally settled on a "Swing" tri-fold. I've made several of these before and followed the video HERE to do it with my Cuttlebug and my Nesties Scalloped heart.

I wanted an unabashedly romantic, vintage style Valentine and needed a larger folder to emboss the inside mat and found these gorgeous roses and birds in the Cricut Companion Rock Princess Cuttlebug set. The center of the folder has the word "Rebel" on it (which may be appropriate, but wasn't exactly what I had in mind for the card) so I made sure when I placed the mats in the folder that the hearts would cover that part. A little note on the front mat. If you choose to have one, you should use removable tape to tape it in place on the front of the card before cutting it with your Nestie for a perfect fit. the Nestie easily cuts through the two layers. Then you can remove the colored mat for embossing and permanently adhere it later. (Hope that makes sense)

All sentiments are computer generated and the pink hearts (also Nesties) within the scalloped ones are popped for dimension. The label is cut and embossed in one step using the Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Fanciful Labels folder (LOVE it!) and adhered half way to the left of the front of the card only, so it will swing when the card is opened as well. The little dove on the front is a MS punch. As you can see, when the card is opened, the heart swings over. Don't you just love a card with a little movement?

Fully opened, the rest of the sentiment is revealed. All it needed were a few adhesive pearls. Yikes! It certainly is PINK, isn't it? and so's my background! May have to change that, but for the moment, I wanted to get the message out. Well anyway, you'll be amazed at the variety of tri-fold cards the DT has made for this week's challenge so be sure to check them out HERE and we'd love you to play along to win a $20.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops. (You need to make Valentine's anyway, don't you?) xxD

Tiddly Inks Birthday Card

This week at Tiddly Inks our challenge is Birthday Cards. I just adore Take a Bow with her little birthday 'prise and couldn't wait to color her. Her dress is paper pieced, but instead of printing her on DP, I used a second image and stamped the dots with the Papertrey Ink Polka Dots Basics II set I'd received for my birthday from my dear friend Leah. (LOVE it, thanks Leah!) Then I fussy cut the dress in the usual paper piecing manner. Her bows and gift were colored twice and popped for dimension.

I wanted to do something a little different so I modified a swing card for the dimension I wanted to make a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch card with a small swing window. This actually requred a piece of cardstock that was 13 inched long and it was scored at 5 1/2 and 9 1/4. The basic tut for doing the swing window with your Cuttlebug and Nestabilities is found HERE.

The swing window has a little embossed present from from the stamp cut and emboss set that came free with my Cuttlebug.

As you open the card the window swings (it has another embossed pressie on the other side). The sweet paper is Basic Grey Eva and I've added sheer ribbon to make the card look gift wrapped as well. The little metal hearts are Colorbok from J's.

I'm particularly pleased with how the inside came out. That gift you see is the same gift that you see in her hand. (AHHH, the beauty of digis! ) I blew the image up to the size that would give me a large enough present and printed it. Then I taped some card stock over the image and masked the ribbon lines so I could add a rub on (Melissa Frances) sentiment. Although blowing up the digi like that does increase the thickness of the lines, I trimmed the some of the thickness away around the outside when I cut it out. So now it's time to hop on over to the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog to see the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the Tiddly Inkers and dream up a creation of your own. There are sooo many adorable new images at The Tiddly Inks Store that it's almost impossible to choose. Also remember, there is a DT call if you'd like to join this fabulous team. Click HERE for deets. Again I apologize for being MIA on so many of my favorite blogs the past week or so. But eat your heart out guys, because I'm probably sipping coffee on the balcony gazing at the Golden Gate while you're reading this. No computer distractions here. It doesn't get any better than this!

Sweet Little Girls from Peggy Loves Vintage and Sale at The Cutting Cafe

WooHoo! Peggy will soon be adding a number of new Cut-Outs to her Vintage Collection at Peggy Loves Vintage and here's a sneak peek. These are perfect for those of us who want more immediate gratification; 6 fun images per sheet in a variety of different subjects. This darling little girl in the apple tree is from Sweet Little Girls 4 which will available soon at Peggy Loves Vintage. I saw this cute swing card on The Sweet Pea Stamps Blog and followed Connie's tutorial. So much fun!

I printed the little girl twice and cut her out with my circle Nesties so that when you opened the card she was still visible in the tree. OOPS! I JUST REALIZED IF I HAD DONE THIS CARD CORRECTLY I WOULD HAVE CUT THE HALF CIRCLE OUT OF THE MIDDLE HALF OF THE CARD AND I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO PRINT TWO IMAGES. GUESS I DIDN'T FOLLOW THE TUT TOO WELL AFTER ALL. (In my defense, I was in a hurry because are having a WINE festival in town and I surely didn't want to miss an of THAT, LOL) The front and middle panels are embossed with the Leafy Tree folder from Crafts Too, available at Custom Crops, and cut in half with the Nestie scalloped circle used for the swing part cut out.

When the card is fully opened it reveals the computer generated sentiment. I got the little apple charm on clearance a Michael's awhile back, (there were 2 on a card that were originallly $19.99 and were reduced to I think a buck) and it has a lobster claw clip so it can be unhooked to put on a bracelet if desired. Be sure to check out Peggy Loves Vintage Blog to preview the great new stuff that will be available SOON!

Also, there is still time left for the fabulous 2 for 1 special at The Cutting Cafe in honor of National Scrapbooking Day. Regina has added tons of fabulous new templates, background stamps, sentiments and more. Hurry though, it ends tonight (May 1) at midnight PDT.

Peace Dove

I love trying new card folds. I found the instructions on SplitcoastStampers and tweaked the measurements slightly to add more to the right side when it was closed. The pretty double sided paper is Life is Beautiful "Starry Night". Just love my new CB die/folder combo. For the sentiment I stretched the scalloped circle from Accent Essentials into an oval and again used some metallic letters from M's. The snowflakes are from Jolee's boutique.