Week 1, CHAPTER 15: Any Way You Go Will Get You Somewhere!

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'
-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Any way you go will get you somewhere, so this month's challenge at The Altered Alice is ANYTHING GOES! It's all up to you, and we can't wait to see what road you will take with YOUR project. Wonderland entries are encouraged; you will be rewarded with two chances at the draw instead of one.  Multiple entries are fine as long as each is on a separate post. You have until May 25 to enter!

ALICE ON SALE!!! 
ALL
Alice in Wonderland
on sale May 6-26, 2012 

Our sponsor this month is the amazing Alpha Stamps [Store | Blog], and Alice fans are in for a real treat when they shop in this magical store! Alpha Stamps features exclusive rubber stamps, collage sheets, paper dolls, kits and collage supplies of all kinds. Their Alice in Wonderland selection is HUGE! Other shopping themes include Steampunk, Birds, French Vintage, Circus, and many more. I love it that you can shop by theme or product type. Be sure to enroll in their newsletter, as the supplies used in the latest artwork from their talented design team are often on sale! They also have fun challenges that are hosted on their Facebook page. The winners are chosen by the number of "likes" each project receives!

The Prize - Anything Goes and Everyone Wins!
The Altered Alice design team will be working with this newly released exclusive "Alice's Adventures" stamp set from Alpha Stamps, plus some Alpha Stamps exclusive collage sheets and other collage supply goodies! 

ONE  randomly drawn winner will receive the same "Alice's Adventures" unmounted rubber sheet that the design team is using!
EVERYONE who participates in the challenge will win a brand new digital White Rabbit ATC Collage Sheet, emailed at the end of the challenge!  SO DON'T BE LATE - enter by May 25 (Eastern daylight time zone)!
And if you just can't play along, you can still enjoy ALL ALICE ON SALE at Alpha Stamps, now until May 26, 2012. So get going and let's see where you go with this fabulous Alpha Stamps challenge!

Design Team Announcement
Retta Fox is stepping away from  The Altered Alice tea table; we wish her all the best in her future creative endeavors! Please join us in thanking her for all the fabulous inspiration she has provided to The Altered Alice and to me personally. I am SO GRATEFUL for her contributions each month, and I sure hope she'll stop in from time to time to participate as a player in our Challenge Chapters.  I know you will be inspired by her projects below; what a great swan song to her journey down the rabbit hole with The Altered Alice!

Your Weekly Inspiration!
Be sure to visit each design team member's blog, as they will have links to all these fabulous Alpha Stamps supplies. Remember you too can stock up on these items while the Alice section of Alpha Stamps is on sale!

First up, a series of teapots!

Tracy Evans created this wonderful "Time for Tea" teapot. I love the contrast of the black and white background paper with the rich warm golds and oranges, it really pops! Alice from the "Alice's Adventures" stamp set is gesturing towards the Mad Hatter and March Hare from one of the collage sheets. Look at that grinning Cheshire Cat on the teacup, what a wonderful face! The teapot charm tied onto the handle and the Tim Holtz watch face are the perfect bits to finish off  this great project. For a supply list and to leave a comment, please visit Tracy's blog.

Retta Fox of Foxy's Weblog set a wonderful tea party scene with her teapot cutout. I love the vibrant red of the teapot and roses. Looks like we have a ticket to go to the party, and we had better get there before the March Hare eats all the pastries he is scrutinizing so intently! Fresh cups and spoons are waiting for us in each corner, and the tea party banner waving overhead will show us the way! I especiall love the pearl dripping from the teapot spout, what a neat touch. You will find the supply list and can leave a comment at Retta's blog.

Tracy Evans created another teapot, this one with an "I'm Late!" theme.  The stamped rabbit is complimented by the collage sheet rabbit. I love all the embossed heart cutouts, where the sponging has really brought out the details of hearts and watches. The open gear/clockface ornament over the open handle of the teapot is a really great touch! For a supply list and to leave a comment, please visit Tracy's blog.

The next teapot is from Caroline Ouzts-Hay, a Guest Designer from the Alpha Stamps Design Team! This teapot was created previous to the challenge using Alpha Stamps products. Isn't it gorgeous, with the background of gold lace? The words to the Mad Hatter's song twine around, finally emerging at the spout.

Collage sheet images of Alice and the Mad Hatter are in ruched lace medallions, lovely! The stars spangling the ribbon on the handle and scattered over the teapot go perfectly with the theme. Click here for more details.

Ok, enough with the teapots already! And now for something completely different:

Retta Fox of Foxy's Weblog made a wonderful paper bag album using lots of Alpha Stamps goodies! The cover includes an image from the Alice Covers collage sheet. Can you see the row of flamingos stamped in the background? Love the teabag charm and the Dresden borders. This is full of eye candy, every page is a treat as you will see below.  You will find the supply list and can leave a comment at Retta's blog.

Paper bag album 2

Paper bag album 3

Paper bag album 4

Paper bag album 5

Hmmm. You know the thing that makes paper bag albums so cool is that you wind up with lots of fun pockets. You know Retta would not leave pockets empty. . . .

Paper bag album tags!

She filled them with tags! Retta used a variety of wonderful images from the new Alice's Adventures stamp set, and she penned in little pieces of the story to go along! Absolutely charming. What a treasure this album is, I would love to get my hands on it and just spend an afternoon absorbing all the wonderful details!

Since we are talking tags, I'll share this wonderful King of Hearts tag by Tracy Evans. The fun frog footman looks terrified, I hope the King is not mad!

The machine stitched hearts and the fan of collage sheet images are fun, and the wooden letters and partially embossed background add a lot of texture!  For a supply list and to leave a comment, please visit Tracy's blog.

The monochromatic sepia tones give this tag a fantastic vintage look; it was previously created by guest designer Keron Lee from the Alpha Stamps Design Team. I love the cut up strips of text!

I am not sure if this is a different tag or the other side of the Mad Hatter tag above, but Keron has created another sepia toned gem. I LOVE the dangles with all kinds of goodies, especially the typewritten quote from the story!

Spool album

Keron Lee has contributed a third project, which is sort of like a very long tag! I haven't seen a spool album for a long time. The long scroll wraps around a spool and ties shut with a ribbon.

I love the way she has pieced together illustrations and bits from the story, joining many pieces rather than one long smooth piece of paper!

The dangling beads and charms add the perfect finishing touch!

Now we will go from a very long and skinny album to a small one with bound pages!

Love the collage sheet cover and all the ribbons in this mini album from guest designer Kristen Bastel of the Alpha Stamps design team! It looks like she used her Bind-It-All to great effect; let's peek inside:

Notice the clever use of transparency!

What Altered Art challenge would be complete without artist's trading cards (ATCs)? Guest designer Teri Calia from the Alpha Stamps design team contributed these lovelies! I like the way they are united by the black overstamped ornamental devices, and the text on top makes them such fun!

Jeweler's tin - front

Jeweler's tin - back

Another project from Teri Calia showcases what can be done with an soldered jeweler's tin; you just have to stop thinking of it as a storage device and alter it! What a fabulous trinket! Now for another jeweler's tin:

We are finishing up with Retta Fox's last project; she glued an Alpha Stamps jeweler's tin to a mini canvas and embellished! I love the way she used the white rub-ons from her stash; with the warm color scheme it makes the center 3D medallion stand out like a sun. Be sure to visit Foxy's Weblog to say farewell to this inspiring member of The Altered Alice design team!

Remember ALL entrants will receive a copy of the White Rabbit ATC digital collage sheet; it will be emailed at the end of the challenge. So enter here using the Linky Tool, and make sure your email address is correct! Please put your name as the TITLE when you submit your project:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment before you go, and be sure to check back next week for more inspiration.

Week 1, CHAPTER 10: A Lewis Christmas Carroll to All!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! This month the design team brings you their holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings to The Altered Alice. You have until Friday, Dec. 23 to enter. The winner post will either be a little early or late, as the last Sunday of the month falls on Christmas day!

Our prize this month is a $40.00 gift certificate to Custom Crops, the premier online retailer for crafters of all kinds. From Accuquilt to Zva Creative, adhesives to vinyl and everything in between, Custom Crops offers a huge selection of the products you've been looking for at competive prices with fast, friendly customer service. Thanks to design team member Donna for organizing this Christmas prize!

To celebrate the season, we bring you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Notice the left panel where Lewis Carroll and Alice kneel to pay homage to the newly born Christ in this wonderful Nativity scene! This month's quote is actually contained within the windows, do you see it?

Click to enlarge

The window was designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb,  a must-see for anyone that loves Wonderland. A wonderful Christmas poem by Lewis Carroll is shown in the center three bottom panels, which include characters from Wonderland - the White Rabbit, Dodo, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and more! Our own Sue Roddis visited this chapel and gave me permission to show her close-up photos here, click to enlarge:

We look forward to seeing your holiday greetings, so send us a Christmas Card! If it features Wonderland, you will have two chances at the randomly awarded prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post.

Your Weekly Inspiration:

Click to enlarge

Retta Fox of Foxy's Weblog was inspired by the same windows featured above, and created this wonderful altered canvas for us to enjoy! Be sure to click to enlarge the image to see the wonderful detail. I love the way the  window panes have been colored, it really looks like light is pouring through! The canvas and windows were painted with watercolor crayons, after the windows were stamped with Jet Black Archival ink. The characters were stamped and colored separately and glued on.

There are so many wonderful details! Lyrics from classic Christmas carols have been penned in around each window - I LOVE that touch! The tiny wreath and angel above adds a wonderful 3D element to the scene. The snowflakes (or stars?) and both stamped and done in bling for loads of sparkle and shine. The corsage of snow covered fir branches, glass ornaments, and a star ornament finish it off wonderfully! Kudos to Retta for such a fab Wonderland Christmas scene! Stop by Foxy's Weblog and leave a comment for Retta on this beautiful creation!

Click to enlarge

Tracy Evans created a magical Winter Wonderland in this gorgeous art journal spread. I love the background created with layer upon layer of snowflakes and number stencils, perfect for our holiday countdown! Each bauble has been textured with the IndigoBlu crackle stamp, and the characters are IndigoBlu as well.

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I love the way Tracy has added the text with alternating bits of back and white pen, and the checkered stripes at the border and above and below "Winter Wonderland" tie in with the black and white of the character images.

Click to enlarge

Have you noticed the clever way Tracy has dotted in the names of each character around their ornament? Loads of details to love in this art journal spread, be sure to stop by and tell Tracy how you like it!
Body of post goes here.

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Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes created a Wonder-full teapot snow-globe on this fun and charming easel card, with a holiday tea party inside covered with snowy white mica flakes! I love the red, white and silver color scheme, the whole thing really shines.

Click to enlarge

One of the things I love best about this wonderful project is that the snow-globe is created from recycled packaging! Donna said this acetate bubble was from a tape package. Be sure to look at all your packaging this holiday before you add it to the trash pile, I'll bet there are some great crafty supplies in the discards and what an extra bonus! The mirrored silver card stock is another wonderful (non-recycled) element; that silver rim around everything adds a lot of elegant shine!

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The beautiful snowflakes are the perfect finishing touch, along with the red bling. Be sure to stop by Popsicle Toes to tell Donna how you like her holiday tea party snow-globe!

Front - click to enlarge

Last but certainly not least, we have a wonderful ornament by Retta of Foxy's Weblog made from an altered mint tin! I would love to hang this on my tree, that's for sure, as it's a real treasure! The tiny wreath and "pine" fringe have such a great retro Christmas vibe!

Back - click to enlarge

Retta primed the whole tin with Mod Podge (GREAT tip), then tinted it with alcohol inks which you can see around the edges of the patterned and stamped paper. I love the layering of images, embellishments, bling and text!

Inside - click to enlarge

Then the real treasure is inside - each half of the tin has been treated like a mini shadowbox!

Inside Top - click to enlarge

LOVE the tiny garland, Christmas lights and the tiny Christmas tree with the Cheshire Cat hovering amidst the boughs! The snowflakes hang like paper lanterns over what is now a holiday tea!

Inside Bottom - click to enlarge

More retro vintage Christmas Greetings - Be sure to stop by Foxy's Weblog and wish Retta a Merry Christmas!

Well, you have had four wonderful Christmas greetings from three of our designers! Now we are hoping that you will have a Wonderland Christmas greeting for the design team.  You have until Friday, Dec. 23 to enter.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! Please leave a comment before you go!