Oh, Alice! CHAPTER 22: Dancing under the Sea...

"Will you walk a little faster?" said the whiting to the snail;
"There's a porpoise right behind us and he's treading on my tail!
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle, will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you-WILL you join the dance?"

Hello everyone! Greetings from here in Wonderland...or maybe today it's UNDERland? As in Under the Sea, perhaps ;)

So, today's challenge involves all things sea-worthy and we at Oh, Alice!are challenging YOU to create a card or project using sea life! Turtles, whales, dolphins are fabulous as are other sea creatures as in merfolk and those deep, dark creatures you sometimes hear about but seldom see.... the possibilities are as endless as the ocean itself! We also have a FUN prize for you this week! One lucky winner will receive a Sweet Pea Rubber Stamp courtesy of Oh, Alice! These stamps are large and BEAUTIFULLY detailed and we just happened to have one 'swimmin' around!' Will YOU be the lucky winner? ;)

My 1^st Undersea Card - Just a Note:

Click to enlarge

As soon as I saw this challenge, I immediately thought of the illustration where the Queen's fishy footman delivers and invitation to the Duchess' frog footman!  I used a free digital image and just went in with an eraser tool and cleaned out the background of trees--I was moving the Duchess' house undersea!  I printed the image on color laser printer paper and had a great time coloring with Copic markers. I just LOVE to color!  I did not have the right color to mat the image (no packs of screaming neon green in the stash, go figure!) so I cut out a white mat and colored it round the edges with YG01 and 03, just where it would show.

Then I glue sticked the fish page of an old dictionary to a piece of white card stock and die-cut and embossed it with my Cuttlebug. While it was still in the die, I sponged it with blue and yellow-green.  Then I drew some wavy, watery lines across with glue and adhered various beads. What a fun look!  While waiting for this to dry, I took a narrow strip of card stock and covered the front with adhesive. I used some repositionable adhesive to stick it down to the table (otherwise you need three hands for this, trust me!) and ruched the neon green satin ribbon going down the length. I also die-cut and embossed a ribbon tag, again sponging it while it was still in the die, then stamped my sentiment on it. Isn't "Just a note" perfect for this image? It actually bows out a ways from the card front - love that extra touch of dimension!  The yellow-green sponging actually matches the bright green ribbon fairly well, but because they are such different textures the camera picks it up differently. It is NOT gold as it appears in the photo.

I ran teal double-faced satin ribbon through the ribbon tag and stuck the ends down. Then I ran a vertical strip down the left side of the card base to ground my neon green ruffles, which were adhered next. I made a teal bow (thank you, Bow-Easy!) and nestled it into the ruffled ribbon with a glue dot. The dictionary panel was adhered with foam mounting tape, and it actually curves up onto the ruched ribbon. The main image panel was added next with foam tape.  It needed something - the ribbon at left was so textured and glossy, and the beads on the central panel were so shiny and colorful. So I added a rhinestone at each corner, and colored it with a teal Copic to match my card. Perfect!

Here is a closeup of the coloring and colored bling and colored mat!

Soooo.... is it TOO much? You know my style is OTT (over the top) and this card may have just gone a bit too far, but it makes me smile every time I look at it! The dressed up fish and frog just make me giggle! Tell me what YOU think! Please leave me a comment, as I'd love to hear your opinion!

My 2^nd Undersea Card - You're Looking Good:

Although it doesn't look underwater, this illustration of a lobster primping for the Lobster Quadrille was way too appropriate to pass up! So here I am with minutes before the deadline adding a second card to this post:

Click to enlarge

The process was similar to the first card, just a different color scheme!  Isn't this such a fun image?  The dictionary page scallop panel is popped up on foam mounting tape. I like the way it extends beyond the card base.  Buttons have jute twine run through the holes and they are adhered with glue dots. The orange button was more coral until I hit it with a Copic marker; I also edged the gold double-faced satin ribbon with a Copic marker, love that look!

So dive in and play with us! Be sure to upload your card or creation using the InLinkz on the Oh, Alice! Challenge Blog! You have until Friday, July 23rd at 8pm CST to enter the challenge and have a chance at the prize, so have fun and we'll see you back next week! If you are uploading to a public gallery, be sure to include keyword OAC22.

As always, your comments are what make blogging worthwhile. I'd love to hear from you!

JUST A NOTE
Stamps: Free Alice image from Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site; Flourishes - Taglines (Just a note sentiment).
Paper: HP - Color laser printer paper; Stampin' Up! - Cool Caribbean card stock; Georgia Pacific - white card stock; Old dictionary page.
Ink: Palette - Noir hybrid ink; Ranger Distress Ink - Broken China, Mustard Seed.
Miscellaneous: Beads - microbeads, seed beads, bugle beads; Ribbon - double-faced satin ribbon from Hobby Lobby; Ranger - Glossy Accents glue.
Tools: Spellbinders - Label Eight Nestability die, Ribbon Tag Trio die; Ranger Inksential blending tool and  foam.

YOU'RE LOOKING GOOD!
Stamps: Free Alice image from Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site.
Paper: HP - Color laser printer paper; Papertrey Ink - Ocean Tides card stock; Georgia Pacific - white card stock; Old dictionary page.
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Broken China, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade.
Miscellaneous: Ribbon - double-faced satin ribbon from Hobby Lobby; Buttons; May Arts - Jute twine.
Tools: Spellbinders - Label Eight Nestability die; Ranger Inksential blending tool and  foam.