Alternative Wonderland in Smeared Ink

The October challenge at The Altered Alice is to create something that twinkles like a bat or shines like a tea tray! The challenge derives from this quote:

...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

Our sponsor this month is Smeared Ink, home of edgy, wild and fun designs in rubber and digital forms has released a Wonderland Collection; images are available individually or as a set. The randomly-chosen winner of this month's challenge will receive a $15 shopping spree in their online store.


Smeared and Smudged is an online community of rubber stampers and crafters who enjoy using alternative, gothic, edgy, and unique stamps in their designs. They thrive on different and unusual. They welcome the macabre and devious side of things, and most of all, embrace ALL types and styles of art. Whether or not you “come to the dark side”, your creations should be a reflection of you. At Smeared and Smudged, the most important thing is being yourself. There are lots of ways to interact with the community!
[ Ning Community | Challenge Blog | Facebook Group ]


I created a two-page spread in my Alice art journal. I loved the way the Alice image on the right is also seen through the looking glass in the scene with the Queen of Hearts on the left, such a clever touch. Although the images are FAR from my usual style, I do love to color and these incredible detailed images provided hours of coloring fun! These images are racy and a bit on the wild side; an alternative "Smeared and Smudged" Wonderland.

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Here we see Alice in distress with watching eyes, tortured tree and carnivorous plants. The small box contains the "Eat Me" cake and the "Drink Me" bottle is a bright green, but the layer of clear sparkling Gelly Roll Stardust reflects the light and obsures the detail. I also added sparkle to the teeth of the carnivorous plants and to Alice's tears. I adored coloring this with my Copic markers. You can see the 3D black glittered bat, a nod to the challenge and to Halloween!

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 Aside from the obvious, this image has so many great details. I colored her gown in a warm scarlet red to contrast with the cool violet red of the large rose beneath her. Playing cards are scattered around her and a skull keeps her company as she monitors Alice's progress through her looking glass. I added sparkle to the gold frame of the mirror, it really gleams! A lot of people colored the roses red on this image, but I decided these were the white roses in the process of being changed to red with dripping paint.

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I hope you enjoyed this month's walk on the wild side of Wonderland with The Altered Alice! Please leave a comment before you go!

Oh, Alice! CHAPTER 37: Hallowe'en in Wonderland!

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We have a "just for fun" post today here in Wonderland that doesn't follow a book excerpt or poem...just a good ol' fashioned HALLOWEEN theme! After all, tomorrow IS Halloween and it's time to showcase some fun projects, and many of us are using the Graphic 45 special line of papers, Hallowe'en in Wonderland!

Today our VERY generous DT member Ky is offering up a set of Alice stamps by Elaine Cox! Even more of a reason to get creepy or crafty this week and show us what you can do!

My card is using a snippet of one of the Graphic 45 papers. This collection features the original Tenniel Alice in Wonderland illustrations with a twist - for instance Alice now has pointy-toed shoes, a black pinafore and a witch's hat! The paper I used had ivory and black Alice figures against the green background, so I colored Alice and the table with Copic markers, trimmed it out and then matted it on a rust paper.

I also stamped one of my new FAVORITE stamps - the distressed bingo card - onto kraft card! Isn't it great? It is in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog, and you can order it through my sister if you like! I overstamped it with another SU stamp in orange Distress Ink and sponged it with gold.

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I made a stacked orange pumpkin by layering oval punches, so it is three layers deep and has a lot of dimension. I colored the orange paper with orange and rust markers to add the pumpkin lines and shadows, sponged it with Distress orange, drew on a fun fanged vampire face and assembled the layers with foam mounting tape. I added some leafy punches beneath and a brown stem, then curled skinny strips of olive card stock to make the curly tendrils of vine. I sponged the purple card base with black Distress Ink, then adhered the bingo card with ATG tape. Then the pumpkin and Alice panel were adhered with more foam tape; you can see all the dimension in the photo above.

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I punched embossed owls from gold and kraft card and drew in details with a black pen and colored them in. Then I drew some little bats, coloring them in and adding white gel pen dots for the eyes. The owls were adhered with more dimensional foam mounting tape. The bodies of the bats were glued down and the wings were curved up away from the base.
Be sure to stop by the blogs of my TEAm Mates:

• Jessica (our MAD HATTER)
• Andi
• Erin
• Gloria
• Jen
• Ky
• Lynne (me!)
• Margie
• Peggy
• Randi
• Sammi
• Sara
• Suzi
• Tasha
• And Emma, our Dormouse!
• Plus Donna, our October Guest Designer

We really hope you enjoy our projects today and that you feel like playing along! You can link your Halloween Wonderland creations on Oh, Alice! for a chance to win a set of fabulous Elaine Cox Alice stamps!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think about my Wonderland Halloween card! Remember that I will be giving away a digital stamp set on THIS post, there is still time to leave a comment!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Bingo Card, retired Print Pattern background.
Paper: Stampin' Up! - purple, rust, mustard, olive and kraft card stock.
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Ink - Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw. Copic - black Multiliner, Sketch markers.
Tools: Stampin' Up! - Wide Oval, Oval punches; Ranger Inksentials blending tool; Martha Stewart Crafts - Embossed Owl Punch.
All Stampin' Up! supplies can be ordered from my sister, Janet Moredock!

Please VOTE for my Creeptacular Witch!!!

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Edited to add: This month, you get one vote when you vote for your top pick, not three! Thanks!
I am entering the Amber INK INKredible Challenge, squeaking in just under the deadline! The theme this month is Trick or Treaty, Amber Inky, and my Creeptacular Witch is ready for the big day!  And YOU can help! Please go to the Amber INK challenge blog and VOTE for your favorite, and of course I am hoping that my witch will your top pick! Voting opens tomorrow, Tuesday October 12 and ends on October 14. The winners will be announced on the 20th!

I was totally inspired by this super cool Polka Dot Spider iPaper from Amber INK. Aren't those spiders fun? It was a black and white print until I sponged it with purple, green and orange. I loved the idea that I could make this paper any color I wanted! After sponging, I dotted the shine in their eyes with a white gel pen. I created my own large version of the spider with a ¾ inch circle punch and some twine I colored black. I drew in the eyes with a white gel pen and then added a clear dome of dimensional glue.  In retrospect this would have been a good time to whip out the googly eyes, but you know I don't use them very often and I'd have to find them first, LOL!!!

Then I turned to my favorite Amber INK set of digi stamps: Rainy Day! She is so much fun to color! I drew in some lines to turn her umbrella into a huge spider web, with one creepy spider dangling from the edge, whick I positioned so that they are looking at each other! I also drew in a witch's hat, and arched "Hope your Halloween is" text over the top of the umbrella.  Then I tucked the Happy Pumpkin in at her feet. Is this pumpkin cute or what? I got it while it was a freebie on the Amber INKlings blog, and it will be available for sale Oct. 20th, 2010. You can see her without all these additions on this card.

Next I cut out the "Creeptacular" word I had printed. I colored the strip eggshell with parchment edges and rolled the ends tightly, trying to make it like a little scroll that might have had a spell written on it! I cut out the witch with a fingertip craft knife - love the control this gives - and mounted it with dimensional foam tape on some mega-oval nestabilities. I adhered a strip of insanely bright orange ribbon around the card front - the ends meet under the witch panel.  The ribbon really IS that bright!!!  I tied a little piece of fine twine around the ribbon, knotting it where I intended to stick the center of the bow, pinching the ribbon as it would be if it was actually tied into a bow. Then I made the bow and stuck it on with glue dots. I mounted the witch panel, scroll, and creepy spider with dimensional foam tape and it was done!

So remember to vote! I know I probably won't be lucky enough to win the grand prize again, but if I do, I have plans!!! The winner gets a digi stamp set they design with Amber! I won last month and it is SO MUCH FUN! You can see the process on my posts here and here, and also on the developments page on the challenge blog! My new set, called Let's Communicate, will be unveiled on Oct. 20th and I can't wait for you to see it!  The second and third place winners also get goodies - I think they win a gift certificate to Amber's shop. That would be fab too because I've gotta tell you, I have this LIST!

Please think about entering next month's challenge, which starts Oct. 20th. You have to use at least one Amber INK item, but as long as you have that, you CAN use other stamps.  iPaper would be a GREAT way to start, it is only $1 and there are so many great designs! I love all the fall plaids and the cute gingham released last month.

In addition to the Amber INK challenge, I have also entered this in

• Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays: Halloween.
• By the Cute and Girly: Spooky
• Copic Creations: #36 - Orange
• Mad for Markers: #M4M Color a digi stamp
  

Please VOTE for for your top pick on the Amber INK INKredible Challenge Blog during the voting period, Oct. 12-14. Thanks for your support!!!  And please leave me a comment to let me know how you like my witch, or that you voted!  THANKS!

Amber INK - Happy Pumpkin Freebie and Progress on my Stamp Set!!!

Whoo hoo! Amber has released a darling Happy Pumpkin digi that is free for 24 hours, so you had better grab this cutie NOW!  Go to her blog, Amber Inklings, to read all about it right now! Tick tock, tick tock, that pumpkin won't be free for long!

Then, once you have this Happy Pumpkin, you can use it to enter the Amber INK INKredible 21 Day Challenge!  The theme this month is "Trick or Treaty Amber Inky" and you have until Oct. 11th to get your project submitted! Remember, I won the last challenge and the grand prize was a stamp set designed to my specifications, and the other two of the top three winners get a prize too!

Speaking of MY STAMP SET (I just LOVE being able to say that, LOL!) Amber has made great progress! If you go back to my original post about this, you will see that Amber gave me three "proof of concept" drawings of my full-figured girl in a set I wanted to call "Let's Communicate!"

Although I had originally thought I wanted her texting, the drawing I just fell in love with was the girl talking on the phone! Changes from the first drawing include more jeans/khakis detailng, details on her FAB purse, and great chunky heeled boots! The original set had her in some snazzy open-toed high heels but I asked for boots and Amber delivered! She comes with a large and a small speech bubble, and I have a list of FUN sentiments that will fit in the bubbles!!!

Original concept sketch ( left) and tweaked sketch (right).

       

Go to Amber's developments page to see them full sized!  The set will be available Oct. 20th and I hope that you will love her as much as I do!!!