The Altered Alice CHAPTER 7 Challenge Begins: Text as Nonsense!

 

Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: `-- and I thought I'd try and find my way to the top of that hill -- ' `When you say "hill,"' the Queen interrupted, `I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.' `No, I shouldn't,' said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: `a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense -- ' The Red Queen shook her head, `You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, ` but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!' -- Chapter 2, Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

Using text as pattern is a trend right now that I really love. Your challenge is to use text as nonsense - not to read but as pattern on your project! Of course you can still have words or sentiments, but we also need to see text used in a non-reading way. I have a stack of old books and dictionaries that I use for this purpose.

Our sponsor is Stamp Attack, a British company that is well known (among other things) for their fantastic Alice stamp plates which have sold to customers all over the world. In fact, Helena Bonham Carter, the actress who played the Red Queen in the Tim Burton Alice movie, purchased sets of Alice stamps from Stamp Attack, which were then delivered to the studio!  Enabler alert: Stamp Attack offers speedy worldwide shipping for only £1 on unmounted stamp orders, so go on and check out their beautiful stamps!

The winner will receive a Stamp Attack gift certificate for £13.50, which is equivalent to one of the stamp plates that the design team will be using!


You have until Friday, September 23 to enter your creation at The Altered Alice and the winner and honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday of the month, September 25.  All kinds of projects are welcome, they do not have to be "altered art" and as always, entries that feature some aspect of Wonderland are given two chances instead of one in the random prize drawing. You may enter multiple times as long as each project is on a separate post.

My Project

My art journal page was inspired by this Stamp Attack image of Alice on the Queen's croquet ground. The Scrabble tiles spelling Alice are another Stamp Attack stamp, cut apart and displayed on a banner of ribbon snippets, outlined with black or white. They are both from the Stamp Attack Alice 2 plate; it is a full-sized plate and the images are very deeply etched on thick red rubber.  I'm working on another project with this stamp collection so stay tuned!

I am working in a Strathmore Visual Journal - the mixed media version. Love the heavy book board covers and the paper is great. The background of my page is a Hero Arts cling stamp called Word Pops; I had to have this stamp! The text circles were stamped and then the whole page was colored in using PanPastels (love them!). I applied the color using the Sofft Tool palette knives; this product is a unique cross between a soft pastel and a fluid medium. The black strip on the bottom was punched with a fun EK edger punch with scallops and huge dots, then backed with dictionary paper colored with oil pastels. That takes care of the "text as pattern" required by the challenge; all the circles make me think of colorful painted croquet balls, although I know Alice will be using hedgehogs instead!

It is a journal so I decided to include some writing. I had fun wrapping a quote from the story describing the croquet game around all the text polka dots! I used a Copic 0.2 Multiliner SP to scribble in this fine print. I love how this turned out. If you click the image above you can enlarge it enough to read the story. Please visit me at Savvy Sisters Studio and leave a comment, I love it when you do!

I hope you are inspired to make something and play along with The Altered Alice!

NOTE: If you decide to buy some of the products mentioned above, please consider using the links above to do so. I will get a tiny referral fee and you will get the same great price. It is a small way you can help to support this blog and The Altered Alice. Eventually it might cover my Linky Tools and professional Photobucket subscriptions, LOL!!! Thanks!

Birthday Style for Hannah!

My wonderful niece turned 20 a few days ago; where do the years go? It seems like she was a darling four year old who loved purple just a few days ago!  Now she is a very sweet, smart, and stylish college student and I am so proud of her.  I had some paper that made me think of her, and although Hannah is not into vintage fashion, all the sentiments in this Sew Stylish stamp set by Hero Arts made me think of her!

The Polka Dot Paisley paper was the jumping off point for the entire project. It is part of the Funky Vintage - Lizzie Collection by Making Memories, which I received as a gift from my stamping friend Judy! I stamped the models, two of the ruler stamp, and one of every sentiment in the set with Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  Then I colored them in with Copic markers, choosing colors from the paisley paper.

I cut out the sentiments with notched ends, then colored them with Copics to match the paper. Last were the rulers; I had to blend several shades to make it match the muted yellow in the patterned paper.

   
The 5½ inch square top-fold card base was made from Sage Shadow card stock (Stampin' Up!, retired). I cut out my fashion models, leaving a generous margin to help with the stability and durability of thin areas like their legs. I adhered the patterned paper with my Scotch ATG tape runner, I absolutely love this tape gun! The models were attached with foam pop-dots, then the sentiments were stapled on with the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.  I really love the petite scale of these staples, and I can use them on things that are way too small to attach with normal sized staples and it is such a neat look. Notice the way the placement of the yellow items both balances and guides your eye though the composition. The two long thin rulers bound the bottom and left sides are balanced by the medium sized fan shaped area in the middle of the pattern and the smaller sentiment in the upper right corner.

On the inside I stamped the birthday sentiment, followed by an Postmodern Design setiment slab saying "Be the Diva".  I used one of the strips I trimmed from the patterned paper to anchor the arrangement.

I used more snippets of paper to cover up the back of the staples. I also took a scrap of the Sage Shadow card stock to make a pocket for some money or a gift card. To make it more fun I border punched the top edge with a Martha Stewart Loops punch and glued a strip of ribbon across the pocket.

Happy Birthday Hannah!  And thanks to Judy for the Funky Vintage paper pad!  Please leave a comment before you go and let me know how you like Hannah's card.

Quick Collage Stamping

One night after dinner at my sister's house, she asked for a quick demo of this emboss/resist technique I kept telling her about. We moved into the craft room and I had fun raiding her stamp stash. Isn't it fun when you get to play with other people's toys? I picked out a background stamp, a focal image tag stamp, a birthday definition, a sun, and an accent image of letters and postcards. I set up near the heat gun, got out the clear detail embossing powder, located a versamarker pen and prismacolors and a few inkpads in my favorite colors. Now we were ready to roll!

Click to enlarge

This is a true one-layer card - this started off as a plain cream card front. There is no patterned paper or pre-colored images. When you stamp with the emboss/resist technique, you stamp the items in front first and move your way to the background. So the order here was:

1. Envelopes
2. Birthday dictionary definition
3. Tag image
4. Sun
5. Diamond background

I stamped the envelopes near the bottom of the card front and colored them in with Prismacolor pencils. Notice that I colored in some gray shadows where one envelope overlapped another; this adds a lot of dimension without adding any layers. Then I colored over the whole stamped image with a Versamarker pen, which writes with clear watermark/embossing ink. I sprinkled clear detail embossing powder over the whole colored image and heat embossed. Now this layer of stamping will not be affected by the stamping that will come after it, as the embossing will repel future applications of ink.

Click to enlarge

Points for perfection: This card shows several flaws that happened with the Versamarker step. I was trying to move too fast and should have taken a bit more care. See the bottom corner of the envelope just to the left of middle?  I missed coloring in one little corner with the Versamarker, so the brown sponging that came later was able to stain the unprotected corner.  On several of the other envelopes, my Versamarker coloring went just outside the lines, so the subsequent brown sponging left white gaps where the embossing resisted the ink.  To avoid these problems, color the Versamarker up to the lines but not on or over the lines. It is better to be inside the lines than out of them.

I stamped the birthday dictionary defintion at an angle, colored a rectangular area with a Versamarker to encompass the text and heat embossed with clear detail powder. Next I stamped the tag. Although it is actually stamped on top of the envelopes and birthday definition, the glossy embossing does not accept the ink and easily wiped clean.  I colored in the tag with Prismacolor pencils, covered the entire surface with a Versamarker and heat embossed with clear detail powder.

Then the sun was inked with bright copper, then a dark brown inkpad was dabbed onto the eyes, nose and mouth, then stamped and colored in with Prismacolor pencils.  I colored with a Versamarker on the sun face and yellow rays, but NOT over the copper radient lines. Then I heat embossed the sun with clear detail powder.

Click to enlarge

Last, the diamond background was stamped with ochre ink over the entire surface. The open areas of the pattern were sponged with turquoise blue. Dark brown was sponged all around the edges. Notice how you can see the diamonds through the sun's radient lines but not in the yellow rays.  A slightly damp paper towel was used to wipe all the embossed surfaces clean of ink.  Shadows were added with a gray Prismacolor pencil around some elements to give a more 3D look. Voila!
Once you get used to the steps, this is a really fast technique, without the hassle of making masks out of paper. About 30 minutes for this card, not counting the stash raiding time! ;-)

I am entering this in the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #89: Casino Royale. Although this man has a moustache, he reminds me of Bond lounging on the Mediterranean coast while he was happy with his love, before the betrayal. The European locale, the travel implied by the map, it all makes me think of the movie. The envelopes remind me of all the nationalities of the players in the poker game in the beginning. I know I am missing a silhouette, I just couldn't figure out how to work it in!

I hope you'll give the emboss/resist technique a try!  Please leave me a comment, I love to hear from you!

Stamps: Tin Can Mail (Inkadinkado) - tag and envelopes; Hero Arts - birthday definition; A Stamp in the Hand - sun; Stampin' Up! - Print Pattern (background).
Paper: Value Pack - 5 x 6.5 inch ivory card and envelope.
Ink: Marvy Matchables - black, copper, brown, turquoise and ochre; Tsukeniko - Versamarker; Prismacolor - colored pencils.
Miscellaneous: Ranger - clear detail embossing powder; heat gun; sponges.

FTTC65 - Card with Matching Gift Idea

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #65 is to make a card with a matching gift idea. Silke Ledlow, the challenge hostess, made a beatiful pillow box and matching card.  I thought what about a card that included a matching gift INSIDE the card? So I came up with this card which has matching earrings hanging inside from a cute hanger:



Do you ever have a card that you are just not happy with? This is a re-make of the card on my last blog post and you can read most of the details there. For this version, I added two leaves to the lower flower and all the sudden everything was in balance! The leaves are super easy, made with my favorite method: punch a circle, fold it in half, and run it through the crimper diagonally. Then trim part of the folded circle away to make a leaf shape.  I sponged a dark olive green ink across the crimped leaves.

I made some earrings in the same colors as my card, and I couldn't find a box, so I decided to include them in the card itself. I am really pleased with the way this earring hanger worked out! My second feline photographer's assistant, Abita, is keeping an eye on things!



The earring hanger base is Mellow Moss cardstock (SU), sponged with Vintage Photo (Distress - Ranger) and punched with the Designer Label Punch (SU). Then the circle was sponged and punched with two small holes to hold the earrings. It is mounted with a really thick 1/8" dimensional to give the earring wires room to hang nicely.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Happy Birthday; Hero Arts - Sentiment.
Paper: Stampin' Up! - Creamy Caramel, Mellow Moss, Natural Confetti.
Ink: Memento - Rich Cocoa; Ranger Distress - Vintage Photo.
Embellishments: Imaginisce - Silk Flowers
Tools: Spellbinders Lattice Pendant; Stampin' Up! Designer Label Punch; All Night Media small flower punch.; Cuttlebug - Textile embossing folder
Earrings: Hobby Lobby - glass beads and copper findings; Blue Moon - antiqued copper double-swirl dangles

Happy 1st Birthday Waltzingmouse!

Waltzingmouse Stamps is one year old! Happy Birthday! Claire is releasing eight new stamp sets May 1, and if you order on May 1-2 you get free international shipping with an order over 50GBP (approx. $77). That is really something to celebrate! Claire has a sketch challenge contest, with the  prize being all 8 sets in the new release. Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

The card base and the panel embossed with Textile Pattern (Cuttlebug) are Creamy Caramel (Stampin' Up!). The center panel is Natural Confetti cardstock (SU), cut out with a Lattice Pendant die (Spellbinders) and sponged with Vintage Photo (Distress Ink - Ranger). The embossed panel and punched flower centers were also sponged with Vintage Photo. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse's Earth Angel set, one of my faves!

The flowers are silk, from a big autumn assortment (Imaginisce) and are designed to be used to make flowered brads with the iTop tool. I used a small punched flower and antiqued gold mini-brad as a center instead.

Of course you can't forget the inside! I added a couple more of the small punched and sponged flowers, coloring in the centers to coordinate with the flowers on the outside. I love this sentiment by Hero Arts! It had a turtle on the same clear stamp but I trimmed it so the words and turtle were two separate stamps.

This card is also for my sister's mother-in-law, Sparky! Happy birthday Sparky!

I hope you have lots of birthdays too - they really are good for you! Please leave a comment, I treasure them all. It really makes my day when I hear from you!

Waltzingmouse Spring Blog Hop!

ETA: Edited to add that I've entered this card in the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday(FTTC55) to make, stamp or add flowers in some way. I think this Celtic Flower qualifies!

Welcome to the very first Waltzingmouse Stamps Customer Blog Hop. The theme is Spring, a welcome thought with all this cold weather. If you came here from Mona Pendleton's blog, Cupcake's Creations, then you are in the right place. If not, you may want to start at the beginning on Claire Brennan's Waltzingmouse Makes blog!


I don't have any of Claire's darling Spring sets - yet - so I turned to my all-time favorite sets, Celtic Heritage and Irish Blessings. I think you can find a way to use these sets for ANY occasion - I even used them for my Christmas cards last year!

I sponged Carribean Blue (Marvy dye ink pad) onto the white background, moving around a scallop circle punched paper as a mask to create clouds. I swiped the edges with a Crimson Lake ink pad (Marvy) and topped it with a patterned paper panel (K&Company Mat Pack) which also had edges swiped with Carribean Blue and Crimson Lake. Then I had fun creating my flower - I stamped the heart four times using Crimson Lake and "rocking and rolling" the edges with English Red (Marvy). I stamped the solid lunette twice with Pond Green (Marvy). I curved the beautiful braided border on the acrylic block and stamped with Pond Green to create a stem. The leaves and stem were sponged with Old Gold (Marvy) to make them more yellowy to match the patterned paper better.


I used a 60% off coupon at Michals to purchase an i-Top brad making tool (Imaginisce) -what can I say, the price was right! It is a lot of fun, but be sure to watch their YouTube videos to get all the tips, it makes a big difference. I stamped the small lunette twice in Pond Green (Marvy) to make a full circle, then sponged it with yellow and gold. I cut it out with the template and then dampened the paper before using it in the brad maker. I covered it with Diamond Glaze (Judikins) to make it shiny. TIP - don't press your finger into it when you test to see if it is dry - just ignore that fingerprint!


On the inside, I pasted a leftover piece of the patterned paper and a strip of striped blue ribbon. The sentiment, "Friends are flowers that never fade" (Hero Arts) seemed perfect for this happy card!

Your next stop on the blog hop is the Stamping With Val blog!

I hope you enjoyed my Celtic Flower! Please leave a comment - your comments are what make blogging fun. Thanks so much for hopping by!

Flowers for Patie's Birthday!

You know when you create a card for a stamping buddy they will appreciate it when you use new or different products! This card for Patie includes a new Asian embossing folder (Cuttlebug), a versatile Cloisonne vase stamp (Michael Strong) and (new to me) Core'dinations cardstock.


Core'dinations cardstock has a different colored core, making it perfect for sanding the raised embossed areas. This shade was from the letter-sized Coffee pack which included several shades of light to dark brown with paler colored cores. Marco's Paper has all the colors! When you sand the embossing, it tends to just sand the edges of the raised areas, which was not the look I wanted. I got MUCH better results by leaving the paper in the opened folder while sanding. This meant all the raised areas where firmly supported from the back, so I was able to sand the whole top of the raised area. Then I cut a slit in the card's spine to allow me to tie a pale yellow double-faced satin ribbon around the card front with the sanded panel.

The Cloisonné Vase is a special stamp from Michael Strong. I heat embossed it with gold, colored and shaded it with Copic markers, and shaped it into a curve before mounting it on dimensionals.

This great stamp is designed to be cut up and reassembled to make a ton of different shapes! The stamp is trimmed and mounted on EZ-Mount when you buy it and the prices are very good and the shipping is very low. He has a whole line of these wonderful Cloisonne stamps - I want the Cloisonné Pot next, which is nearly as versatile as the vase - as you can see here! And there is also a mini version that includes both stamps at a smaller scale.

I used glue dots to attach buttons to the center of some paper flowers, and used the Branch and Frond punches (Martha Stewart) to create some foliage. To get the colors I wanted, I just colored the leaves with Copics.


Several of you have asked me to start posting photos of the inside of my cards. For this one, I used another part of the same vase - I stamped the vase one time and used part on the front, part on the inside, leaving the handles and the base of the vase unused. I added more punched foliage, then scattered some stamped flowers from Bella Blossom and Baroque Motifs (Stampin' Up!).

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Damask Designs (Papertrey Ink) and added a funny comment about age being unlisted (Hero Arts). I sprinkled some more of the flowers to tie it all together.


And of course you can't forget the envelope!

I joined Patie, her daughters, a bunch of stamping friends had a wonderful brunch at Greek Village, which has amazing breakfasts on the weekend. I wish I could display ALL the fabulous cards everyone made for Paie! I hope the rest of Patie's birthday was just as wonderful! Happy birthday Patie, can't wait for our next stamping get-together! Everyone is going to bring all their newest stuff to show and share!

Please leave a comment - that's what makes blogging worthwhile!

Thanks Dad for the New GPS!!

My wonderful father happens to be a techno-junkie, so anytime he picks out a "toy" for Christmas you know it is going to be great! My new Garmin 855 widescreen has voice commands and lane assist and is my new favorite thing! I thought this Thank You collage stamp (Hero Arts) that included a key and a map was very appropriate to use on his thank you card!

First, I embossed the ivory background with a Fleur-de-Lis folder (Cuttlebug) and then brushed the raised areas with a Champagne Dazzle pad (Versamark). I love the subtle glimmer this gives the embossing, and the watermark ink darkens a bit also, which really enhances the pattern. I then ran a Pale Gold leafing pen (Krylon) around the edges.
Then I stamped the Thank You collage image (Hero Arts) on color laser printer paper. I colored it with Copics, and highlighted the key with a clear glitter pen (Sakura Stardust). I roughly trimmed it with a deckle scissors and then ran a brown Copic marker around the edges. This was mounted on a piece of Bravo Burgundy cardstock (Stampin' Up!) which I had punched with a Deco Shell Around-the-Page punch set (Martha Stewart). The edges were highlighted with the Pale Gold metallic pen (Krylon).

You can see some of the detail here. You can see a bit of the Dazzle shimmer on the background and the Stardust glitter on the key. I love it that the image has a key and a map in it - perfect for the GPS mapping system that I use in my car, which requires a key! Plus this image is very suitable for male recipients!
It needed a little punch of color, so I tied a green organza ribbon around the base before mounting the punched panel with dimensionals.
As Claire would say, hope it tickles!

Wisemen - Same Song, Second Verse!

If you recall, EVERYTHING (including the cats!!) was sparkling after my first glittered card, so I thought I'd better stay away from the hard stuff until I got a better handle on glitter control! Here is the same Wisemen collage stamp from Hero Arts, done with Prismacolor pencils and accented with metallic paint pen.

I stamped the card base (SU Celery, I think) with the "Print Pattern" diamond background stamp (Stampin' Up!) with Marvy Ochre dye ink. Then I edged it with a gold leafing pen (Krylon). The collage was stamped with black Marvy dye ink on white cardstock and colored with Prismacolors and blended with odorless mineral spirits. The words and flourishes were accented with a fine point metallic gold gel pen. After trimming, the gold edge was added with a gold leafing pen (Krylon)and it was mounted on the base with dimensionals.

The ribbon was tied in a double looped bow on the Bow-Easy. Thank goodness for whoever invented this gadget, I love it!

The music was embossed on a scrap of paper, torn, and sponged with Ochre and Pond Green Marvy dye inks. I embossed the music by first inking the stamp with VersaMark and then inking it with a red Marvy dye ink pad, then embossed with clear detail embossing powder. I use this technique all the time - it allows me to emboss with any ink, any color. I rarely use any other color of embossing powder since discovering this technique on Michelle Zindorf's blog. When I mounted it on the card, I folded it over the edge so it also appears on the inside card front. The ribbon wraps all the way around, so that appears on the inside of the card as well.

I hope you enjoyed this different card using the same stamp! I enjoy your comments very much and would love to hear what you think!

Hero Arts Wise Men Collage - with Sparkle!!

Well, I am sure it happens sooner or later to every stamper. That brightly shining moment from which there is no turning back. That's right; I just discovered GLITTER. I started off small, adding a tiny little star to my Celtic Christmas cards with a Stardust clear glitter pen. Then my Nativity card had LOTS of Stardust glitter pen to show the rays of starlight falling on the scene. But now. . . I've moved on to the hard stuff, the real deal. . . loose glitter and glue.


The base is green SU cardstock - I am afraid I don't know the name of the color. Celery maybe? I hate it that they don't put the labels on the cardstock packages anymore. I embossed it with the original Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. I wanted to bring out the raised areas - normally I'd hit it with a VersaMark Dazzle pad, but I was afraid any stray glitter would stick to it like crazy! I also wanted a little more yellow color in the green, so I hit the raised areas with Y000 which warmed up the green just enough! A flourished red ribbon and a narrow satin ribbon with a triple loop bow (thank you Bow-Easy!) and Krylon gold leafing pen around the edge finished it off.



I love collage stamping - I do a lot with the emboss-resist technique. When I saw this series of collage stamps by Hero Arts, I couldn't resist - look at all the assemblage work they had done for me! I colored it with Copics and added white dots to accent the flourishes, then used a Tombow glue pen and added Stampendous red glitter and Art Institute gold glitter. I have to say, there are big differences in glitter - that Art Institute stuff is amazing! I also used a dark blue Sakura Stardust pen in the wise men postoid and in the snowflake backgound. I trimmed it out with a deckle scissors, ran a red Copic marker around the cut edges and mounted it on pop dots.


Here is the back of the card. I got this neat personalized unmounted stamp on eBay! This seller is in Malaysia, the prices are wonderful and I was pleased with the transaction. They are by Loongchai74 and you can see all the options here. He sent me proofs of the artwork before he made the stamps, and did not charge extra for custom artwork. I also got a wonderful circular address stamp for my envelope flaps. Just wanted to share in case any of y'all are looking for this kind of thing - it makes me really happy every time I see my new stamp, only now I want to order another that includes my blog address!

So, I need to know. What kind of glitter do you like best? Are there better glue pens than the Tombow? I had a hard time keeping a smooth flow of glue - I kept having to tap it and scribble to get it flowing again. I'd like to find a glue pen that flowed really smoothly. Please leave a comment and let me know!

I also have glitter EVERYWHERE. The cats are sparkling, and how it got in MY hair I do not know! Hmmmm. I think I feel some STICKLES coming on! :-) Leave a comment if you have any glitter management tips for me, LOL!