Oh Alice! Chapter 46: Queen Alice

Just squeeking in at Oh Alice! today. An unforseen interruption in my crafting plans led to this rather hastily put together card. The challenge is to choose between the Red or White Queen's Court. Red being my favorite color, the choice was obvious. Had I had my wits about me (or wanted to keep them, I might have chosen differently. LOL) The quirky image is another from the Octopode Factory. (Love her 'do and the way her crown is permanently embedded in her skull!). Her scepter has gone missing amongst the thousands of scraps and other crap on my table. The red lace doily is a die from the Scrapping Cottage. It didn't show up against the red background, embossed with a 5x7 Cuttlebug Folder that was part of the Valentine bundle (from last year?) so I added a gold foil doily that was laying on my table which led to the other gold embellies that were also not part of the original plan.

The playing card is from a Stampin'Up set and the sentiment is done with my Dymo Caption Maker. Sorry no links to the stuff today. I gotta get this in and it's past Happy Hour.

Oh Alice! and Some Odd Girl Challenges

I've finally started my Christmas decorating but I still couldn't stay away for the craft room. I've missed so many Oh Alice! challenges and this week the challenge is to make our own flowers. I just received a Die-namics Rolled Rose die from MFT that I saw on my dear friend Enfys' Blog and just had to have. Tried it out straight away, using the plastic sack from my grapefruit and regular copy paper. (I thought is had an interesting pattern/texture). I used my Xyron to adhere the pieces together and thought it turned out pretty darn cute, especially after adding some adhesive pearls (that I colored with my Copics) and a little red bow. Since Some Odd Girl is sponsoring the challenge, and I also wanted to join in on the Some Odd Girl "Girly" challenge, I thought I'd do double duty and used Mae as Alice Pose and colored her with Copics. I collect Alice images, and Some Odd Girl has some of the cutest.

To make the mat I used my new Freshly Picked Cuttlebug Companion Folder and sanded the embossing to make the mushrooms stand out. The center is cut with a Spellbinder's Labels Seven Die. The frame is popped and I've embossed the inside mat with the Cuttlebug Seeing Spots folder. The lattice border is a Martha Stewart Punch. Not pink and frilly, but I hope this is girly enough.

Tiddly Inks Sketch Challenge and Oh Alice! Chapter 31

This week at Tiddly Inks we had a fab sketch to follow from the lovely Betty Boo. The image is Royal Proclamation and comes with a little story. Recently I was called a Prima Donna. Ha Ha! (I say sarcastically) Because of my name, I've been called that before and never really thought all that much about it. However, although I knew it was a tease, I actually looked up the definition. (How RUDE!) Let's just say I was less than amused... So while checking some of my other fave challenge blogs I came across the Oh Alice! theme for this week which is Fighting for the Crown. Perfect! It's no accident the Queen has red hair (and she's PISSED). Her dress is paper pieced (twice) so I could add a bit of dimension to her skirt. She's mounted on a mat done with the MS crown Punch Around the Page and the sentiment is cut with my Nesties. The spare crowns on the side are brads.

Here you can see a bit more of the dimension. And just in case you missed that sentiment... Prima Donna my ass! (oops, that just snuck in there, sorry!) You may address me as Your Royal Highness (or Empress, if you prefer). Now go have a look at the fabby stuff my DT sisters came up with on the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog and come and play along. Heck, with such a fabulous sketch you're already half way there. And don't forget it's Tiddly Tuesday so there are freebies to be had. You can find a preview HERE and download them when you join the Tiddly Inks PCP group.

Oh Alice! Chapter 25 and PCP Cuttlebug-ers #81

It's been a few week's since I've been able to play in Wonderland and I've missed it so! This week the Oh Alice! Challenge is White Rabbit, White Gloves, White Wonderland which means make a card or project that is all WHITE except for the main image panel. I was actually ruffling through my stuff to work on next week's Cuttlebug Spot card when I came across this adorable Cheshire Cat stamp from Nikoart I'd bought way before all of this Alice obsession began. Of course the purrrfect place to put him was a tree and it hit me. My Leafy Tree embossing folder from Crafts Too was just what I needed. I knew I wanted a cutout window but the tree itself seemed too flat so I cut a Petite Scallop and regular Circle with my Nesties and embossed the plain circle as well. The window for the kitty to peek out was cut through all 4 layers with the mat and top circle popped for dimension. We all know that it's nearly impossible for me to embrace the clean and simple style (not that I don't like it, it's just sooooo against my nature) but I resisted the urge to over embellish and merely added a ribbon and computer genterated sentiment cut with my Nesties Mega Scalloped Ovals and popped it as well. It still didn't look quite right because the cut out had totally removed the leaves from the upper right side of the tree so I fussy cut the tip of a branch and several individual leaves from the cut out and glued them in the bare spot above the cat. Better!

The cat is colored with Copics and cut with a Nesties Petite Scalloped Circle and popped. I did add a colored mat (doubt that disqualifies me) inside and a computer generated sentiment. What do you think, Heidi? I also found a new (to me) PCP group called The Cuttlebug-ers that I found through Betty's blog so I've entered their challenge #81 as well. Looks like a fun group for all you Cuttlebug lovers. Check it out!

I also want to remind everyone that is IS Friday the 13th, and there's all sorts of mayhem going on for Fiendishly Fun Friday over at Haunted Design House (both majorly creepy and not so much so if you're so inclined...) :D

Oh Alice! In My Country... (red, white and blue) Challenge and Whimsical Wednesdays

I'm always sad when I miss an Oh Alice! Challenge but I'm very happy this week. The challenge is Red, White and Blue! Of course I immediately thought of mushrooms and dear Alice herself in her little blue frock. Those images are the Wonderland digis from The Greeting Farm. The adorable Caterpillar is from Busy Beauties Boutique. They are colored with Copics and cut out and popped on a stair step base. The sentiment is computer generated.

A few MS punches came out to play and the DP's are Stampin'Up and (oh, crap!) I never did find the maker of that fabby cloud paper but it's about gone now so I won't be teasing you with is any more. LOL I'm also entering this in the Whimsical Wednesday's Diedrich Dare FINAL Challenge which is an ispiration photo of a red, white and blue cupcake. Beyond the obvious color scheme, I do sort of think these mushrooms look a bit like cupcakes. (Don'tcha think?)

Oh Alice! Crazy for Daisy Chains Challenge

Yesterday I did not craft. My room was such a mess that I literally couldn't walk around or find ANYTHING. It was causing me so much duress I HAD to clean it up (and believe me, I have a huge tolerance for clutter, LOL). Fortuanately this morning I was able to get right in and do the challenge for Oh Alice! which is a sketch done by the fabulous DT member Tasha along with daisies or a similar flower. I LOVE this sketch and remembered I had what looks to me like a daisy chain trim right in my stash (AND I was able to find it, WooHoo!) so I used it to create the swish from the sketch. I followed it quite literally with a few extra embellishments. The gorgeous stamp is a Sweet Pea by Elaine Cox, colored with my Copics, cut and matted with my Petite Ovals Nesties. The sentiment is from Sassy Studio Designs and the gorgeous crocheted flowers are hand made by Leah at Paper Blossoms. (I'm afraid it doesn't look like she's selling them anymore, but they're lovely!)

The daisy chain created qite a bit of bulk so both the plaid mat (Basic Grey Kioshi) and the image are popped. (Who am I kidding? You know I would have popped them anyway. LOL) Thanks for another great challenge, ladies! xxD

Oh Alice! Mad Watch Challenge

My Mad Watch Creation

The Inspiration Photo

What a fun challenge at Oh Alice! this week. there was a fabulous inspiration picture to draw from. At first I was bummed because I've yet to receive my Clockworks Cuttlebug folder so I scrambled to find some stamps. Then upon rifling through my drawers I came across the TONS of cool Tim Holtz stuff I've been hoarding and decided to go a different route.

The Timepieces and Game Spinners sort of clinched it. I mounted the largest face to one of the ornate frames using Glossy accents. I added a sprocket gear and 3 hands to make it look more mad. the top of the watch is decorated with Metal Foliage. Love the mix of metals!

I used Type Charms to spell out "LATE" and attached them with jump rings to the bottom. Then I remembered a small ladies antique enameled pocket watch I had (pretty sure it was my grandmother's) which was the gorgeous blue from the inspiration photo.

I added a Swivel Clasp for a watch fob and filled a 1 x 3" Memory frame with Graphic 45 paper and a tiny Alice playing card of the White Rabbit that I cut up to fit. Finally, I glued additional gears and sprockets, another metal flower and a pearl to embellish, again using glossy accents. (Love how that stuff glues ANYTHING!) I really enjoy challenges that make me think outside the box and craft with the fun things I've been collecting. I tried to hang my creation in one of the glass domes I have some of my other antique pocket watches in but it was too large. Guess I'll have to find a way to display it in a shadow box or something. Thanks ladies for a particularly fabulous challenge this week. Update!!!! WOOHOO!!! I won the challenge!

I'm Tickled PINK! and FILLED with MUCHNESS!

I know, AMAZING that I'm posting AGAIN on Monday, but it can't be helped. I FINALLY got some mounting foam to use with the adorable Lil Lolita Ivy from Tickled Pink Stamps that I won over at The Burtonesque Dolls challenge and I wanted to enter into the Tickled Pink Monthly Challenge that ends TOMORROW (but that's Aussie time so I don't want to miss it.) It's a fabulous sketch by owner Kellie that was fun and easy to follow. I also happened to see that the Pink Ladies over at The Tickled Pink Blog has a challenge for a Girly Girl card so I made sure to use girly girl colors and all sorts of girly embellies like flower, ribbons, butterflies and pearls. That leads me to the 3rd challenge for this card, The MUCHNESS challenge at Oh Alice! Certainly Ivy is Alice inspired and as far as muchness? Well, you know me and my adhesive pearls, alpha beads and patterned paper combos. More is never enough I always say. LOL

So, Ivy is colored with Copics and for once I chose the DP first so I could color her to match. She's cut out with my Nesties Mega Ovals Large and matted with Mega Scalloped ovals. Of course it is popped because dimension is also something you can NEVER have too much of. The butterflies are MS and adhered to allow for the wings to fly.

Adhesive pearls on the butterfly bodies as well as the 3rd layer of ribbon. I love the whole idea of "muchness" so much that I had to use it as the sentiment spelled out in my beloved Alpha Beads. What fun I've had with this! Can't wait to color Ivy again and am keeping my fingers crossed that I win some more Lil Lolitas. (If not, my pocketbook will be taking a beating because I just love them all and I hear more are coming soon! Also, as you can see on my sidebar, there's going to be a new Lil Lolita Challenge Blog called Lil Lolita Boutique! I just can't wait! I do have to thank my dear friend Jodie, one of the fabulous Pink Ladies for turning me on to Tickled Pink and the fabulous Lil Lolitas. I'm so happy that they now ship stamps worldwide from Tickled Pink Stamps (except Magnolias) and I was AMAZed how quickly they come (better than most of the US shippers I've been dealing with lately.) Thanks so much Kellie for this glorious stamp! xxD NEWS FLASH! I made the TOP 5! WOOHOO!

Oh Alice! Chapter 14-Getting Sketchy on a Golden Afternoon

This week the Oh Alice! challenge is a sketch by the talented DT member Jen Shults. Fortunately I've managed to overcome my fear of sketches and no longer run away screaming. I'm also getting the hang of tweaking it just a tad and not feeling totally guilty. The adorable image is by Elaine Cox for Sweet Pea Stamps colored with my Copics. I popped a mat cut with my Large Scallop Oval Nesties. The DP's are Basic Grey Urban Prairie 6x6 pad and Me&My Big Ideas 8x8 pad. the lacy punches are MS and the flowers are Prima. I really love the colors and almost think this could be used as a baby card (providing the recipient doesn't think I'm calling her new bundle a piglet. LOL) What do you think?

Oh Alice Mushroom Inspiration- Chapter 13

OMG! Two in one day! I'd wait to post, but I'd be late for the very important date to post this week's Chapter 13 Mushroom Inspiration Challenge at Oh Alice! This fabulous stamp is ching-chou kuik's Cheshire Cat Illusion from Sweet Pea Stamps. Isn't the image just EXQUISITE? I (attempted) to color her using the inspiration illustration colors (below my card) and cut the image out with my Labels ? (well, they're around here somewhere) Nesties and backed it with the In Spades Pendant. The DP is Prima Nursery Rhymes and the card stock is Bazzill and Stampin'Up. Although the embossed strip looks almost identical to the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder, it is actually the new Texture Fades Swirls folder by Tim Holtz. I wouldn't have bought this one, but I got them all in a bundle for a great price at Crop Stop so there you go.

I embellished using skeleton leaves I've had since dinosaurs roamed the earth and some peacock feathers. and adhesive gems. although I'm going to need LOTS more practice on these Sweet Pea Stamps images, I've recently purchased TONS of them and have more on the way. Love, love, LOVE them!

Oh Alice! and the Burtonesque Dolls

Oh I can't believe it's Friday! The week is going by sooo fast and I've still got loads to do for next week. Couldn't miss this week's Oh Alice! challenge though, entitled "Little People, Big Wonderland" (which translates into make a card or project for a child.) I thought these adorable Wonderland digi images from The Greeting Farm would be perfect...so sweet! They're colored with Copics (before daylight so excuse that please) and popped on "Baby Boy" DP from Heidi Grace. The sentiments Sassy Studio Designs cut and mounted on petite oval Nesties. The punch is EK Success which I would love a whole lot more if the little embossed dots on the scallops showed up better but I tried to enhance them with my stylus.

I'm also entering this in The Burtonesque Dolls FIRST challenge (WooHoo!) which is stripes. Now normally I'd be trying to do something a bit more edgey for that, but with limited time and figuring at least it's an Alice theme which is currently my FAVE Tim Burton movie, I thought it would be okay. Several of my BBB's (Best Blogging Buddies) are on the DT there so I wanted to show my support for this FABULOUS new challenge blog. New Burtonesque challenges come out every Tuesday there so you still have time to play along.

Oh Alice! Challenge 10 Queen of Tarts

Wow this week is flying by! I sort of took some days off from crafting because of the gorgeous weekend and my birthday and I feel like I'm playing "catch up". This week at Oh Alice! they are celebrating the Queen's tarts and asked for food on our cards. I made the Mad Hatter's Cake using my Cottage Cutz die, available at The Scrapping Cottage. Doesn't it look YUMMY!? I've always wanted a REAL cake like this for some occasion but for now a paper one will have to do. I loved the colors on the packaging for this die so I just mostly copied those. I cut the whole thing out of white card stock and colored the pieces with my Copics (except for the little roses where I used a textured pink card stock wth gel pen for detail.) The layers and roses are popped for dimension. Because of the strong colors I decided to use black and white for the rest of the card. the background embossing is the Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder. (I thought it had an "Alicey" kind of feel to it). The sentiment is from the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday card making combo. Hope you like.

Oh Alice!, Sweet Pea Stamps and Simon Says Stamp Challenges

This week at Oh Alice! we're to work with a sketch by DT member Tasha. Great sketch but you know the trouble I have with them. I actually managed to turn this one 90 degrees (I'm so proud of myself, LOL) because I wanted to use this fabulous image by Sweet Pea Stamps. I was introduced to these fab stamps by Oh Alice! DT member Jessica and fell totally in love! I received my order on Monday, just in time to get started on my sketch card, and also for Sweet Pea Stamps 1st Anniversary to create a birthday or anniversary card. They're having a Customer BLOG hop celebration. Of course I'm participating and you can too. The darling image by Elaine Cox ( just one of 8 and of course I bought them ALL!) is colored with my Copics and cut with my Nesties. I added embossing to both mats to enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp challenge also, which is create a card with a movie theme and add dry embossing. (Do you believe 2 entries for that challenge this week?) I used tiny bubbles and the flower folder that comes with the With Tanks Card Making Combo. The colors and patterns are kind of "out there" because that's my vision of Wonderland and I thought it added to the party theme. The papers are K&Co. The sentiment is spelled out in Alpha Beads and theoretically could be used for a birthday or anniversary, don't ya think?

Oh Alice! Flowers and Stampotique "Girly Card" Challenges

This week at Oh Alice! we're learning alot from flowers. I've been dying to make some of these layered flowers and thought it would be the perfect time. (Especially since I wanted to use my "creepy" LOL baby face stamp for the centers.) I used 2 sizes of the Blossom Nesties with tissue paper and colored the edges with Copics. Because the faces stamped in black looked a bit harsh, I adhered a single layer of tissue (cut with an even smaller blossom) over the stamped image by running it through my Xyron right side down. It just so happens that Oh Alice! is being sponsored by Stampotique (one of my FAVE places to shop for stamps) this week and their Designer's challenge is to create a "girly card". I usually prefer to use Stampotique stamps when doing their challenges (even when we don't have to like this week) but I thought this looked pretty "girly" with the fluffy flowers and all so I'm entering it there too.

I was having a discussion with my friend Smita this morning (by email since she lives in India)about MS border punches so I had mine out to test them and actually ended up punching out 2 sides of the card stock without screwing up so I folded it to make the card base. WooHoo! I considered using another color for the embossing behind the flowers (Cuttlebug Leafy Branches) but decided I preferred the pristine white look. The sentiment is an "Alice" quote done on the computer and cut out with my Nesties Labels 9. I really enjoy doing challenges that allow me to explore different styles and techniques so I hope you think these are as much fun as I do.

Oh Alice! M.A.D. Challenge

This week's challenge at Oh Alice! almost through me for a loop. In this case M.A.D stands for monochromatic and distressed...hmmm... Well, the good news was I just so happened to have one of The Greeting Farm's Creepy Cakes Images that I was dying to color so I really wanted to participate. (Not required, but they are sponsoring the challenge.) My problems are always with the paper. I kept looking for pretty monochromatic prints to no avail and then realized I was going about this all wrong. I really needed to see what color Copics I had enough of to do a decent job on the image. The best luck I had was with the BG's # 109-115. I really need a Copics class to ge the hang of this shading business but I'm fairly pleased. I was going to color her face, but I thought I better quit while I was ahead. LOL Next problem: I'm not too hot at distressing. Don't get me wrong, I love the look, but I've always been the type to want things PERFECT, so distressing is against my nature.

At first I thought that using Coredinations and sanding would be enough, but I'd printed my image fairly large so what was left of it after embossing with the Cuttlebug Harlequin folder seemed rather miniscule considering distressing was a major element of the challenge. So I took my scissors to the edges, and then to the several mats I'd cut. See, there really is (a bit) of distressing. Wait 'til I get my Zutter Distrezz-it-All. I'll be grinding the crap out of those edges right and left! LOL Anyway, the finishing touches were the punched crown corners and the adhesive pearls which I also colored with my Copics. And don't those feathers add to the "madness"? I can't believe I had just the right color! The Sentiment is from Sassy Studio Designs. Now off for my walk. I think I'm on a roll here. Besides the exercise, I've managed 4 days without wine. Wish me luck, it's SOOOO much harder on the weekend to abstain!

Oh Alice Chapter 6 and Blog Hop Winner!

TGIF! I finally finished this week's Oh Alice! challenge card and although it didn't turn out as I envisioned,I did manage to use the fine print as the challenge asks. I ended up finding the text from "Alice" on the internet and copied page 1 in a cool font on my computer. I printed it first on some of the Nusery Rhyme Paper from Prima which just so happens to have Alice images all over it. Then I printed it again on plain white.

The quote that caught my eye first was "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" so I took out my Nesties Labels 7 and cut out the book and page and lined it up over the background so you could still read the fine print (after inking with TH Distress Inks). The placement of the quote dictated the layout (which is kind of weird but what can you do?) The little metal flower at the top is Tim Holtz Metal Foliage.

The page goes on about the White Rabbit and his watch so I found this classic image from The Graphics Fairy and colored it with my Copics. The watch face is also TH and I used his game spinners for hands. The left hand side looked a little bare so I twisted the bookmark to the side and attached it under the mat. If you look closely you can see Alice following the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole on the printed paper.

Thanks for hanging in there. Now for the big announcement. Drumroll please!..... the winner of $30 gift certificate to Custom Crops Chosen by a Random number generator (that I can't manage to copy and paste for the life of me ) is #105, (please note that comment #75 was deleted by the author so that made a total of 109 posts instead of 110.)

MY TIME SCRAPPER!

My Time Scrapper said...
"What a cute Idea and I just love the colors that you used in this project! Thanks for sharing!"

CONGRATULATIONS Nicki! Please email me at dlmundinger (at)yahoo(dot) com to arrange for your prize.