Alice in Wonderland - in Fall Colours

I couldn't resist joining in an Altered Alice challenge, as I need an excuse to make Alice in Wonderland artwork otherwise you will think I am just obsessed! I have been restrained for a long time now! The challenge this month is to use fall colours, and it seemed strange not to give Alice her customary blue dress, but it was fun once I got into it! You don't have to follow an Alice theme for the Altered Alice blog, but why wouldn't I?!

The image I had in my mind was of Alice falling down the rabbit hole into the hall of doors, taking the Autumn leaves with her. I had the perfect stamp for the hall, from the Eternity plate by Non Sequitur, which was just the right size for the little back to front canvas. The depth of the frame added to the sense of perspective, with the full size Alice on the edge, and the shrunk (shrink plastic) version where the corridor narrows. She has drunk from the 'Drink Me' bottle, a shrink plastic version of the bottle from the Vintage Apothecary set by Artistic Outpost from Happy Daze. Now that she has shrunk she cannot reach the golden key, made from a mould and friendly plastic, with some gold Inka Gold, from Happy Daze, rubbed on.

I started off by painting the frame and sides with bronze paint and gathered up some brown organza to represent the curtains, with a sequin trim at the top for the pelmet. I coloured the stamped corridor image with Pro Markers in shades of brown and orange, also used to colour Alice.

I finished off with some very brightly coloured Autumn leaves, in orange, bronze, and green, so I am also entering this for the Happy Daze challenge which is An Explosion of Colour, as that is what the trees outside my house look like at the moment.

Venice Papier Mache Mask

My lovely friends, Jack and Pauline, were here yesterday and we had a great day. Jack very kindly brought me a papier mache mask so we could make them together. Hers are stunning! For mine I used metallic white paint and Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The stamps are by Oxford Impressions 'Venezia' and my favourite Crafty Individuals' scroll. I finished off with gem stone tears.

Another Purse - in Pistachio with Bird Cages

I thought I'd better quickly blog this purse as I see it has popped up on the Crafty Individuals' blog. They have some blog candy at the mo, and there are some lovely things on there if you want to have a look. Paula, from Ephemera's Attic, whose bags had inspired me to make these has the most glorious pink bag on there!

I have made this purse with pistachio Lumiere paint, and two of the recently released Crafty Individuals' bird cage stamps.

Livestock - Gingersnap Creations Challenge

Today's new challenge launching on Gingersnap Creations Blogspot is Livestock, as part of their On The Farm month. I only have one suitable stamp for anything of this kind and I'm not afraid to use it lots! It's the chicken stamp from Crafty Individuals, CI 289. I bought the little hen coop with its chicken wire door at my fave shop in France. I covered it with texture paste and painted it with green and purple paints - sorry there isn't some deep and artistic meaning behind my colour choice, I was just in a green and purple mood! I covered the roof with glue from my hot glue gun and slung the raffia on to mimic a thatched roof and added more to the floor for the chickens to lay their eggs on.

I stamped out the image twice and kept it whole for the back of the hen house. I coloured it with Pro Markers and glazed the wing feathers with Glossy Accents. Finally I stamped another image and cut out the chickens to run around outside.

I've never used raffia before and if I had had any sense I would have entered it for the Raffia challenge on GSC last week, but no that would be far too logical and would suggest I know in advance what I am going to make! It is a fun product though so I'm sure I will use it again.

Vintage Purse - Crafty Individuals' Bird Cages

Just when you thought I wasn't going to make any more vintage bags, I am sneaking another one in! This is one of the purse size bags. I painted it with Fresco Finish paint in Vintage Lace, which has more of a mushroom tone than it looks in the photo. I stamped it front and back with some of the new bird cages from Crafty Individuals. I added rose net trim around the clasp.

I lined it with a serviette that reminds me of Paua Shell, and some black gathered lace.

Farm Fresh - Gingersnap Creations Challenge

 

Today Gingersnaps are launching their Farm Fresh challenge for their On The Farm month. My contribution is this egg box featuring chickens from the Crafty Individuals' Farm Fresh Eggs stamp (CI 289). Hope you will join in!

Winter Wonderland - Crafty Individuals' November Challenge

The Crafty Individuals' Blog November Challenge is now up. The theme, as chosen by the lovely Lynne, from Adorn, CI's newest recruit, is Winter Wonderland. Funnily enough, so far we have all chosen to use the winter stag for our contributions, the new CI 332 but it does show just how differently it can be used.

I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint with a layer of crackle on the papier mache box and stamped a few CI Christmassy words around it. I pushed 9 one inch Stampbord tiles together and stamped and coloured the stag, and then added some silver cord to fill in the gap around the edge of the lid, and a bit of Polar White flower soft to give more of a wintry effect.

I hope you will join in this month - plenty of scope with this theme. The prizes are, I think, amongst the most generous in Challenge Land as five winners get to choose a stamp of their choice - how cool is that!