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.

Vintage Evening Bag from Happy Daze

I have made this Vintage evening bag for my sister in law as an extra birthday present and I am so hoping she will like it! It was inspired by the gorgeous examples by Julie and Paula from the Happy Daze Design Team on their blog, as the bag 'blank' comes from there. I wouldn't have had the confidence to attempt it if I hadn't seen their examples first.

I coloured the chain and clasp with brown alcohol ink to give a bronze effect as it was a bright silver to start off with. I coloured the bag with Vintage Lace, Orchid, and Mushroom Fresco Finish paints as it was very white. The stamps are the Venice set by Oxford Impressions - love this set! Petra gave me some trim which was perfect for the edges and I added pearl trim over the top of it, then tied some of the trim into a bow and added a mulberry flower.

I decorated the back with the same stamping but just with a simple pearl trim.

Mardi Gras - Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

Today Gingersnap Creations are having a Mardi Gras theme as today is Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, the day we eat up all our fatty foods before the abstinence of lent.

I would like to have made something with more of a 'N'Orlins' Mardi Gras vibe, as we had an amazing holiday in the French Quarter of New Orleans many years ago, and I have aways wanted to return, especially for the Mardi Gras processions. I didn't have any suitable stamps unfortunately, so decided to opt for a Venice Carnival style, as I had the gorgeous 'Venezia' stamps by Oxford Impressions, and the Italy background papers from Crafty Individuals. I chose the paper with the masks on, but added another stamped mask and the words and cancellation mark. I then made an art mould of a mask and painted it in the traditional Mardi Gras colours of purple, green, and gold, and added jewel eyes. I then made it into a card and added feathers behind the mask.

 

Filter Paper Album - a Tutorial for Gingersnaps

I have been a little quiet on the crafting front as we stayed with my in-laws in the North East for Christmas, and then went to France for New Year. Since I got back last week, I have been making this project for Gingersnaps, which I have enjoyed SO much! As there are lots of sections to it, I was worried about taking over their blog too much, so I thought I would post some of the individual pages and tags here, mainly just with captions, with the step by step tutorial over on Gingersnaps. Hope that will all make sense!

The stamps I have used are Oxford Impressions Bonbon and Afternoon Tea sets, Art Journey Celebrate, and Crafty Individuals CI 277.

Here's the final album, which has individual tags in each of the filter paper 'pockets':-

Two little girls in their best dresses, being taken to the chocolate shop

A selection of tea and coffee advertisements stamped to look like a vintage newspaper

Chocolate related images. I used gold pen for the chocolate cases

The tea pot sits on a white crocheted coaster. The other images are on shrink plastic to be in scale in relation to the tea pot, on my imaginary tea table! The tiny beads create brown sugar.

The little girl from Art Journey 'Celebrate' was a perfect fit to sit on the cup and saucer, again on a crocheted coaster.

Cupid and hearts, with some tiny heart embellishments

Kept this simple to show the chocolate wording in the paper!

More tea and coffee advertisments. I divided the 'poster' image into two sections, separating the images from the words

A tag with a little girl in her party frock, on shrink. The words at the bottom are on shrink, and the awning is German Scrap, from Crafty Individuals

Chocolate related advertisements/logos

A romantic couple taking tea together. The words have been used to frame the image.

More tea advertisements

The poster image, whole this time. Tea definition on shrink, bottom right

Chocolate price list and chocolates. Paper cases coloured with gold pen

Gingersnap Creations Mad Hatter's Tea Party Bloghop

Gingersnap Creations are having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party bloghop today. Here is my invitation to you, to my tea party!

I used Silkies from Imagination Crafts for the background of the actual invitation, with the Crafty Individuals invitation to a tea party stamp. The main background is Kaleidacolor Caribbean Sea, brayered on. I got my Kaleidacolors and my brayer from Imagination Crafts. The Hatter is from the Oxford Impressions set, and the tea cup has been stamped on Fimo and baked.

Kraft Challenge - Gingersnap Creations Blog

Over on Gingersnap Creations Blog they have a number of challenges for May and I thought I would try to participate in a few - I got very behind generally last month as due to my poor IT skills it took me ages to upload my tutorials, so I am hoping to get a bit more done this month.

The colour theme for the month is Kraft, which I guess we call Manila? I had this slide mailer which intead of being the normal dull grey chipboard, was a lovely buff colour. It felt strange though, not to add paper, paint, and colour, so I restrained myself!

Here goes:-

I love the Venezia set from Oxford Impressions, so I started off by stamping the whole mailer inside and out with the Italian script in Sepia. I then stamped the map and the St Mark's Basilica on glossy card, again with Sepia, and tore around them. I crumpled and folded the map up a bit and tore it into pieces, and then adhered these to the front of the mailer, to disguise the words, 'This is a slide mailer' which were printed across it! I decorated the rest of the mailer with different images from the set in black, including the mask on the back cover. I prepared two image-transferred Crafty Individuals' Venice images and adhered them to the reverse of the microscope slide glass. I pushed them together to stamp the word Venezia across them, then finally adhered them into position in the mailer. These images met my need for some colour!

Venetian Gondola Card

I am having a catch-up on making cards at the moment, for birthdays and other occasions, which is a good excuse to use this new Venetian Gondolas stamp from Dark Room Door which Nancy kindly ordered into the shop for me. I love it! I stamped a few onto glossy postcards and coloured them in various ways to see what worked, and had done some with a very murky green canal. I had in my mind MP and Florence's photos of their recent trip, with the pastel houses, and I wanted this to be my focus, so Colin said, why not just colour the houses. So that is what I have done on this version. I then brayered a little pastel colour onto white shrink plastic and stamped the mask from the Oxford Impressions' Venezia set (well, I have held back from this favourite set for a while now!). Then I shrank it and used it as the embellishment, with a simple backdrop of one of the Crafty Individuals' patterned card blanks. Tried to be a bit restrained.

Venice Birthday Card

Our French friends, MP and Florence, share a birthday, and have just returned from celebrating it in Venice, a trip MP has been talking about for a year! He is going to show us his photos which I am looking forward to as I have never been, but my Oxford Impressions Venezia plate is one of my favourites. So, of course, I had to make them a Venice birthday card!

I showed Colin this card and he said, well, you haven't done much, you've only made a shrink plastic mask and stuck it on some background paper! I was very indignant and said, it's not background paper, I've used 12 stamps in total! I used a grey Versafine so that the stamps blend in to the background, then black StazOn for the mask. I hope you are a bit more discerning than Colin!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Money Box

I made this wooden money box for the little girl of the lady who runs my new local craft shop. Molly is 8 and has just finished reading Alice in Wonderland and loved it. I used the stamps from the Oxford Impressions Classic Alice set from LB Crafts. You can't really see in the photos but the background paper is pink, sponged around the edges with pale blue. The scrabble letters were darkened with Distress Ink, edged in black, and covered with glossy accents. Some of the images are on brayered glossy card stock and others on shrink plastic.

The box has a slot in the top for money and the base pulls out like a drawer, with a little knob, so I decorated both sides of this base, the outside with the Queen of Hearts, and the inside with the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. One of the other companies who do an Alice set had the Mad Hatter putting the Dormouse into the tea pot, which I loved, so I tried to piece together this imagery with the stamps I had, and the text from a copy of the book from a charity shop.

The White Rabbit's pocket watch is from the Artistic Stamper Time and Keys set, on shrink plastic, with a piece of ball chain.

I hope Molly likes it - her Mum thought she would.

'We're All Mad Here' Altered Chess Board Wall Hanging

This is my entry for Sunday Stampers 'Alice and White Rabbits' theme. I have altered a folding chess board, using the latch fastening to hang it on the wall, and using the Oxford Impressions Classic Alice set from LB Crafts to depict the Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass story.

I sanded and lightly gesso'd the board, then added Distress Inks and Cosmic Shimmer mists, and edged it with Aged Mahogany. I brayered the shrink plastic sheets with pastel shades then cut them into 6 cm squares and stamped my chosen images, then added some traditional 'Alice' colours using brush markers, shrank the tiles, and edged with red pen. In addition to the Oxford Impressions' set I used alphabet stamps, Time and Keys 1 from the Artistic Stamper, and a crown, chess set, and 4 suits stamps. I adhered them to the chess board in a random fashion as I like assymetry, and added tiny playing cards, and a little test tube bottle, and some ball chain to link the White Rabbit to his pocket watch, and some red wooden hearts. I then finished it off with some travel chess pieces, and turned the white queen into a Red Queen with a red Sharpie!

Here's a slightly more detailed view. I chose shrink plastic as my medium because the scale of the Classic Alice set is quite large and it enabled me to fit at least a recognizable segment of each image into the squares on the chess board. I've added a few gem stones on the crown for a bit of bling.

Stampbord Inlay Box - Alice

This box was inspired by a beautiful Christmas-themed box made by Jean Hardy of Crafty Individuals, in Craft Stamper a few issues back. She had used Stampbord in the inlay section of this wooden box, and filled the remaining gap with cord. I am a huge fan of everything she makes. In this version I have used the Classic Alice stamps by Oxford Impressions, available from LB Crafts. As the scale of the stamps is quite large, I arranged the images across 4 tiles pushed together. The background was brayered, and then additional colour added with brush markers. The box itself has been painted with acrylic paint, then Crackle Paint, and then sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Mists and rubbed with Distress Inks. There were several areas I wanted to be white such as Alice's apron, so I did quite a bit of scratching back to the clay. There is just something about the Alice imagery I love!