Alice in Wonderland Mixed Media

I have been a fan of the artwork of Sarah aka Star

for quite some time. Like many years ago when I first saw her 

Chibi artwork on the Spesch Designer Stamps site. 

Now she has her own shop selling her awesome artwork directly at

Star Stampz on Etsy.

I had to grab the Alice in Wonderland images and make something 

cool with them, so I made a wall hanging that I'm pretty proud of.

I am super happy with how this turned out.

I began with a drawer insert I had that served as a perfect substrate.

I gessoed it and adhered some distressed vintage feeling designer papers. 

Then, I stenciled some diamonds on it using Finnabair platinum crackle paste,

keeping it kind of random. 

I colored up the adorable Alice image in blue greens and beige shades

of Copics. I added in some gold tones and a hint of red, too.

I matted the image onto some distressed background papers to add more texture

and contrast.  

I used some metal embellishments along with various die cuts from Tim Holtz.

I covered the clock and gear die cuts with Golden Pearl Mica Flake and colored it

using TH distress inks. I also used some gold and amber shades of dew drops, 

and some hand colored paper roses in blue greens, as well.  

Then it was the Mad Hatter's turn to get some

color. More beige and blue green shades of Copic coloring.

I added some pops of red to give some nice contrast too.

More die cuts, roses, and dew drops were added to finish it all off

and provide some balance to the entire piece.

I made this for my bestie and she loves it. It now hangs in her craft room.

Thanks for dropping by today.

I'd like to enter this wall hanging in the following challenges:

Star Stampz - Hand colored image(s)

The Dark Attic Challenges - Anything Goes

hope it's not too cute for you guys

Unicorn Challenge - Inspired by a Fairy Tale

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Left of Center - Distressing

A Vintage Journey - Texture or Embossing Paste

Altered Eclectics - Mixed Media Anything Goes 

Crafts and Me Challenge and Inspiration - Anything Goes Shabby Chic/Vintage

Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes

SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenges - Anything Goes Steampunk 

     

Happy Anniversary Alice!

Today I am celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Alice in Wonderland, 
by taking part in a celebratory blog hop featuring lots of creative projects 
inspired by this wonderfully strange, and adventurous story.

Not only will you be awed by all of the amazing artwork, 
but you can also win prizes from these generous companies;

The Stamping Boutique

Rick St Dennis MFA

Faery Ink

That Craft Place

Ike's Art

Delicious Doodles

Sweet Pea Stamps

Sassy Studio Designs

Vera Lane Studio Digital Stamps

Prize winners will be selected from random blogs throughout the hop. 
In order to be eligible for a prize, you must visit all stops on the hop and leave a comment. 
The prize draws will be open until July 18th, with winners announced on July 20th.

Okay, now that all of that is out of the way, I bet you'd
like to check out my Alice in Wonderland inspired project.

I have quite a few Alice in Wonderland stamps and digital images to 

create with, but I was eager to use my newest digital acquisitions

from the very talented, Vera Lane Studios. Actually, the artist is named,

Janet Klein, but she lives on Vera Lane, so hence the business name. 

I recently got some new craft room storage and ended up with a bunch of
dividers that were intended for some of the new drawers. I opted to fill the drawers
without the help of the dividers, but thought that they'd make good wall hangings.
Into the hoarded pile they went! And then I had an idea for some AIW wall art.

I began by painting the panel bright red, and then applied a white

crackle effect over the top. That was way too white, so I toned it down

with a brown acrylic wash. I wiped most of it back, but left enough to give it

a nice, antiqued feel. It is the 150th Anniversary, after all.

I manipulated the Vera Lane images in Gimp, and created the
panel and images to fit my layout and design.

What is Alice in Wonderland without Alice?

Here she is looking a bit disheveled, which is why I love her.

Maybe that tumble down the rabbit hole was a bit more rough than

anyone originally thought. Looks like stitches were necessary. Ouch.

I colored her with Copics, added Glossy Accents to her eyes, and

some Stickles to the bloody bits for a sparkly effect.  

The White Rabbit received the very same treatment as Alice,

but he managed to make it down the hole unscathed. Lucky rabbit.

I adore the Mad Hatter! So fun and silly! I referred to a 

photo of Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter for the color scheme.  

I used the mushroom and the Queen of Hearts here.

I manipulated the mushroom in Gimp to give me a smaller and 

a reversed image mushroom. I colored them both with Copics and

used some Rock Candy Stickles to the spots for a nice sparkle.

I punched holes at the bottom of the panel and added ribbons and charms.

I made the Queen of Hearts charm using a small playing card, Crackle Accents, 

grunge board, and Glossy Accents on the back to seal everything. I added a red beaded

accent to the bottom as well. Super fancy!  

Well, that does it for me.
Enjoy the rest of the hop, and if you are only arriving here
by chance and want to check out the entire hop, the list of
participating blogs is listed below for your convenience.  

Blog Hop List

Suzi

Alison

Trudie

Sharon

Milo

Donna

Leigh

Claudia

Leadonna

Nan

Jenn

Nikki

Black Dragon

Teresa

Ike

Creepy Glowbugg

Shelley

Alana

Harp

Lori

Monica

Kemly

Margaret

Julie

Katie

Julie W S

Kathi
Karen
Corrie
Emily
Geraldine
Carol
Avril
Lisa
Kim
Mo
Lorraine

Look who's on a roll!

Not bad. Five posts already this month.

So far so good with keeping up with posts,

despite the fact that no one hardly seems to stop by

very much anymore. That's cool though, as I look at this

blog as an indelible record of my thoughts and artwork from 

this point in my life. More for me and my kid than anyone else.

But it's still nice to think folks will drop by and enjoy what they see

and read here.

And as usual, I digress...

I made another ATC. I really enjoy making these things.

The current theme over at Wicked Wednesday is

Pink, Black, and White.

Pretty sure that I nailed it. 

Definitely one of  my favorite color schemes.

In keeping with another want for the new year, I am using 

a previously unused digi image. This one is from the now defunct,

Birdie Brown. I adore Torico's simplistic, and sweet style.

I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her art, as I have amassed quite a collection.

Yes, another "collection".

I kinda panicked when she announced she was closing her shop...

After coloring this sweet image with Copics, I added some

white highlights with a Gelly Roll pen, and some Fruit Punch 

Stickles for sparkle. I also added a couple of steampunk corner

accents, complete with rhinestone centers.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I really do appreciate those of you who stop by, and especially

when you take the time to leave me a comment.

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge - black, pink, and white

Creative Corner Challenges - Wonderland

Down the Rabbit Hole with WW

Happy Hump Day!!

The weather has finally resumed some normalcy for July

 (was over 100 degrees for seven days straight last week!),

so I have been pulling weeds and bizarre crap out of my yard this week.

I have been putting out snail bait to kill off the offending hoards of shelled

slimers, and now I have flower beds littered with empty (sorta) snail shells.

I want to do something with them, but not sure how to go about it. They seem too 

delicate to really work with, but maybe they'd make a nice display in a jar or

glass holder of some sort. Once they're completely dried out, that is. 

I wonder if bleaching them would destroy them?   

Anyhoo, it's time for another WW ATC challenge.

This week we are sponsored by Rick St. Dennis.

The theme is, "Down the Rabbit Hole", and RSD has

a ton of wonderful Alice in Wonderland themed images in his shop,

under Fairy Tales.

I chose to work with the entire AIW gang for my ATC.

I colored everyone with Copics, fussy cut a bit, and then Stickled the edges, 

and used some clear gel pen on their eyes (and noses and teeth as necessary). 

Lastly, I used my Wonderland stamp from Leavenworth Jackson.

Drop by Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge to check out all of the AIW

madness, and maybe even play along to win some free RSD images of

your very own! 

Oh, Alice! Eat me....

For what now seems like many moons ago, I used to be a part

of a great group of creative ladies who were the design team

for the Oh, Alice! challenge blog. 

It was a wonderful Alice in Wonderland themed challenge blog.

After a while, the blog changed (equally worthy) hands,

and I felt it was a good time to step down and see what else was

out there for me creatively. I always meant to play along 

with the newly renamed, Altered Alice challenges, but never did.

Then I read that this is Altered Alice's last scheduled challenge until 

further notice. I absolutely had to play! 

It had been much too long since I made anything

Alice related, and I couldn't think of a better reason to do so.

And the theme is Anything Goes. Really? My favorite theme ever! 

I immediately knew I wanted to use my favorite Alice image, 

from Spesch Designer's Stamps, drawn by Christina Gardner.

I had all the blue and yellow Copics out with the intention of doing 

a classic color scheme for Alice, but then I remembered 

it's anything goes!

I like Alice with lavender hair and green eyes.

Then, I colored up this great image drawn by Rick St. Dennis,

 and gussied it up a bit with some Stickles and loose Doodlebug glitter. 

I added the black satin ribbon with the buckle/brad to give some balance.

Plus, it was an opportunity to destash a bit. I always need to destash....  

I even broke out with my highly coveted 

Graphic 45 Hallowe'en in Wonderland dp, and my 

loverly Leavenworth Jackson Wish you were here stamp. 

I embossed it after I distressed it slightly. 

I am so happy I got a chance to create something for the awesome 

Altered Alice Chapter 27 

What a wonderful dream it has been challenge.

I'd also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

  Simon Says - Anything Goes!

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with ribbon

Inkspirational Challenges - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesdays - #122 Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

      

Wish You Were Here....

I realize that I'm a little late to be jumping on the

Alice in Wonderland band wagon, but I really couldn't help myself.

I have quite a few AIW stamps, but they are the vintage drawings, and not very 'cute' or fun to color.

But, when I saw this Ching-chou Kuik image at Sweet Pea Stamps, I had to have it!

It proved to be a bit of a challenge to color, in that it was difficult to stay in a color scheme that went well with a particular paper.

Hence, the black and white color scheme.

I did manage to color some ghost leaves with Copics and Stickles to add a bit of color besides the image.

I tried to use this cool technique that I saw on a few blogs, where they color the background with dots (pointillism), instead of solid color.

I decided to make the outer edges trail into spirals to sorta mimic the spirals in her hair. I like the way it turned out.  

How 'bout you?