Cheryl Baker's Altered Spool

Featured Artist: Cheryl Baker
Blog: Cheryl's Creative Cards & ATCs
Location: United Kingdom - Norwich - Norfolk

Cheryl first came to my attention when her submission to the Oh, Alice! teabag folding challenge caught my eye! One of the advantages of my being on the Oh, Alice! Challenge Blog design team is that I get to see all kinds of intreresting Alice creations. Cheryl is a great follower of The Altered Alice and you will see her kind comments on most posts!

Cheryl received some Graphic 45 Hallowe'en in Wonderland paper as an early birthday present, but I would say that we are all the benefactors of her birthday gift as we enjoy one of her lovely creations! Decorated spools (Cheryl refers to them as "poles") are a growing trend in altered art and I thought this one was very worthy, take a look! Click on any image to enlarge:

Great things can come from humble beginnings! Cheryl began with a kitchen towel roll core (paper towels for us Yanks) and two CDs! She covered these with beautful patterned papers. The base holds a tiny "Drink Me" bottle, a small key and a teabag folded flower.

On top we see the first of many flowers made from teabag folding. This one is centered with a lovely shank button, I think I have that same button on my jeans, LOL!  There are punched and embossed leaves, but notice how Cheryl used the sheet she cut the leaves from as a stencil and sponged some leaves onto the paper covered CD. She added circular motifs punched from the Wonderland paper.

Die-cut wings extend from either side of the top of this flight of fancy!  A touch of steampunk is added with all the different kinds of chains dangling from the edge, secured to the top CD in all differnt ways including string and jump rings. At the ends of the chains we see another teabag flower and a charm that might be made from an Idea-ology fragment charm; I love this softly colored vintage Alice image! We see the Mad Hatter proclaiming from the top of the pole and the Cheshire Cat is curled up at the bottom.

The Mad Hatter is swinging on his chain. Love the way the petals of the teabag flower echo the hours on the clock face.

The White Rabbit is represented by the "You're LATE!" sentiment tied to a steampunk gear.

I find the fall colors of this piece so warm and appealing. I love the mix of different types and scale of patterns. But the thing that appeals to me most is how the mixture of all these wildly different elements work together to make such an interesting whole. We have lovely teabag folded flowers with softly scalloped edges centered by pretty buttons, then we have steampunk chain and gears. We have a lovely vintage Alice charm and a piece of angular hardware labeled FOOD in a very bold, industrial font. Some things are connected by smooth polished jump rings and others are tied on with string.  It is this pull of opposites that balances this altered spool into a fabulous whole! WONDERful WONDERland creation, Cheryl!

I hope you have enjoyed Cheryl's altered spool as much as I have! Please visit Cheryl's blog and leave her a comment and see some of her other creations, many of which feature Alice in Wonderland! Cheryl always leaves me wonderful comments and calls me Hun, so it will be fun to send some love her way. And please leave a comment here for me before you go!