CHAPTER 1 Challenge Winner & Honorable Mentions!

Winner: Julie Haelemeersch
Blog: Aisling's Hobby Blog - Queen of Hearts Gothic Arch
Location: Belgium

The challenge to make something that features a dress form, OR to make something that changes in form, is over!  Projects that featured Wonderland were given two chances in the prize drawing instead of one to win a fabulous prize from Stampotique Originals!

STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS is very generously giving our lucky winner a $30 gift certificate!

But first, we are going to leave you with a little more inspiration from the design team! We had so many great Stampotique and other projects that we could not fit everything into the previous weeks.

First off, Donna of Meme's Art Place turned Stampotique's Moth Fab stamp into a mannequin by substituting a lampost base for her legs! I love the warm rich colors and the black really adds drama and grounds the card at the same time. LOVE the way she curled the corner on the background paper, The fun eyelash yarn and trim adds great texture, and the flower is FAB too!

Don't you love the way Donna has displayed this gem on a wire dress form?

Terri DeVine of DeVine Designs by Terri created a WONDERful never-ending card! Have you seen these? They are really magical! The black card is covered with sponged panels of patterned paper and images on gold edged mats. The images are all Disney from free coloring book pages. Terri's coloring with Copics is gorgeous; do you see the woodgrain she drew in on that door? Fantastic. You need to go to her blog to see sharp pictures of every panel and to leave her a comment on this accomplishment! You can't get the real genius of this until you see the never-ending card in motion, ever changing form:

The quotes are from Tweety Jill's Quotes set, and the one on the front is so appropriate for this card: "Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

This is the second Stampotique project from Lynne Phelps of Savvy Sisters Studios and features the Giant Shroom and the Mushroom Group. I LOVE those Stampotique mushrooms! I want to use them on everything, they are so Alice! For all the details and to leave a comment, please visit my blog!

The Winner

Julie Haelemeersch of Aisling's Hobby Blog created our randomly selected winning entry! I know she will be thrilled to win the $30 gift certificate from STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS as her fun off-with-her-head spinner card features a Stampotique image! This card would have been in the honorable mentions if it hadn't won the drawing! I love arched cards, I love the colors, and the whole scene is wonderful.  Julie, please contact me from my email link in the left column.

Honorable Mentions
There were so many amazing projects submitted this month. I want to thank everyone who participated, and I would like to encourage you to go through ALL the links on the Week 1 challenge post, they are ALL wonderful!  I will just highlight some here that really caught my fancy:

I absolutely ADORE this card from Brenda Brown of Bumblebees and Butterflies!  The colors and the textures and all the details are so appealing to me, but take a closer look.  Brenda performed some digital surgery and we now have a mad-hatted rabbit!

Be sure to check out Brenda's blog post where she shows you all the individual images before she merged them into this picture!

Susan Allen of Little Imperfections created this wonderful "Alice shall go to the ball." mini-album storybook - the wrong story, LOL!!!  Be sure to actually read the story shown in the pictures, it is really funny and charming and so creative!

I love the ruff of dresses on this great collage from Love of Collage. All the bright colors are so wonderful and I love the journaling!

All of the entries were so great that I could go on and on. Instead I will leave you until next week when we begin our March Challenge.

A special thanks so Stampotique, our wonderful sponsor! Please leave a comment before you go!

 

CHAPTER 1 Challenge - Week 4: Changes in form and dress forms!

"Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.

It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual. `Come, there's half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another!"
       -- Chapter 5, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Well, just like Alice we have been through a change in location and changed form from weekly to monthly, but the challenge chapters remain familiar despite all these puzzling changes!
To reflect all these puzzling changes, the challenge is to make something that features a dress form, OR to make something that changes in form!  While it is not required that your project include Alice in Wonderland, we do encourage it. If your project does feature Wonderland you will get two chances in the prize drawing instead of one!

STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS is sponsoring our first challenge with a $30 gift certificate for one lucky winner, and their design team is going to play along! Be sure to visit their Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog where you can play every week! They are famous for artist Daniel Torrente's quirky characters, but they actually have many artists and quite a few different styles. Jo Capper-Sandon is my favorite with her wonderful mushrooms, and other lines include Janet Klein's flower characters (click next a few times to see them) that remind me of the garden of living flowers! There is something to please everyone at Stampotique Originals!
 
Here is your weekly dose of Alice inspiration:

I am so excited to share the amazing digital artwork of Sandy Scholz of Stempelchaotin, all the way from Germany! Sandy's digital artist's trading cards are works of art. I just keep coming back to look at this piece again and again. I love the way Alice is standing on the sewing machine, and her over the shoulder pose is one of my favorites. The layers of pattern and writing in the background add such rich visual texture, and Sandy's use of color and light is just incredible! Who knew that Alice would look so amazing in green? Sandy does traditional stamping as well as these fantastic digital creations, so I know you are going to love what she will share with you on The Altered Alice!

Terri DeVine of DeVine Designs by Terri has created this airbrushed gem of a wall hanging!  Terri stamped Stampotique's Jasmin stamp and colored it with Copics, then she carefully masked it and airbrushed the background. The  words of the sentiment "Each life needs its own quiet place" were cut apart - love that snipped up text look!  Alice was always changing, never the same from one minute to the next, so Terri's offering is all about Alice's changes through time. Terri is a brand new blogger, so please visit to leave her a comment and a warm welcome to the team! You will also find all the details of the Copic coloring on her blog post.  Terri is also a good photographer and took all the dress form pictures for my Week 1 post! Thanks Terri!

I also thought that Stampotique's Jasmin made a lovely modern Alice and is perfect with the Giant Schroom and Mushroom Group stamps!  I fell in love with Jasmin's shoes the first time I saw her, so on the left I drew a large pair of boots, legs and skirt. I love how this turned out!!! Please visit Lynne Phelps at Savvy Sister Studio to read all the details about this humorous bifold display!

Tracy Evans made a wonderful art journal page with Stampotique's Karin and Mushroom Group stamps. I love the way she did a little surgery on Karin to make her small and tall! I also love the color washed background, and the whole color scheme is so warm and pretty! The book text diamonds down each margin are the perfect finishing touch! Be sure to stop by Tracy's blog to leave a comment!

Sammi Betbeder of Stuff by Sammi used the Stampotique Mushroom Group  as the backdrop for this charming Alice ATC! I love the lively colors and subtle patterns of this piece, and the felt flower and string add interesting texture!

PLEASE visit each of our designers who have worked their magic to inspire you this week! I am so thrilled to be working with such a GREAT design team and guests, so join me in visiting their blogs to leave them some love!

To enter your project in Chapter 1 Challenge go to this post. You have until this Friday!

CHAPTER 1 Challenge - Week 3: Changes in form and dress forms!

"Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.

It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual. `Come, there's half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another!"
       -- Chapter 5, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Well, just like Alice we have been through a change in location and changed form from weekly to monthly, but the challenge chapters remain familiar despite all these puzzling changes!
To reflect all these puzzling changes, the challenge is to make something that features a dress form, OR to make something that changes in form!  While it is not required that your project include Alice in Wonderland, we do encourage it. If your project does feature Wonderland you will get two chances in the prize drawing instead of one!

STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS is sponsoring our first challenge with a $30 gift certificate for one lucky winner, and their design team is going to play along! Be sure to visit their Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog where you can play every week! They are famous for artist Daniel Torrente's quirky characters, but they actually have many artists and quite a few different styles. Jo Capper-Sandon is my favorite with her wonderful mushrooms, and other lines include Janet Klein's flower characters (click next a few times to see them) that remind me of the garden of living flowers! There is something to please everyone at Stampotique Originals!
 
Here is your weekly dose of Alice inspiration:

Our design team member Sue Roddis of JABBERWOCKY created this wonderful art journal spread featuring sewing pattern covered pages! Alice has been altered into a dress form, standing behind my all time favorite Stampotique stamp - the Giant Shroom!!! More pattern tissue was pasted over card then the mushroom was stamped and cut out. Love the scissor cutting line on one of the mushroom tops!

I love the layers of sewing pattern tissue that give the background such a fabulous texture! 

This wonderful card by design team member Donna, a.k.a. Meme of Meme's Art Place, has a big secret! Love the fabulous text background, all the metal elements and that mesh ribbon, not to mention the glitz and fringe on this Gooseneck glam girl! But swivel the turndowns out of the way, and you can see exactly HOW FAR this baby has come, lol!!!!

She starts off with faint colors, then gets more and more vivid and sparkly until at last she becomes the glamorous glitz girl as shown on the cover of this clever accordian!  Bravo Donna, so creative!  Donna also created a fabulous collage for us:

Donna of Meme's Art Place began with a 5 x 7 inch piece of wood, then added layers of paint, paper, drawing, rub-ons, embellishments, and melted beeswax form this WONDERFUL collage!  Donna, if this piece EVER needs a new home, I have wall space for it, lol!  Donna's paper mache dress forms inspired my effort, and this amazing project may very well inspire me to try an Alice collage! Donna says that this collage explains WHY Alice is LATE, so you must stop by her blog to read the amusing story!

Stampotique guest designer Lisa Somerville of Splendiferous Creations contributed this lovely card featuring the Giant Shroom and Mushroom Group. Isn't it beautiful? I love that quote!

Stampotique guest designer Kate Crane of the kathryn wheel submitted this fun Alice who has grown so tall she needs to bend her head to stay in the frame! The Karin stamp has had her legs extended, such fun! Love the bright colors, the lovely inky background, and the cute bottle in one corner!

Our own Barbara Washington of Magic Delights has turned the amusing Bob's in Time Out image into the Caterpillar in this funny card! I love the way she has set the text in a wavy block, and the measuring strip to remind us that Alice is exactly three inches high is a great touch! The embossed wood grain is the perfect backdrop!

PLEASE visit each of our designers who have worked their magic to inspire you this week! I am so thrilled to be working with such a GREAT design team and guests, so join me in visiting their blogs to leave them some love!

To enter your project in Chapter 1 Challenge go to this post.

CHAPTER 1 Challenge - Week 2: Changes in form and dress forms!

Chapter 1's challenge is to make something that features a dress form, OR to make something that changes in form!  You can read the full text and all the challenge details here. While it is not required that your project include Alice in Wonderland, we do encourage it. If your project does feature Wonderland you will get two chances in the prize drawing instead of one!

And now for the big news - STAMPOTIQUE ORIGINALS is sponsoring our first challenge with a $30 gift certificate for one lucky winner, and their design team is going to play along! Be sure to visit their Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog where you can play every week! There is something to please everyone at Stampotique Originals!
 
Here is a weekly dose of inspiration to inspire you in our monthly challenge:

Tracy Evans created these wonderful altered dress forms on a book cover! The details are incredible, from the miniature pocket watches tied to the red feathery fringe on Alice's skirt to the hand of cards next to the queen! LOVE the scrabble tiles. All in all, Alice and the Queen are a feast for the eyes and I just adore them!

Tracy had some other big news recently; she is the current featured artist of Stampington's "Stampers' Sampler" magazine!!! So when you visit Tracy's blog to leave her a comment about her wonderful dress forms, be sure to congratulate her!

Sammi Betbeder of Stuff by Sammi created this charming Creeper card. I love the distressed edges, and the dashed line of the butterfly trail! Sammi said her TGF Creeper is acting as dress form as she is wearing the dress!!! She also included a print of the blue caterpillar and a punched butterfly to represent a change in form. I love the distressed edges, the blue keyhole background paper and the metal key!  Please visit Sammi's blog for the details and to leave her some love!

Stampotique Guest Designer Moniqui  Verbeek of A New Leaf created this wonderful interactive card of the growing Alice!  So clever and fun, and full of charming details. The inky background is lovely, and the mushrooms, eat me and drink me are all associated with Alice's changing size!

Our own Erin Leveille of Stamp til U Cramp created a lovely card and matching layout. I love the drama created by this restriced, neutral color palette. The fantastic dress form stamp is set off perfectly by the bold polka dots on the card, along with that great black and white striped grosgrain ribbon! And the background paper full of dress forms is fabulous. We will have to visit Erin's blog to ask if it is stamped or a patterened paper, and also to leave her a comment!

I love the strips of ribbon and paper behind the large dress form on the layout!  And the way the smooth striped grosgrain ribbon piles into loose pleats as it moves across the layout is terrific!

Stampotique Guest Designer Gez Butterworth of Gezzyb's Jots created this magical Alice card! The mix the realistic photograph, real 3D bottle, and the stamped tree is so interesting and very, very Wonderland I think! Kudos to Gez, and be sure to stop by her blog to leave a comment!

Stampotique Guest Designer JoanneWardle  of Made by Joanne created this fantastic interactive "Duck of York" card, and you must visit her blog to read the wonderful rhyme to go with this image!!! Of special note is the background paper - a page from an actual Alice in Wonderland book! Love that striped ribbon!

We will be back next Sunday with some more Design Team inspiration from The Altered Alice! Remember, you have until Feb. 25th to submit your project, so there is plenty of time left. I hope these inspiration creations will inspire YOU to play along! Please leave a comment for the design team before you go, it means a lot to us.

To enter your project in Chapter 1 Challenge, and to read the full challenge text, go to this post.