CHAPTER 2 Challenge - Week 1: Hall of Doors

"There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!' She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.

There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again."
     -- Chapter 1, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This month's challenge is to use a door or doors, and preferably for the door or doors to open and close so we can see what lays beyond! While it is not required that your project include Alice in Wonderland, we do encourage it. If your project features Wonderland you will get two chances in the prize drawing instead of one!

I am thrilled to announce that The Octopode Factory, the slightly mad brainchild of 17 year old artist Lily Chilvers, is our March sponsor! We are celebrating because Lily has moved into the world of rubber! That's right - RUBBER STAMPS! The Octopode Factory will have both digital stamps AND rubber stamps on some of her most popular images, which includes most of her AMAZING Alice in Wonderland images!. Read about the new range of Octopode Factory rubber stamps and how to order.  Lily started with her quirky digital images, and she has gifted the design team members with some of her wonderful Wonderland digital sets. Most of the digital images we will be using are those that are now available in rubber,

One lucky winner will win a $30 gift certificate for digital images from The Octopode Factory's Etsy store! Enter by Friday, March 25 at 8 p.m. Eastern time (GMT -5:00) and a winner will be announced on Sunday, March 27. Show us your DOORS!

And now for some inspiration from The Altered Alice design team!

Sammi Betbeder of Stuff by Sammi designed this amazing book featuring the Alice in Wonderland digital stamp set. The cover is a wood door with a peephole in the middle. . . and who do you think is peeking out at us?  Here is the back page, where we see Alice's blue eye peering through:

But surprise, surprise, surprise, Alice is looking through much more than a door! Here are all the intervening pages between Alice on the inside back cover and the door on the front cover:

Page 1: Notice the text background? I see our hall of doors quote again!

Page 2: The peephole again with this fabulous Octopode White Rabbit! Notice how Sammi has mirrored the text about the White Rabbit exactly on the two pages, a very looking glass touch!

Page 3: The Queen of Hearts and her scepter, with appropriate mirrored text!

Page 4: What great Tweedles, and I am falling more and more in love with Sammi's mirrored text!

Page 5: I love this crazy Cheshire Cat!

Page 6: I think "Mad" is the operative word when we are looking at the Octopode Mad Hatter!

PLEASE visit Sammi's blog to leave her some love when you comment on this FABULOUS door book! What an amazing and inventive project, and Sammi's coloring, as always, is exquisite!

The papier mâché book box lid on Tracy Evan's project has transformed into a wooden door and features Octopode RUBBER STAMPS! A key and the "drink me" bottle are hanging from the crystal doorknob - LOVE that! A pocketwatch die cut acts as a porthole peering through to some of the text in our story! The old-fashioned letter tiles are have a fabulous vintage look that is perfect the title of our story. On the outside of the door, we have the card-scale Octopode Alice who has managed to shrink through the door and entered Wonderland.

The door swings open, and we see inside the book box where the large sized Alice wonders how to get out of the hall of doors! What a GREAT interpretation of this month's challenge! I love the way the inside of the box has become a shallow 3D room, with the black and white tile background and a real table! And did you catch that The Octopode Factory rubber stamps come in two sizes: a smaller "card-scale" and a larger "journal-scale" to give you lots of options.

Now we see all the carefully thought out details! The table is made of dominoes, which seems so appropriate in a land where playing cards and chess pieces have come to life! All kinds of watch faces litter the ground, and we can almost here the White Rabbit racing away muttering about how late he is! The hearts are a foretelling of things to come, and the "drink me" bottle is absolute perfection!

PLEASE visit Tracy's blog to leave her a comment about her wonderful Wonderland creation! I love it and I know all the Alice fans out there will love it too!

Also think about visiting The Octopode Factory blog and letting Lily know how much you appreciate her sponsoring our challenge this month! As a brand new challenge blog, we are desperately seeking sponsors and The Octopode Factory is a great fit!

Start thinking about what doors YOU will take us through as you design your own challenge projects! Enter them here before 8 p.m. Eastern time (GMT -5:00) on Friday, March 25 and we will announce the winner on Sunday, March 27. In the meantime we'll be back each Sunday with weekly inspiration from The Altered Alice design team!

Please leave a comment for the design team and me before you go! Thanks for looking!