Week 1, CHAPTER 7: Text as Nonsense

Alice didn't dare to argue the point, but went on: `-- and I thought I'd try and find my way to the top of that hill -- ' `When you say "hill,"' the Queen interrupted, `I could show you hills, in comparison with which you'd call that a valley.' `No, I shouldn't,' said Alice, surprised into contradicting her at last: `a hill can't be a valley, you know. That would be nonsense -- ' The Red Queen shook her head, `You may call it "nonsense" if you like,' she said, ` but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!' -- Chapter 2, Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

Using text as pattern is a trend right now that I really love. Your challenge is to use text as nonsense - not to read but as pattern on your project! Of course you can still have words or sentiments, but we also need to see text used in a non-reading way. I have a stack of old books and dictionaries that I use for this purpose.

Our sponsor is Stamp Attack, a British company that is well known (among other things) for their fantastic Alice stamp plates which have sold to customers all over the world. In fact, Helena Bonham Carter, the actress who played the Red Queen in the Tim Burton Alice movie, purchased sets of Alice stamps from Stamp Attack, which were then delivered to the studio!  Enabler alert: Stamp Attack offers speedy worldwide shipping for only £1 on unmounted stamp orders, so go on and check out their beautiful stamps!

The winner will receive a Stamp Attack gift certificate for £13.50, which is equivalent to one of the stamp plates that the design team will be using!


You have until Friday, September 23 to enter your creation and the winner and honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday of the month, September 25.  All kinds of projects are welcome, they do not have to be "altered art" and as always, entries that feature some aspect of Wonderland are given two chances instead of one in the random prize drawing. You may enter multiple times as long as each project is on a separate post.

We are also saying goodbye to our  current crop of guest designers, so please leave them some special love this month as their projects have been FABULOUS! Thanks so much ladies, you have added so much to The Altered Alice! And stay tuned, there will be some special design team announcements next month too!

Your Weekly Inspiration

My art journal page (Lynne Phelps of Savvy Sisters Studios) was inspired by this Stamp Attack image of Alice on the Queen's croquet ground. The Scrabble tiles spelling Alice are another Stamp Attack stamp, cut apart and displayed on a banner of ribbon snippets.The text circles in the background were stamped and then the whole page was colored in using PanPastels (love them!).  The black strip on the bottom was punched and then backed with dictionary paper colored with oil pastels. That takes care of the "text as pattern" required by the challenge; all the circles make me think of colorful painted croquet balls, although I know Alice will be using hedgehogs instead!

It is a journal so I decided to include some writing. I had fun wrapping a quote from the story describing the croquet game around all the text polka dots! I love how this turned out. If you click the image above you can enlarge it enough to read the story. Please visit me at Savvy Sisters Studio and leave a comment, I love it when you do!

Retta Fox of Foxy's Weblog has created "The House that Lewis Carroll Built", and what a grand thing it is! Plenty of text as pattern everywhere, even the clouds! She started with a canvas board and tinted and stamped with Distress Inks, such a beautiful layering of images.

The wonderful Stamp Attack images were stamped on white card stock, colored, and cut out. Don't you love the staircase inside the house? Be sure to visit Retta's blog to leave her a comment on this fantastic ediface!

Tracy Evans covered this large letter "A" with pieces of book print from Alice in Wonderland and cut the layers of her flower (centered with an A for Alice) from the same. The wonderful text-filled silhouettes are stamps from our sponsor, as is the "Drink Me" label on the glass bottle atop the A.

Tracy has taken full adantage of the symmetry of the A and decorated both sides as there is no front and back. More Stamp Attack stamps, and then she has cleverly used the playing cards that are arguing about painting the roses red at the beginning of the croquet chapter.  Isn't this great? I just love it that every little pieces is significant to the story. Be sure to stop by Tracy's blog and let her know how much you like it!

Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes has done her Cricut magic again on this fantastic book silhouette. I love the giant paisley-style paper overlaid with text, it is lovely!

I really love the layered "wells" in which each Stamp Attack image is nestled! I love the way Alice is looking down into the well that contains the queen. The whole this is SO beautiful and I hope you will go to Donna's blog to leave her a comment and see all the additional pictures!

Now you should be TOTALLY inspired, so start thinking up some nonsense and create your own text-patterned projects to enter for the challenge. Be sure to check out the fabulous Alice stamps from Stamp Attack, because if your the winner you could be selecting a set of your own, or buy a set now with only £1 worldwide shipping!

Enter by Friday, September 23. To enter your creation, use the linky tool below - just click the link below the thumbnail images. Please list YOUR NAME or YOUR BLOG NAME in the TITLE, for example "Alice Liddell - Illustrated Poem".  The field is long enough that you can also put the name of your piece, but please put your name first. (Note - if you are viewing this in email or through a reader, you will need to click on the title of this post to view it on the blog.)


Please leave a comment before you go, they keep me going and they mean a lot to my talented design team!