Week 1 - CHAPTER 12 Challenge: Hearts!

"First came ten soldiers carrying clubs; these were all shaped like the three gardeners, oblong and flat, with their hands and feet at the corners: next the ten courtiers; these were ornamented all over with diamonds, and walked two and two, as the soldiers did. After these came the royal children; there were ten of them, and the little dears came jumping merrily along hand in hand, in couples: they were all ornamented with hearts. Next came the guests, mostly Kings and Queens, and among them Alice recognised the White Rabbit: it was talking in a hurried nervous manner, smiling at everything that was said, and went by without noticing her. Then followed the Knave of Hearts, carrying the King's crown on a crimson velvet cushion; and, last of all this grand procession, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS."     -- Chapter 8; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

Since February contains Valentine's Day, we are challenging you to show us your HEART (or hearts), in whatever form you'd like to interpret that! Our sponsor this month is The Octopode Factory, who is offering a $30 Etsy shop gift certificate to one randomly selected winner.

The Octopode Factory has amazing and unique images born from the fertile imagination of Lily Chilvers. The Etsy Shop carries her digi stamps and collage sheets, and she has large and small rubber stamps available through her blog. Be sure to check out all the incredible Alice in Wonderland characters and digital stamp sets, and visit!  And for fun and inspiration, be sure to visit Lily's blog and The Octopode Factory Friday challenge blog, or TOFF for short!

This is a very short month, so you have only until Friday, Feb. 24 to submit your entry! As always, projects that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are fine, but each must be on a separate post. Please join us!

Your Weekly Inspiration

Tracy Evans has gifted us with this vibrant art journal spread celebrating the Queen of Hearts! She has used a variety of mixed media techniques including stenciling and sprays.

To add interest, torn paper heart shapes were used in a variety of ways. Tracy hand-lettered the Queen's most famous quote, and I LOVE the way she has drawn extruded 3D letters with the striped edges!

The Queen of Hearts was stamped separately using the Octopode's rubber stamps, colored and trimmed out. This way Tracy did not need to do any special masking to isolate the Queen from all the fabulous background techniques. Be sure to visit Tracy's blog for details and to leave a comment!

Retta Fox of Foxy's Weblog has three projects, starting with this fun tag; notice the battle scene at the bottom of the tag! I love the snarky caption! I also love the way she has mixed the diamond and hearts in the background.

Retta's next tag is much sweeter in feeling! Chipboard letters spell Alice down the side and add a lot of dimension, and Octopode's Retro Alice looks out from the corner

The last (but certainly NOT least) of Retta's projects is this wonderful heart teapot! Retta used this Octopode freebie from Lily's blog to great effect, and I love the way the Octopode Retro Alice and Queen of Hearts are on each cup.  Retta is the queen of snarky captions and this one does not fail to add humor! Please drop by Retta's blog to leave a comment!

Donna Mundinger, the Queen of 3D and author of Popsicle Toes, cut out a dress shaped candy box on her Cricut and then decorated it with the Octopode Queen of Hearts, trinkets and more die cuts!

You can see all the layers of dimension, and I LOVE those tasseled earrings!

The back is as much fun to look at as the front. Love the "ummmm" she has added to the stickered sentiment!

Hmmm, what's that hiding inside the Queen's skirts?

Candy for Donna's sweetie! Please stop by Popsicle Toes to leave a comment for Donna on this amazing candy box! 

This is a very short month, so you have only until Friday, Feb. 24 to submit your entry! If you are viewing this in a reader or email, please click on the title of this post to see the link list on the blog:

So get busy and show us your heart!