Week 2 - 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

Welcome today's guest Debra James, a member of the Octopode Factory design team, and her wonderful Queen of Hearts playing card. I love the card layout and all the rich red and gold details, perfectly framed by the bold checkerboard border. Debra started with Glinda the Good Witch, also available as part of the Oz set to make her queen, so keep an open mind as you look at all the Octopode characters!

Erin Leveille of Stamp till U Cramp made this lovely Valentine, complete with the key to Alice's heart! Erin created her own background paper by repeating the Octopode Key to Wonderland motif, tinting the paper with PanPastels and adding India ink and gel pen doodles; the perfect backdrop for Modern Alice!

We have a painted canvas from Meme of Meme's Art Place. I love the way she turned the Heart Stems into a striped picket fence, and the way she has popped the fence up from the background gives the piece so much dimension!

Meme has done a beautiful job with coloring, as you can see in this closeup!

Barbara Washington of Magic Delights created three charming Valentine's Day Cards, beginning with this easel card featuring Alice and the Mad Hatter.

Next we have a horsefly, Wonderland-style of course! I love it how the horsefly's wings are heart shaped, tying in perfectly with the conversation heart background, so cute!

Last, Barbara has the Queen of Hearts and her flamingo croquet mallet! I love the way she has juxtaposed these two digi-stamps to make a perfect Wonderland scene. The lacy heart and  matching backdrop die cuts are a lovely frame for the Queen! Be sure to stop by Magic Delights to leave a comment for Barbara.

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!