Starting CHAPTER 24: Romance in Wonderland

...next [came] 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...

The theme of this quote is couples, and that's what we celebrate in February with Valentine's Day. For the month of February, we are celebrating Romance in Wonderland! As always, you may enter any project that fits the challenge theme, but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are encouraged but each must be on a separate post; enter by Feb. 23.

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We are using the fabulous Steampunk Romance images by Simply Betty Stamps . The people pictured in this stamp line resemble grown-up characters in Wonderland, don't you think? You should also check out the whimsical Alice in Wonderland collection. Here is what the oh, so talented Betty has to say:

Simply Betty Stamps started in 2010, when I was forced to close my little scrapbook store due to my last baby coming early.  I was home, with a preemie  couldn't do much but draw, craft, and had just discovered blogging!  I started to nose around about digis, how could I do this, how could I do that?  Slowly but surely Simply Betty Stamps was born!  I have a quirky sense of humor and I believe it shows in my images.  I have immortalized my kids in my images as it is what I love creating with, their everyday shenanigans and goofy ways.  I love sharing my creativity, I can't tell you how awesome it is to see others creating with SBS images!  I look forward to continuing to bring in the quirkiness to crafters across the globe and look forward to many years of fun images.

So get busy and show us your interpretation of  Romance in Wonderland!

Design Team Inspiration

Bonnie McLain of Love Light and Peace created the most incredible star book featuring the entire cast of characters!

You will need to go to Bonnie's blog to see all the detailed photos, closeups of the characters and more pages in this FABULOUS star book, and be sure to leave her some love while you are there! Star books are a time consuming endeavor, and I am so thrilled that Bonnie took the time to make such a beautiful project for us. Thank you Bonnie!

Once again we bow to the Queen of 3D Paper Projects, our own Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes and her Wondeland mailbox!

Donna created an amazing mailbox, ready to receive Valentine's from Wonderland! The flag really raises and lowers, complete with pearls and blue gingham bow.

The postage stamp letters spelling Alice are the perfect label for this pearl-studded mailbox! The silver teapot, teacup and tea bag are charming. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun!

Donna's trademark use of alphabet beads is the perfect finishing touch on the back of the mailbox. I really love the color scheme; the powder blue and white are cheerful, and soft red makes it pop. The soft shades make it fresh and fun rather than patriotic.

I love the way Alice is framed on the end of the box, complete with a silver key ring charm! She looks lovely against the heart-shaped red lace doily. This image is lovely and Donna has colored her beautifully. Be sure to stop by Popsicle Toes to get all the details on construction of this amazing mailbox, and to leave Donna some love!

3D project abound this month, as Barbara Washington of Magic Delights created a wonderful Valentine Pop-Up card!

The cover sets the tone. I love the white stamped letters contrasting the embossed red heart. Two of the Steampunk Romance characters are examining their Valentine offerings of cards and flowers! But the magic is inside...

Ta da! I love the way the folded pop-up is a series of hearts, with all characters facing the center doily. Those rhinestone flourishes add a festive note!

Trimming out the characters was well worth the effort; that white rim makes them stand out beautifully from the rich red patterned background.

Thanks Barbara for such a lovely Valentine project! Be sure to stop by Barbara's blog for details and to leave her some love!

Amy Bowerman of Plucking Daisies was created a set of six Valentine tags using a variety of images from past sponsors! She was inspired by past Tim Holtz tag series and they are wonderfully detailed.

I love the torn colored kraft card stock, embossed with the Postcards folder, so appropriate for a Valentine theme! The strong crackle-stamped jewel tone backgrounds really unifies the series of tags, and the embellishments add texture and interest! Fantastic job Amy, these tags are fabulous and I absolutely love them! Be sure to stop by Plucking Daisies for all the details and to leave Amy some love!

Submit your Romance in Wonderland projects by Feb. 23 using the Linky Tool below. PLEASE include your name or your blog name in the TITLE, this helps me enormously when it is time to do the honorable mentions. Note: If you are viewing this in an email or reader, you may need to go to the blog by clicking on the title of this post in order to submit or view the projects.
Please leave a comment before you go!

Winner & Honorable Mentions, CHAPTER 16 - Going Postal

The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, `For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the words a little, `From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.'

Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together.
--Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Just like the Queen's letter to the Duchess, our challenge this month was to create something with a postal theme - stamps, postcards, letters, envelopes; however you chose to interpret that.


The winner will receive a Stamp Attack gift certificate for £13.50, which is equivalent to one of the Alice stamp plates! Maybe the winner will select one of their fantastic fantastic Alice stamp plates or the two new Alice offerings from Stamp Attack: Alice Faux Postage and Mouses Tail, aren't they great?
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. Enabler alert: Stamp Attack offers speedy worldwide shipping for only £1 on unmounted stamp orders, so go on and check out their beautiful stamps!


Did you Find Bonnie's Hidden Secret?
Bonnie's elegant expoding box last week contained a wonderful 3D scene, did you go look at it and find the hidden secret? There was a secret compartment under the floor containing the Royal Book of Stamps!

Be sure to stop by Bonnie's blog, Love Light and Peace, to see ALL the wonderful pages in this tiny hidden book, and please leave a comment for our newest design team member!

The Winner!

The winner was randomly selected using random.org. All entries had one chance, and the projects featuring Wonderland received a second chance in the draw. Our winner is Silvia of BarniesBaustelle, from Germany! Silvia, to claim your prize, please email me through the link in the left column, and I will forward your contact information to our wonderful sponsor, Stamp Attack!

Silvia submitted this great art journal page with a stamp-scattered background.  Silvia is a regular challenge participant, so I hope we will see lots of Stamp Attack images showing up in future challenges!


Honorable Mentions!

Everyone mentioned below is entitled to display this blog badge!

I adored this textured collage from Ana Caldatto of Scrap da Ana! Be sure to go to her blog to see all the wonderful details; I especially love the stamping over text paper. Be sure to notice the address, I was so tickled to be included!

I loved this postcard from Mostly Stamped, especially the use of the quote in the address block, some very Wonderland logic going on there!.

I was happy to see this charming digital entry from Altered Celtic Gypsy. I love her fish and frog footmen, so interesting!

"Emerald Queen" of Tattered Roses 41 made this wonderful postcard. I especially love the cut-up and sponged text on the back, and the border of flourishes on both sides.

This fun arched diptych comes from The Scrap Yard, and the layers of texture and dimensional details are really fun.

Sue The Iron gives us another postcard, and I love the vivid PanPastel background covered with intricate line-art images in black.

I love the details on the embossed playing card on this entry from Diana on DL.Art.

Last, it's not Alice, but I really love this entry from Aisling's Hobby Blog.

See you next week with a new challenge; please leave a comment before you go!

Week 3, CHAPTER 16: Going Postal!

The Fish-Footman began by producing from under his arm a great letter, nearly as large as himself, and this he handed over to the other, saying, in a solemn tone, `For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen to play croquet.' The Frog-Footman repeated, in the same solemn tone, only changing the order of the words a little, `From the Queen. An invitation for the Duchess to play croquet.'
Then they both bowed low, and their curls got entangled together.
--Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Just like the Queen's letter to the Duchess, our challenge this month is to create something with a postal theme - stamps, postcards, letters, envelopes; however you choose to interpret that. As always, all entries that meet the challenge theme are accepted but Wonderland entries are encouraged (they get two chances instead of one in the prize drawing). Friday, June 22 is the last day to enter this month's challenge.

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 Alice stamp plates! We will be showing off two new offerings from Stamp Attack: Alice Faux Postage and Mouses Tail, aren't they great?
Your Weekly Inspiration

Click to enlarge

My project (Lynne Phelps of Savvy Sisters Studio) is an accordion chipboard album where each panel is three inches square, a perfect size to show off all these fabulous stamps! Each panel was painted, then randomly stamped with the Mouses Tail stamp to make a fun text pattern. It is mostly covered on the front, but you can see it on the back:

Click to enlarge

Of course it begins with the Frog Footman (from the Alice 2 set) and the Queen's letter:

And it ends with the White Rabbit, because he's always running late:

Please stop by my blog, Savvy Sisters Studio, to see close up photos of all the panels and especially to leave a comment for me over there, because I do so treasure your comments!

Next up is Amy Bowerman Stucki of Plucking Daisies, who is continuing her series of garden/yard art with a fabulous Wonderland mailbox! Of course she also retains her title as the reigning Queen of Glitterblast spray paint!!!

I'll bet this is amazing in real life as the stamps are embossed on metal! She has embellished with cutouts from the Tim Holtz Postcard embossing folder, I had to use that one on my project also! The cool thing is that it will actually withstand the elements so it can really be used as a mailbox!

I LOVE how she has mounted the sheet metal stamped with the Mouses Tail stamp to the flag! And metal stamped postage is scattered down the sides, as are hearts punched from the backs of real playing cards!

And on the back, we see the rainbow metal embossed with the Postcard folder. Please stop by Plucking Daises to leave a comment for Amy, and to see more photos!

We have a bonus project from our newest design team member; Bonnie McLain of Love Light and Peace has created an exploding box! It does not follow the postal theme, but it features Stamp Attack stamps on every panel. When the lid is on it looks like a simple hexagon box. But what happens when we take off the cover (which is covered with roses painted red)?

Here we have the Mouse telling his Tail Tale, which Alice reckons has gotten to about five bends long! I love the depth Bonnie has created by making one part of the box a fixed backdrop, and popping up the characters all the way around! And here is the mouse alone:

And more of the outside panels featuring Stamp Attack stamps:

But you know what? There is a SECRET hidden inside this box! And to see it, you are going to have to visit Bonnie's blog! Be sure to visit Love Light and Peace and leave a comment for Bonnie; you will find pictures of all the panels there, as well as the hidden SECRET!

Friday, June 22 is the last day to enter this month's challenge, so get busy! Enter below using the Linky Tool. Please put your name as the TITLE when you submit your project
Note - if you are viewing this in email or a reader, you will need to click on the title of the post and go to the blog to see the challenge entries!

Please leave a comment before you go!