CHAPTER 23: We're All Mad Here, So Anything Goes!

`In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' 
`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' 
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.' 
-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

"We're all mad here" is the favorite Alice quote of artist Rick St. Dennis, so in January, anything goes! Be mad! Get cute, get creepy, get crazy, because Rick St. Dennis has amazing digi stamps in all those styles, including many wonderful AIW images! Submit your creations by Friday, January 25th for a chance to win three digital stamps from Rick St. Dennis. All projects are welcome, but those featuring Wonderland will have two chances at the prize instead of one. Multiple entries are welcome, but to be counted as separate entries they must be on separate posts.

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Designer of over 100 theatrical productions, Rick St Dennis (Donald McAfee) is also the author of 4 books on decorative painting and contributor to at least a dozen national magazines on crafts and art. St. Dennis has appeared on such TV shows as Home Matters with Susan Powell, Aileen's Crafts and others. He was Crafts editor for Country Folk Art Magazine and sold his artwork nationally through galleries and shows. For a complete bio of his amazing career, see Rick's blog!

Design Team Inspiration

Bonnie McLain of Love Light and Peace created a wonderful calendar, featuring Rick St. Dennis' wonderful illustrations plus her own "tangled" hand-drawn embellishments!

January

Feburary Queen of Hearts

March Hare!

April Fool - The Mad Hatter!

We will feature May through August next week, and September through December the week after! Aren't these calendar pages absolutely wonderful? Be sure to visit Bonnie's blog to leave her a comment and let her know what you think!

Remember we said Rick had many styles and creepy was one of them?

Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes created this neat "Don't get mad, get even" card featuring a zombie Alice! I love the curved text in the background, what a neat touch.

Woops, it looks like this delightfully gruesome zombie Alice was pretty hard on the white rabbit! Donna's coloring is really wonderful! And I love the use of alphabet beads and typewriter key style letters:

Be sure to stop by Popsicle Toes to leave a comment for Donna about her creepy crazy card!

I really love this special fold card created by Barbara Washington of Magic Delights! I am so impressed with the mechanics of this card. I have seen cards with one swing panel, but this amazing card has four! Barbara colored her panels with distress markers and they look just great!

Barbara had actually colored more panels, so the ones that did not make it into the flip-flop swing card wound up in this charming wall hanging! Bravo Barbara; be sure to stop by Magic Delights to leave a comment for Barbara about her great projects this month!

Submit your creations by Friday, January 25th for a chance to win three digital stamps from Rick St. Dennis. PLEASE include your name or blog name in the TITLE. This helps me enormously when it comes time to had out the honorable mentions! (Note: if you are viewing this post in a reader or email, please click on the title of the post to go to the blog to see the entries or submit a project.)
Please leave a comment before you go!

Week 2, CHAPTER 19: Lovely Garden and Bright Flowers

"...she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway; `and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, `it would be of very little use without my shoulders."-- Chapter 1, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Your challenge this month is Garden and/or Flowers! Enter your creations by Friday, September 28, 2012. Multiple entries are allowed, but to count as a separate entry each must be on its own blog post. All entries are welcome, but projects that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the drawing instead of one.

The winner will receive 3 digi images from The Stamping Boutique, which has a wonderful Alice in Wonderland line we will be sharing with you! Tracey Malnoski is the owner and illustrator, and she has previously designed stamps for Unity, InStyle, Squigglefly, and The Digi Shack. Her Stamping Boutique has it all: digital images, red rubber stamps, and themes that include fairytale, whimsy, sentimental, and candy. Please visit the Store and their wonderful Challenge Blog!

Your Weekly Inspiration

Erin Leveille of Stamp Til U Cramp created this boldly colored, dimensional card! I love the way her lovely saturated coloring looks so vivid against the graphic black and white patterned background. The matching cluster of garden flowers compliments the coloring, and shaped bottom border with the dots (gel pen or piercing?) is the perfect finishing touch.

Erin colored at least three of some elements and did lots of fussy cutting to stack them in a paper tole technique. Bravo Erin, this effort was really worth it and the card must be fabulous in real life with all this dimension. Be sure to stop by Erin's blog and leave her a comment on her vivid card!

Barbara Washington of Magic Delights decorated a wonderful wooden wall plaque with a scene from the Garden of Living Flowers, where we see these delightful blossoms with their lovely molded faces telling Alice that of course they can talk when there's someone worth talking too! I love all the dimension with the lovely flowers. 

The tag on the corner is Alice peering out the keyhole from the Hall of Doors. 

The Cheshire Cat is pointing the way to the rose garden where the Queen of Hearts awaits!

Please be sure to stop by Barbara's blog to leave her a comment on this Wonderland creation!

That's it for this week; we'll be back with more inspiration next week. Be sure to enter your flower/garden project in the linky tool below by Friday, September 28, 2012 and PLEASE include your name or blog name in the TITLE. This helps me enormously when it comes time to had out the honorable mentions! (Note: if you are viewing this post in a reader or email, please click on the title of the post to go to the blog to see the entries or submit a project.)

Please leave a comment before you go, I love hearing from you!

Week 2, CHAPTER 17: Hurrah for the Red, White & Blue!

The White Queen gave a deep sigh, and laid her head on Alice's shoulder. `I am so sleepy?' she moaned.
`She's tired, poor thing!' said the Red Queen. `Smooth her hair -- lend her your nightcap -- and sing her a soothing lullaby.'
`I haven't got a nightcap with me,' said Alice, as she tried to obey the first direction: `and I don't know any soothing lullabies."
`I must do it myself, then,' said the Red Queen, and she began:

Hush-a-by lady, in Alice's lap! Till the feast's ready, we've time for a nap: When the feast's over, we'll go to the ball -- Red Queen, and White Queen, and Alice, and all!

-- Chapter 9, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

In the United States, we are celebrating our Independence Day this month, so we have a patriotic Red, White & Blue color challenge for you! Of course here in Wonderland we know those colors are for the  White Queen, the Red Queen, and Alice's blue dress! Enter your red, white & blue project by July 27 for a chance to win a prize from our sponsor. All entries are welcome, but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances to win instead of one.

Simon Says Stamp is offering a $20 gift certificate to one randomly drawn winner! Simon Says Stamp has over 100,000 items in stock. They have all of the latest releases from Magnolia, Whiff of Joy, Tim Holtz, Spellbinders, Copic and so much more! With great deals on shipping, it’s a great time to shop with Simon Says Stamp.

NOTE: Please use the link in the right column of this blog whenever you shop at Simon Says Stamp, even after this month, as the blog receives a small affiliate fee to help defray our costs, and you get the same great prices and shipping rates!

Your Weekly Inspiration

Erin Leveille of Stamp Till U Cramp created this wonderful Independence Day scrapbook layout, just waiting for the perfect photo of her Sweet Pea! I love the way she has scattered the hexagons across the layout, such a great way to integrate a lot of different paper patterns and also to use up scraps!

Erin used the My Favortie Things Hexagons Die and the Stamping Bella Alice stamp from Simon Says Stamp! The papers are October Afternoon, bright and summery! I love the way she altered the stamped image - Alice is holding a large teacup, so she made some cuts around the inside of her hands to tuck the flag  in place. Please visit Erin's blog to get the product links and to leave her a comment!

Barbara Washington of Magic Delights created a wonderful flower shaped shadowbox wall piece! The images are from various TJ Designs stamp sets, including A Walk Through Wonderland, Alice in Wonderland, and Down the Rabbit Hole.  Each petal has a corresponding stamped image to go with the color, with colored roses dividing the panes:

For RED we have the Queen of Hearts and painting the roses red.

For WHITE we have the White Rabbit and the white knight chess piece.

For BLUE we have Alice in her blue dress and the Blue Caterpillar.

Please stop by Barbara's blog for all the details and to leave a comment on this lovely flower!

Link your projects below by July 27, and PLEASE include your name or blog name in the TITLE. This helps me enormously when it comes time to had out the honorable mentions! (Note: if you are viewing this post in a reader or email, please click on the title of the post to go to the blog to see the entries or submit a project.)

Please leave a comment before you go, I love hearing from you!.

Week 1, 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?
Design Team Announcement

Remember last month, challenge player Bonnie McLain entered a series of art journal pages with Alice searching all over Wonderland to find out the Top Secret? (See them here: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)

All is revealed at last!

Notice that Wonderland stamp?

And that lovely Wonderland Postage seal?

That's right, our most prolific challenge player Bonnie McLain has accepted our invitation to journey down the rabbit hole with The Altered Alice design team, and I love it that she has announced it with her art journal story. Please visit Bonnie's blog, Love Light and Peace, and give her a very warm welcome to The Altered Alice!


Your Weekly Inspiration

Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes has created an accordion pleated booklet of postcards from Wonderland! I love the soft colors and patterns she has chosen. I remember puchasing postcard booklets like this as a girl on our family's travels!  Above is the front of the booklet, and here is the other side:

And all the postcards inside:

Be sure to visit Popsicle Toes to see individual photos of each postcard and to leave a comment for Donna!

Donna created a second project for us, and I just LOVE this bookmark! How fun to mark the place in your tale with the Mouse's tail! The Alice stamp is from the Stamp Attack Alice in Wonderland plate. This is a triangular pocket bookmark that fits over the corner of the page. It is easier to see the construction on the back:

What a little gift this would be for any reader or Alice in Wonderland fan! Be sure to visit Popsicle Toes to leave a comment for Donna!

Tracy Evans has combined the Wonderland challenge with the Queen's Jubilee to create this patriotic design! I love the inky background of Distress Inks spattered with water, such a great texture and so much more interesting than flat color.

The Fired Brick and Faded Jeans color scheme has been used throughout, and Tracy has really maximized the impact with the way she has used the two colors. I love the way she has colored the Stamp Attach Faux Postage Stamps!

Tracy's use of the Union Jack stencil on not only the flag but the teapot is really inspired, and I love the way she has trimmed the Wonderland Postage oval to make a label for the teapot! Be sure to visit Tracy to leave a comment on her Jubilee Postage project!

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!