Week 2, CHAPTER 21: Gratitude

'You ought to return thanks in a neat speech,' the Red Queen said, frowning at Alice as she spoke. . . .In fact it was rather difficult for her to keep in her place while she made her speech: the two Queens pushed her so, one on each side, that they nearly lifted her up into the air:'I rise to return thanks--' Alice began: and she really DID rise as she spoke, several inches; but she got hold of the edge of the table, and managed to pull herself down again.-- Chapter 9, Through the Looking Glass

The US Thanksgiving holiday is this month, and many people are dedicating the month to a spirit of gratitude; after all there is nothing like counting your blessings to make you realize how many blessings there are! Our theme this month is GRATITUDE, and you can interpret that any way you like as long as you explain it in your post. Enter by Friday, Nov. 23; all entries are welcome but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances instead of one. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post to have additional chances at the prize, which is quite wonderful!

The theme ties in nicely with this month's sponsor, Nature's Blessings, who have offered a $30 shopping spree to the randomly chosen winner! Nature's Blessings stamps were the beginning of my love affair with Alice in Wonderland stamping, as they have beautiful rubber versions of the original Tenniel illustrations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland AND Through the Looking Glass. Without Nature's Blessings, The Altered Alice might not exist! In their words:

As avid readers and bibliophiles, we fell in love with the beautiful line drawings in the books in our family library. Our antiquarian stamps are a collection of our favorite images. If your tastes range from the classically elegant to the quirky and fun, then we make stamps for you! We also offer a variety of original art: be sure to visit John Wagner's page of Calligraphy and Art Lettering, and Laura Ann's pages of stamps for holidays and special occasions.

Your Weekly Inspiration:

Barbara Washington of Magic Delights came up with a fantastic idea for our gratitude challenge; she made a thank you card and a set of charming hostess gifts for the upcoming holiday season! I love her thank you card, pictured above, don't you?

Everyone on the design team decided they would like to invite Barbara over when they saw these charming gifts! This night light with the custom made Alice shade is absolutely charming, even when unlit.

It is even lovelier when illuminated, isn't it? 

The next hostess gift is a set of coasters in a holder. Gratitude is indeed the memory of the heart, and some of my dearest childhood memories are involved with reading Alice in Wonderland! Here are the individual coasters:

I love it that Nature's Blessings has such a complete set of the original Tenniel illustrations! These coasters are fantastic; hasn't Barbara done a wonderful job with this gratitude theme? Please stop by Barbara's blog to tell her so!

Amy Bowerman Stucki of Plucking Daisies dyed a vintage handbag (her grandmother's) with rit dye and created iron on transfers with Nature's Blessings stamps and "Transfermations". Amy is our queen of upcycling, and this bag looks new and funky and fun!

I was so pleased to learn about this product; look how well it transfers onto dark fabrics! It is designed for ink jet printers but Amy has great results with stamping!

These stamps have such wonderful detail; the cross-hatched lines are crisp and distinct. Lizard Bill is looking good!

Some Blue Moon charms add interest!

Gratitude is embodied in what this bag was used for; in Amy's words:

The bag was used to transport a package to hurricane victims. A friend of mine from NJ has spearheaded a campaign called "Socks for Sandy" . Such a simple necessity that so many are lacking since the storm hit. As far as grattitude I'm thankful that power was the only thing I lost in the storm when others have lost so much.

You can read about Socks for Sandy HERE. They are in urgent need of socks, winter gloves, mittens and hats, and NEW packages of underwear for men, women and children.  Please stop by Amy's blog to leave a comment on her stamped "Transfermation" bag, her Alice post will be up soon so check back at her blog to read all the details.

We look forward to seeing your interpretation of our gratitude theme! Enter your projects in the Linky list below by November 23, 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!

Winner & Honorable Mentions, CHAPTER 15: Any Way You Go Will Get You Somewhere!

Our sponsor this month is the amazing Alpha Stamps [Store | Blog], and Alice fans are in for a real treat when they shop in this magical store! Alpha Stamps features exclusive rubber stamps, collage sheets, paper dolls, kits and collage supplies of all kinds. Their Alice in Wonderland selection is HUGE! Other shopping themes include Steampunk, Birds, French Vintage, Circus, and many more. I love it that you can shop by theme or product type. Be sure to enroll in their newsletter, as the supplies used in the latest artwork from their talented design team are often on sale! They also have fun challenges that are hosted on their Facebook page. The winners are chosen by the number of "likes" each project receives! But first. . . .
One more Design Team Project!
I am sorry to be running so late with my own project, and I am going to show it to you before announcing the winner! It has been a real labor of love and so much fun to create.

I decorated a tote bag and purse from Daily Window Bags - they are so cool, as every bag they sell has a window on one side for stamped artwork! A match made in heaven for all my Alpha Stamps goodies! Please visit my blog (Lynne Phelps - Savvy Sisters Studio) for all the details and links to the Alpha Stamps supplies used plus info on these great bags.

Some closeups of the tote bag and insert:

Then the purse, which I love, has a Flamingo Croquet themed insert. I stamped and sponged the flamingo background paper, what a great stamp!

Please visit my blog (Lynne Phelps - Savvy Sisters Studio) for all the details and links to the Alpha Stamps supplies used plus info on these great bags. Plus I would love a comment letting me know what you think about my Alpha Stamp decorated bags!

The Prize - Anything Goes and Everyone Wins!
We had an AMAZING 59 challenge entries this month, a new record! 

ONE  randomly drawn winner will receive the same "Alice's Adventures" unmounted rubber sheet that the design team is using!

And the winner is. . . Deanna Filmore of British Columbia, Canada! Deanna entered two projects:

A Cheshire Cat

and Alice falling down the rabbit hole!

You also win this blog badge!

Deanna, please email me (link at top of the left column on my blog) and please provide your shipping information. Congratulations!


Honorable Mentions!

EVERYONE who participates in the challenge will win a brand new digital White Rabbit ATC Collage Sheet!  I will send all the email addresses that were submitted via the Linky Tool to Alpha Stamps, and they'll be sending out your prize!

And EVERYONE who entered is also awarded an HONORABLE MENTION! The projects are too wonderful and so inventive that I just can't choose, and I would be here for a month trying to say what I liked about each!

Instead, please do a blog hop through our FABULOUS challenge particpants and sprinkle some comments along the way! The personal commitments that delayed my design team project also have prevented me from having time to leave comments for some of you, but rest assured I'll be visiting each one of you to leave a comment soon. I truly appreciate the wonderful participants in The Altered Alice!

Week 2, CHAPTER 8: Celebrating the Mad Hatter, with Twinkles!

 

The Hatter shook his head mournfully. `Not I!' he replied. `We quarrelled last March--just before HE went mad, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the March Hare,)
`--it was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing 
"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?' 
`I've heard something like it,' said Alice. 
`It goes on, you know,' the Hatter continued, `in this way:-- 
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
-- Chapter 7, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Here at The Altered Alice we celebrate Mad Hatter's Day twice a year as the date is taken from the price on his hat - ten shillings and a sixpence or 10/6. That means it is on October 6 here in the United States, and on June 10 in the United Kingdom. But mainly it is just a great reason to party with the Mad Hatter twice a year! Your challenge is to celebrate the Mad Hatter, and as OPTIONS you can use something that twinkles or shines AND/OR you can bring some spookiness into it since we are all having a "Twinkle twinkle little bat" sing-along around our mad tea table!


Our prize this month is an A5 sized unmounted stamp set from IndigoBlu (a £13 value), or an equivalent amount of A6 stamps. IndigoBlu is a fantastic new British stamp company that makes "Quintessentially English Rubber Stamps" right there in England.

In fact IndigoBlu is sponsoring The Altered Alice for October AND November, and the design team will be working with these two fantastic Alice stamp sets, titled appropriately "Alice I" and "Alice II". Most Americans don't know what A5 and A6 mean so I'll just tell you, these sets are really big!

I encourage you to go visit IndigoBlu.com. All stamps are on sale right now with their introductory pricing, but that won't last forever, and the designs are all wonderful! In addition, the Head Honcho Alfie says
"The Altered Alice readers can take 10% OFF during the challenge; just use coupon code AlteredAlice in the voucher code box at checkout!" 
Thanks Alfie!


Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post. As always, entries that feature Wonderland in some way will get two chances in the drawing instead of one.


Your Weekly Inspiration

Erin Leveille of Stamp Til U Cramp made this fantastic purse out of packing tape! Remember her shrine last month? This is another idea from the same book: Kaleidoscope: Ideas & Projects to Spark Your Creativity. I'm starting to think I might really *NEED* this book! Basically, you use the overlapped packing tape on both sides of the material you are showcasing; in this case a set of destiny cards from a yard sale and wonderfully colored stamps from our sponsor!

And here is the other side of this charming and functional bag! Be sure to stop by Erin's blog for more photos and details on this interesting project!

Barbara Washington of Magic Delights made this wonderful easel card with an attached drawer underneath which is full of domino pins! What a fantastic project! The dominoes fit perfectly in the drawer. Love this image of the Mad Hatter deep in thought as he gazes at his watch.

There is plenty of sparkle and shine on this project! The orange rays behind the Mad Hatter really gleam, and the domino pins have quite a twinkling shimmer going on! Love the vibrant colors, such fun!

I love Love LOVE how these domino pins turned out! Be sure to stop by Barbara's blog to leave a comment about her wonderful project!

Sue Roddis of JABBERWOCKY has created a mad chair for our twisted tea party; I love the elongated shape! Three of the sponsor's images fill in the gaps between rungs in the chair back, love the way they are tinted with color! Hardware cloth (wire mesh) covers the back and wraps around the legs, such a cool way to add some texture.

The Mad Hatter's chapeau is hanging from the top of the chair, and I'd say there is a bat infestation going on! Of course we are talking about Sue, and it is October, so I guess the only surprise is that there are no skulls or baby doll heads attached! {wink}

Love the shiny centers of these fun bats! You can see the mad tea party image in the back of this photo; the others include the running Mad Hatter at the top of the chair back and the pensive Mad Hatter in the center. Be sure to stop by and leave a comment for Sue about this fun seat at our tea table!

October is a long month with five Sundays, so you'll have no excuse not to join us in our Mad Tea Party celebrating Mad Hatter Day, US style! Enter by Friday, October 28; our randomly drawn winner and the honorable mentions will be announced on the last Sunday, October 30. Just make sure YOUR watch is not two days slow!


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 - Tea Party Collage".  The field is long enough that you can also put the name of your piece, but please put your name first in the title field. (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 mean a lot!