CHAPTER 47: Back down the Rabbit Hole...

A final post from our "Mad Hatter" leader Jess...............

Greetings, Friends!

Today is a BITTERSWEET...although MOSTLY sweet post for Oh, Alice. It has been almost ONE YEAR since I got this crazy little idea one night to dedicate a blog, and a Saturday each week, to Alice in Wonderland because of my deep love of the characters, story, and mostly just Alice. Over the weeks to follow, I was blessed with an AMAZING "Twisted Team" of sisters, some who've gone on to other things, some who've stayed since the beginning, and some who have been with us for a while now-ALL of who I think the world of...and here I thought I was the "only" one who was THAT crazy about all things Alice until I found out that well, there are LOTS of you out there just like me. How cool is THAT?!

All that considered, after careful consideration and thought, some of us had decided that it was time to head back down the Rabbit hole and as some of us have done so, we found a lovely fork in the road.

Oh, Alice will be closing it's doors this week, but will return next week as The Altered Alice, a blog that our Twisted Thirteen member Lynne Phelps has started and will continue on from here. There is nothing to fear! The Altered Alice will still be bringing you FABULOUS challenges, lovely excerpts from our beloved chapters that tell us so much about Alice's world, and we have alerted our sponsors about the new Blog name and format, so hopefully you'll see some familiar faces VERY soon!

Here are a few words from Lynne about what you can expect at the Altered Alice:

"In Wonderland, Alice learned that everything changes so the important thing is to be true to yourself. That is true for the Alice in Wonderland challenges as well, which will be changing and growing in new directions under the next Mad Hatter, our own design team member Lynne Phelps. The Oh, Alice! challenges will now be hosted on her Alice in Wonderland artwork blog, The Altered Alice link: http://alteredalice.blogspot.com.You will find our same familiar challenge Chapters but they will be in a new monthly form, beginning on the first Sunday of the month and posting the winner on the last Sunday of the month. The design team will provide weekly project posts to inspire you along the way! "

Without further adieu, I'd like to thank all the members of the Twisted Thirteen who will be hanging out in Underland with me for a while, taking a much-needed break, and to the ones who will be continuing on with The Altered Alice, you know we won't be far from your blogs!

Last but not least, when I started this blog, I had NO idea that in just a few short months, we'd have over 400 followers. In fact, I was shocked. So it is with HUGE amounts of thanks that I want to let our readers/players know how much I appreciate YOU! Be sure to FOLLOW "The Altered Alice" right away so that you do not miss out on the first challenge or any new prizes coming their way!
On that note, let's get to this week's CHALLENGE:

This week's mission is to travel "Back down the Rabbit Hole" challenge-back to the beginning-Create a HELLO card (for OR a "Goodbye" card-it's all about what it looks like on the other side of that Looking Glass, right?
The DT has once again been blessed with a WONDERFUL assortment of Nikki Sivils papers and embellishments to work with as Nikki has graciously supplied the DT with, as well as a WONDERFUL prize pack for ONE lucky winner (winner will be announced next week on the Altered Alice challenge Blog and also you must link your creations THERE.
In addition to creating a HELLO or GOODBYE card and entering it over at The Altered Alice, the NEW Alice in Wonderland Challenge Blog, don't forget to "FOLLOW" the new "Altered Alice" blog where next week's challenge AND the winner of the last Nikki giveaway will be drawn!

Here is the card I made for this challenge..........

   Wait....I am going to travel to "The Altered Alice" DT.....so I made a HELLO card
                  But........I had to say GOODBYE so I made a twisted kind of card.
                          I guess that would make it appropriate for this challenge!

So here it is.......................................

Good luck to all of the Twisted Sisters in whatever endeavors come our way!

Make sure you start checking over at "The Altered Alice" Site, where new themes and challenges await!

Chapter 42: The Flowers Are Talking

`O Tiger-lily,' said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, `I wish you could talk!' `We can talk,' said the Tiger-lily: `when there's anybody worth talking to." Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice -- almost in a whisper. `And can all the flowers talk?' `As well as all can,' said the Tiger-lily. `And a great deal louder.' Hello from all of us in Wonderland! This week we would like you to have a go at making your own flowers! So get fun creating, we can't wait to see what you come up with! This week we are being sponsored by 'Some Odd Girl', who have gorgeous Digi Stamps that the DT have been luckily enough to create with this week. So get creating your own flowers for your chance to win some of your very own ' Some Odd Girl' Images! You have until Friday the 10th of Dec to play long with us!

I was so excited to create something with 'Some Odd Girl' digi stamps, so many to choose from and all of them so cute. But when I came across 'Mae as Alice' I knew she was the one for me!
So here is Mae, she has been teamed up with some Cosmo Cricket. I water colored and colored penciled her. So cute!

The edges were cut with tim holtz's alteration dies. (I love those)
Have a great day and don't forget to see the rest of the team at 'Oh Alice' for more inspiration.

CHAPTER 41: Off With Their Heads!

CHAPTER 41: Off With Their Heads!

`Let's go on with the game,' the Queen said to Alice; and Alice was too much frightened to say a word, but slowly followed her back to the croquet-ground.

The other guests had taken advantage of the Queen's absence, and were resting in the shade: however, the moment they saw her, they hurried back to the game, the Queen merely remarking that a moment's delay would cost them their lives.

All the time they were playing the Queen never left off quarrelling with the other players, and shouting `Off with his head!' or `Off with her head!' Those whom she sentenced were taken into custody by the soldiers, who of course had to leave off being arches to do this, so that by the end of half an hour or so there were no arches left, and all the players, except the King, the Queen, and Alice, were in custody and under sentence of execution.


Welcome back to the land of wonder and where the saying, 'Off with her head' is a regular statement! Well here in wonderland this week, that is exactly what we want you to do. This week we want you to take your stamps and yep you guessed it,'Off with their heads'. So we are asking you to alter your stamps and mix it up a little by giving them a new head or body. Ohhh this is going to be sooo much fun seeing what you come up with!!!

Sorry.... just could not get the stamps to cooperate with me this week! To much turkey?
So I am showing you a dress form I did a while back.

I figured it is a good example of.....off with your head!

Up for grabs this week is a Scor Buddy from the lovely people at http://www.scrappingreatdeals.com. So off with their heads for your chance to win this awesome prize. You have until the 3rd of Dec to play along with us.

CHAPTER 40: Hooka Are You?

CHAPTER 40: Hooka Are You?

"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."~Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,Chapter 5

Welcome to the mad world of Wonderland! Once again we are here to inspire you to create great things! The Caterpillar (Absalom) was the wisest creature in Wonderland. At least he thought so, and so did most of the others.

He is a fascinating character because of his wisdom, and his lack of understanding metamorphosis. Kind of a weird oxymoron, don't you think? Our challenge this week is to use either a caterpillar or a butterfly in your project. If you'd like to go one step farther, use a definition or dictionary paper in your design (any subject is fine).


If you are fortunate, you may find yourself wisely winning your choice of three 4x6 reprints from our sponsor, Maigan Lynn Beaudoin Shaw . FanTASTic!! Maigan is such a delightful artist, and the team appreciates the chance to work with one of her images!
Here's what I came up with to inspire you:

I used colored pencils and gamsol. Colored the image in.

She is the most colorful mermaid Alice I have ever seen!

I wanted her to have some sparkle so I added some glitter to parts of her skirt and to her beautiful tail! You can see it better in the picture below.

Here is just one more shot of the card at a bit of a different angle.


Remember, you have all week to play this challenge! Link your project to the Oh Alice! Challenge blog and HAVE FUN! You have until Friday Nov. 26th at 11:59 CST to get inky and enter to win! Happy creating!!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great creative week!

Chapter 39:

Chapter 39: Nothin' but Tea and Time...

"Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.

`The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea upon its nose.

The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.'

`Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.

`No, I give it up,' Alice replied: `what's the answer?'

`I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.

`Nor I,' said the March Hare.

Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.'

`If you knew Time as well as I do,' said the Hatter, `you wouldn't talk about wasting IT. It's HIM.'

`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.

`Of course you don't!' the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. `I dare say you never even spoke to Time!'"
Greetings friends in Wonderland!

Today we have a fun challenge for you based on a lovely inspiration piece that the Mad Hatter herself just might "need" one of these days!

But first, a BIG warm WONDERLAND welcome to Tracy Evans, our November/December Guest! Tracy has wow'd us with her projects for a while and we are thrilled to have her here at our Twisted Table.

This week, we have an inspiration piece, again from one of Jess's favorite designers, Tarina Tarantino.

It LOOKS like a watch, but in this case, the face of "Father Time" is the Mad Hatter himself. We can just see him, shouting out from this beautiful piece and startling it's owner "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN MET TIME!". Boy, it sure feels like that some days..time simply moves TOO QUICKLY to catch!
Here is my fabulous card for this week! (wow did I say that?) Yes I did! I said this because without the inspiration from above I would have never done this and I think it is great way to send a card with a photo. I just saying, this is fabulous! I have taken a $1.oo (4 quarters or 10 dimes or better yet 100 pennies) frame and turned the meaning of a gift card into a "gift card." Huh?
You will see.........So here is my card.......
Inside my card.....but never mind that!
This is what you need to see. I just cut a slit (okay I could have cut it straighter), this is where the frame easel slides into and sits. So when the person you sent this to.....receives it.........they can take the frame out and display it. How fun it that!

Just the frame. I did alter the frame a bit. It was a little bright for me so I toned it down with some acrylic paints rubbed over it, then wiped off.

Who would not love to receive a picture in a card like this? They would think this was so neat! So with the holidays on the way, are you gonna use this idea?.............. I am!

Go check out the rest of the DT inspiration here "Oh Alice"

Have a bedazzler of a time this week, creating after this piece! Until next week...

CHAPTER 38: Tickets, Please!

CHAPTER 38: Tickets, Please?

`Tickets, please!' said the Guard, putting his head in at the window. In a moment everybody was holding out a ticket: they were about the same size as the people, and quite seemed to fill the carriage.

`Now then! Show your ticket, child!' the Guard went on, looking angrily at Alice. And a great many voices all said together (`like the chorus of a song,' thought Alice), `Don't keep him waiting, child! Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!'

`I'm afraid I haven't got one,' Alice said in a frightened tone: `there wasn't a ticket-office where I came from." And again the chorus of voices went on. `There wasn't room for one where she came from. The land there is worth a thousand pounds an inch!'

-- Chapter 3, Through the Looking Glass

Greetings friends in Wonderland! We are FULL STEAM AHEAD into November and today's challenge is JUST the ticket! Our ride this week is sponsored by our own Tasha who is generously donating a $15 gift certificate to Stamping Bella (in honor of their cute new Alice stamp) which will be awarded to one randomly selected winning traveler!

But before we get started, there are some changes at our twisted tea party table! We are bidding farewell to longtime design team members Jen and Suzi, so please leave them some extra love as you visit their last Oh, Alice! DT posts. We will really miss their superb talents! Donna, our amazing October guest designer, is stepping up to the table so we are back to our twisted thirteen. Welcome Donna, we are so glad you are staying where it's always time for tea! Be sure to check back next week for to find out who our guest designer will be for the holiday season!

So, do you have YOUR ticket ready for a ride on the Wonderland Express? Our twisted sis Lynne is the conductor this week and she says you can't travel with Oh, Alice! if you don't show us your ticket! You can make a ticket, use a ticket stamp, use a real ticket. Use one ticket or a whole row of tickets! So hop on it and get YOUR ticket ready to take a journey through Wonderland!

So for my card this week I decided I would try and sketch my own Alice. What I did not do is make her small enough, so I thought I could scan her and make her smaller. (Bright idea) Well her lines did not come out as clearly as a stamp would, so I will have to work on that. But all in all she is cute.

My ticket, I used my tim holtz stamp and die cut. The metal memo pin is also tim holtz.

The wool rolled flowers I made to add to the card. (I learned to make these at our monthly ATC meeting)

Final look at Alice.


Now get ready to travel with these inspiring examples:
Jessica
Andrea
Emma
Erin
Gloria
Jen
Ky
Lynne
Margie
Peggy
Randi
Sammi
Sara
Suzi
Tasha
We know you are all wondering who won last week's FABULOUS prize of a set of Elaine Cox Alice in Wonderland stamps, donated by our generous DT sister Ky! Our randomly selected winner is Connie Paxman, please contact our Mad Hatter Jess to claim your prize. Here is a peek at the winning entry:











It's time for you to get those tickets ready so you can travel with us on the Wonderland Express! You don't want to be left behind as this train leaves the station, so enter your new creations by 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12 using the InLinkz tool at "Oh Alice". Good luck, or maybe we should say Bon Voyage, as we can't wait to see where your creations will take us!

CHAPTER 37: Halloween in WONDERLAND...

CHAPTER 37: Halloween in WONDERLAND...

Hey everyone!

We have a "just for fun" post today here in Wonderland that doesn't follow a book excerpt or poem...just a good ol' fashioned HALLOWEEN theme!
After all, tomorrow IS Halloween and it's time to showcase some fun projects, and many of us are using the Graphic 45 special line of papers, Halloween in Wonderland!
It must be Halloween, my post is on the wrong side? What's going on?

BOO!
This week I have used Graphic 45 (for my 45th time this season!) I swear I have used it a lot!

But I really like it, it gives me so much inspiration.

For this card, lots of layers, I used tim's alteration's die, up cycled cardboard, Spellbinder die, layered them all up. I then water colored Alice and the Cheshire cat. I figured the cat wanted to sit on the fence so I free hand cut the fence out. (very simple, no rocket science here) I thought it would be kind of creepy to have the hand reaching through the fence as if to grab the cat. So spooky! Tied some colored twine around the card and added the little pumpkin. Oh and a little bat, poor thing I almost forgot about him.

Here is a closer look at the hand reaching for the Cheshire cat.

Ohhhh Spooky!

Hope you enjoyed the card this week!

We really hope you enjoy our projects today and that you feel like playing along! Today our VERY generous DT member Ky is offering up a set of Alice stamps by Elaine Cox! Even more of a reason to get creepy or crafty this week and show us what you can do!

So get your card done and link it to: "Oh Alice"

Be sure to stop by the blogs of my TEAm Mates:

Jessica Andrea Emma Erin Gloria Jen Ky

Lynne Margie Peggy Randi Sammi Sara Suzi Tasha

Leave some love notes ~ you know you want to!

Happy Halloween!