Take Some More Tea

“Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."

"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."

"Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I love Alice images and these four characters get the quirky Vera Lane touch over in her store. 

So, of course, they're in my digi collection. Seems like every time I visit the Etsy store, I find more delightful stamps I need.

I used Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils just to see if I liked how one looked over the other. But I like both products and I have fewer colors in the Polychromos, so I used more Prismas.

I love all of them and their expressions, but this caterpillar! So stinkin' cute...though I think he's  offended at that word.

The Mad Hatter looks quite mad here...and totally okay with that.

If I see Alice or Dorothy products, I usually have to buy them, even though I have so many already. I prefer the Oz books and movie to Alice, but the quotes in Alice are wonderful. Graphic 45 has reissued their Wizard of Oz collection and I think I'm going to go look for it right now!

I've probably shared this, but one of my fondest memories of playing with my kids was the day we made a little Alice in Wonderland tea party and had bunny cookie cutter sandwiches and edible tea cups (made with white chocolate and muffin papers like these below). We drank milk from the cup and then ate the dishes!

Happy Friday!

Chark

It's Always Tea Time

Here's my second card for the Coffee Lovers Bloghop. 

"It's always tea time." The Mad Hatter says this in Alice in Wonderland and I had this fab image from Hannah Lynn at Crafts and Me of Alice so I put the two together for this hop. 

That actually looks more like a coffee pot than a tea pot, but it's a little wooden icon from Prima and it's adorable, so I added it anyway.

If you look closely near the bow in her hair, you'll see a tea cup, a cupcake, a playing card and a rook.

She's an unconventional Alice, but I love her in bright colors! I used Tombow markers and white gel pen.

BLOG CANDY ALERT: I'm giving away 5 digi stamps from 2 Cute Ink. This is open to everyone and you can choose which stamps you like if your name is chosen. Digi stamps are easy to use and if you have a printer and email, that's all you need. Leave a comment here or on any of my posts during the hop to be entered.

Here are a couple of the cute stamps available.

Happy Hopping!
Chark

Smashing Again

So, I have another two-page spread from my Smash book that I've been having fun filling with various bits and pieces. I've put in some of my yearly activities, some fun photos that had nowhere else to go, and bits of memories here and there, along with lists of some of my favorite things right now and from childhood. It's been a lot of fun to make.

This is the last page and inside back cover. I took a card I'd made with a Hannah Lynn Designs Alice in Wonderland digi stamp (colored with Prismacolor pencils) and cut it to fit the page. I couldn't bear to send the card to anyone for months, because I loved how she turned out...so I put her in my Smash book. That's allowed, right?! :) 

I added one of my fave Alice quotes at the top. The watercolor background is a die turned into an embossing folder. You can learn how to do that here with Jennifer McGuire.

Here's a closeup of that page. I added little white dots with a gel pen too. And that adorable star is from my pal, Barb, who just up and gave me a whole set of them in different colors. Thanks, Barb!

The back page features a pocket I added by using an old calendar page (my daughter gave it to me and again, couldn't bear to toss it, so I tore it up for art) I used it here to show my love of the Beatles and New Orleans, because that's where they were playing that night. I just folded it and secured it with adhesive.

Inside the pocket, I have a Jigglypuff trading card that my son gave me...it's my favorite Pokemon...and only because it's so darn cute. I don't actually play Pokemon or collect them or whatever. Although, thanks to the son, I do know way too many of their names.

Happy Wednesday!
Chark

p.s. Don't forget to color some of your Hero Arts stamps and join in our March Color Challenge at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies. There's a $25 gift certificate up for grabs!

p.p.s. DISCOUNT ALERT! Check out the sale page at a2z, since there are stamps for $3.50 and up, inks (including some neon inks) for $4.00 and some stencils for $4.00...oh, and paper flower embellies for just $2! woot! Love a sale! 

Wait! there's more! You can use CHARK15 on top of the sale prices to get a 15% discount on a $25 and up purchase! WHA?! Yep, double discount—have fun shopping!

It's Always Tea Time

See below to win!*

The post title is from the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland and it's how I feel about life! I love tea—hot or cold, green or black, slightly sweetened or unsweetened. It's all good in my humble opinion. So, even though I'm entering the Tsuruta Designs Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, I made a tea cup. Shhh! Don't tell anyone it's not coffee.

I used a vintage clip art from The Graphics Fairy, which has tons of free vintage illustrations. Love them! And I used some free Alice vintage digi art too. I used Shabby Shutters and Barn Door Distress Inks that I applied straight to the paper and trim from Doodlebug Design. The hello die is from Papertrey ink. Hope you'll join in the hop! Thanks for looking at my coffee tea card.

SPONSORS

17 Turtles:  $15 Store Gift Card

A Muse Studio/Chris Franco:  Cup of Good Cheer stamp set

Add a Little Dazzle:  $25 Store Gift Card

Butterfly Reflections Ink:  Prima Coffee Break

Color Cast Designs:  Coffee Lovers kit

Create a Smile:  Monster Party stamp set

Hero Arts:  A Little & Today's Special stamps/Cup 'O Joe Shadow ink

Kraftin' Kimmie:  $25 Store Gift Card

Kreative Kymona:  Fancy Mug Giveaway

Latina Crafter:  Cafe Wood Veneers + $25 Store Gift Card

Neat & Tangled:  Warm Wishes stamp set

Newton's Nook:  $15 Store Gift Card

Paper Smooches:  $25  Store Gift Card

Pickled Potpourri:  $7 Store Gift Card

Poppystamps:  Tea Cup Stack Die

Reverse Confetti:  $15 Store Gift Card

Stamp Academy:  2 classes

Stampin' Up/Veronica Zalis:  $20 Store Gift Card

STAMPlorations:  $10 Store Gift Card

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store:  Coffee Cup Prize Pack

SugarPea Designs:  $20 Store Gift Card

Sweet 'n Sassy:  Pick Me Up Clear stamp & die set

The Alley Way Stamps:  Tea Par-tea stamp set

Two Paper Divas:  Your Warm My Heart stamp set

Your Next Stamp:  $20

Verve Stamps:  $25

Whole Wild World:  Coffee before Talkee mug

CANDY ALERT: *I'm giving away your choice of stencil from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies, where I'm on the Design Team. All you gotta do is comment on any of my three Friday posts about the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and you'll be entered. I'd love if you followed my blog, but that's not required. I'll announce the winner next week. Contest will end on Monday, Dec. 15, at 11:59pm (edt).

p.s. If you spend $25 or more at a2z Scrapbooking, you can get 15% off your total if you use CHARK15 as your coupon code...hey, I'm a coupon!  

Happy Friday,
Chark

Blog Hop Winner and Can It, Alice!

 

First, congratulations to Amante del Papel, who won the digital stamp or stencil of her choice from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies! Let me know your address and your choice of item and I'll get it to you soon!

Thanks to everyone who commented and is a follower of my blog—I appreciate you!

Second, here's my Alice in Wonderland project that was a reject from a mag submission call, but that I like a lot. The can was purchased at Michael's and I slipped in KaiserCraft Alice acetate. I backed the acetate with white cardstock so that the images popped a little more and a gift can go inside. I made the felt roses for the top with this oh-so-easy basic tutorial here.

I also made a name tag to resemble a tea bag with a letter sticker and white cardstock and an image of a teapot from the acetate, again backed by white to see it better. I even added a tiny staple.

I think you could put treats and a gift card in this, or even a t-shirt rolled up. Anything that's hard to wrap would work in this.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Happy Dance!

Just got an email acceptance from Papercrafts Magazine—my first ever. I did, in fact, do a little happy dance at the computer when I read the acceptance. Luckily the family understands me. So exciting! It's for the February issue, so I'll share that later.

So I entered three items this time and I never would've guessed they'd pick the one they did. Isn't that weird? Lesson #1—Sometimes simpler is better, because it was the easiest one I made. Lesson #2—Just go ahead and submit. I liked that project, obviously, and did my best, but I might not have sent that off by itself if that was all I had. But that was the right one for the right time. Lesson #3—If you're hesitating, don't! Send in your work and send it in more than once. I've entered lots of times over the years. 

I used different black and ivory papers from a pack from Canvas Corp for the background. And the watercolor triangle background is actually a die, but I embossed it instead by following this technique by Kelly Rasmussen.

I used Prismacolor pencils to color the Alice in Wonderland digi stamp from Hannah Lynn Design. How talented is Hannah Lynn? Her images are so fun to color. Then I used a white uniball to add dots. The black resin star was a gift from my Hero Arts pal, Barb, who gave me a whole package. Thanks, Barb! The black pearls are Doodlebug Design.

The die is from Hero Arts and I got mine at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies. If you want your own, you can use my discount code CHARK15 to receive 15% off your order of $25 or more in the store!

Wishing you a fun weekend,
Chark