Showing posts with label Alice in Wonderland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alice in Wonderland. Show all posts

Thursday, April 5, 2012

In a whimsy painting mode


I finally got out my acrylics and two 16 x 20 canvasses and committed to making a mess. I have been wanting to paint again for the longest time, and so I used some of my recent cat doodles for inspiration. Blythe, Alice in Wonderland and a certain kitty named Tinkerbelle also served as inspiration.
Some techniques used were learned in a February class, including stenciling,  mark-making and adding texture. Not sure either one is quite done yet as I usually like to add some tiny 3-D element. We shall see. The good news is I can't wait to paint again!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Lovely Alice in Wonderland swap receipts!













A beautiful pink box (seen in background of top and bottom photos) arrived today chock full of Alice goodies from my partner Adina in Maggi's Just Add Glitter blog Alice in Wonderland swap. What an overwhelming bunch of loot! There's a covered journal, body butter, Godiva's chocolates, jewelry-making goodies, some darling Alice fabric, gorgeous ribbon and all sorts of detailed, hand-made Alice theme greeting cards, since Adina is a scrapbooker and card-maker. I don't know how I will bring myself to use them! But I must, so other people can enjoy them, too. Thanks, pard'ner!


Friday, March 5, 2010

Alice in Wonderland swap sent













For the recent Alice in Wonderland swap hosted by Maggi of Just Add Glitter, I was partnered with Adina Medina of Mommy Is Scrapping. She's a gal after my own heart, teaching Honors English to high schoolers.

Above is the gift box I made for her, complete with knob, key, watch face and vintage Alice images all around and on the bottom. Inside I tucked an Alice charm bracelet and pin made by me as well as lots of Alice-related goodies. I also sent along a couple different versions of the classic book, with unique illustrations instead of the usual -- although great and famous -- John Tenniel drawings.

Adina is a scrapper and card-maker so I hope she will like what I sent. The box took six straight hours. The vintage images are hand-cut and then matched to line up on the box and lid. I also embellished them with gel pens and glitter. The inside is covered, too.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Published in Somerset Studio


I had read in the email newsletter a week or two ago from my LSS (local stamp store) The Queen's Ink that owner Patti Euler had in the latest issue of Somerset Studio. Normally, I would have run over that day. It's only about eight miles, and I used to have to drive 80 miles roundtrip to get any decent magazines back in Indiana.

But, I've had a viscious case of the winter blahs, and so I didn't go. Until today. Imagine my surprise when the magazine fell open on the way home to a page with a piece of art I recognized well!

Seeing my "Alice" piece, above, was even more of a surprise because I had been expecting Somerset and Stampington to come out with their planned Alice in Wonderland issue. Hearing nothing, I had just sent an email the day before asking what had come of it. It also was a complete surprise to see because normally the magazine sends a postcard and/or a free issue to let you know you are going to be published.

But who's complaining? Not me. A surprise is nice, and being published is even better, especially when one has the blueblahs. By the way, the face in my collage above is from a collage image sheet I bought from Traci Bautista at Art and Soul, after taking a class from her. Here is some of the other work I sent. Very excited for the Alice movie to come out March 5. It looks crazy.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Score! Birthday! Ebay! Etsy! Junking! Swaps!












September went out like a lamb, which was merciful, considering a certain number birthday--or perhaps other of life's diversions--has caused my blood pressure to rise into the danger zone. A little week-long break from blogging, Flickr, Hotmail, Etsy, Ebay, swaps, groups, and virtually everything else didn't necessarily help the BP but it did show me I really missed blogging.

I like my virtual record of art I've made, received, stuff I've done, read, etc., and although I don't post to my Blythe blog or my writing blog as often as this one, I do like to upload my photos to Flickr as soon as I take them, and organize them accordingly.

The books above, an old Alice in Wonderland, barely hanging together, and a fashion compendium with 1,000 pictures, were both found in antiques shops in North Webster, IN for $3.00 each. They're going to come in handy for altered art.

And thanks to some help from Maggie on Etsy, my Avon Small World re-collection of the eight 1970s figures is essentially complete, sans a few boxes.

The blue charm bracelet is the finished version of the charm bracelet I blogged about starting here. It traveled around the world, literally, to California, Pennsylvania, Norway and more, before making its way back to me in the Marie Antoinette Mail Art round robin charm bracelet swap.

And last but not least, the crazy assortment of goodies photo includes an Alice doll, some doll heads, a pink beaded jewelry box from Pier 1, some old Bailey's Irish Cream cups, a pretty pink rose necklace, a little lavender crescent-shaped dish, a reproduction apothecary bottle, an old tin robot and the finished version of my Zettiology skinny book, from a swap on Flickr, blogged about here. These treasures arrived via various means and reasons but all helped to make my birthday week and month special. More on the finished Zetti book soon. It's an explosion of art and color.

Meanwhile, many of the vintage books and treasures, bottles and doll heads came from one of the most wonderful places on earth: Green Oak Antiques in Rochester, IN. These three buildings are 10,000 ft2 (that's right, ten thousand) of furniture, junk, garden wire, salvage, cottage, victorian, primitive, jewelry and more.

Owner Ann Burton Wootten Furnivall and I had some great chats in person and via email about altered art, steampunk jewelry, favorite sites and more. She has some great sites: her blog Magpie Cottage, Gypsy Market on Etsy and the shop site, Green Oak Antiques.

I highly recommend a drive to Rochester from wherever you are. Out-of-state visitors are very common. You'll need several hours and probably a truck. They are open 10-5 every day but Thursday.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Heirloom tomatoes and fresh cut flowers= farmers market and fall festival






It's a different kind of art-mother nature's to be exact-that makes up my 400th blog post today. The fresh-cut flowers and produce took my breath away today, a sunny Saturday in Syracuse, where I was summoned impromptu to a festival by my daughter. You would have thought it was the first time she had ever seen altered art, snatching up a huge wooden Notre Dame sign and another "Welcome to the Lake" sign, both made of paper mache letters on old doors or shutters.

The heirloom tomatoes taste like candy and are almost as sweet as the whoopie pies we both bought- she got chocolate and I got oatmeal. My little 26-year-old even bought a bag of Amish noodles, although she insists she doesn't know how to prepare them. She must have missed my lesson on boiling water.

There was a lot of great jewelry, photography, beads, ceramic tiles and other art, which I managed to avoid, but Wawasee Antiques drew me in and sent me out later with two tiny Kewpie dolls, a couple of old medical tins and two old chandelier prisms.

Besides finishing up the round robin charm bracelet swap in the Marie Antoinette Mail Art group, I have fat book pages coming due in my new Alice in Wonderland Mad Tea Party Mail Art group, and a Halloween-time Marie-theme treat bag/supply swap due next month in the Marie group. I have one coming to me from Amanda and I send one to Rebecca.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Alice in Wonderland or Me in Aliceland







Marie who? Seems my Marie Antoinette kick may have taken a back seat for the moment to Miss Alice herself and her wacky friends, like M. Hatter, Esq., pictured here popping out of the house I made for him. Doormouse, Cheshire Cat, Duck, Dodo, Lory and Eaglet are in the back window (not seen here) along with Alice. So many strange characters in that book! Isn't that where one finds Toad the Wet Sprocket? I think someone besides the Caterpillar may have been smoking the hookah when writing. Of course, that was Lewis Carroll back in 1865.

Meanwhile, I was inspired to create a Baby Alice art doll (Linda and Opie O'Brien Who's Your DADA?-style), Alice as a Young Girl art doll/canvas assemblage (inspired by Lisa Kaus) and a Zettiology-style (inspired by Teesha Moore) Alice skinny book page. Small doll head from Kris Hubick of Retro Cafe Art. The black framed pieced is a 3D collage under glass with vintage silhouettes. I think that may actually be inspired just by me. Maybe that's the author explaining his book idea to a comrade. March Hare/White Rabbit (who is whom?) winks knowingly on the front of the piece.