Alice is Back

Hi everyone.  Our temperature is starting off warm today, and although we have a bit of rain, it makes me think of March or April. By tonight we'll be back in the normal January chilliness, but this little January thaw has been super and I even managed a walk yesterday.   And a rainy Sunday morning means it is a good time to have a lazy morning. Hurrah!

The puddles and melt in the driveway made a cool photo with the reflections of the trees.

For the last few weeks I have been working on my Alice in Christmasland second book, since I ran out of paper in the original book.  And even if I wrapped up the story enough in book 1, I was having too much fun to stop.

 I didn't have another copy of the same type of book, so I went with something a bit different. For book 2 I used something I believe is called a zig-zag book. It has  2 hard covers and one long folded piece of watercolor in between.

Here is a photo of a blank one which is similar only the ones I have (I bought a few last year on a major markdown at Hobby Lobby) although mine have a few more paper folds.

To refresh your memory, let me recap part 1.

Alice climbs up on the roof of her home because she wants to look down the chimney to see how Santa can fit. In the process she falls down the chimney, shrinking in the process. Alice spends most of the rest of that story trying to get back to her normal size, and the book ends with Alice falling out of bed. I never said whether she was just dreaming and back to her normal size or not.

This is where book 2 picks up. Here's the first couple of 2 page spreads.

 As you can see it is now spring. The page says

" Oh Chessie, you are a regular sized cat." Alice said.

She had woken up on the floor wrapped in her blankets.

"I dreamt I was very very small and you were very very big."

Alice wiped her eyes and looked around the room.

"It was also Christmas in my dream.,

but it doesn't look like Christmas at all."

Myy spread is a mix of my drawings/paintings as well a bits of Studio Light/Art by Marlene punch outs. 

And here is the next section.

Alice walked out of her bedroom and noticed indeed it was spring.

The sun was shining through the windows,

and there was NO Christmas tree.

"And I am NOT very small." Alice said again in a voice that was very relieved.

This page is mad with some inking, painting, doodling, a die cut as well as some Studio Light Art by Marlene dots.

Just a tease. More to come another day.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

The Alice Finale, for Now That Is

 Hi everyone. 

I am back with the last spread from my Alice In Christmasland book.

So a few questions remain.

Did Alice get larger and back to her normal size?  Did she do this before Santa arrived and  did she get to meet Santa? And hopefully she  has a happy ending.

Now I want to say that I wasn't really ready to wrap up my story, but I came to the last spread in my book. So I had to somehow end the story, at least in this journal.

Oh no.

So I kind of cheated a bit and didn't really end the story but did end the story.

 I hope it is not a huge let down.

Here's what it says:

Noooooo

Alice screams

And she went to pull herself upright and felt her head getting dizzy and dizzier

And even more dizzy.

And then Alice felt herself falling.

And there was something tangled around her legs. THUMP!

And Alice shook her head and found herself sitting on the floor

with her blankets wrapped around her legs

and Chessie sitting there looking at her.

I know, I didn't tell you whether Alice got back to her normal size.

You can decide, for now.

I made this page by using stickers for the Noooo letters.  I drew and cut out the bed and the pillows. I used some Studio Light/Art by Marlene punch outs for Chessie the cat and Alice. Although I added glasses on Chessie and I added arms and some hair fixing for Alice. And I made Alice's blanket with some felt and some paint.

And then when I read Yvonne's comment for my last Alice post, an idea just popped into my head. Instantaneously.

And so I have started Alice in Christmasland book 2.  

I hope to wrap up the story there.

I will be back with more posts, but you will have to wait a little bit for Alice.

I am linking this up to Yvonne's words and numbers challenge at Art Journal Journey.  Thanks Yvonne for this fun challenge this month!

That is all for me today. Thanks for visiting. 

Alice Part 6

Hi everyone. 

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Mine started off (and should continue) to be pretty quiet. I'm hoping for a little ambition as I have a couple of small projects I should do in the next couple of days, like vaccing up all the dog hair in my car. Right now the car floor looks like it is made out of fur. (OK, may that is a slight exaggeration.) But I will say I am into a good book right now and the studio is yelling my name, so tomorrow when the hubby is gone for the day I might have a hard time convincing myself to go do any work.

It is time to get back to the Alice in Christmasland story. Today I have just one spread to share, and then there is only 1 more to go. 

So let me recap since it has been several days since my last Alice post. 

Alice climbed up on the roof and ended up falling down the chimney. But at the bottom she realized she had shrunk, and she has been on a mission to get back to her normal size.

We last left Alice chasing the queen on a way to go find the caterpillar who might know how to help her.

And she does find Mr. Caterpillar. 

I made the background by first painting the page pink and then I used some crayons to make the swirly designs. I drew the caterpillar, painted and sprayed him with a bit of ink, and then I used a thin stream of paint to create his web chair.

The wording on this page goes:

It took Alice awhile to run any distance with her short little legs.  But finally

she saw a spider web and caught in the web

was the biggest caterpillar she had ever seen.

It is because I am so small, she thought.

And where was the queen?  There was no sign of her.

So Alice stopped and looked at the caterpillar.

Then she explained as briefly as she could her situation to him.

"I see" he said, snacking his lips as he spoke.

"And why should I know the answer?"

The caterpillar cut her off. "The queen said."

"She is a silly woman. What does she know?"

"But I will tell you a little secret."

Alice raised her eyebrows.

"You shouldn't see Santa. That would be very bad.

He might think you are a toy for some other child and

take you away in his bag of toys.

"And how can I get bigger before he comes?" Alice asked.

She was very impatient with all this now.

"I couldn't tell you." said the caterpillar.

Here are the other Alice story posts, just in case you read this and have no clue what story I am writing about and want to check out back posts.

Alice part 1

Alice part 2

Alice part 3

Alice part 4

Alice part 5

And I am linking up to Yvonne's challenge at Art Journal Journey. This month the challenge is Words and Numbers. I am enjoying it, and if you haven't yet joined in, you should.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoy more of my story.

Alice Part 5

Hi everyone.
Hope you're having a nice weekend. Mine has been busy as yesterday my husband and I met up with my daughter and went to visit my Mom.

She always loved a nice box of chocolates, and it makes me happy to make her happy.
Today I'm trying to wrap up a few holiday chores.  I have a little wrapping to do and this project to finish.

My husband bought me this kit awhile back and it is time to play.   Ho-Ho-Ho!

The Alice in Christmasland story continues. 

The next 2 pages are basically the story without much art.
If you remember, Alice jumped down off the tea party table to meet the rabbit. He told her that she needed  to see the Queen to help her get back to normal size, and off they went into a castle ornament on the Christmas tree.
So here is where we begin. 

The page reads

"Who comes to see the queen?"

The queen was standing near her throne.

"Its me you majesty. The rabbit. I bring you the girl who we have been hearing about."

Alice made a confused face. This had just happened. 

And how could inanimate things gossip and talk and know things?

"I'm glad you brought me the girl."

The queen said in a loud royal voice. She

meant business.

"Tell me," continued the queen 

"what happened to make you so small girl."

"My name is Alice, not girl." Alice replied.

After she said it, she thought, maybe I

better be nice to the queen so she will help me. 

"I am pleased to meet you girl named Alice.  But answer my question please."

So Alice recounted her story of climbing on the roof and falling down the chimney. 

"Oh you have Santa syndrome." replied the queen.

"I have seen it before. Se we need to take care of this quickly .

Before Christmas Day arrives. Otherwise you

shall have to be so small until next Christmas."

All Alice could picture was being packed away in a box of

Christmas ornaments, not having any food or water,

not having time to play with her friends or being

able to sleep in her bed at night.

And the next page.

And she would miss Mama and Papa and even

Mary. And she would even miss

Chessie, even though Chessie wanted to eat her.
For a second tears welled up in her eyes, but then she asked
"So what do I need to do?"
"Do?" replied the queen. "Do? You don't know what to do
Are you  simpleton? Are you a girl who has no imagination?"
"These humans." the Queen continued.
"They get themselves into trouble
because they don't think through what they are doing
when they do it. I suppose we should go ask the caterpillar, if we can find him."
"This isn't the time of year for caterpillars." Alice mumbled. 
And she looked at the queen.
"Come on. We must run and find him. We must keep running
so we don't get behind. Midnight is fast approaching and 
if we run fast enough we can beat it and
have more time to solve your problem.
If we run fast enough we can make it 10 o'clock again.
And the queen took off, running so fast
she turned into a blur. Then she 
disappeared. Alice stood there.  "Now what do I do?"

So doodled legs show the queen running off.

And then I created this mantel with some photos in their frames on it. I wanted to do something that referred to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

So Alice ran as fast as she could

looking for the Queen of Hearts as she went.

"You better hurry." she heard a voice.

"Go straight ahead." said a voice.

"The queen went in that direction."

Alice looked over at what

she thought should be a photo of

her cousins Anna and Louise.

But instead she saw 2 twin boys.

"What the..." she started to speak.

And when Alice looked again, there were Anna and Louise.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I am linking up to Yvonne's challenge at Art Journal Journey. This month her fun theme is Words and Numbers.

There's a little bit left to the Alice story, a couple more posts. 

Hope you are enjoying it.

And enjoy what's left to your weekend also.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Alice Part 4

Hello there. It is a bitterly cold and windy Thursday here in New Hampshire. It is not suppose to stay in this deep freeze for too many days; that is the good news. But this cold for even a day is too cold for my taste. They are saying a high of 12 degrees Fahrenheit or so (or  around -11 degrees C) and then add a wind chill to that. 

Brrrrrrr.

I am back today with more of my Alice in Christmasland story and art. 

I left you yesterday with Alice  following the rabbit on a quest to find the Queen. 

I created the painted tree and the castle ornament on the top page.  I also painted Alice walking through the doors into the castle., except for the checkerboard piece which is some paper and the gold crowns which are also paper. 

On this page below I used some polka dot paper as well as some playing card paper. I also used some stickers and a chess horse metal charm with the little loop cut off.

And then we get to meet the queen.

I left the page white and then added stamped tissue paper. I cut out more cards from the same paper as the cards on the last page. Then I used gold paper to create the royal bits on the page, as well as the queen's crown. The queen herself is another Studio Light/ Art by Marlene paper punch out, but I dressed her up with some glasses and some crown embellishments as well as some shiny little heart stickers. 

That's as far as I am going today. There's still more of the story, but as I am pre-writing this last night, that's about as much s brain is going to let me do. It's been a busy week since I'm (as well as probably most other teachers) wrapping up material with the end of the year holiday break coming. 

Once again, I will link my storyup to Yvonne's words and numbers challenge at Art Journal Journey

Have a great day.

And thanks so much for visiting again.

Alice, part 3

Hi there everyone. Can you believe it is only a week until Christmas and even fewer days until Hanukkah begins? And Saturday we are officially into winter, but the good news is after that the days will be getting longer, even if it is not rapidly. I will still take that! I am not fond of so much dark.

I am back today with spread 3 from my Alice in Christmasland storybook.

You can read parts 1 and 2 here and here if you have no idea what I am writing about.

So I couldn't do this story without a tea party. That is so essential (in my mind) to the whole Alice story. Plus, making tea themed art is so much fun.

So I created this part of the tea party spread using some more Studio Light/Art by Marlene images and a Stamperia paper teapot image. I also used an old Hero Arts teacup stamp and a couple of tea themed charms, as well as creating the outer part of the teabag.
Here's what the words say:

It's Always Tea Time
Quietly Alice snuck out from under the chair 
and made her way to the table nearby.
Being an athlete, Alice was able to climb up the chair leg and then jump
from the chair onto the table.
Mother had her china and teacups
set out on the table already for Christmas breakfast.
And her sister Mary, in her typical little girl fashion
left some toys on the table also.

For this part of the spread I used more Studio Light/Art by Marlene and Stamperia paper. I created the rabbit and also stamped a few other items.
The left page says
Let's have a tea party.
We can eat cream cakes and strawberries.
Curious and curiouser.

And the right side says
"Psst." said the rabbit.
Alice looked around.
"I am down here"
Alice looked down to the floor and saw the rabbit.

And finally,  a page with some more the story. I painted the page with both red and pink paint. I stamped the clocks and words, Then after adding the story words, I added some clock hands and a little metal clock charm.

This page goes:

"Come with me" said the rabbit. "I can help you.

But you better hurry since we are late."

"Help me?  You are a toy rabbit. How can you help me?"

Alice questioned.

"I can take you to the queen and she can help you get back to normal.

But we must hurry.  But it is 11 PM and we must do this before Santa arrives

at midnight  or else she loses her power for another year."

"The queen?" Alice was thoroughly confused.

"The Queen of Hearts of course. She is a real witch 

excet at Christmas when her heart fills with love."

Alice shrugged. It was worth a try.

So Alice hopped down onto a chair and then

onto the floor and had to run quickly to keep up with the rabbit.

Once again I am linking up to Yvonne's fun challenge at Art Journal Journey I am also linking up to Moo Mania and their latest challenge which is Anything Goes.

I hope you are enjoying my story and I also want to thank you for stopping by to visit my blog.

Alice, part 2

Hi everyone. Hope you are having a nice weekend. 

I had the perfect Saturday. I hung home, had a bit of art time, talked to an old friend on the phone and watched 4 Star Wars movies. I never even got out of my pj's all day, but it was rainy and dark so my motivation to get going wasn't very high.  However, it was exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries. 

And today I hope to bake some cookies.

But first I want to share the next installment of my Alice in Christmasland book.

Yesterday I shared part 1, which told the start of the story. It introduced Alice who was a curious girl who climbed on the roof of her house to look down the chimney to see if she could figure out how Santa got into it and then down the chimney to deliver his Christmas gifts.

Today we begin with

 Alice falling down the chimney. (I know you can figure that out.)

 And then falling into the fireplace. 

I die cut the fireplace and used some already pre-cut out holiday decorations. I added red paint holly berries to the wreath and also made the bow sparkly. I drew the stockings and the candles. I also made the hands and face of Alice coming into the fireplace . I also used a bit of black glitter glue to create some soot bits falling from the flue as Alice fell down.

 You can see poor Alice somehow managed to shrink as she fell through the chimney. She is again a Studio Light, Art by Marlene figure. I drew and colored the cat myself. Here's what the words say.

A yummy mouse has come down the chimney thought the cat,

licking her chops and getting an excited look in her eyes.

But then she looked again and became so disappointed. 

"I thought you were a mouse." said the cat.

"A mouse?  I am a girl, and you are Chessie my cat. So don't speak to me that way."

But when Alice finished dusting off the soot and stood up, she realized that she was the size of a mouse.

And she didn't like the look in Chessie's eyes.

And my final page of this spread doesn't show Alice.

It says

Alice ran under the legs of a chair.

Curiouser and curiouser.

How did I get so small she wondered?

And even more so

How come I didn't get large again?

So I imaged what it would be like under a chair. I painted the floor and the wall, as well as the legs of the chair. I used some fabric scraps to make the underside of the chair, stamped the little mice, and added some frayed cheesecloth to be a dust bunny.  And I wanted you to know that Chessie the cat was there, so I did a bit of idea borrowing from the actual Alice in Wonderland story. 

I am once again going to link up to Yvonne's Words and Numbers challenge at Art Journal Journey.

Part 3 will be coming your way later in the week .

Thanks so much for visiting.

Alice Part 1

Hi everyone.  Happy Saturday.  It is dark and very wet here today as it is pouring rain. All our snow is gone but it is supposed to get cold again after this front moves out and  there may be more snow come Tuesday. I am glad it is the weekend after what was a somewhat long and rather eventful week. But mostly a good week too. I will fill you in on a few things another day.

So last month I did a bit of a tease (which you might possibly remember) with some photos from a project I was working on. Some of you guessed an Alice theme, and it is, but maybe not exactly like you suspected.

So I have finally finished it. Hurrah-hurrah.

So let me share a bit with you today.

So this is a story by me that was inspired by the famous story Alice in Wonderland but not in any order or any particular way. It is not actually the story Lewis Carroll wrote with just my art. 

I used a fold out journal I had to make it.

So here's front cover. The story is called Alice in Christmasland. I added bits of song tissue paper to a blue painted background. The letters are hand drawn, painted and made a bit sparkly.

 On the left is the inside of the cover and on the right is the start of a 2 page spread. 

You can read the intro better here. (Sorry, I seem to never be home when it is light out with these short hours of daylight and long days of work and with the way this book folds it was hard to get good photos.)

So let the story begin:

In these modern days

there was a girl named Alice.

And she was precocious 

to say the least.

So when Christmas rolled around

Alice had a thought.

How did Santa fit down the chimney

with a bag full of gifts?

He was such a large man and

there were always so many gifts under her family's tree.

Curiouser and curiouser.

So one cold but calm night

she climbed up on the roof and

Took a peek down the chimney.

That is how it all began.

 I really love how the top of my house came out. I sketched the building and painted the roof brown. Then I stamped the design on tissue paper and added it. I love how some of the tissue looks like light snow on the shingles. The chimney is hand drawn and colored. The windows themselves are part of a die cut and then I decorated the inside of the house views. I also added some paint for snow, drew and fussy cut my ladder, and added some little glistening snowflakes which are actually those fake gemstones. 

And for Alice on the roof I used a punch out from Studio Light, art by Marlene. I kind of wish I had made my own person, but that still intimidates me a bit. I did create the hat for her head however.

 I have to say how much fun I had making this book, and I will probably say that again before I am done showing you. 

And there will be more to come another day. It would be a really long post if I showed it all in one day.

I am linking up to Yvonne's fun words and numbers challenge at Art Journal Journey

Hope you are having a fantastic start to your weekend!