Be Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s tale: Alice in Wonderland

Well, as I think about this literary challenge for July, Alice In Wonderland, and how it has developed, I’m finally happy with the end results. It took a long time getting here and probably over thought a lot of things in the process.

I had begun with a clear idea of the colors I wanted to use and some of the embellishments, an idea of the photos I would take, the story I’d tell, and then…nothing was working. I tried a multitude of arrangements, sizes of photos and I wasn't pleased with anything. I stared, I moved, I flipped photos and re-sized…and still nothing. I was frustrated and fed up.

We've had had a ton of illness, broken bones, multiple computers and printers revolting, cars needing major  repairs and everything seemed to be going wrong.

So, I walked away from it all for a day and tried something different. I began a Christmas card with watercolors. I never finished it, but I did begin it. I’ll get back to it shortly, but it gave me some time away from the mental block I was experiencing. In the morning I decided to try another color for the base grid, a different arrangement than I’d tried before, really? Yes.  And then began jotting words and phrases and portions of the story I wanted to get on the page…and walked away again to deal with the latest crisis!!

The next time I returned things were a bit clearer, a bit smoother and it all began to fall into place…with just a little pushing here and there.

The final work is presented on a Mosaic Moments 12 x 12 Grid in Palm Leaf. Also white with gold pearlized paper from Wausau Papers, white Paper Tiles, Metallic Gold Prismacolor marker, and gold cardstock from Anna Griffin. Additionally, Natural Brass keyholes from Vintaj, Mini Keys from Seven Gypsies, tea pot charm from the Steampunk line from Janlynn Corp, and Martha Stewart’s Swirling Lace Punch “Around the Page” punches. I used a digital image freebie from Pixel Scrapper of a teapot that I changed color and tint and re-sized to suit my journaling application. 

What was my inspiration? Well, the Tea Party of course! Growing up I saw a lot of Tea Parties!! The top photo on page one is a sample of one! In this case I decided to narrow it down to a few of the heirloom pieces that make up my Mum’s collections and a brief story unique to each piece. Where did it come from? A gift or passed down? As I sorted through the choices I saw five people I wanted to feature, my father’s mother, my mother’s mother, my mother, her sister, and her sister-in-law. I gave a brief description of the cup and saucer history (tea pots will come another time) Mum said more than once...”you won’t write that will you? “, and I promised that the whole story would not be included! Stories have been edited to protect the worried!!

PAGE ONE

I began with a large photo panel with a quote from the story, in several of the fonts I suggested. For the title/quote, Fortunaschwein; Lewis Carroll in LD Tall Pen; and book title in Guttenberg MF. On each of the fonts I picked a color from within the photo to be the font color and then chose a golden color to outline each letter to mimic the china’s gold trim. The journaling was done in a shade of brown and the font was Poor Richard. The teapot image was a shade of green that I took down to a 20% tint in Print Shop 20. 

PAGE TWO

For the journaling on page two I printed the teapot image and then printed the journaling on top. I divided the sections and then mounted each to the inside edges of a paper tile that I had run a line of metallic gold marker on the outer edges only so that once together the journal section shows a gold mat below. The four photos in the corner are each mounted on a white paper tile with the metallic gold edge. This gold edging was to work to repeat the gold in most of the tea cups. A photo of each individual appears next to their tea cups.

Embellishments on both pages of key holes and keys seemed a perfect inclusion to relate to Alice’s story, but also the idea that each key would unlock a story.

In the end, I used only a few points from the Inspiration Story, but they were ones that worked well with the topic I had chosen. The end product was one that I didn't feel had been forced but represented the history of the china cups well. I hope you will find something from the Inspiration story Alice in Wonderland and put together and share your own creations with us on Journella!

Thanks for stopping in…

andrea