The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge M

A few weeks ago I became aware of The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge through the talented Sandy's blog. I was immediately intrigued but didn't have time to play along until this week. The idea is to alter an old dictionary following the letter and sometimes the twist that they provide every fortnight. I love dictionaries and words and altering pages of text so I could hardly wait to jump in. The challenge this fortnight is to use a word from the letter M pages and the twist is that it has to be between Ma and Me in your dictionary. How fun is that!! I have a number of dictionaries purchased at Thrift stores for my art journalling and altered projects. I chose this Concise Webster's Dictionary because the pages are newsprint (love that texture) and the book is the size I wanted for  this project ( 8.25 x 5 x 1").

I began by choosing my word (mad) and then my theme to depict the word (Wonderland). I Decou-Paged the pages I wanted to alter to the page underneath each for added strength and then applied slightly watered down white gesso to the two page spread except over the word and definition which according to the rules must be highlighted in some way. Once that was dry, I used three Distress inks (Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmelade, and Barn Door) to colourize the background, blending them with the foam applicator tool. Out came some stencils, TCW Chevron, Number Jumble, and Reversed Chicken Wire, as well as Dylusions  Chequered Dots stencil. All patterns were applied randomly using Vintage Photo and Barn Door Distress inks.

While those were drying, I sized and printed three of Rick St. Dennis' awesome new Wonderland stamps: Valentine Mad Hatter, Mad Tea Party 2013, and We're All Mad Here Chessie. I love Rick's illustrations and this series of digis is so fun! I coloured all three with Prismacolor pencils, adding Icicle Stickles to the highlight in Chessie's eyes. All three were fussy cut and edged with black Pitt pen to blend in the white edge.

To frame the pages and create a little more funky pattern, four different black and white washi tapes were adhered to the edges and center line. I either seal the washi tape after applying or, in this case, add some glue before adhering it. It drives me bonkers (short drive!) when the washi tape lifts which it will eventually do if not glued down. Once the three images were adhered to the pages, I outlined them in black Micron pen to make them stand out even more against the background.  More doodling was applied around the definition to make it more noticeable and next to the washi edges.

Next came some finishing touches to blend the foreground with the background. The word mad was stamped here and there on the background using Vintage Photo Distress ink. An off cut from a scallop die cut was split in two and added to the bottom of the definition and Chessie. Watered down black and white gesso were used to make circles with lids and the black lines with an old gift card. The circles overlap the tape and the images in order to embed both into the background. Finally, the images were loosely masked with paper scraps and the black gesso was splatted over the background again to help integrate the parts.

That's it for my first entry into The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary challenge. Thanks to Sandy for giving the heads up about this project and to the CB design team for their wonderful inspiration. Although I am behind a few letters, I intend to catch up and then keep up. This challenge really inspires me...maybe it's the former teacher in me or the reader who loves dictionaries and words :) Check it out...amybe you'll want to play, too.


Thanks for your visit. We may all be mad here but we do appreciate you.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie