Alice in Wonderland Garden Art

Wow! I cannot believe we are nearing the end of March.  My how time flies!  We have had an unseasonably mild winter here on the East Coast which you won’t find me complaining about.  It has been so warm that my flowers were fooled into thinking it was time for spring by the end of February.  With the arrival of March came even warmer temperatures and… you guessed it …more flowers emerging from their long…er…short winters nap.   While basking in the glorious sunshine on an early March Day I surveyed my garden beds and wondered if it was too early to start weeding and mulching.  One must stay one step ahead of the crab grass or you will be in for one hell of a fight later on.  Not to mention sore, tired arms from wrestling it out of the ground.  Strong like Bull!!

Today I will be taking you through my garden in true Mad Hatter form by “Beginning at the beginning, going back till I come to the end, then stop…”  Here is my latest project for The Altered Alice.

In the beginning my Garden looked like this…

It appears that the crab grass has indeed taken over and this garden looks more like a wasteland then Wonderland.  I attempted to tackle this bed last year but was attacked by bees every time I set out to wage war on crab grass.  I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from.  Well the good new is that I found their hide out…under the rusty can atop the rusty pipe.  Whew!  All this rust and crab grass makes me want to Alter something.  So I did…

* This is an updated photo…my irises are just about to bloom!!

Dear Crab grass you may have won the last battle, but I WON the War!!  Ha!  I learned a new trick on Pinterest for keeping weeds at bay courtesy of Heart at Home.    It’s been a few weeks now and not a blade of crab grass in sight!

Remember that rusty pipe?  Well it isn’t rusty anymore…not when I have a can of Krylon and a plan!  I tossed the rusty can along with the bee’s nest and replaced it with this lovely vintage tea-cup.  What once was drab has now been made fab!

The rusty, sun bleached garden stake was given the Wonderland treatment as well.  A little Alcohol ink and detailing with Perfect Pearls and Perfect Pens makes it as good as new!  I also gave it a spritz of Krylon Pearl paint for good measure.

These beautiful stamps are from our sponsor Red Eowyn.  Black Soot Distress ink and Ranger Archival Black ink were used to stamp and emboss these beauties on craft metal.  The images were colored with Copic Markers.  This is another reason to add to the long list of why I LOVE Copics!  If you have never used Copics on metal I urge you to do so…it gives a really cool shading effect.  You can view a tutorial on coloring metal with Copics HERE.

On the back of the stamped metal a plaid alcohol inking technique from Tim Holtz was used.  Check out Tim’s blog for all the details.  Once the ink was dry I stamped with Ranger Archival Black ink with a mix of Tim Holtz, Graphic 45, and dollar bin stamps.  To seal both sides of the Metal I sprayed it with Krylon UV Resist Clear sealer.  The garden stake has been out for over 2 weeks now and has survived sun wind and rain.  Can I get a woot for Krylon?

Most of the chain, beads, and Charms I used are from Blue Moon Beads.  I found this fun pocket watch on clearance and the cascade of crystal hearts from Bead Gallery.

Ah how these charms do twinkle in the sunlight!  There is always a party going on in my garden while the sun is shining.  I added the sponsors “Twinkle, Twinkle” stamp to the sunflower as well.  I embellished the metal with crystals and attached it with a Twinkling Star Charm from Blue Moon Beads “Tokens” collection.  The larger image was attached with Eye hooks that have been beaded with crystals from Bead Gallery.

I thought I was done with the Garden Art until a trip to the grocery store led me to eye spy a couple of Lawn Flamingos for sale.  DH was with me and recognized “the crazy look” in my eye.  I pleaded with him to buy the flamingos but he looked at me with HIS “crazy look” and said “You are NOT putting flamingos in our yard!!”

The next day while working in the garden I went out back to get the wheel barrow and found a cheap plastic flamingo I had attempted to alter a few years ago.  He was in sad shape when I found him.  Not to worry…it’s nothing a little Krylon Glitterblast can’t cure!

After Glitterblasting my flamingo with Posh Pink Krylon Glitterblast, I used Martha Stewart acrylic paints and Martha Stewart Glitter to add detail.  The flamingo was then sealed with Krylon Glitterblast clear sealer.  Now he is no longer just an ordinary lawn Flamingo he’s a Fla-BLING-go!

As a finishing touch I removed the googly eyes the flamingo came with and replaced them with Black Enamel Accents and two different sized crystals to give him a more realistic appearance.  What you’ve never seen a glittered flamingo in real life?  The charm atop his head is from Blue Moon Beads “Manor House” collection.  I thought it was the perfect finishing touch on the Fla-BLING-go

When playing croquet in a wonderland themed garden one must have a Hedgehog to go with their flamingo.

To create the Hedgehog I used a buttery colored rock found in the back yard.  Mosaic adhesive was used to add the “spines” of broken china.  His eyes and nose are glass gems.  Black enamel accents and crystals were added to his eyes and wire whiskers to the nose.  I was a little wary that people would think he was a cat with those whiskers….DH proved my fears were justified….Me-Ouch!

A Garden just isn’t a garden without a lovely garden stake.  While cleaning out the garden I found one of the chimes that used to adorn the sunflower.  I put it aside to use as a garden stake later.   I’m getting a little verbose here so I will be sharing all the details of how I created the garden stake in a separate post.  For now I’ll leave you with the materials I used to wet your whistle   Craft Metal, packaging plastic, Tweety Jill collage pack, Tim Holtz Idea-ology, Mod Podge, Alcohol Inks, Glossy accents and Perfect Pearls…check back with me soon to see how I Put it all together!

Hail, Hail the gangs all HERE!  I’m nowhere near finished.  This is only the beginning!  Working in the garden these past few weeks has ignited a fire of creativity and I’m just burning with desire to make more outdoor Alice in Wonderland art!  I will be adding to this for the next few months at the Altered Alice.   We have some wonderful sponsors coming up.   You can view the next installment…”The Alice in Wonderland Cinder Block Garden” HERE.

Thanks for taking a walk through my garden with me.  I will have more Garden art to share real soon….and hopefully some beautiful blooms!  Be sure to check out the other inspiring projects at The Altered Alice!

Have a beautiful day!

Amy*

Here are all the details on our Current Sponsor Red Eowyn and details about the challenge:

“The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?’ he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.’
`Two days wrong!’ sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!’ he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the BEST butter,’ the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,’ the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn’t have put it in with the bread-knife.’
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.’”
–Chapter 7; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

For the month of March, how could we resist a challenge honoring the March Hare?  We are challenging you to use “the best butter,” as in butter yellow!

Our sponsor, Red Eowyn, is offering a one sheet of Alice in Wonderland stamps to the randomly selected winner of this month’s challenge! The March Hare is the owner and illustrator’s favorite Alice character, so of course we had to do her challenge in March. Red Eowyn has beautifully cleaned up the original Tenniel illustrations to make truly clear images that are a delight to stamp. The unmounted sheets include a variety of fun Alice sentiments, so be sure to check them out. In addition to Alice stamps, Red Eowyn also has wonderfully realistic animal stamps and some amazing dragons in the Fantasy category! Free U.S. shipping is included.

Tagged as: alice in wonderland, copic markers, Garden Art, Krylon Glitterblast, Red Eowyn Stamps, Tim Holtz technique