When one of your favourite designer companies dedicates a collection to one of your favourite pieces of literature — magic happens! I mean, this is probably a very specific scenario, but I’m sure some of you out there can relate to this, right? I am talking to you, Graphic 45 fans! After all, over the last few years G45 have released several literature-inspired collections, such as Little Women, Nutcracker Sweet, Magic of Oz, and Master Detective. All of them are gorgeous and I would certainly love to have at least five (or better still, ten) of each — you know, just so that I could feel confident enough to cut into one… But boy was I excited when I saw the Halloween in Wonderland collection! Sir John Tenniel’s wonderful illustrations in deep, rich shades of orange, purple, and green; Halloween motifs galore: witch hats, pumpkins for heads, spiderweb. The Mad Hatter is even holding a candy corn! Could it get any more exciting?!

Not that I would particularly mind using Halloween in Wonderland for everything throughout the year (as you will probably see in the future), but when Graphic 45 announced their October challenge (#darkside), I knew I had to make something Alice-related.

Unfortunately, I did not have much time before the deadline, as I was out of the country for most of October, so I ended up creating several little projects. You can see two of them here: one is a collage card featuring quite a bit of fussy cutting, and the other one is a collection of tiny houses (a big tiny house, a school, and a church).

I had a lot of fun making these, and was very pleased with flattering comments on the Graphic 45 Official Facebook page. And then something amazing happened: my tiny houses won the October Challenge! Well, to be fair, it was a random prize draw, but, nevertheless, it was amazing. After all, you can’t win if you don’t submit anything. I had three entries (with different projects each time), and one of them became the lucky one! I was jumping around with happiness when I saw my name on G45 blog — this is what crafts can do to you. Now I am waiting for my lovely gift package from the incredible Graphic 45 team. I have no idea what it might be but am 100% sure I will love it.