Week 3, CHAPTER 21: Gratitude

'You ought to return thanks in a neat speech,' the Red Queen said, frowning at Alice as she spoke. . . .In fact it was rather difficult for her to keep in her place while she made her speech: the two Queens pushed her so, one on each side, that they nearly lifted her up into the air:'I rise to return thanks--' Alice began: and she really DID rise as she spoke, several inches; but she got hold of the edge of the table, and managed to pull herself down again.-- Chapter 9, Through the Looking Glass

The US Thanksgiving holiday is this month, and many people are dedicating the month to a spirit of gratitude; after all there is nothing like counting your blessings to make you realize how many blessings there are! Our theme this month is GRATITUDE, and you can interpret that any way you like as long as you explain it in your post. Enter by Friday, Nov. 23; all entries are welcome but those that feature Wonderland will have two chances instead of one. Multiple entries are encouraged, but each must be on a separate post to have additional chances at the prize, which is quite wonderful!

The theme ties in nicely with this month's sponsor, Nature's Blessings, who have offered a $30 shopping spree to the randomly chosen winner! Nature's Blessings stamps were the beginning of my love affair with Alice in Wonderland stamping, as they have beautiful rubber versions of the original Tenniel illustrations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland AND Through the Looking Glass. Without Nature's Blessings, The Altered Alice might not exist! In their words:

As avid readers and bibliophiles, we fell in love with the beautiful line drawings in the books in our family library. Our antiquarian stamps are a collection of our favorite images. If your tastes range from the classically elegant to the quirky and fun, then we make stamps for you! We also offer a variety of original art: be sure to visit John Wagner's page of Calligraphy and Art Lettering, and Laura Ann's pages of stamps for holidays and special occasions.

Your Weekly Inspiration:

Donna Mundinger of Popsicle Toes created a very special Thanksgiving Wonderland menu for her gratitude project. She has done her Cricut magic on the outside, and I love the warm rich colors and elegant patterns. But wait until you see what's inside. . .

So elegant! The detail on these Nature's Blessings stamps is just wonderful, and they stand on their own without coloring. The autumn leaves in the background add the perfect touch of color.

The Drink Me image accompanies our Thanksgiving cocktail, spiced pumpkin martinis!

The Lobster Quadrille image accents our starter, lobster bisque! Yum!

Donna created a little turkey "patch" to place on the Mad Tea Party table!

Alice and the Plum Cake image is perfect for our dessert. I love the knife buried in the cake, it's a wonderful illustration! Be sure to stop by Popsicle Toes to leave a comment for Donna. I need to head over there and find out what time to show up for this wonderful Thanksgiving dinner!

Donna/Meme of Meme's Art Place created a pair of beautiful vintage thank-you cards! She has carefully aged the paper and darkened the edges to give the impression of pages torn from an old book. This image of Alice playing with Dinah in the big chair is one of my favorites!

I love Alice and the Tweedles! Meme has done a fantasic job of creating an authentic vintage look with distress markers and inks. Be sure to stop by Meme's Art Place to leave a comment for Donna about her gorgeous vintage thank-you cards!

Hurry up, you have time to enter for a WONDERFUL prize! Enter your projects in the Linky list below by November 23, and PLEASE include your name or blog name in the TITLE. This helps me enormously when it comes time to had out the honorable mentions! (Note: if you are viewing this post in a reader or email, please click on the title of the post to go to the blog to see the entries or submit a project.)

Please leave a comment before you go!