CHAPTER 22: Christmas-tide in Wonderland!

From a Fairy to a Child 

LADY dear, if Fairies may For a moment lay aside Cunning tricks and elfish play, 'Tis at happy Christmas-tide. 

We have heared the children say -Gentle children, whom we love -Long ago, on Christmas Day, Came a message from above. 

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,They remember it again -Echo still the joyful sound, 'Peace on earth, good-will to men.' 

Yet the hearts must child-like be Where such heavenly guests abide. Unto children, in their glee, All the year is Christmas-tide. 

Thus, forgetting tricks and play For a moment, Lady dear,We would wish you, if we may, Merry Christmas, glad New Year.
-- Lewis Carroll, Christmas, 1887.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Altered Alice! This month the design team brings you their holiday wishes, and we invite you to send your holiday greetings or share a special project with The Altered Alice and to our other readers. 

We do not have a sponsor this month, so we are just sharing for the joy of Christmas in Wonderland, and we hope that you will share too. We will have honorable mentions, so play along for the glory if not a prize!

To celebrate the season, we bring you The Lewis Carroll Memorial Window at Daniell Chapel in England. Notice the left panel where Lewis Carroll and Alice kneel to pay homage to the newly born Christ in this wonderful Nativity scene! This month's quote is actually contained within the windows, do you see it?

Click to enlarge - See Lewis Carroll and Alice in the left panel

The window, designed by the stained glass artist Geoffrey Webb, is a must-see for anyone who loves Wonderland. A wonderful Christmas poem by Lewis Carroll is shown in the center three bottom panels, which include characters from Wonderland - the White Rabbit, Dodo, the Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, and more! Our own Sue Roddis visited this chapel and gave me permission to show her close-up photos here, click to enlarge:

From Bonnie:

Bonnie McLain of Love Light and Peace is sharing an altered board book she calls "The Many Faces of Alice" and it showcases her love of the original Tenniel illustrations. The back page is much taller than the rest, perfect for the TALL Alice, my how she has grown!

 The cover is decked with this gorgeous black lace, forming a valence over Alice and Dinah, the kitten!

You can see one of the inner pages here; please visit Bonnie's blog to leave a comment and to see all the inner pages. They are truly lovely and you will not want to miss them!  Thanks Bonnie for making us such a lovely project to share at Christmas-tide!

Also stop by Love Light and Peace to wish Bonnie a happy, happy birthday!

Please consider adding your own project to share by Saturday, Dec. 29th. It can be a Christmas project or just something Alice-related that you want to share that perhaps did not fit with any of our other challenges! For this month only,we will allow you to back-link projects that were created before this month, as Christmas-tide is all about giving and sharing! Note: If you are viewing this in email or a reader, you can click on the title of the post to see submitted projects on the blog.  Merry Christmas to one and all, with great love from The Altered Alice!

Winner & Honorable Mentions, CHAPTER 21 - Gratitude

Our theme this month was GRATITUDE. 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.

NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, my gratitude project will be shown in December. However, I wanted to share the project that started my love affair with Nature's Blessings stamps!

Design Team Inspiration:
For all the details on how this was made, please visit my blog: Lynne Phelps of Savvy Sisters Studio.

You can click any photo to make it bigger. I had a wood plaque in my stash that had the word "Dream" on it. The natural, unpainted wood surface was already sanded and coated with a soft clear gloss, all ready for altering!

Nature's Blessing stamps used include White Rabbit, I'm Late, I'm Late, Hatter, Herald, Little Golden Key and Mad Tea Party.

Please visit my blog: Lynne Phelps of Savvy Sisters Studio. to read all the details of the creative process and to leave me a comment!!



Winner:
And now, drum roll please, it is time to announce the winner of the $30 shopping spree from Nature's Blessings!

Congratulations Alison, of 21st Century Pillow Book! Alison created this charming thank you card as her project. I love the colors and patterns, and of course my favorite element is the snipped up text! Alison, please email me (there is a link at the top of the left column) so I can get your contact info and forward it to Nature's Blessings!  I hope you will also want to display this blog badge with pride:

Honorable Mentions:

I love the mix of new and vintage in WendyLynn's Thanksgiving card!

I love the sponging on this fun thank you card by Leintje. I am NOT a pink person, but I do love the pink and green color combination!

While I am not fond of zombies (or rotting flesh in any form, LOL) Monique has done the most amazing job coloring this Alice zombie image and I absolutely LOVE the background with the card suits!

Mrs. Beez made this neat tip card, to be left for hotel staff after a visit. There are pockets inside for tags and cash; be sure to visit her blog to see the inside!

This thank-you jewelry box by Nazneen was upcycled from a cardboard product box. I love how the quilling along the sides was used in a bold modern motif along the sides!

Thanks to all the participants. We hope you will display this blog badge with pride!

Thanks again to Nature's Blessings for being such a wonderful sponsor! Be sure to visit the Nature's Blessings store to see all the wonderful images available in wood and cling cushion or unmounted.

Please leave a comment before you go!