The Altered Alice Chapter 21, Week 1 - Gratitude

Time for our monthly challenge with The Altered Alice and this month our challenge is GRATITUDE.

Our quote for this month:-

'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

My first creation is an Autumnal card using one of the images from Nature's Blessings. I cut several leaves from white card using the Tattered Leaves die and used the aperture as a stencil, sponging through the stencil with Distress Inks to add leaves to my background. I then spritzed with water to give added interest.

I added part of my stamped image to two leaves and added to the bottom of my card for a little more interest.

I added natural twine and button to the bottom corner to add a little more dimension and texture along with Chitchat stickers to add the text "leaves", "thankful" "thanks" and "autumn".

The focal image has been surrounded by leaves coloured with Distress Inks and my image has been coloured with Faber-Castell Pitt pencils .

I decided to decorate a tin with my second image, colouring the outside of the tin with Alcohol Inks to give a rust like finish.

I kept to a muted colour palette for my stamped image and simply coloured with grey and brown Pitt pencils. I added a branch cut from the Bird Branch die, coloured with walnut stain Distress Ink.

I have added some small leaves and Chitchat stickers to decorate the inside.

I added a little dimension to one side of my tin, stamping the images twice.  I love these images they are so detailed and a little different from my already expanding collection.  

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.

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! Lynne, the Mad Hatter of The Altered Alice, credits Nature's Blessings stamps as the beginning of her 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.

We look forward to seeing your projects!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x