You know... additional elements reference must be known not only to you, but to others as well. I havn't seen any "Alice (...)" books, nor did I watch the movie and I don't get the ref at all. As much as I can only guess the cards etc, swirls seem not needed, not connected directly to knuffel and making bg not clean...
Other elements seem to just randomly fly around too, without any order or reason, what doesn't look best to be honest. If you really want your cat to have refs to other Alice elements, why don't you evolve her into them? Like make her wear tiny hat similiar to MadHatter hat, make her hold rose or cards, or give her rose/cards design on dress, make hypnotising swirls show up in her eyes. Make those elements integral part of knuffel, something interesting, don't just drop them into background.