Have you seen the Sci Fi's channel's reworking of Alice and Oz - see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_%28TV_miniseries%29 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Man_%28TV_miniseries%29 for more on them. Both had more adult features (including death being possible) but both borrowed from the whimsy of the originals.
It's been a while since I've seen either, but there is one thing about Tin Man that has stayed with me: the Flying Monkeys were stored as tattoos on the Evil Sorceress when they weren't out there flying, and the tattoos were on the upper part of her cleavage. One of the funniest parts of the movie was seeing the Flying Monkeys flying out her chest.
Also, here's an IoP I did up for character named Tommy the Conjurer. You might like it and as a Iop it's relatively cheap:
Item of Power: The Rabbit's Watch
Many years ago a man named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson devoted himself to researching the Nevernever. A World Walker and a founding member of the Society for Psychical Research, Charles Dodgson explored areas of the Nevernever that few have ever seen. While most searched the Nevernever looking for ways to increase their own powers or for threatens that need dealing with, Charles Dodgson explored with whimsy in mind.
Not that whimsy is always safe. Indeed, Charles Dodgson would have died several times over if not for a gift presented to him by a talking white rabbit. The creature's only price was that Charles Dodgson spread his tale among the mortal lands, which Charles Dodgson conscientiously did - mentioning it in a book where he described some of the more whimsical places he had been.
While the watch was designed with survival in mind, it is survival as seen by a rabbit. The ability to sneak through darkness. The speed needed to out run predators. The fortitude to survive attacks. As for its weakness, have you ever seen a wet rabbit? No, rabbits don't like water - and talking ones like it even less. It spoils their waistcoats and it takes forever for the fur to dry.
But exploring the Nevernever is a young man's game. When Charles Dodgson no longer felt he needed the protection of the watch he passed it on, but the 1863 diary which would have recorded who he gave it to is missing and presumed lost to the ages. Some speculate that he gave it to Alice Liddell, the daughter of one of his friends who people claim he was close with, but there is no proof of that.
After being missing for over a century it finally surfaced in the hands of a minor practitioner named Maxwell. Maxwell didn't have the power to join the White Council but the watch kept him safe - at least from external threats. After Maxwell's fatal heart attack, the watch dropped from sight. Its whereabouts are currently unknown.
[-1] Cloak of Shadows
[-2] Inhuman Speed
[-2] Inhuman Toughness
[+1] Catch: Water. When he is soaking wet or water is used against him Timmy is as vulnerable as a normal boy.
[+2] IoP
Net: [-1]
Tommy (and other cute characters) can be found at
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,25470.msg1081135.html#msg1081135Richard