Grab Bags 4 5 and 6

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 by Alyice

I just got done packaging three more Mystery Art Grab Bags. I thought I’d only have fun creating these miniature works of art, but I am finding it just as much fun wrapping them in tissue paper and twine, packaging them, and numbering them.

Yep, I started numbering the boxes to correspond with the images shown on the blog.

I originally did it to keep track of how many grab bags I create, then I realized that if someone falls in love with a specific grab bag, they can tell me which one they like and if it’s still available I can ship it to them. Otherwise, they’ll just have to receive one of the other grab bags and let the art remain a mystery.

Family Trust

Growing up wasn’t easy in my household but no matter how hard it was, I knew that I could trust my mother to keep me safe—as did my husband. The image on the “Trust Me” card is actually a silhouette of my mother-in-law.

In this grab bag, you’ll receive the “Trust Me” card, plus a hand painted paper ornament that has been embroidered with the words, “Live. Love. Laugh.” (It is one of my one of my all-time favorite sayings!) And a hand painted greeting card with the word, “Friends” typed on vellum and glued to on top the flower.

Family Friends

Today, I am blessed with a husband who truly is my best friend and two wonderful children who are growing up to become very dear friends.

In this grab bag you will receive a 23″x8″ hand crocheted plate warmer that can double as a mini table runner. If you unfold the warmer, there’s room for three dishes. If, however, you have an extra hot plate, you can fold the warmer up to create a single square.

You’ll also receive a “family” greeting card and a cute paper bird ornament that was collaged with various paper scraps, then hand painted and cut.

A Little of Mom

In 2008, I wrote a post about how my mother was thought to have a little Indian in her. In that post, I also showed you a hand painted piece of abstract art. That art has been reproduced into a 4×6 print that has been mounted onto a blank 5×7 greeting card.

In this grab bag you’ll also receive an eight inch, dark blue hand crocheted plate warmer made with worsted yarn from Red Heart and two hand painted paper ornaments: a bird and a star.

Buy A Mystery Art Grab Bag

To buy one of my grab bags, visit my shop page over at The Dabbling Mum by clicking here.

Get a little mystery in your life…

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Echo Challenge Market

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 by Alyice

“To Market, To Market, To Buy A…
Home Again, Home Again, Market Is Done.”
– Mother Goose

It’s echo time! This time the prompt is “Market”. I looked high and low for an inspirational quote to go with this challenge, but all I could find were stock market obsessions. So, like Chrysti, I settled on Mother Goose’s rhyme.

When I think of the word “market”, I think of the grocery store of my childhood.

Just two and a half blocks from my home was the cutest store you could ever imagine—Farmers’ Market. Yes, that was the store’s real name.

It was a beautiful red store. It reminded me of a bright, shiny barn. When you walked into the store you were immediately greeted by a real butcher on the right and cash registers to the left. There was fresh produce directly behind the cash registers, a refrigeration area to the right of the produce and along the back wall, and shelves and shelves of prepackaged goods. There was even sawdust on the floor.

The owners and their staff were kind and friendly people. They owned the store long before the projects ever existed. They owned the store when the projects weren’t the projects—when they were military housing. They prided themselves on offering the freshest of ingredients and even gave store credit the old fashioned way; with an accounting ledger and someone’s good word.

For some reason, the chaos of the projects never touched that store—at least not that I can recollect. Oh sure, kids were caught stealing candy from time to time but nothing major.

Then one day, after dating the man of my dreams for a few months, I decided to show him where I grew up. I wanted him to know why certain fears existed and where a certain inner-strength came from. And I wanted to show him “my store”.

Sadly, it was no longer there.

Though the memories of that store and the people in it have faded over the years, that feeling of warmth and nostalgia remains.

That’s why when my husband and I discovered an Apple Orchard in Iowa that ran a tiny family store, and a Pumpkin Patch in South Dakota that sold farm grown produce, I couldn’t help but jump for joy.

Seriously folks, there is just something wonderfully uplifting and exciting about these little markets. The folks who run them are some of the nicest and friendliest people you’ll ever meet. They truly understand what “the fruits of your labor” means and they want you to experience what it is like to eat something that has ripened in the land, not on a transport truck.

No matter where my husband and I vacation, or what our itinerary is, if we happen upon a Farmer’s Market, we make it a point to stop, shop, and mingle.

Until next time…

Posted in Echo Challenge | 2 Comments »

How To Create A Quickie Collage

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 by Alyice

Just a quick post today to share how cute my daughter’s collage turned out.

It was so simple to create, too.

First she cut out letters from a magazine. Then she wrote down a few words on a scrap piece of paper, and cut them out individually.

Next she asked me to pull up a photo I took of a monkey at the zoo and print it out for her. She then traced the monkey and colored it in with black ink. Next she cut it out, leaving just a little bit of white around the edges.

Then she found a kid on a skateboard, traced the image, colored it in, and cut it out.

Next she glued everything to a blank piece of paper and colored around the images and text with different colored markers. She purposely left some of the area rugged as she was going for a graffiti look.

When it was done, we scanned it and added a concrete texture and a black border in Paint Shop Pro.

What she’ll do with it is anybody’s guess.

As a mom, it was just fun watching her play with art.

Keep Creating

Posted in Art How-Tos Children | 1 Comment »

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AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

Copyrights

All material on this blog belongs to Alyice Edrich, unless otherwise noted. No project, artwork, or text may be reproduced or displayed elsewhere without the consent of the creator. That includes making derivative works for resale. Please use project tutorials for personal use and/or gifts only.