An invitation to our nieces and nephews

My Mister and I are house hunting, and we're hoping to be in a new home by the end of the year.

What I'd like to do is get an original artwork from each of the nieces and nephews who are old enough to participate. The ideal would be something that could be either framed in an 8x10 mat, or in a similar sized shadow box. We'd like to hang their art around the house, a visual daily reminder of our family members who live so far away.

This could be anything from a favorite photo they've taken themselves, a multimedia collage or crafty thing, a sketch, a painting, a fiber art piece (knitted or crocheted, hand sewn, woven potholder, whatever), a small puzzle they've finished prepared with glue to keep it from falling apart, or whatever else they enjoy working with. Even a story they've written would be fine, as long as it's all on one side of one page.

Ideally I'd like the pieces to be signed by the artists.

The top end of their ages is in the tween range, and some are quite young, so the range of possibilities are pretty broad. I'll leave it up to their parents to decide who is old enough to participate. And of course, if any of the kids would rather not make us something, that's fine, too.

We'll get the frames or shadow boxes once the artwork arrives. And there isn't a deadline for this. Just whenever the spirit moves them.

We're still waiting to hear back on the short sale home we've put in an offer on. Could be days or more weeks yet before the lenders on the current owners' end are done with the extra stuff that happens in a sale like this. No guarantees, but it sounds like it's moving along in a promising - if slow - manner.