Wednesday, July 18, 2012

It's "Celebrate Oz 2012" Time! An "Oz-some" Event!

Wha-Hoo!  Today is Celebrate Oz 2012 Day!  I have been reading a lot about "The Wizard of Oz" on the internet in the past several weeks and I found the following post on the web that I felt to be very poignant ... its about how the name Dorothy Gale came about......

In 1898, Dorothy Louise Gage was born to the brother and sister-in-law of Maud Gage Baum, wife of author L. Frank Baum. When little Dorothy died, exactly five months later, Maud was heartbroken. Baum was just finishing "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and, to comfort his wife, named his heroine after Dorothy, changing her last name to Gale in his second book. Dorothy Gage was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois, where her grave was forgotten until 1996 when it was rediscovered. When Mickey Carroll, one of the last existing Munchkins from the movie, learned of the discovery, he was eager to replace her deteriorated grave marker with a new one created by his own monument company. The new stone was dedicated in 1997 and the children's section of the cemetery renamed the Dorothy L. Gage Memorial Garden, in the hope that bereaved families would be comforted in thinking of their lost children as being with Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz".

It was in the late 1950's that I first viewed "The Wizard of Oz" on my parents black and white television (going to a movie house was a luxury I never experienced until about 1964) ... it was awesome and it was scarey!  I was more terrified of the flying monkeys than I was of the Wicked Witch, those little beasts with their sharp little teeth and sharp nailed fingers scared the bee-jeebies out of me!  It seems, to me at least, that we viewed "The Wizard of Oz" every year after that - just around Thanksgiving time (course I may be wrong).

You know, I never realized that "The Wizard of Oz" was in color until I was married, had two children and purchased our very first color TV (as the result of three months of babysitting and saving every single dollar, that Sony TV cost $300 - but I wanted a really good reliable TV if I was gonna invest that kind of money!) in around the early 1970's.   Well, shortly thereafter one of the networks was airing "The Wizard of Oz" ... I wasn't sure I wanted to watch it because it was in black and white and I had a new "color" TV!  But, I wanted my kids to experience the wonder and magic of "The Wizard of Oz".  So we settled back and the movie began.  Black and white, just as I had always seen ... the tornado caught up Auntie Em's house and whirled away ... and then it landed ... and BAM the colorful land of the Munchkins came exploding across the screen!  I was totally stunned, amazed and excited!  Wow!  Seeing it in color made it all new and even more exciting and terrifying!  I had one child on each side of me and we all had our pillows so we could cover our faces if the terror became too horrifying for us to watch!  We screamed, we laughed, we enjoyed!  "The Wizard of Oz" in color was absolutely amazing!

Well, I am not so good at verbalizing, I most often express myself in drawing ... as many of you have seen.  I have been posting ACEOs I created as my way of participating in Oma Linda's "Celebrate Oz 2012" Blog Party.   This is new to me as well, I have never participated in a blog party ... but I have sure had a bunch of fun creating these 18 ACEO's!  And I am sooooooooo looking forward to visiting all the blogs of the bloggers who are participating!

So, Welcome to my "Celebrate Oz 2012" participation!  I want to share some give aways with those of you who are participating (whether by a participating blog or by simply visiting) .... If you would like to win one of my give aways ... just post a comment on this posting ... if you'd like to follow my blog - well, that would be an added bonus and gift to me from you.

Without further ado ... my Give Aways are .....
1st Place -  this lucky winner gets to pick their choice of one of the original (right now only open editions are listed) "Oz ACEO Series" in my Etsy Shop.
2nd Place - oh, this is a good one!  This winner gets an entire "Oz ACEO Series" Open Edition Set of the 18 ACEOs!
3rd Place -  this winner gets 2 groupings of the "Oz Series" characters 8" x 10" art prints... as seen here:
4th Place is a Red Heart Bookmarker (this is an original crochet pattern I created a few years back) as a tribute to the Tin Man's quest for a heart ...
And finally, 5th and 6th Place winners will each receive a green (a tribute to the love in the Emerald City) heart amulet necklace (in which each is held a penny from heaven for good luck) ... another variation of my heart pattern

Bottom line, have a fun day and enjoy all the bloggers and their individual ways of Celebrating Oz with Oma Linda!  To find all of the bloggers who are linked into this grand party just go over to Oma Linda's blog "Olde Baggs 'n Stuffed Shirts" and you will find the links (right hand side) to all the bloggers who are participating in this Oz-some event!

Happy Day!
Karen Anne

PS  I noticed that most "Celebrate Oz 2012" participants are having their drawings on July 26th ... due to my time schedule, give away entries will be accepted up until Noon on July 20th at this blog ... I will put all the names in the hat and draw the winning entries and post them later in the day of 7/20!  Good luck to all who put their names in my Witch Hat!

28 comments:

  1. Me ha encantado visitaros a todas las que participais.
    Vengo del blog http://santaandthemrs.blogspot.com.es/
    Me encantaria participar en tu sorteo.
    besitos ascension

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  2. Lookie, lookie Karen Anne...you have blown me away with your personal story of you and Oz.You are a super storyteller. I had read the story of the Dorothy Gage dedicated area in the cemetery but I had never had your heartfelt perspective on it. How lovely.
    I would love to be entered to win any one of your fabulous prizes. Thank you so very much for keeping me excited the last week and presenting a lovely and fun part of Celebrate Oz...you have made it even more special. xoxo Oma Linda

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  3. The story of the naming of the character Dorothy and especially about the cemetery is so touching. Thanks for finding and sharing that!

    Do you still have that tv? Some older products have lasted a long time.

    Karen Anne, your giveaway is generous and I hope I win! Stop at my blog post when you get a moment.

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  4. Wow Karen Anne! Great post for the party! Seriously! Very interesting and fun! I never knew that about Dorothy Louise Gage passing on. So sad! I think that's so special Micky Carroll created a new monument and dedicated the section to children! I love the story of you and your children watching The Wizard Of Oz for the first time! Your giveaways are amazing! I want them all! LOL! But, I have to admit to you, the heart amulet necklace, with the penny is priceless! Love it! See you at the party! Hugs ;o)

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  5. I really enjoyed reading your post and seeing all the ACEOs in one place. I did not know the story of how Dorothy got her name--what a sweet tribute.

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  6. Fabulous post and artwork. I know we would love to win one of your great prizes for Jilly's Wizard of Oz room. You're work is amazing! Now I'm off to follow the yellow brick road and see what other great Oz things people have in store.

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  7. When you told your story of seeing the movie in color for the first time it was nearly identical to my own. We had just gotten our first color set and my two kids and I were together on the sofa and yes, it was BAM! I was so surprized I'm sure my jaw dropped. I wonder how many of us there are who share this experience? Your giveaway is very generous and I would love to be entered. Have fun celebrating Oz.

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  8. Oh my goodness Ireland, You are an amazing artist, and this is such a generous give away!!! If I won 1st prize, I would want the image of Dorothy looking at Aunty Em in the crystal ball....as it would ever remind me of that beautiful loving gift the other gave to his wife. And could it be that Aunty Em is M for Maud? :D XXX

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  9. I love your celebration and the giveaway pieces are wonderous. Beautifuly done.

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  10. I'm not sure what amazes me more, if the great article (I did not know much about the background for the Dorothy's character, thanks!) or the great prizes. You are sooo giving.

    Put my name in, my dear. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed ;-)

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  11. Oh my! I have just finished visiting all of the "Celebrate Oz 2012" blogs and had an "Oz-some" experience at each and every one of the participating blogs! Thank you all for truly making this an "Oz-picious" event for everyone!

    Thank you Ascension, Oma Linda, Gloria, Stacy, Debbie, Sammie, MaddyRose, Gina, Linda and Magaly for being among the first to stop by and visit! You are all fantastic!

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  12. I love that post! :) Such a great story of seeing "The Wizard of Oz" for the "first" time. (Well, in color anyway!) That would have been a shocker. But, in a grand way.

    I'm so happy that I was able to find you through this blog party. Your work is just lovely. Thank you for sharing it! And I look forward to discovering more of it.

    Kitty

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  13. Hi Kitty and welcome to my world! Delighted you found way here through the yellow brick road from Oma Linda's!

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  14. Hi! What a great post fr Celebrate Oz :) I just love this movie though might prefer Return to Oz, possibly because of the recreation of the Mombi dress now many years ago. I love the giveaway too of course, you're such a good artist!

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  15. wow - great post and history! and your drawings are amazing!

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  16. Hi MJ and Antiquity! So very nice of you to drop by and be part of this year's "Celebrate Oz" blog party!

    You are welcome to visit just any old time!

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  17. Karen Anne,

    Thank you so much for the Kreative Blogger award and for telling me about this!

    Well, I'm in! How could I resist?

    And it is such a generous give-away!

    Anyway, I have enjoyed reading all about your Oz series. And I loved the movie too. It was the first "scary movie" I ever saw and the part where Dorothy was locked in by the witch made me cry and turn off the T.V., but my Mom turned it back on and assured me that everything would come out right in the end. Then I could watch all of the re-runs and memorize the songs.

    Anyway, thank you!!!

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  18. Hey, hey, hey ... so happy you joined in Lise! The witch was scary but the critters that scared me more than any others were those freaky flying monkeys! After all these years I now realize they actually sported feather wings .... but in my mind ... they had BAT wings! I always saw "Bat" wings and immediately thought "Oh No! They are gonna give Toto rabies! To me Bat wings make them way more menacing than feather wings ... too bad I hadn't been born yet .,. I could have advised them to impart BAT wings to the monkeys! LOL!

    Good luck on the give away drawing!

    Happy day to you and thanks for visiting!

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  19. The winners names have been drawn! Go to my July 20th posting to find out if it was you!

    http://irelandbrady.blogspot.com/2012/07/and-winners-for-celebrate-oz-blog-party.html

    Congratulations to the winners!

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  20. What a great post and such fabulous gifts! Thank you. Sorry I wasn't available to read your post on the 19th - we had a sick pup. Congrats to your lucky winners!

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  21. Karen Anne, I was totally intrigued by the facts you uncovered & loved your story on how Wizard of Oz was woven into certain events in your life... amazing how things can scare us when we were little, I remember Sound of Music having a similar effect on me (no not the singing LOL) hiding from the nazis behind the gravestones! Have a great weekend & I really have enjoyed your party post :)

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  22. I am so sorry to hear about your puppy, Faerie Moon, is he/she doing better? I so hope so ...

    Oh Shelle ... I remember that scene from "The Sound of Music" ... I still cringe and hold my breath everytime I view that scene. That was true to life terror!

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  23. I didn't get here in time for the Drawings but I really enjoyed the "Dorothy Gale" story (I had never heard this!). And you Art Cards are BEAUTIFUL!!! The characters are AMAZING!! Even the TREE!!!! Those are lucky winners..and lovely necklaces as well!!!

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    1. Hi April! Next year I'll extend the entry time period so that you won't miss out!

      Thank you! The first time I met that tree ... well, he scared the beejeebies out of me!

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  24. What a fabulous post. I did not know the story of Dorothy Gale's name. Your own personal story is too wonderful as well.

    Your art is amazing! I hate that I missed your beautiful giveaway, but maybe I will catch one another time. Hugs and happiness always, Mina

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    1. Hi Mina, I'm sorry you missed the giveaway too ... next time I will extend the days for entries.

      Hugs and happiness always to you too Mina!

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  25. I'm a bit late with my Oz travels but enjoyed visiting your blog so much and oohing over your gorgeous creations that I just had to leave a comment. I especially enjoyed reading your "About Me" story with your journey through Etsy as I know how much it's changed my life as well.
    ♥Sharon

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  26. Hi Sharon! Better late than never ... happy to have you visit! Always love meeting and making new friends! I love your Etsy Shop ... it is delightful!

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