Hi! It’s been a while! I hope you had a wonderful summer. Tom and I spent a lot of time on our deck this summer and that’s about the only place on the planet where I can just sit and not want to be doing something. Which isn’t to say I haven’t been busy!

I closed my Etsy printables shop. I know there are a lot of people who download and print their own cards, but I love the cards I print myself and wanted to share them more directly with others. So, I opened a different Etsy Shop called Grandma Jo’s Card Shop. It’s only been open a few months, but I’m getting good traction already. My intention is to keep it small, so it keeps being fun!

Something Unexpected …

I never thought I would illustrate someone else’s stories. Until I met Fran. She wrote a poem, Where the Rainbow Sleeps, 24 years ago and dreamed of publishing it but couldn’t find an artist she connected with and whose style reflected her vision. We met at a birthday lunch for a mutual friend. That was in July. Her book should be released later this month and, surprise, I’m the illustrator. Fran has a nonverbal adult daughter who expresses herself through painting. I used her art throughout the story for backgrounds, etc. You just never know what delightful experiences will come your way if you are open to them.

What to Write?

Now that fall is on the horizon, I’m getting the writing bug again. The poetry book I was working on still needs some brewing time, so I went back to my Christmas poems today. They are the same ones I shared as coloring pages last year when they weren’t book ready yet. I’ve written a few more and would love to wrap them all up in a colorful book in time for the holidays. Wish me luck!