I had some fun recently making mask designs inspired by Russian Stacking Dolls, Nutcrackers, and Santa beards. Choose from flat or fitted mask designs (also sizes for kids!), all available on Redbubble.com.

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“There’s something that I’ve noticed.Perhaps you’ve seen it, too.Life is so much betterwhen it’s me and you.” Educator John Schu revealed the cover of my and Pat Zietlow Miller’s newest book, coming out this March 2022, on his blog. Check out his post to read more!  Description from the publisher: From the time we are…

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The Haiku Poet Podcast recently featured a read-aloud of ‘Home in the Woods’ — this is an adorable podcast by Josh Cleveland along with his kids, and it warmed my heart to have this special attention that they gave to my book. At the end of ‘Home in the Woods’, I ask readers to capture…

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When designing the illustrations for a scene in a book, here are questions I ask to help explore the visual options…(Feel free to download and print this for your own use. If you re-post this, please keep my copyright info attached and link to my blog if possible. Thanks!)

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Earlier this year, the Read Aloud Revival program chose my book for their March Family Book Club. The Read Aloud Revival (RAR) is a program run by Sarah Mackenzie that helps kids and families fall in love with reading. RAR Premium offers Family Book Clubs, a vibrant community, and coaching for homeschooling parents. Sarah Mackenzie…

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Downloadable coloring sheets for you and your kids or students to color! (Click on the following download links to print quality PDF files): This page is my encouragement to create a family portrait of your own: Buy a copy of ‘Home in the Woods’ here:

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When drawing certain things over and over, I’ve found it helpful to make a crude model that I can capture at different angles and light it to show where shadows will fall. I made this little paper model of the shack for my story ‘Home In The Woods’: For the scene marking the arrival of…

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I’m inviting kids and readers of ‘HOME IN THE WOODS’ to send a letter or drawing to the real Marvel! Marvel is 94 years old at the time of this writing in 2020. She was a 5th grade school teacher for many years, and she had a big influence on instilling in me a love…

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