Rick Hobart, Mayor of Vernonia, Oregon, contacted me about creating a memorial bench. This special piece commemorates Washington Grade School, which was destroyed by two floods. The building was demolished and then rebuilt. Rick's wife, Linda, was a teacher in this historical building for 17 years. We couldn't find many good quality photos of the school, especially showing the full front of the building, which is what Rick wanted. Luckily,...
Bart and his magical gifts have been a challenge...until now! The deadline for Book Two is barreling down on me (August 15th), so I'm busily writing and editing. The completed manuscript for The Kidnapping King is only about a third complete. So, I'm sweating! There's still so much to write in the next three weeks! And adding to the pressure is the fact that we've decided to relinquish our commercial workshop space, since we're doing most of our...
A dad handcrafted this custom baseball bat as a special high-school graduation present for his son. He then asked me to burn the boy's name and graduation year into it . My client wanted to commemorate his son's love of the game with this unique gift. I was excited by the idea of personalizing a wooden bat since it's something I had never done before! The project was simple but super thoughtful! I'm sure this boy will keep this bat, for...
Professor Albus Dumbleore - A Portrait I started my Harry Potter series just over a year ago. Dumbledore was third in the series and I still haven't completely finished him. As you might have guessed, I started the series with a portrait of Harry Potter, which I completed in February of 2019. Next, I followed that project with my favorite character from the story; Severus Snape. He was completed in April. I actually started work on Dumbledore on...
My oldest son, Trent, is a big mead fan and also loves both my pyrography and anything old-world style. So, Jeff and I thought we would join forces for his special 40th birthday this year, bottling some of the mead Jeff brewed and left to age for a year, along with a custom label I designed for him, and a hand-burned wooden wine box to commemorate the occasion. This was the final result. And Trent was very pleased! ;) You might like THIS OTHER...
I've always been a 'maker', even before that term was a thing. I'm an artist. I have to have at least one (or more!) craft projects in progress at all times.. And as a mom, back when I was raising my kids, crafts helped me keep my children occupied and provided quality family time. More recently, I've been able to engage my cute grand kids by sharing a variety of craft projects. And it makes my heart sing watching them experience the joy, pride,...
Markus Was One of My Early Raw Food Heroes. Back in 2007 I began a journey in search of the optimal diet for healing and disease prevention. That search led me to a mostly raw food diet. I've written a lot about that experience over the years. You can read my personal story HERE. But to summarize, I was was convinced that eating a mostly raw, whole-foods, plant-based diet was the answer to human nutrition and disease prevention. As a result, I...
The Hunger Games book series senior editor to work on Book 2: The Kidnapping King. I have some good news and some bad news. First, the Good News: I've been keeping this under wraps for a couple of months now, but with all this social distancing and stay-at-home stress, I thought this might be a good time for a REVEAL! So, here it is: The Senior Editor who worked on The Hunger Games series expressed an interest in working with me on Jack and the...
