Nearly every year of my childhood I went from the high altitude desert of northern Nevada where my mother and father taught during the school year to the coastal region of Washington State where my father worked as a seasonal naturalist for Olympic National Park. My sister, brother and I would collect rocks, driftwood, seaweed pods, and shells from the beach. My mom would often clear the kitchen table and set out everything we needed to make seaweed people, rock creatures and collages.

I forgot how satisfying it is to create things with one's hands and imagination until about 5 and ½ years ago when my young neighbor, Elizabeth, invited me over to do some projects with her on New Year's day. For Christmas, she had received a copy of Felt Wee Folk, Enchanting Projects by Salley Mavor. Salley does something she calls fabric relief collage which involves felt, needle and thread, beads, buttons and found objects. Her work is exquisite and I was immediately drawn to it. At the same time, I started caring for my mother. I found the time passed so sweetly when I had something to create with my hands while being present for my mom.

Each Tiny Tooth is the first book I've published. It has been an amazing process and it was not done without considerable help from my family, friends and neighbors. My sister who is an elementary school librarian suggested the subject (because she says her kids always want to tell her about their loose or missing teeth). My 83 year old friend, Dorothy Crandell and my wonderful niece, Heather Cook edited it and gave valuable suggestions. My neighbor Karen Rathe and friend M.J. McDermott are helping me with marketing. Friend Curt Nakon came over one night after a long day's work to photograph the felt pieces and my neighbor Lisa VanDenBerg got all my files ready to send to the printer and created this incredible website for me. She is going to teach me how to keep it current so I won't have to bug her for the rest of her life.

If you have any questions about the art or the book or anything else, please feel free to contact me.