i am a joan-of-all-trades, a woman who loves to learn and jump into new endeavors and then share my creations with others. i've spent several years living in community and on organic farms, and i love growing food, flowers, and herbs. since 2009 i've been teaching myself more about wild edibles and herbal medicine, making my own tinctures, salves, and oils.

my greatest joy is to move steadily toward a simpler life - one day i hope to build a very small home out of cob and grow fruit and nut trees and have sprawling gardens, with all my needs provided for locally, simply, and sustainably. i find i'm much happier when i know how to do things myself, and so i've been led to making books rather than buying them, sewing for the general needs of a household, creating my own bath products, and studying the day to day skills that our ancestors would have known by heart.

i love writing letters (and receiving them!), stepping in mud barefoot, finding strange looking bugs and flowers, taking pictures, growing things, walking in forests, crossing creeks, and sharing moments.

i first started using menstrual calendars in 2007, when i chanced upon an awesome artist creating inspiring pocket-calendars. unfortunately, i found myself frustrated with the straight/rectangular style of every calendar i saw. a linear approach didn't seem to make sense when tracking the ebb and flow of the moon.

knowing that most women's cycles correlate in some way with the moon's phases, in 2009 i set out to create a spiraling calendar that would easily show how one's cycle was connected to the moon's cycle. and so spiral moon calendars were born. they are an exciting pursuit for me, challenging me both as a designer and an artist.

i chanced upon the world of henna back in 2002, while doing research on renaissance faires for a high school project. my curiosity has been strong ever since, and in 2005 i made it a business. henna remains with me from season to season and year to year, a form of art that i always enjoy and the best job i could ever hope for. it has been a great joy for me to find that professional henna artists are a sharing and accessible bunch, a trait that made my path much easier. it is in this spirit that i share information with you and offer my services.

i especially like creating books out of consumer waste - all the boxes and cartons most folks toss away without a thought. bringing these materials back into view as something fun and useful is a helpful reminder that our lives can be radically different if we approach them from another direction. i'm currently teaching myself to make more fanciful books with handmade papers, photo covers, hand stamped embellishments, and anything else i can think of to make them feel magical and treasured.