Annie's New Zazzle store

It has been a while, but I have opened a new Zazzle store: Annie Mason Design. This store features new artwork on products ranging from Accessories (bags and wallets, scarves) to Wall Decor (Canvas, Wood Art, Metal). As we enter the gift-giving season, many products make great gifts: Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Graduations. Don't forget the friends you are visiting after the pandemic kept you away. There are also Baby Showers and Weddings that might be in the coming months.

The distinction is that the product designs are my artwork so the recipient won't find them anywhere else. (At least, I hope not).

Please visit my store after you view some of my favorite items here.

For baby room:

Giraffe and Her Calf poster

Sea Turtle poster

Count on Me baby blanket

For baby:

Roses baby bodysuit/one-piece

Buttons! baby bib personalized with a name

Pick of the Orchard baby bib personalized with a name

Too Sweet for Words bodysuit personalized

Mom didn't expect a night owl bodysuit

Kids:

Cat and Mouse T-shirt

Sea Turtle T-shirt

Graduation:

Be a Pineapple poster

Follow your Inner Compass T-shirt

Mother's Day:

Day Lily wood wall art

Wild Wildflowers crossbody bag

Please visit this new store: Annie_Mason_Designs

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Share a Quote from a Great Book #2

In this second edition of #ThursdayQuotes, I will share a quote from one of my favorite books since childhood.

"I like good strong words that mean something".

from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The quote is one from Jo, the tomboyish, hot-tempered, geeky fifteen-year-old girl we find when we are introduced. You can hear the trouble in her name – she's called Josephine, a feminine name, but she goes by the more masculine-sounding Jo. Jo also loves literature, both reading and writing it. She composes plays for her sisters to perform and writes stories that she eventually gets published.

Jo hopes to do something extraordinary when she grows up, although she's not sure what that might be – perhaps writing a great novel. Whatever it is, it won't involve getting married; Jo hates the idea of romance because marriage might break up her family and separate her from the sisters she adores.

As we can guess, Jo is sure to be a semi-autobiographical stand-in for the author, Louisa May Alcott. Like Jo, Alcott was one of four sisters, with a philosophically-minded father, strong religious principles, and a penchant for writing.

What about the quote?

In this day of Twitter and Facebook, are "good, strong words" a good idea? Have we lost the joy and delight of children's books? Are newspapers a thing of the past? Have we lost good grammar in signature shortcuts like LOL, or OMG?

Like all these Thursday posts, please tell me your thoughts in the comment section below this post.

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Share a Quote from a Great Book #1

I hope this new blog post will be a recurring, motivational post. Short but sweet.

Let's start with my favorite author, Dr. Bertice Berry.

With her characteristic sense of humor and a good dose of motherly wit, Bertice Berry spins the endearing tale of Jim and Louella Johnson, an elderly couple in a southern town who have settled into a marriage that has long lost its pizzazz. Louella, fed up with her lackluster love life, decides to contact her departed ancestors for some advice. Conjuring up her mother, grandmother, and aunt in a dream, she receives a delightful lesson in reigniting the fires of love.

Even more startling, the Johnsons discover they can help others rejuvenate their passions, heal their hearts, and mend their souls.

I love this quote in the graphic above. In this crazy and divisive world, learning this lesson is essential. Change is gonna come, like it or not. Slow down, reflect, and assess how this will affect your life, and then realize that this change will have a positive effect if you are willing to roll with it.

Bertice Berry is my soulmate. Having met her in 2005, we reconnected on Twitter (of all places). I answered a nudge tweet from @DrBerticeBerry: "If you could do something new and different, what would it be?" My answer: "Illustrated a children's book." The start of something good. Bertice wrote a story several years ago, and I added illustrations to her text.

Re-read the quote. Seasons change, weather changes, eras change, cultures change, and people change.

"I learned a long time ago that when change comes, you gotta slow down and take note of it. In the midst of that change is all the possibility in the world."

How do YOU deal with change?

Scroll below this post, and share your thoughts.

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