Jill McDonald

The day Elsie was due, we were walking around a mall, killing time the best we could. While in Pottery Barn Kids I found a book that was so lovely, I bought it. Which is a big deal for me as I am rarely that impulsive. But it was the most adorable art, colorful and happy, a mix of fabric collage and stitching and I loved every page. The artist was a woman named Jill McDonald and the book was called Who's in the Garden, but around here we just call it, "Mama's Favorite Book."

At some point after having Elsie I looked up this artist, and actually emailed her to see if I could hire her to design a new blog header for me. I sent the email with high hopes and then decided to look around her site to get a feel for anything else she had done.

Heh. Hysterical. It was then that I realized she's a big deal. A really big deal. Like contracts with Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids and Target. That kind of big deal. I realized I've seen her stuff everywhere.

She was kind enough to reply to my email. Her rate wasn't terrible, but it was out of my price range.  I humbly replied, "Dear Ms. McDonald, I had no idea who you were when I emailed you first. I now realize asking you to work on my blog was about the same as asking Barbara Streisand to sing back up on my demo cd. Thanks so much for your time."

And then she wrote back, "I love Babs!" ...and I was excited she replied, because I was completely of star struck.

Anyway, here is the link to her website and a link to her etsy shop. She's great. Enjoy!