On Being a REAL Princess, Secrets of the Happy Heart Princess

How it all began . . . . . . . .

I never dreamed I would write a book!! The Happy Heart Princess and my Fairy Tale Kids h appened quite by accident. It all began when my grand daughter Carol was asked to trade her tiny bedroom with the new baby. She was pretty unhappy about the idea and so in order to bring a happy resolution to the situation, I offered to redo the new room for her in the décor of her choice. She opted for the Princess Theme.

Because I live on a pretty strict budget money was an object. I'm use to doing things on a shoestring but I remember standing in the discount store holding "the perfect bedspread" which was over budget and saying "okay God, you know I’m doing this for the right reasons. I am trusting you for the mortgage money!"

Wanting to give my grand daughter some original artwork for her new room, I looked around my basement and found an old 24 x 30 canvas with a portrait painted on it. I slapped several coats of housepaint over the portrait and then began to paint a "Pippy Longstocking" type caricature of grand daughter Carol surrounded by flowe rs with a crown on her head and magic wand in her hand. At the bottom, I inscribed "Princess Carol in her Garden".

Well, the rest is history. Someone saw the painting in my shop and asked me to do one for them and so . . . . Fairy Tale Kids, was born and I began painting personalized customized pictures of little boys and girls.

Big kids and little kids loved my paintings and word of mouth brought me orders to paint little princes and princesses. It was great fun but it wasn't long before I began to ask myself "what have I done?". I began to feel a sense of responsibility that I was not only buying into but perpetuating the superficiality of the princess mentality. It was all too much about being pretty on the outside and too little about being beautiful on the inside. Grasping for a way to bring meaning to my new venture, the idea for a book began to form in my mind. Writing a book was not anything I had ever given serious consideration but after carrying the thoughts around in my head for a while, I sat down to write and illustrate. It came so easy. I felt as though I was being led. . . and that I was doing something very important.

My hope and prayer is that the message in "On being a REAL Princess, Secrets of the Happy Heart Princess" will touch the lives and hearts of little girls and big girls alike.