Hi! I’m Deirdre, and you can call me Dee.

My dear friend, Karen Burton, and I wanted to work together for years to provide something for women that would bring a smile to their day. We are both creatives and entrepreneurs so it seemed like a natural fit. We couldn’t find the right project at the time. Life kept rolling and we pursued our different arts.

I went back to school at Parsons for a second-act in fashion design and started my company, Deirdre, a pro-aging/fashion blog and clothing company celebrating women over 50. I’m back at Parsons, this time adding to my design skills by learning 3D Virtual Fashion Design software. First collection is in progress, post-pandemic, as I’m to and fro from Virginia to NYC’s Garment District.

Karen’s artistic background includes fine art, photography, textile design and graphic/web design. More recently she’s been exploring and mastering Procreate, a digital drawing and painting app – pushing her art in new directions (Karen’s portfolio). With that, Karen has added “Illustrator” to her expansive list of professional art titles and now her work can be found in magazines and books.  She also wears a publisher hat, with her publishing business at High View Studio Press and her impressive skills navigating the labyrinth of on-demand print formatting. 

Happily exploring these new directions, Karen and I met up after she illustrated and helped publish Aliyah Jackson’s book, Planting Gardens on the Moon. With her publishing skills growing, her art thriving, and my writing muscle flexing, we found the perfect opportunity to work together: a book for friends, by friends.

 
By pairing Karen’s art with my words, we wanted to create a colorful celebration of friendship that could help people take time to think about and connect with their friends, especially after long pandemic separations. 

And here’s the result of our collaboration: 

To My Dear Friend reaches across the months and miles to express those special feelings from the heart. You’ll hear your friend’s voice, or maybe your own speaking to a friend, in notes of appreciation, love, and encouragement. You’ll feel your friendship getting nurtured as you smile your way through the book, thinking of your friend, what you share, and how she makes your life better.

We hope you enjoy To My Dear Friend as much as Karen and I enjoyed creating it!