Alison Garwood Jones

My book is not on Amazon

Originally published in October 2024 in Blog

My book is not available on Amazon. But thank you for looking for it there. Truly. Here’s where you will find I MISS MY MOMMY: 150 Portraits of Orphaned Adults: • My store: PenJarProductions.com (the paperback)- @penjarproductions • Indigo.ca (the ebook) – @indigo And the public library (PB & ebook) – tap “Notify Me” if […]

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Why my Shopify store is still closed

Originally published in March 2021 in Blog

While my Shopify store @PenJarProductions is closed I’m watching how technology is changing fashion and décor. Here’s what it would take for me to start selling my custom-designed pillows and totes again.   Sources: • Unmade • Looop Recycling • Akqa

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Pen Jar Productions is featured in the Toronto Star

Originally published in December 2019 in Blog, Illustration, Toronto Gifts, Toronto Illustrators

A little dance around my drawing desk!   A year and a half into my illustration biz and I have my first serious piece of earned media, as the PR folks like to call “press.” Thank you, writer and artist, Mary Vallis (@maryvallis @canadianstitchery). This means a lot. I will be tabling tonight and tomorrow […]

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A cure for homesickness

Originally published in July 2019 in Blog, Illustration, Pen Jar Productions, Toronto Illustrators

I got homesick at university. This is me on the left with my good friend, Kelly. Every time I went home, I would pinch something — a blanket, a framed photo, one of my dad’s sweatshirts, even a favourite soup spoon — and take it back to my dorm room. Technically-speaking, I was a thief […]

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Process Junkie

Originally published in March 2019 in Blog, Surface Design, Toronto Illustrators

Who doesn’t love process, and art supplies!

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7 things my customers taught me in 2018

Originally published in December 2018 in Blog, Gift Ideas, Illustration, Pen Jar Productions, Toronto Illustrators

Last summer, the initial delight I felt in seeing my sketchbook drawings on a digital pillow template inspired a new design business in 2018 called Pen Jar Productions. Now my quirky line drawings are on totes, tees, scarves, and, coming next month, enamel pins! (In these politically-charged times, more of us are wearing our values […]

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Communicating your value as a visual storyteller

Originally published in September 2018 in Blog

I first published this post back in August when Gini Dietrich and her team asked me to be a guest contributor at SpinSucks.com. Spin Sucks (the website and the book) is a fantastic resource for up-to-date information and advice on current issues and trends surrounding marketing, communication, social media, entrepreneurship, search engine optimization, and advertising. Not […]

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