As an editor, styling shoots for magazines, I've had the opportunity to work with so many great companies making beautiful things, many of them even handmade, at affordable prices. Now, as a designer with a voice of my own, I've been able to collaborate with longtime partners who share my vision that quality needn't be expensive and that great design should be available to all. One such partner, going all the way back to my House Beautiful days doing Weekend Shopper, is Larson-Juhl.

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As you know, Artaissance, together with Larson-Juhl, produced, printed and framed the piece by artist Campbell Laird especially for the window. For that, the editors of ELLE DECOR and I are truly thankful. 

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But as public as this particular piece is at the moment, there are two, much more private works of art deserving of the same special treatment. Weeks ago, in anticipation of our framing event in Atlanta, we posted a giveaway of one free framing, courtesy of Larson-Juhl. To enter, readers were encouraged to submit a comment, describing the piece and why it's meaningful to them. Here's what caught our eye—and captured our hearts—from Marylee Deeter of Joilet, Illinois: 

My husband and I have a collection of artwork from Haiti. We are adopting
two 13 year old girls from Haiti to join our family of 5. Some of the artwork
is from the orphanage they live in, done by the children there. We have all canvases…nothing is framed. When our daughters finally get to come home,
we'd like to have a wall dedicated to their home country and culture. 

Along with these words came this work of art, one of two created by sisters Ismene and Ismarie at their orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, now left uninhabitable by the quake. 

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Here's the back of Ismarie's canvas made from scrap wood and fabric. 

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Thankfully, Marylee's daughter's are okay, having been granted humanitarian parole by the State Department for a speedy exit out of harm's way and their imminent arrival safely home. Soon, thanks to our generous friends at Larson-Juhl, their new rooms will be made just a bit more beautiful, their lives a little brighter, with the gift of their works of art, framed-—and celebrated!—just as they should be.     

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To support the Red Cross in its emergency relief and recovery efforts for those most affected by the earthquake in Haiti, click here.