Merrijo's art career began in early elementary school when praised by her teacher for her artistic talent. Initially creating greeting cards, which were highly praised by those receiving them, she progressed to creating large scale images.  Finally, seeing an image she had previously created of a bug sitting on the back of an Adirondack chair, the she realized she had already, in her mind, done something she had wanted to do since she was a young girl - writing and illustrating a children's book. So she set out to put it on paper.  

 

Merrijo spent months creating the illustrations for The Bug's Journey all by hand.  She would start with a concept, cut all the individual pieces of paper to create the image, and then glue them onto the backer boards. Several months, and many re-writes later, The Bug's Journey became the book it is today.