My first heart design was made for a friend who was very ill and dying of cancer. I had hoped that the heart would help heal his spirit and remind him of how many people loved him. Subsequently I began making these heart designs and giving them to people who were in need of physical or emotional healing.

In 1999 there was an international pressed flower art competition held in Japan. The Theme was "Love" and those competing were asked to create a design interpreting this theme. I entered one of my "Healing Hearts" and won the "Chairman of the Japan Hanaippai Federation Prize."

The Hanaippai Federation was created after World War II in Matsumoto City in Nagano prefecture. The people of Matsumoto City decided to plant flowers as a way to heal the spirits of their people and also to beautify their city after so much of it had been destroyed. The flowers were a great success and thus the decision was made to create the "Hanaippai Federation" (hana meaning flower in Japanese) as a means for the people of Matsumoto to spread beauty through out Japan by planting flowers and helping to heal the spirits of an entire nation.