Basehor woman paints holiday windows at Three Sisters Coffee in Tonganoxie
Reader-submitted photos; Elizabeth Novo-Gradac says she remembers painting Christmas ornaments as a teenager.
TONGANOXIE — Elizabeth Novo-Gradac, a Basehor woman who has loved artwork since she was a teenager, painted holiday scenes on the windows at Three Sisters Coffee and Creamery after leaving her name with the shop while buying a drink, according to a statement she provided to the paper and a Nov. 8 Facebook post she shared.
"I was just out there one day grabbing a drink," Novo-Gradac wrote. "I left my name and mentioned that I would love to come and paint their windows." "A few days later, I received a call and they let me use my imagination on anything I wanted to do," she wrote.
Photos she posted show both storefront windows decorated with winter scenes and painted drink names, including Jack Frost, Rudolph, The Grinch, Peppermint Mocha, Christmas Tree Latte and Reindeer Friend. The designs are painted on the glass and the drinks are on the menu for customers to enjoy.
Novo-Gradac said she remembers painting tiny Christmas ornaments as a teenager and still loves cutting out characters and painting them. She and her niece have painted many over the years and helped a relative win Best Yard Decor for several Christmases. "I love surprising people with leaving random items in their yard," she wrote. "God has just gifted me with creativity."
Around this time last year, she wrote, she went on a missionary trip to Reynosa, Mexico, where the group built homes for people living in a landfill and decorated them for Christmas with scraps found there. "I believe my creativity comes from growing up without a lot of money," she wrote. "It caused us to have to get creative without much. I would not trade this for the world."
She said she is nervous before every project and prays for help. "It is very relaxing to create and paint," she wrote. "I do not do it for the money. I just love using any gift that I have for Jesus Christ."
Three Sisters Coffee and Creamery is at 635 E. 4th St. in Tonganoxie.
Source: Elizabeth Novo-Gradac Facebook post; statement from Elizabeth Novo-Gradac provided to the editor; Three Sisters Coffee and Creamery Yelp listing.