When creativity, nostalgia, and a little something sweet come together, the results can be pretty wonderful. For illustrator Ann Shen, that meant the opportunity to bring her artwork to a special collaboration between Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Dolly Parton.

The project began when Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton, a fan of Ann’s book Bad Girls Throughout History, reached out to see if her team could license Ann’s Dolly Parton portrait for the collaboration.

From there, Ann worked alongside the Jeni’s creative team to develop the lettering and illustrations for the packaging of Dolly’s special Strawberry Pretzel Pie ice cream flavor. The result was a charming, colorful design that perfectly captured the playful spirit of the collaboration.

For Ann, a longtime admirer of both Jeni and Dolly, the opportunity was especially meaningful.

“It was a dream come true as I’m a huge admirer of both Jeni and Dolly — and working on a project that raised funds for Dolly’s Imagination Library, as an author, was even more perfect.”

Beyond the beautiful packaging, the collaboration also supported Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books to children.

And while creating artwork for such an iconic collaboration was exciting enough, working with Dolly’s team made the experience even more memorable. Ann describes the entire process as a dream, with one particularly special moment standing out.

“It’s been the highlight of my career so far to see Dolly Parton hold my artwork!”