Imagine the image in a fun house mirror. Those visual distortions are caused by the shape of the mirror. West Seattle toy inventor Myrna Hoffman saw something like this in an ancient chinese art form (called the Anamorphoscope) in the late 1980's when she was visiting a small museum near Harvard.

She was fascinated by the effect caused when a distorted image was restored to a clear one in the reflection that reversed the distorted shape. Her update on this became a reality when she created a hand drawn version of this art form for her daughter's birthday party.

After a few bends in the road she's become very successful creating what she calls Morph-O-Scopes. So successful, in fact, that Hoffman's invention has won more than 25 national awards, including the 2009 Toy Man Award of Excellence.

In 2001 she won Oxygen Media Build Your Own Business award.

Her process begins on the computer with piece of art that is scanned in and then taken through a program that produces the morphed image. Hoffman has 10 kits of images and the tools to color them and make them show up properly, including a circus kit, sports kit, dinosaur kit and a fairies fantasy kit.

The kits include a flexible mylar panel that forms a kind of cup that restores the distorted images supplied in the kit. The images come in black and white line drawings that kids can color with the included crayons.

She has plans to take the idea mobile, taking photos of people, "morphing" them and printing the images out right on the spot to use as a fundraiser for groups.

"It's a great icebreaker" said Hoffman.

Hoffman has lived in West Seattle for the last three years. Her background is rich with experiences that combine art and education. She has been an animator for NOVA, has done technical illustration for Harvard, MIT and Boston University.

Hoffman also taught art for K-12 and now she's a successful inventor.

You can find her product Morph-O-Scopes at select toy stores or on her Web site, www.oozandoz.com.