New favorite album to listen to whilst I draw and get lost in my imagination. Listen Here.

It’s been a while…Happy Friday!

Today, I bring you a treasure chest. You are going to love it. www.vintagechildrensbooks.com. This is a gold mine folks. I have made one purchase from them a few months ago, and I got some books from the 50′s, 40′s and even one from 1746. Yes. They didn’t make ‘children’s books’ then, but they made religious songs for children to learn about how to behave in society. Such a great find. The books I am showing above are all $5 (except for Sara Crew, which is a mere $100) but you could do some major Christmas shopping here (ah -hem…for me…ah-hem). Seriously, I have to restrain myself here. I have a complete passion for vintage children’s books (really?) and this is a gold mine. They are adding new stuff all the time, so check back every once in a while. Have Fun!

New found blog. Go make this. Simply brilliant.

Picture via Oh Happy Day.

I haven’t posted a happy site friday in a while, but I wanted to leave you with some great clean. fun. happy. organizing tips. Well, sites. I won’t pretend to have all the knowledge. I am a master at learning from the one’s who have it down…and clean & organized spaces are my focus this year.

Here are some random sites and articles:

Paper clutter

Home Office organization

unclutter

simple living

minimilstic home

Getting things done

Small Spaces

Happy Friday!!!

Happy Friday! Another great Inspirational sight for all: artist, designer, mother, child, vintage lover…if you haven’t been hanging around Junior Society Blog (Blog of the beloved Mahar Dry Goods founder Robert Mahar) you will be now. He is a scavenger hunter, and keeps you up do date on products and activities that will leave you thinking you are still living in the old-time-when. Have so much fun! Have a great friday! OH…and thanks for all the advice and well wishing with my no-napping Addie. She did have a nap yesterday and oh the joy!! We take what we can get here! Check back soon for new art work coming soon! (wink wink).

xoxo

sarah jane

Today I start the weekend with an incredible illustrator with products you’ll want a passport for. Shinzi Katoh is one of the most famous illustrators/artists in Japan, and has a fabulous company sporting everything from bags to lunch boxes, stationery and fabric . His site is very protected from downloading, so there is lots more at the site you will love to see. I glean so much inspiration from this style…and though my own personal style is a little different, I learn so much from his color, hand printed look and composition. Not to mention that I REALLY want one of those tote bags! Have fun looking around, and have a great weekend!

xoxo

sarah jane

If you are like me, you go to FLICKR and find great photography and get sucked in. If I let it, time just flies by and I don’t even know it because the photography takes me somewhere. My two cousins (Liz and Jesse) are super duper talented and I honestly don’t know how they do it! But, I am learning, and I am so happy to be related to these two amazing photographers. (We share the same Grandpa Knell and in fact, most of the models above are my cousins too!). So, if you are like me and like to travel on Fridays (or wish you could) take a little trip of your own and visit Jesse or Liz and you will be refreshed and inspired.

Happy Weekend everyone! Happy 08-08-08!!

xoxo

sarah jane

I am out of the studio enjoying much needed time with parents and family, but I couldn’t leave Happy Site Friday empty today! I am so excited to introduce to you an incredible new magazine that will inspire you to live the everyday, simple moments to their fullest. SEEING THE EVERYDAY is new to the shelves, but is getting wide spread attention because of their simple focus on “the daliy interactions taking place at home.” Taking great care to reveal the detailed ingredients that makes a home beautiful, warm, loving and whole. One of my favorite quotes is “The most important work we will ever do is within the walls of our own home” (Harold B. Lee)  and this magazine takes you into those rooms and corners where memories are made, and moments are lived. Stunning photography, beautiful personal accounts, endless quotes, and illustrated pages leave you thinking that it really WAS worth your time to clean the kitchen with your boys today. Or let your daughter crack the eggs for the first time. Or being up in the night with your autistic son. REAL life. REAL living. REAL pages. And, AMAZING! There are NO advertisements and the pages are matted so you really feellike you are carrying around a keepsake. you will LOVE this! I wish wish wish I could send each of you a copy, but I will leave a few quotes I find inspiring this morning:

“It is not about making a cake, dinner or any number of important things…It is, however, about making a child. A unique, one of a kind, significant individual” Lawrence Elliott

“Work as hard as you play and play as hard as you work” Esther Packard

“God must have loved ordinary events, because he made so many of them” Abraham Lincoln

I am so inspired and thrilled to see media out there pursuing the happiness within the home. So, get off your computer screen, and write a letter with your child, or bake a cake, or color. That is where I am headed! But sometime today, stop over here and pick up your copy. Happy weekend everyone!

xoxo

sarah jane

If you have been here a while, you know that every Friday is a Happy one. Today is Happy because I get to share with you a new favorite and very inspiring site: www.camillesoulayrol.com. Camille Soulayrol is an interior designer, writer and creative who has worked with Marie Claire Idees as well as others putting together beautiful spaces. These are some of my favorite.

I love seeing REAL lived in children’s spaces that are full of color and quirkiness. Knowing my art hangs mostly on the walls of children’s rooms, I become very inspired by these spaces, and imagining how art and decor work together to enhance a space. I believe in both functionality and whimsicality in a chilren’s space, and these images tickle my senses! And, of course, Camille is French and the site is in French…even more reason to Oh-la-la these spaces. Enjoy and Happy Friday!

Maybe you have seen these images floating around cyberspace, but regardless if these are new or not….don’t they just make you happy?

I am attracted to people who strive to make the world a more beautiful place…who make a difference. And though it seems Bansky’s efforts are in pointing to truth in Human behavior, something about painting on the walls of ghetto buildings makes me smile. I won’t be showing my kids this site (mine would go recreate this on the bathroom wall with crayons). But be inspired. Go make the world a better place today. In whatever medium, in whatever style, in whatever form.

Hello.
Smile.
Pick up a piece of litter.
Write a letter.
Give blood.
Hold a child.
Say thank you.

Happy Friday everyone!

xoxo,
sarah jane