Thought I should give you a heads up, so that you know what's going to be going on in the shop this weekend!
And remember, I'm clearing out all of our paper goods, and won't be selling them after Dec. 20th!
We're going to be SLASHING our clearance (was 30% but now down to 60%) so do the math, and the clearance section is nearly free.
Happy Holidays! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday weekend!
xo
sarah
So, today is kind of a big deal. I have 61 more days until the shop will no longer carry paper goods! No more Iron-on embroidery patterns, folded cards, holiday tags, bookplates or journals.
*But to clarify: I WILL be keeping all Art prints, PDFS and jewelry. Everything else is clearing out.
This has been a hard decision (as I was having grand plans to add to this list of lovely things!) But, after a long (very long!) hard think, I've come to terms with the fact that at this time in my life right now, I want to spend more time with my creative self than my manager self. Lots of product=less time to be creative and come up with amazing and genius art all the time (truth) and I want to spend more time with my children and less time infront of a computer (more truth).
And since more things can't exist in a space that's already full, I'm clearing out.
So, as of today, all paper good items that will be gone by Dec. 20th are on clearance, and will be until they are all sold out! So stock up, cause I don't have plans to bring them back any time soon!
It feels good to clear out, but do take care of them! It's sad to see them go.
Thanks for all your support! It's exciting to make changes and move forward. I've got a good feeling about all this.
Happy sale shopping!
I can honestly say I've been wanting to make this update for well over a year.
You know that feeling when you've gone through that closet in your house that never seems to be organized? and then you clean it out so well you feel like you could call Martha and tell her about it?
That's how I feel right now.
I've updated my blog with the incredibly amazing skills of Melanie at Fifth & Hazel, and I couldn't be happier. (She's amazing by the way. Top Notch).
So, there are lots of changes in every corner of this blog. But here are the biggies:
DIY, FREEBIES & COMMUNITY:
Now you can access all your favorite tutorials, Free Downloads, and whatever project or printable you need! This blog is growing into a place to access resources and I'm so excited to have a gallery of projects and free stuff! Horray!
I also created the blog so you'd have easy access to participating in the communities around your favorite products! Click around, and you'll be able to get involved and inspired.
SPONSORS:
I'm bringing on only my favorite Sponsors to give you direct access to fabric stores carrying my fabric, amazing designers and other businesses that are sisters to this site. Please click over, and get to know them. They are all amazing. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, contact me here.
COMMENTS:
I've upgraded my comments section, so that you can actually reply to eachother, to me, and really have a conversation going. It's all in real time as well, and it's mighty cool!
And see that cute heart at the bottom of each post? This is a new little thing that makes it easy to LIKE a post, if you don't have time to comment! Just another way to spread the love:)
EASY TO FIND EVERYTHING
My biggest frustration with my last space was that it was basically hard to find anything. And I want to keep giving you great stuff! So now, more than ever, I'm super motivated to offer more tutorials, printables, and lots of great stuff! And, it's super easy to find.
So, I'm going to sign off and let you click around. Get to know the site. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section! And holler if there are any trainwrecks.
I'm really looking forward to a NEW SARAH JANE: More focus on daily activity here, more illustration, Projects and more inspiration!!!
Have fun surfing around, and thanks for all your support of this space. It's getting better every day!
xo
sarah
Well, as much as I'm in denial, it's October first (happy birthday to my sister!) and it's time to start thinking holidays.
I'm usally against Christmas thinking this early on, but I'm getting more and more used to holiday shopping early...as it helps me enjoy my December so much more!
But it's even more critical that I tell you about the shop updates now, because we're clearing out! All Paper Goods (cards, hang tags, journals, bookplates, etc) will be gone forever once we sell out. And we don't have much left actually!
There are a handful of journals that we are putting out again too, all on clearance. 
These cards are my favorite. But we don't have much left! So hurry on over to the HOLIDAY section of the shop.
This card above, WINTER CHEER, has been by far our best seller for years. I'm going to be sad to see it go.
And there are all of the favorite holiday items back in the shop as well! The prints and PDF's will be there all holiday season. It's just the paper gift items that will be going fast. I wish I could keep them all, but I feel really great about narrowing down my inventory and spending more time illustrating. Can't wait to show you more of what's to come!
Well hello! Here we go. New embroidery patterns that you've been seeing sneak peeks of.Yay! I really, really love these.
Last year's patterns were an unexpected hit. I knew people were starting to fall back in love with hand stitching...but I had no idea how much! It's been so fun to talk with you and see your projects! I love that hand embroidery gives such a personal touch to any project. It becomes personal, your own, and an art piece all on it's own! Because so many of you own Sarah Jane prints in your own homes....I am starting to create more of that feel in embroidery pieces. Something you can stitch to make a real statement...but that is easy and inexpensive, and will last forever. A real personal touch!
When I was a little girl, and maybe I've said this before? I dunno. But I had a crewel embroidered nursery rhyme wall hanging in my room. I always wanted to touch it. It was a "1-2 buckle my shoe" design, and I would stroke the threads as I walked by when I was in my mother's arms. It stood out to me so much, because it was art I could touch, and handle. And my mom's best friend made it as a baby gift, which made me feel connected to her. Handmade pieces connect people. They tell a story. And they can bring to life design, color, and texture. For me, it connected me to so many things. It's why I love it so much!
So...here we go! Let's get introduced!
These designs are lifted right from the OUT TO SEA fabric and they might look all fancy, but they are really not that hard. I wanted to keep them simple this time, and so all 4 can be completed at any skill level. I promise!
The only design that is inspired by, but not lifted exactly is the BE STILL piece. My favorite! This one was fun to make a really easy running stitch turn into the distant horizon of the sea. So sweet.
Remember this piece? I thought it would make the sweetest embroidery design. And it's nice to have something that isn't just for the kids:)
No, maybe this is my favorite. I LOVE this ship design. IF I HAD A SHIP, I'D SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS. It's inspired by a poem that I couldn't get out my head when I was designing the fabric collection. Do you know it?
I grew up listening to a Judy Dench recording of this poem. So when you read it, get all British and speak in a low, dramatic voice;)
The Island, by A.A. Milne If I had a ship, I'd sail my ship I'd sail my ship Through Eastern seas; Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder - The green curls over and the white falls under - Boom! Boom! Boom! On the sun-bright sand. Then I'd leave my ship and I'd land, And climb the steep white sand, And climb to the trees The six dark trees, The coco-nut trees on the cliff's green crown - Hands and knees To the coco-nut trees, Face to the cliff as the stones patter down, Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling, Round the corner where the rock is crumbling, Round this shoulder, Over this boulder, Up to the top where the six trees stand....
And there I would rest, and lie, My chin in my hands, and gaze At the dazzle of the sand below, And the green waves curling slow And the grey-blue distant haze Where the sea goes up to the sky....
And I'd say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea: "There's nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me."
It really makes such a wonderful wall hanging. (There will be a tutorial for this in August by the way!)
So, that's where the inspiration came from for this. And a lot of the OUT TO SEA fabric. So much imagination in those children's heads. They can go anywhere.
Then of course, pirates and mermaids!
Addie is my mermaid. She comes from a long line of Mermaids. Me, my mom, my grandmother....like literally. Mermaids. Water Babies. We love the ocean.
So there you go. Lots of stitching to do! But not too much. Just enough I think!
These will be ready with IRON-ON transfers in a month. Sorry :( not just yet! But the PDF'S are ready to go! I know a lot of people like to have both on hand, just in case. But this way, you can start stitching and be ready for when the fabric comes out later this summer!
Don't forget about the SARAH JANE EMBROIDERY FLICKR group which I have sorely neglected. Sorry. No more! Let's get stitching! The Fabric flickr group rocks. Lets do the same for the stitching one!
Happy Stitching!!
All Embroidery Patterns Available HERE.
Hello!
We are busy and buzzing here in our Quilt Market prep! It's crazy! I forgot how crazy. But it's fun! Maybe if you came over and brought donuts it'd be even more fun. Wanna come?
Before I dive into the week, I wanted to give you some "heads up" since I get emailed and contacted a lot about what's coming out when!
I told you all that I'd have a paper line coming out in May, but it has been postponed until July-ish. Some issues that naturally happen when companies combine and regroup, but not because of the line itself.
It was actually featured in Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine this month....that was really fun! I just wanted to tell you, in case you catch the feature, that it won't be available until the end of the summer. Boo Hoo. So sorry.
You know, I'll say it here: I'm actually not much of a scrapbooker. I was a paper hoarder in my day, but honestly, I just never found the time with the other projects I've been involved with. (I LOVE Project Life, and my Made on a Mac books personally!) So designing a line of scrapbook paper was really my way of creating paper stuff to fill other needs like: celebrations, paper decorating, paper play, etc. Still scrapbook friendly, but mostly made with paper play in mind.
So there you go. Sorry to delay it...but I wanted to say it here so you can plan accordingly!
Oh...and if you have Instagram or Facebook, I've been posting pretty regularly there, and have found it so easy and nice to keep in touch with you all! @sarahjanestudios is where you can find me... I'm dropping things in there every day, and it's so easy to respond to what you have going on! So quick and easy!
Oh, and also....many of you have emailed me with the info about a lot of my blog links being broken, or not working, etc. Most of them are fixed now, but please alert me if some are not. The RSS feed is fixed, and the MAKE THINGS section is updated. Yay!
But now back to work. This week we're doing a lot of this:
Want to guess what it is for?
Hee hee hee.
Sometimes I wonder what you guys all see from the outside.
In here, behind this little screen of yours, I'm dashing about from one project to the next, creating and making and coordinating lots of things at once. I'm probably also wearing a tutu and wings with glitter, dancing about and magically making it all happen. You just keep thinking that! That's a happy thought.
But sometimes I wonder if it just seems kinda boring on the other side of the screen, your side, cause well, I'm not showing it all to you. And sometimes I just can't. But I can open up the porthole just a crack, can't I?
Yesterday I finally buckled down and got a housekeeper. Quilt Market is in 4 weeks, and I'm feeling the burn and so I had someone come in yesterday, and wow! What a difference. But it was funny, cause she hit everything like a whirlwind--all the rooms at once-- and it was all such a mess before it got better. That's kinda how things are here. There's tons going on behind the scenes, and soon it's all going to come together in this perfectly imperfect way...I love seeing how it all comes together. And it's all in the coming days and weeks!
So, are you ready to stick with me?
I'm going to be trickling peeks in for you during the coming days and weeks....and it's going to be a lot of fun...but it might feel like it's all over the place until it all comes together. Like a good story really.
So this week, while I'm wrapping up the mess and to fill in the time, I'm going to be doing some awesome book giveaways. I have some giveaways lined up, and hopefully that will keep the attention off the stuff I'm not showing you just yet, and will buy me some time while I dash about in my glittery tutu. :)
Ready. Set......
***I'm interrupting this space for a quick announcement***
So around these parts, things are getting busy. Quilt Market is coming up, and I've got some projects I'm working on, and I'm looking for an intern!
Interested? Know anyone who would like to know the ins and outs of running a creative studio?
I'm currently looking for 1-2 helpers from now until the end of May who can:
1) Handle a paint brush, glue gun and love craft projects
2) Basic sewing/handle fabric
3) Knowledge of Photoshop and/or Illustrator would be preferable
4) Has their own car and be willing to run errands
5) Be willing to drive to Provo, Utah 3+ days a week
6) Likes to eat homemade bread
I'm looking for someone who can be available through the end of May, but it could possibly be extended based on need.
Please email me directly at sarah (at) sarahjanestudios (dot) com
Thanks so much! xoxo