Giveaway #4: Southern Fabric

Southern Fabric

is saying hello and Merry Christmas today with a $50 gift card towards anything in their shop!

One lucky winner will get to choose from their vast supplies of fabric. Horray!

A little about Southern Fabric: 

Southern Fabric

has been in business for 9 years and is still going strong! They just love the relationship they have with their customers, seeing creativity happen daily, and getting to play with fabric every day!

Oh, and did you hear they are the Friendliest Fabric store on the block? Yes siree!

They are currently having a 12 Days Before Christmas Special, which is good news for all of us! 

(Today is the 5th day)

5th day - 25% off all Bella Solids Coupon Code: 25bella

6th day - 25% off all Full Priced Jelly Rolls Code: 25jelly

7th day - Free Gift With Each Purchase

8th day - Free U.S. Shipping Code: freeship

9th day - 25% off all Full Priced Yardage Code: 25yardage

10th day - 10% off Storewide - Code : 10off

11th day - 25% off all Full Priced Layer Cakes Code: 25cake

12th day - 20% off Storewide all full priced items Code: 20off

And check out their incredible SALE section

here. 

See their

website

for more details!

HOW TO ENTER: 

1) Leave a comment below

(optional)

2) Follow them on

Facebook

and leave a comment below letting me know

3) Follow them on

Pinterest

and leave a comment below letting me know

4) Giveaway ends MONDAY December 15th at 10 pm EST

Giveaway #3: Quilt Sandwich Fabrics

Today's giveaway is from Quilt Sandwich, and I couldn't be more excited for you!

Quilt Sandwich Fabrics is two sisters, Kris and Becca, who love to sew and quilt. We love so many fabrics that we decided starting a shop was the best way to see a lot of them! We both felt that the fabric industry was something we wanted to be a part of because it's creative and exciting - there are so many great ideas online, new collections coming out all the time, and tons of people we admire (some of our favorite fabric designers are Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt and Heather Ross). We wanted to do something that we feel passionate about so we started our shop in 2009 on Etsy and have just recently moved to our own website, which we are really excited about. We hope that our new website allows us to offer a better selection of fabrics and also some new products - we have some beautiful ribbons by our favorite fabric designers, and we are going to be adding patterns and kits soon. We love choosing new fabrics for our shop and luckily we tend to like the same things, so buying is a lot of fun. We think we have a good eye for fun, eye-catching fabric and we have a fun sense of humor that we bring to our shop.

WHAT THEY ARE GIVING AWAY: 

QUILT SANDWICH is giving away 6 quarter yard cuts of fabric to go with this LOTS OF DOTS quilt pattern (by Green Bee Patterns)

Quilt Sandwhich is also offering 15% off to Sarah Jane readers with code: SARAHJANE (now through Dec. 31st)

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Leave a comment below

(optional)

2) Follow them on FACEBOOK and leave a comment below letting me know

3) Giveaway ends Sunday Night December 15th 10 pm EST

For more info and goodies, follow them on FB and their BLOG 

Thanks Quilt Sandwich!

Giveaway #2: ATLY creative classes

I'm so excited to introduce atly to you.

atly is a brand new (launched this summer!) online creative class platform and is a fantastic place to spend a lot of time...learning, creating, making and engaging.

Their message: LEARN | IMPROVE | INSPIRE

I have been so attracted to their message, their clean, easy to navigate site and  their emphasis on forever learning for all ages. I love that you don't have to subscribe, but rather have the choice to take classes as you see fit. I love that they take a portion of their profits and donate to the Women's and Children's Education Fund. I also love that it's also set up in a way so that if you wanted to teach classes, you could earn a very good side income by sharing your gifts with others.

I asked them to share a little about their business so you can get to know them a little bit more:

Tell us why you started your shop:

atly was conceived because of a belief that we are never too old or too smart to learn.  We believe that life is best when we are learning from one another.

What sets your company and makes your work special?

We love being in a position to influence without borders, without restraint.  We hope to inspire and educate people across the globe.  We are believers in making education fun and accessible for everyone.  We are going to great lengths to enhance the learning process for our students.

Anything special for the holidays?

We'd love to spread the word. - Like Santa, we're giving away free stuff. We hope people will take advantage of our free classes.

 * * * * * *

What are you giving away?

atly is offering 1 free class of the winner's choice, with the upgrade. Some classes come with an upgrade option that includes instructor feedback.

Are you including a discount for our readers? 

We're going the extra mile here--readers have access to two free classes that are currently posted on our site. The

Buttercream Basics class

is free, and the

Crockpot Freezer Meals class

is free for the first 2,000 registrants.

* * * * * *

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Leave a comment below and tell us what class you'd love to take!

(optional)

2) Follow atly on Instagram and leave a comment here letting us know

3) PIN an image from the atly BLOG or WEBSITE and share the pinterest address of your board or pin here in the comments below

4) Follow atly on FACEBOOK and leave a comment below letting us know

5) Giveaway ends Sunday Night December 15th 10 pm EST

OTHER PLACES TO FOLLOW ATLY: 

Facebook,

Blog,

Pinterest

and

Instagram

GIVEAWAY #1: Fat Quarter Shop

A week of Giveaways! Just in time for the holidays. Each day this week I have a new sponsor offering a giveaway that will ship in time to arrive at your door before Christmas. I'm so excited!

First up, Fat Quarter Shop. 

I asked them to share a little about their business so you can get to know them a little bit more:

Tell us why you started your shop:

Kimberly started Fat Quarter Shop in 2003, after falling fast for the art of quilting.  She found that many of the fabrics she wanted were hard to find, and she decided to open an online storefront with top quality quilting fabric, making it accessible to everyone!

How long have you been in business?

Fat Quarter Shop opened in 2003, so we celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year!  We celebrated with the Deck-ade the Halls Quilt Along!  You can expect many more quilt alongs of this nature in the future!

Anything special for the holidays?

Our annual Countdown to Christmas begins on December 13h, and we will have different sales each day!  There will be plenty of opportunities for BIG savings, so follow along on Facebook and Twitter!

Fat Quarter Shop will give away a $50 gift certificate to one lucky winner! 

TO ENTER: 

1) Leave a comment below

(Optional)

2) Like them on Facebook and leave a separate comment below with that info

3) Follow them on Twitter and leave a separate comment below with that info

Have fun and thanks again Fat Quarter Shop! 

Sarah Jane and Ralph Lauren: Nutcracker Display

Well, if you've been checking my Instagram, the cats out of the bag!

This holiday season, the Ralph Lauren Flagship store on Madison Avenue in NYC as well as the flagship stores in London, Chicago, Hong Kong and 10 other stores across Asia are featuring my Nutcracker puppet theater illustrations as their holiday window display this Christmas Season!

Ya. Pinch me.

The flagship store of Ralph Lauren at 72nd and Madison is literally both sides of an entire block. It's pretty spectacular. The buildings are breathtaking, and have a history all on their own. The detail inside and out is just exquisite. The Men's store is on one side, and Women's and Children's on the other...and each has their own themed window displays.

Each of the 7 windows were decorated with my illustrations....here's a tour of the displays!

On the front corner was a winder candy scene with the Sugar Plum Fairy and a dancer from Waltz of the snowflakes.

And of course, Nutcracker and Mouse King.

I love how they used the stage border on all the windows...it went so well with the architecture and feel of the whole setting.

The Mother Ginger window was my favorite. It's hard to see the details here, but she has little dancing children underneath her.

In the corner windows by both doorways, there were lovely framed prints of the Nutcracker Characters. So Magical!

And every window featured my website and name, which was such an honor. It was so lovely to be part of their celebration this year!

I went up for a short little 2 and a half day trip so that I could see them in person. And because Michael Miller Fabrics is located in Manhattan, we made a little outing together. It was really fun to share with them! (Nutcracker fabric coming soon anyone??)

The windows turned out so lovely. I just got goosebumps! How crazy to see something you made at home with your kids on a wintery saturday turn into a window display to be seen all over the world in such a magical setting! Just so cool.

So, forgive me, but I took lots of photos! Here's a photo dump. Hope you don't mind!

Here are some close ups:

Christmas Window displays are a big deal...especially in New York City where people take city tours just to see the yearly displays. So when I was asked to be part of a 5 window display with Ralph Lauren, my jaw hit the floor, and I admit to re-reading the email a few times just to make sure.

Ralph himself toured the windows and sent his approval. And while I was taking pictures, some of the Kardashian Klan popped into the children's store (most likely for Baby North!).

The greatest part was getting to spend a weekend trip with my Mom and baby Anders. What a wonderful getaway! I LOVE NYC during the holidays. It's just so magical. Anders has been quite the traveler lately! Poor guy has to follow his Mama and her crazy designs:)

Thank you Ralph Lauren for letting me in on the Holiday fun! And if you are in NYC this Christmas, or London, Chicago, Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai, do stop by and take your pictures...and send them to me via facebook, instagram or email! I wasn't able to get pictures with my own kids (sigh) but I look forward to seeing yours! I'd love to post any and all of you there at the display!

Here's a list of the stores that will featuring my Nutcracker Windows: 

• 72nd Madison, NYC
• Bond St., LONDON, England
• CHICAGO
• Ocean Terminal, HONG KONG
• Lee Gardens, HONG KONG
• Princes Building, HONG KONG
• Gough Street, HONG KONG
• Deji Plaza, Nanjing Forum 66,Shenyang
• L’Avenue, SHANGHAI
• Plaza 66, SHANHAI
• BEIJING
• Hangzhou
• Chongqing
• Chengdu

Happy Holidays everyone!! And enjoy making your own Nutcracker little displays :)  We are unpacking ours and using them as Tree Decorations this year. Have fun!!

xo

Sarah

The Nutcracker Surprise: Part 1

I have a really cool secret that I can't tell you just yet. But it's really incredible. My best secret yet.

I'm getting on a plane tomorrow (with cute baby Anders of course), heading on a really cool journey that has something to do with these Nutcracker Theater puppets.

The suspense it too much, I know.

And no, I'm not touring as the Sugar Plum Fairy this Christmas.

I know. You are SO bummed out right now.

But your getting warmer.

I'm going to be Instagramming my journey and you can follow along here

(Even if you aren't on instagram, you can peek by clicking my little camera button on the sidebar starting tomorrow afternoon!)

Eeek! I can't wait to tell you.

But in the mean time, you can download your Nutcracker puppets and start cutting them out, ready to dance.

And watch this adorable video here.

Any guesses? More hints coming tomorrow....

Stay tuned!

xo

sarah

Books

I haven't talked about books much lately. And I should. Because I LOVE making books.

But I've been in between projects (does having a baby sound like a good excuse?) and I'm glad to be talking about them more.

This week, I signed on with an agent, and I'm so excited!

Up until this point, I've been managing my book jobs on my own, which is actually really challenging to do for many reasons. But I enjoyed it, and I liked being on my own. But I'm really wanting to put more effort into book illustration, and I'm proud to say that I'll be represented by Emily van Beek at Folio, Jr. 

Some of her illustrators are my top favorites in the industry, so I'm super honored to be there. If you aren't familiar with artists like Genevieve Godbout , Christopher Denise, Abigail Halpin , Julie Morstad and Erin E. Stead than click on over and have some eye candy. 

And with that news, I'm linking you to my Christmas book, A CHRISTMAS GOODNIGHT. Every Christmas it gets an anniversary! And this holiday season it will be it's third Christmas. I'm hoping you are loving it as much as we do here at home.

And this spring, I have a companion book to my FRENCH KIDS EAT EVERYTHING book, called GETTING TO YUM (April 2014). If FRENCH KIDS was the essay and the story behind the method, GETTING TO YUM is the method of ridding yourself of picky eaters in the house. It's brilliant folks. And I can swear by it. More on that topic later. But it's available for pre-order here!

I hope to be talking Children's Books here more. I have a great passion for reading to and with children. This list (Chapter Books for the Younger Kids) is one of the most viewed pages in my entire blog! The book world is changing dramatically because of this ever growing technology age, but I know that you are all the types of parents and grandparents that are buying books for your kids this holiday season. And taking them to libraries. And reading bed time stories every night.

So plan on hearing more book talk from me. It's one of my favorite things to talk about!

Back to the studio to work on more books....

xo

Sarah

2014 Calendar

I'm so excited to introduce to you a new calendar for this upcoming year! I've had flip calendars in the past that I know you all have loved. But I thought I'd try something new, and offer a wall calendar to be up for the whole year.

And if you can see....it coordinates with my newest fabric line that I still have yet to show you:) I'm trickling in little hints....and the wild horses are my favorite. Horses are a mild obsession with my girls. Ok, border-line crazy obsession. Ella pretends to be a horse most of the day actually. Truth.

These calendars would make lovely gifts as well. Can you believe it's already November? Where does time go?

So how about a little discount this week? I don't know about you, but I'm trying to get Christmas done early this year. (Ha! Early, like before December 20th:)

Use code 2014sarahjane to get 15% off this week only

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

I hope you enjoy!

xo

sarah

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