Happy Site Friday: A bit of SOULE.

Happy Friday everyone! Today's inspiration comes from a blog I am sure most of you are familiar with: Soule Mama.

I daily ask myself the question: is it possible to balance gentle, creative family living with my own creative work and still mother my children in a very active way without being distracted by my own personal demands?

I don't have the answer, and I don't think there is one. I think the answer can be found in glimpses of our own family living. When we choose to look back, we see where our time is being spent. Amanda Soule blogs about her daily creative living with her 4 children is southern coastal Maine and frankly...inspires me to believe that I can do it too.

Amanda is also a wonderful writer and photographer and has written a book that I keep on hand during the day when I need inspiration: The Creative Family. She has just written another book that will soon be out on the shelves: The Handmade Home. I can't wait to get my hands on that one.

Inspiration is vital for me: as an artist I am constantly gleaning fresh inspiration to make my home, my business and my life a more beautiful place...which is why I love the blog world: a place where we can inspire each other to live our best lives. I love Amanda's blog because she gives honest glimpses and writes about REAL life: like this post and this post.

Her photos inspire me:

Real life spaces.

Real beauty found in the details.

Real life with children.

Real life at home.

Real color.

Seeing children for what they see.

Cozy living spaces.

Real work.

Life with children is hard work. Life with children and with my own work is even more challenging. But I firmly believe that the two can be welded together: a lifestyle I am constantly striving to combine. And Soule Mama's blog has become a friend to me, encouraging me a long the way. We all need support!

I leave you today with a place I hope you find inspiring: A place where I remember that children are children; the world is a place to see, touch and experience; and that pursuing our personal craft is possible while striving for creative living. Thanks, Mama.

Groups and such.

Good morning friends! I wanted to fill you in on another place to come and visit:

Join my group here for great ideas on framing and decorating with the art from my shop.

And if you have photos to share, please do! The more the merrier.

And come be my FLICKR friend here and keep in touch with my photos.

Are you a FLICKR junkie? Me too. No dieting here folks. Just love.

Happy Day to you all!

Dreaming of summer play.

I get a lot of inspiration from children's clothing, and I have a few favorite places to check out. What gets me though, is WHY in the world do these dresses have to be $175 and $138???

(OK, OK. They are made by hand in Ethiopia, but really. Come on people!)

I think I will just be DRAWING these into my designs instead of modeling them on my little miss. Hopefully that will satisfy my cravings to doll her up in these adorable frocks!

Found here via a room somewhere

Spring Greetings.

I am nearly done with my new spring stationery! For the first time, there will be stationery for ALL ages! But of course, I did add some invites and cards good for all those spring babies coming. (My little egg has nothing to do with my excitement or anything:)

The image above most of you haven't seen before...unless you have scrolled WAY back into my archives. This image is my first elephant and bunny image that first inspired me to create Wellesley and Winslow: the elephant and bunny pair I love so much. This image somehow never made it into the shop, so I am super excited to bring them back in!

I have more to reveal later this week! Shop update is scheduled for Friday April 3rd.

Happy Spring everyone!

Hi there! We're back.

Wowzers. I think this is the longest I have ever been away from my blog! And not just my blog. From blog surfing, internet research, twitter, and even emails that don't need immediate reply. Wow. I feel a little strange being back! Not because I didn't miss piping in about the fun things we have been up to, but because I have had an increased sense of reality.

A older woman I met with yesterday said something I will never forget. She said: "So-and-So is always out in the neighborhood visiting with neighbors, chatting with people in the yard and walking around outside getting to know people. You see, he doesn't have a TV."

Well...I think it is safe to say a replacement for TV has become the COMPUTER! The safe place to connect. And a wonderful place! Diets are just recommended to make sure it isn't our only place to connect. And now, after 12 days or so, I am in check. And for heaven's sake, I am not even an addict...just someone who loves pretty things, getting inspiration, checking in with people, and keeping up on my business. But now I am back, and happy to check in with eveyone and say a big: I have missed you! Thanks for checking in while I was away. Great things are happening, and I can't wait to share!

Photoshoots.

One of the 'projects' I have been filling my time with is getting more interesting product photography for my shop. Oh boy. I love taking pictures, but this is something I am not an expert in! I am hoping that I have had some happy accidents!

The color of my walls (we are renting) doesn't work with my art and products very well. So, my sister and I went shopping for yards of interesting fabric. We didn't have a lot of time, but what we came up with worked pretty well! I rented some big studio lights from a local photography shop to help enhance the natural morning light in my home, and we did the best we could! I would have liked to get a fancy camera in addition to it all, but we did the best we could!

I have used a 50 mm lens (the only lens I have that allows the most light!) and went at it. Oh, I wish i had all the time in the world to learn all the things I want to about photography! Hopefully these will do for now!

I hoping to get a website up and running by the time this baby comes, and so this is all in efforts to get one going soon.

And of course, this was all done in my family room, with my darlings running about. Most projects are done this way around here. And they of course wanted some camera time too. They are my best products really. The only thing is, they are not for sale! Sorry.

Cuts.

We just cut 7 1/2 inches off Addie's hair over the weekend, and she loves it! We love it! The Little Miss no longer has her baby hair attached to her head, which makes me a bit sad. But oh she is so cute!

Speaking of cutting things off, I am taking a break here for the next week. The internet seems to be the #1 place to check into these days, but I am needing a mandatory diet for 1) to make sure my inspirations aren't coming strictly from a screen (the WEB'S image overload can be just that...overload!) and 2) to get some necessary projects done. With only 3 months left in my pregnancy, I have given myself some big deadlines so I can be free to mother my little one with as few distractions as possible.

So this week, there are new designs on the agenda, as well as some other less interesting but mandatory projects. But I will be back soon, hopefully with some pretty exciting updates! Spring designs are coming, and I think you will love them! So check back soon! My internet diet can't last too long...I absolutely love keeping in touch with you guys! So, farewell blog world...time for a brief vacation!

xoxo

sarah jane

The baker's wife.

I know I have mentioned before how in love I am with the fact that I have a gourmet chef for a husband. He calls himself the "Weekend Gourmet". Because really, it is the weekends that he has the time to just play. To him, cooking is completely a creative outlet. He'll study baking and cooking from cultures world wide, memorize the principles, and will never touch the recipes again. He will make up his own variations and never create the same thing twice. And often, his best cooking is when he just needs to take a break from the world and play in the kitchen. I really don't mind when he comes home stressed since it usually means something really yummy is coming!

This weekend there was Irish in his blood. With St. Pat's just around the corner, he whipped out 3 different kinds of Irish breads: raisin and lemon Irish soda bread, Brown Irish soda bread, and his own variation of Baps (an Irish breakfast role). Oh, and do I mention that he did this all in 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon?

I probably shouldn't mention that the photos don't even include the grilled salmon meal or the traditional Irish Corned beef and cabbage meal, both with all the trimmings of a gourmet night on the town. I am REALLY trying to get him to write down his recipes...maybe a little blog pressure will help?

oh yes, I love my life.

Feel free to nibble at the screen.