Autumn. Hands down my favorite season. Growing up back east, I have learned since moving to always surround myself with trees. Any kind of tree. And lucky for us, our neighbor has fruit trees. Lots of them. With a garden to match. And today, we harvested the first of the apples. It's that time of year. There is a magic in the air...you can even taste it.
Enjoy your weekend!
**A little bird told me there is some grand giveaway fun planned for Monday...come on over...it'll be a party!
7 am
Ian: Good morning mom. I'm a cat.
Me:OK. Good morning my cat.
I roll out of bed with the baby.
Addie + Ian: Meow Meow-mow meeeee-ow. (Translation: Can we listen to Mr. Mistoffelees? {from CATS})
We are listening to Andrew Lloyd Webber and dancing like 8o's rock star cats all before breakfast. I love my life.
Breakfast.
Me: Ian what do you want for breakfast? Toast or fruitshake?
Ian: Cheese and spicy stuff. And beans.
Me: We don't eat salsa for breakfast.
Ian: I want salsa for breakfast.
Me: (remembering that Ian usualy eats nothing for breakfast) OK. I'll make you salsa for breakfast. (Hey...at least it's fresh from the garden salsa, OK?)
Ian: (after getting his plate of food) I want a popsical.
Me: No popsicals for breakfast. Eat your salsa. (Did I really just say that?)
Play time.
Me: Ian, come here. I just finished cutting out your paper doll.
Ian: No mom. I'm fishing. (His fishing pole made out of a fabric tape measure clamped to a small pencil sharpener for the hook).
Me: Where are you fishing?
Ian: The Nordic Sea.
Me: What are you fishing for?
Ian: Alaskan bears.
Me: Did you catch one?
Addie interupts: No mom. Our family is allergic to bears.
Well, then. That's that.
What did you do this morning?
Whew! Lots of new things getting added today...and happily...mostly for boys! Horray!
Items will be added all day today, so thanks for your patience. There are a few more things you need to watch for...like the full paper doll set, and a couple of other things. But for now, this is it! And yes, there is a dinosaur in the studio. Can you believe? We must have dinosaurs for the boys. It's a must. And don't you love that dress at the top of the post? If I could sew a dress for Addie, that would be it I think. I am just really into felt flowers at the moment.
I hope you enjoy! See you in the shop.
xo
sarah jane
Meet Emily Smith.
Over the past nearly 2 years, I have gone solo with printing, corresponding, updating, recording, illustrating, ordering, stocking and marketing. It's been great. But add 3 babies, illustrating a book and trying to squeeze a shower in every day, and it was obvious that I needed help. I have had April take on the printing jobs, and I just hired a new shipping hand whom I love, but Emily oversees it all. Some of you may have already had responses from Emily via email, and I wanted introduce you. Say Hello to Emily!
Isn't she wonderful?
Here's are some interesting facts about the woman keeping me together these days:
And my favorite interesting fact about her:
Emily is amazing and will be keeping things moving for me. So say "Hello!"
Here are 6 very curious children who love to play together. They love to make things: make believe, make-up stories, make crafts, make food, and all sorts of other fun play. Each month, I will be adding new clothes (appropriate for the season) to the shop. You want to know the best part about it? The clothing will all be PDF downloads so you don't have to even wait for shipping. Just print them out yourself, as many times as you need (to ensure you have plenty if that exacto knife goes astray!)
What I can't decide, is if i should make the dolls a download. Would you want them shipped to you on super great paper for ensured sturdiness, or to print off your self? Opinions please:
I will have a mighty grand shop update on Tuesday morning. I'm a bit behind schedule, but I don't think you will be disappointed!
Another image I have had in my head for ages it seems. It was a lot of fun to do some digital quilting! I am asked every night : "Mom, kiss me again" "Mom, snuggle me" "One more hug" : Words I never want to forget. I also hope with this print to satisfy most family combinations: red hair, dark skin, etc. I hope to be having a big shop update by the beginning of next week! So stay tuned!
Inspiration comes (for me) from a lot of places. A book, a goodnight hug, my childhood memories, a fabric color combination, my children's interactions. I can't really say that there is any one specific source of inspiration since it is all tied up into who I am and what I experience. But I will say, vintage children's books are at the top of my list. I was notified about this site from children's illustrator Carin Berger, and I couldn't be more delighted! White Ravens, a collection of children's books from around the globe, is a library of children's books online from around the globe spanning back to Caldecott himself. Do you remember when I posted about this other site? The Rosetta Project is another site that is dedicated to saving the old and treasured children's books. A very noble venture indeed!
What I love about studying these books, is to find the relationship between the books that we read now and these very first children's books. They are like the parents of what we read to our children. I just get goosebumps when I think of storytelling to children in its very earliest beginnings. In fact, I am so fascinated by it, I own the oldest children's book I know of. It is so old, it's not even a children's picture book (they weren't even invented yet, I guess you could say). I wish I could take a picture, but it is currently safe in a box from our last move. It is a church song book for children written in 1741. It is in very poor condition, but the handwriting of little Margaret, the owner I am sure, is plain to see on the front page. Sometimes I feel sad for little Margaret who only had a songbook of rules to memorize (all about behaving well) and didn't have the luxury of reading THE VERY HUNGRY CATAPILLAR or AMEILIA BEDILIA. Did she ever get bored of what was, and wish she had books about what could be? I wonder how her era of literature would have been altered if she could have gotten a hold of HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON. But it was of course, only the beginning. And I like to imagine what it must have been like for those first children readers to witness children's picture books in the making. A lot had to happen in publishing and creativity since my little Margaret 1741 friend, and I am glad to be on the other side of it. But we all know, to create the future, we must learn from the past! So, hats off to the inspiring past! And to you, my Margaret friend, thank you for participating in the earliest of children's literature. It had to start somewhere!