Birthday Love.

So what does the husband of a gluten-intolerant gal do for his wife's birthday? Makes her a gluten-free cake of course.

And yes...he makes sushi too. Really good sushi! It was my best cake yet! (Notice the ginger rose? He's all fancy like that. I love him!)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. And for all the Mermaid love. There are more coming....but not for a bit. I'm days away from finishing the final art for the book, and so I'm still living in snow and Christmas trees. Rather odd for a hot July.

But just a reminder: This week, the shop is having a birthday sale. Today is the LAST day for the Buy 2 Get 1 FREE Sale. So hurry on over!

Oh, and technical side note: If you are one of the many people who have been bugged that this blog was unsubscribable for a while, you can now subscribe and read this in your prefered Reader. Sorry for all the trouble.

Have a great weekend! And thanks again for all the love!

xo

sarah

Birthday SALE and some news!

Hello!

This is a special week here in the studio. Coupla things going on:

First, my stationary and prints were featured on our local news station. If you are visiting from KSL, Hello! Nice to have you visit!

It's a great segment on the lost art of letter writing, and Sarah Jane Studios was featured as a great place to get stationery that makes you want to write to your loved ones more! Thanks so much Studio 5!Also featured were the lovely Sycamore Street Press, (who, coincidentally, is run by the wonderful Eva who was a freshman dorm mate of mine!) and another favorite of mine: Isabella's umbrella. She is a fantastic illustrator and you can see more of her work here.

You can watch the segment below...my stuff is about 1/2 way through, but it's a great feature so watch all!

And, also on the calendar this week:

A birthday. My birthday. I know...another year older. But frankly, I am excited. I really love birthdays...especially the breakfast in bed, favorite meal, and hand made cards it brings.

I even made myself a card. I am just in love with mermaids lately! I really can't stop. This card is already in the shop here. Do you like it as a print too? Let me know...

SO: in honor of news worthy events,

We are having a SALE!

This week only, it's another buy 2 get one FREE!!!

What you need to do:

• Go and visit the ETSY shop here.
• Order 2 items and place them in your ETSY cart
• MENTION the 3rd item you would like for free in the "Message to seller" box.
• Make sure that the 3rd free item is less than or equal to the least expensive item in your cart.
• Place your order, and we'll ship it to you with a sweet note saying "thanks, we love you, you're great..." You get the idea.
• SALE ends Friday July 16th.

OK! That's a wrap up. I'm off to go finish the book. I am scheduled to finish this week! Wish me luck! It then goes to print and will be out next year. I simply can't wait to show you more!

Happy Site Friday

Hope you all have plans for a fun weekend!

I am having my first ever 'sleep-over' with Addie. Complete with movie and ice cream in bed, but only after we paint our nails and have a dance party. This is the life I live for.

Here are some places to go that will make you smile, if you aren't already happy on this happy friday.

• These images from Rolf Sachs called Alone in a Crowd. It makes me wonder what miniature stories are around if you just look up close.
• June Craft is making me happy (image shown above, from Bloesom Kids)
• This video really taps me back to my 5 year old self. Brilliant.
• Shintzi Katoh has new bags. Drooling.

• This set makes me wan to drop everything and play tea party.
• Great idea to turn the old milk carton into a stylish bird feeder
• Brilliant make-it-yourself merry-go-round book caddy.
• Our boy messenger bag has given us 2 years of fun.
• This cherry blossom craft project.

Enjoy your weekend!

Inside my sketchbook

My sketchbooks are incredible works of art. And I say that completely without ego. See, I can't draw in a sketchbook without 2 minutes going by when all my kids are surrounding me wanting to either 1) comment 2) color in my drawings with the nearest crayon or 2) share the chair and draw with me on the same page. What this means is that I go through phases of drawing with my kids. Sometimes it proves to be simply a supervised drawing session for them. Even though they have their own sketchbooks, they prefer to just draw in mine. But that's wonderful too, because I see in them budding artists. Addie already is quick to tell me I am off a bit on this or that. And I have to tell you...she is very quick to say that she is the best artist in the ENTIRE universe. Don't you think so? I thought you'd agree.

Free PDF Download

There are really old people in my life who really aren't old. They love learning. They are constantly curious. They keep developing new skills. They love to read. They are still making new friends. They still love watching the sunset. They have to create.  They love to serve people.

I want to be one of those people. I am aging another year next week and I have been rather contemplative of my aging body. 31 is getting up there!

But this year, my motto is Create and Learn and Play more!

Feel free to download this here and print it out. Happy creating!

Books You'll Love: Sounds of Color

I found this book last week. And it changed me.

Sounds of Color, written and illustrated by Jimmy Liao a very different picture book than you've ever seen. It's about a girl who goes blind, and is on a journey to find her home of light and color. She takes these subway trains from station to station and we get to see what she imagines her journey to look like. It's breathtaking. Each page is filled with the possibilities of what could be, since she can't see what is in front of her.  This book will capture your heart. Jimmy Liao, the author and illustrator, paints with his soul. He taught me this week as I discovered this book, that color and light bring so much joy and comfort to us each day, and he illustrates that with all he has.

I haven't yet read this to my children. It's long at 80 pages, although it's mostly pictures and the text is very brief. But I have been so moved by it that I have to recommend it. It would be a wonderful way to help your children understand their gift of sight.

The book was originally written in Chinese and published in Taiwan. The english translation is beautiful, but I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be in it's native language. According to the end credits of the book, SOUNDS OF COLOR has been adapted into a stage play as well as a motion picture.

Just listen to the text.

It begins:

“A year ago I began to notice that my sight was slipping away. I sat at home alone and felt the darkness settle around me. But today I walked outside into the thin gray rain and made my way to the subway. I have a journey to go on. There are some things I need to find.”

"I have forgotten how blue the sky can be. But in my mind I still watch the clouds change shape."

"Sometimes the streets twist themselves into a maze."

"I never know if this station is the same as it was yesterday. Did it change overnight? Grow into something new?"

"Now I listen for the sound of the colors I can't see. I try to smell the shapes, taste the light and dark."

"There must be someone who'll sit beside me, sip tea, tell me her hopes for the future, and listen to mine."

This week, I have been reminded of the incredible gift of sight. As an artist, it's my favorite sensory experience. This sweet story will inspire you to see all that you can and look deeper into the gift of color and light.

Enjoy!

He's really all that.

Dear Reader who wonders how I have time to do creative things,

What you need to know about being an Artist and a Mom and a Book Maker:

You will be absolutely lousy without help.

May I introduce you to man who  makes things happen around here? Oh, and have I mentioned he happens to be the most amazing man on the planet?

Say "Hi" to Kenneth. He's the love of my life. Not only has he been on kid duty while I finish up the book at full speed, but he's the King Gardener, Fixer-Upper, Royal Chef, Fort Maker, Grocery Shopper, and Make-Believe Player and even does the dishes. He is basically makes this whole book making process wonderful. That, and he is a writer and storyteller himself, so he understands how this all works...and enjoys it too! We don't live close to either of our parents, and with 3 young kids in the mix, having long stretches of time to do anything is out of the question. But thanks to my school-teacher husband who has the summer off to let me work, it's been amazing.  And on top of all that, he keeps things fun around here. He is the one that keeps me laughing when I get too stressed and knows how to have a good time when things are a bit crazy. I am seriously in love. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. Like, really blessed.

The kids think so too.

So, when I look at my life and wonder why I haven't cracked yet, it's cause of him.

The end.

xo

Sarah

PS: New summertime art is in the shop today!

The Smallish Library.

We moved into our first home about 3 months ago. We have done hardly any decorating...mostly fixing up the place to make it livable (it was quite the fixer upper!) But the first things we did do were to establish the reading corners throughout the home. We read a lot.  And I realized just now as I am writing this that we have 6 designated reading spots in the house. I love that several times a day, I'll find the kids reading in one of our book nooks. My office has large book case full of mostly children's books, we have a library room (it's really the living room with a wall to wall bookcases), the kids have bedside books, Ken and I have bedside books with books for the whole family, and we have a basement bookcase full of children's books. That's a lot of books! So that makes 5.

But the 6th place was added a few weeks ago when we purchased these picture frame shelves from IKEA and made a display book case. It was an interesting thing: For as many books we had through out the house, so many of the picture books that were crammed into bookcases just weren't getting read unless I displayed them in baskets, or pulled them out for their reading piles.Think of it like browsing in the bookstore and not having any books on display, and only getting the spine to entice you to pull it down.

This bookcase has solved that problem! We rotate the books every other day or so, and the kids pull them down so much more often than before.

And besides that, it's just pretty. It's really like displaying art! Really good art at that!

There are so many ways to make display bookcases.

Here are some other ideas if IKEA isn't available (although, I hear Target has the same kinda thing)

A MacGyvered bookcase from old wire and such.

These bookcases are actually a rain gutters, painted white and cut to size. Seen on Small Notebook Blog and Tiny Decor Blog and Satori Smiles.

Clever IKEA hack that keeps the books from falling off but still give the visual punch.

We have plans to do more....like make the closet next to the shelving into a reading cave complete with curtains and flashlights to make for a dark cozy reading spot ...but more on that later.

So question: How have you made reading time fun at your house?