This week on Project Run and Play, the theme is BOYS!!! And you can go and vote for your favorite BOY outfits. I am a little biases, and I'm voting for these Children at Play patterns. Talk about amazing! Those flannel PJ's I am SURE are going to be just as cute on my husband...I mean really? I want some too!
So go and vote soon! Loving it all you guys...I am getting inspired to make more fabric by just watching what you all make every day. Love you all!
xo
sarah
...Through the eyes of Instagram....
1. Signing my book along side "The Toymaker." Both of us have Christmas Books coming out. If you haven't seen her site, it's a must!
2. I spoke on a panel with 3 new kindred spirits: Amy Turnsharp of Little Allouette, Andrea Badgely of Sacred Suds, Liv Lane of Choosing Beauty. Amazing women!
3. The first purchase of A Christmas Goodnight! Kim Christopherson and Kris Thurgood from the DIY DISH of course!
4. My first spotting of my book for sale!
5. Holly Becker from Decor8...lovely, lovey person.
6. So inspired by Christina Ferrare!
Wow. What a week. My first week traveling by myself, without my husband, with out my kids, turned out to be quiet the break I needed.
I was asked to speak at the Creative Connection event in St. Paul, and it was really a week of learning and introspection. I really like speaking. I love having the chance to talk about the things I've learned on this creative journey I've been on, because it actually makes me go and reflect to what I've learned. Without the motivation to speak and help others, sometimes I think it's easy to breeze by and not recognize all the treasures of wisdom I've acquired. A great lesson of learning, for sure!
In attendance, were women from ALL spectrums of creative lifestyles. Designers, seamstresses, crafters, photographers, artists, bloggers, you name it. I think I had to say that I enjoyed the Keynote Speakers the best.
Holly Becker of Decor8, what a darling. She shared her personal story from her girlhood to how she got where she is today, with no shortage of trials, that's for sure. And, her book is GORGEOUS! It sold out fast at TCC! She really is remarkable, and I love her even more now.
Cristina Farrere from Cristina Cooks on the Oprah Network: What a babe! She also shared her personal story from girlhood to where she is today. She too had the kind of hurdles that would shut any "normal" person down forever. But she has fire and faith and a lot of persistance. What a story!
Other keynote speakers, who have amazing products, talent and stories to share a long with it: Kelly Rae Roberts, Leigh Standley, Melody Ross,Susan Branch, Karen Walrond, Becky Higgins, Nora Abousteit, and Stacy Julien.
All these women have climbed their own mountains and faced their own hurdles to get where they are. And most of them created a business FROM the rubble. Even more inspiring!
Here's an illustrated quote that Susan Branch shared at the end of her Keynote, which she shared on her blog:
I mostly took the chance to be introspective, meet other women who are crazy like me (the kind the ALSO don't shower or do laundry for days when trying to meet deadlines) and it was so nice to be in the company of women who's hearts beat with the same pulse. Who go through their challenges, rather than around, and use their creative gifts to answer life's big questions. And they are all helping others a long the way.
It also reinspired me to try new paths, be more fearless with my own creativity and follow my dreams with more fire and haste. To be less swayed by outside opinions, and to create more truthfully.
I was also more determined to let creativity into my life more. Working, networking, and all the business aspects of what I do (not to mention mothering!) take up a lot of my energy.
I've made the pledge to be wake up each morning with Creative Living as my motive. I am sensing in my own self a season of change. A time of new realization and creative growth. And I'm really excited to discover it all!
Thank you to all the lovely new friends I made and the wonderful conversations I had that I will never forget. Why I didn't get more pics of my newly formed friendships is beyone me! But Creative spirits connect. It just happens. Creative Connections. It's a beautiful thing!
There is a lot going on in this corner of the world, and I may or may not get around to the blog much more this week.
First of all, our chickens laid their eggs!! And oh boy....let's talk about fresh. Tonight we made an amazing Mouse au Chocolate from a french book I'm illustrating (more on that later) and with fresh eggs and chocolate I about died. I'm digging this set up.
But really, I'm dashing off to an amazing conference in lovely St. Paul at The Creative Connection. Will you be there? Will you come say hi? I'll be signing early copies of my book (Ah!!!! this is going to be real!!) and I'm speaking on Friday, and would love to visit! There is also a book deadline, an interview and videography in my studio (dusting...dusting...) and some art that I'm finishing up for the shop! Whew. I need to sit down and have some more of that mousse.
Chocolate really is a wonderful invention.
Back to the studio!
The other night, I looked out my window, and all the light around the house was orange. Sunsets. They make me so happy. But this was post-sunset. Dusk. My favorite.
When we were house hunting, we had our usual specifications we were looking for. Room count, square footage, schools, etc. But on the top of my list was light. Windows and sky. And trees. It's like food for my soul. Finding a house where you could see the sky in any room of the house was as important as getting a house with a dishwasher. It took us a long time to find a house!
But we did. And today I was reminded just how much I love what happens in the "up" space of the world.
When my husband and I were dating, he mentioned to me that he had done an experiment where he spent a day walking around and always looked UP. Never looked down at his feet while he was walking, but always looked up. We must have been in college at the time, and so we were walking around a lot. But try it. When you are walking down your hallway even. Look up. It does something to your mood. And it doesn't even have to be at a gorgeous sky. Although that helps. Looking upwards has always helped me from getting too serious about stuff. It really works!
September gets me excited. There's magic in the air, and I love the fall season coming. But it also has me looking at to-do lists a lot more than I have been over the summer. Ahhh....summer. I've found it important to look up.
Well, except for when I am around little people. And then I look down. A lot. But when I look down, I see this:
And that has me feeling pretty up too.
Happy weekend!
{And thanks for all the "BE...." love! I hope to have them in the shop at the end of September as well as a bunch of other new fun things! I'll post more soon...stay tuned!}
School has started, which means my oldest two are in school full time. I won't go into the dilemma about how I feel about all this (Ahhhh!!! My babies are out in the world!!!!), except to say that my house is finally getting clean, and I'm finally getting artsy again. Right now, I'm in the middle of illustrating a book, fabric, new products, new designs for the fall season, and and a few other hush-hush projects. Translation: Some fun things are happening creatively here, non of which I can really spill the beans on! But I do have new designs trickling in which will be in the shop in the next couple weeks...hopefully sooner.
These are the start of a set of "virtues" I've been wanting to do for a long time. Don't know how many there will be yet, but there's more. Set a bit more retro than my older work, it's fresh, clean and happy! They are more in line with the work that I've been creating personally, and so while they are a bit different than what's in my shop right now, I think they will make a great addition! What do you think? Do you like?
I've been wanting to get new art in the shop for ages, and these are fun because they actually compliment my fabric very well...so if you are working on some bedding in your kids room...you finally have some colors to match!
{photo via Dairy of a Quilter}
More coming soon! I'm back to the drawing board...scribbling as fast as my little hands can! It's been a good 6 months since I've really filled a sketch book. It feels good. Funny how I always get a little nervous though, posting new work. It feels good to be spontaneously creating again. I'm a happier person, which makes me a happier mama, and happier everybody. Life is good:)
I know a lot of you are creative people with businesses. Or if you don't have a business out of your hobby, you're interested in making it happen. Or if you are crazy enough to have a business out of your hobby, you are lonely and looking for crazy friends who do the same thing! Here's some places you need to visit:
1) Touchpoint: Startup Princess is hosting this fantastic annual event next week, and is offering a$50 off code (the code is "women") at registration for this awesome power packed conference in Salt Lake City that you don't want to miss. And Kelly, my friend and host, just mentioned that scholarships are still available for 50% off registration. This is a steal you guys! All you need to do is contact Kelly, or email her (kelly at startupprincess dot com) and tell her why you deserve to be at the event and why you need this jumpstart in your life. Normally $275, this event is SO worth the money. Touchpoint is what got me started. There is so much support to be had, and info to glean from experienced women who are in this like you! Having a creative hobby really takes some business knowledge, and this is the place to get it! Click here for more info.
2) Creative Collaborative: did you know that once a month super awesome people in Utah get together to eat treats and talk shop? Thursday we are picking up the schedule again from a slow summer schedule. This month: Creativity and Ethics: super bloggers C.Jane and Melissa Esplin talk about the ins and outs to having a community around your brand! And did I mention it's FREE? Click here for details.
3) The Creative Connection: It's a little late, but registration is still open! I'll be speaking in St. Paul on Friday at 4:00 pm on the "Creating Community through E-commerce." I'll be joined by some super awesome gals (Andrea, Amy, and Sandi who also do what they love and have made a business out of it! I'm super excited to be speaking...and....I'll also be doing a book signing of Christmas Goodnight which won't even be on the shelves yet. Yay!
See you there!
I was totally engrossed in the Hurricane Irene play by play, even though I wasn't even in it. My parents were actually visiting me and completely missed the earthquake and the hurricane, but I found myself being so concerned for the people and places I love so much. Our family has lived in DC and Boston, and I've had many favorite memories from North Carolina to Maine. Happy that the hurricane didn't turn out to be as bad as predicted, but the losses are still awful.
One in particular post that I saw on Facebook was this sweet little library, that lost it's entire children's book collection due to the flooding. The water in Upper Jay, NY came in at more 6 feet high, and damaged so much of the town. So many homes and businesses are having to start all over. The Wells Memorial Library (such a charming library!) lost so many books, but mostly the children's books because they were all on the lower level shelves. Can you imagine? No more picture books to check out. This little library, and the community it serves, could use your help!
They have tried to save what they could, but the only picture books untouched were the 5 books on the re-shelving cart.
I'm going to be sending them some, but I wanted to give a shout out to all my friends, knowing that if everyone just sent one book...they would be in a place to start really offering hope (especially for the children!) to their now devistated community.
And if you know of any other libraries that need our help, comment below! I'd love to see these little libraries stand up again fast! Kate Messner is a children's book illustrator, and she was able to photograph and blog about this library yesterday, and I'm so glad she did! This town hasn't had much news coverage, and I would love to see some hope restored.
UPDATE: West Hartford Public Library in Vermont also lost it's children's book section. I'll update information as I get it, but I am sure they would appreciate donations:
The West Hartford Public Library
5133 Route 14 West Hartford, VT05084
(802) 295-7992
Here's how you can help:
1. Send a donation. Checks may be made payable to the Wells Memorial Library.
2. Send a new, hardcover children’s book. Picture books are needed most. They were all destroyed except the five waiting to be re-shelved and those that were signed out to homes that didn’t get flooded. I hear that they might be getting an AMAZON wishlist started, But in hopes to support small bookstores, they'd ask that you purchase from an indie bookstore if at all possible! And if you know of any other libraries that need our help, comment below! I'd love to see these little libraries stand up again fast!
Here’s the postal address for donations:
Wells Memorial Library
P.O. Box 57
Upper Jay, NY 12987
If you are sending via UPS, use this address:
Wells Memorial Library
12230 State Route 9N
Upper Jay, NY 12987
I've seen some pretty darn cute birthday Parties out there on pinterest, and blogs and the online land of endless ideas. But I have yet to see a Birthday party inspired by a print of Fabric.
I saw this post this morning, and I just had to share!
Maggie of Smashed Peas and Carrots designed her littler girl's birthday party around the "Just Stay Little" print of fabric, complete with cutting out all the little dresses and making the cutest decorations! You can see more pictures here.
Just stay little...please? Just last night I noticed how big my babies are in their beds. Oh dear. Does it really happen? Do they really grow up? Don't answer that question.
Sorry if you are bored with seeing other people's creations with this fabric. To be honest, it has become a wonderful fulfillment of a dream of mine. As a designer and illustrator, I've had many opportunities to choose where I contract my work. And as i've contemplated the products and the people I work with, my vision has always been to let the end product inspire more creativity out of the consumer. Seeing photos like this make me feel like it's all worth it. Art on the wall is nice, but I love seeing pictures of your puppet theaters, fabric creations and so many other things you've shown me.
Thanks for inspiring me!!
And also, are you going to The Creative Connection? Can't wait to see you there!
xo
sarah
