Mechanically Minded

A while back, I shared this sketch here, and I have wanted to make it into a print since.

This week, I'm taking the time to count my blessings. And today I'm grateful for little boys....my little boy in particular: For how this brain works, and for the amazing mystery it is to me.

I often wonder what the inside of my son's head looks like, and all I can do is remember mine as a child, and think that for Ian, who is a self proclaimed inventor and architect, it would look like this.

So, for any other children out there, who see their world in pulleys and levers, with buttons to push for every command, this is for you.

Print available Here.

Oh, and dont' forget the AMAZING fabric giveaway ending today here.

And PS: if you have a child who loves building and inventing things, this book is a must read. A family favorite. Do you know it?

xoxo

Sarah

GIVEAWAY: Fashionable Fabrics

Today is the beginning of Saturday Giveaways for the holidays! 

 

Fashionable Fabrics: A favorite of mine. Dennis & Tonia opened their shop in 2004 and they still love what they do: sending people gorgeous fabric! They have a very easy-to-find-fabric-shop with all the best prints, and ship anywhere!

Fashionable Fabrics is offering a $50 gift certificate to one lucky winner (entries open to all...international and domestic!)

Here's all you need to do: 

1) leave a comment below, one entry per person, and tell them what you'd purchase

2) make sure to include your email in the comment section

3) enter by Monday at 10pm Eastern Time (USA)

4) For ONE extra entry, LIKE their facebook page, and leave a comment below that you liked their page.

 

Good luck, and make sure to check out more Fashionable Fabrics here:

Shop  | Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter

 

Children's spaces

I'm getting really excited to start putting the kid's rooms together. As expected, they will take some time. But it's always critical for me to have the end in mind while I dabble in putting spaces together.

As I mention in the last post, all three kids have been sharing a room while we've been reflooring and painting, and I don't think they plan on separating again. I love shared rooms for children. Addie and Ian have shared since birth, and that has a lot to do with the lack of interest in splitting up. They will want to eventually, but I'm not going to push it till they do!

Here's my first attempt at grouping together a boy girl space. What do you think? Pulling the oranges, yellows and light aquas allows me to sprinkle pinks around pretty freely. We aren't getting rid of pink just because there is a boy in there...that's for sure!

Do you have any tips for making a boy/girl room work?

Here's the round up:

1. Be Curious Print, Sarah Jane Studios

2. Up, Up & Away Print, Sarah Jane Studios

3. Balloons Print, Sarah Jane Studios

4. Eden Lamp, Land of Nod

5. Mermaid, PDF pattern by Mermag

6. Nautical Map Print, Sarah Jane Studios

7. Jenny Lind Bookcase, Land of Nod

8. Anchor Pillow, PDF pattern by Tea Rose Home

9. Eames style Rocker, Overstock

10. Knitted Pouf, CB2

11. Knitted Pouf, Land of Nod

12. Hemnes Dresser, IKEA

13. Children at Play Pouf, Pattern by living with Punks

14. Candy Dot Rug, Land of Nod

I am a child of God Print, Sarah Jane Studios

Newest Art Prints

I'm bringing some new art to the shop, and these are the first two to make their debut.  Both are prints you may have seen before, but they were never ready for printing until now.

Tread Softly is a special one. Many of you, after January's post of the sketch I did of this, were so inspired, and I got so many emails requesting a print. But because it was only a doodle in my sketchbook, it needed to be re-worked and finished.

Remember the poem it's inspired by? I heard this for the first time last year, and still to this day can't get the imagery out of my head.

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. Yeats

The innocence of children, their dreams and destinies, inspire me. And as an adult I feel ever responsible for recognizing their offerings to the world and making sure they are seen for what they truly are. And not getting so caught up in my 'busy' and 'responsible' world, that I miss the magic of what they are truly offering.

This next print was shown in my last release of prints, but it never ended up in the shop for some technical reasons.

It's there now....a perfect reminder of where (for us coastal people) we'd all love to be more often.

 

Enjoy! There are a few more coming that will trickle in this week and maybe next. I'm balancing the house reno and holiday seasons at home, as well as new fabric line stuff and book stuff...so prints will squeeze in a bit at a time.  If you are following me on FB or Instagram, you've been getting glimpses as to what's coming next. See you soon!

OH! And please don't forget about the HUGE CLEARANCE sale going on right now too! Only 1 more month to get all paper goods, and then they will be discontinued Dec. 2oth! So hurry if you want to catch them.

BOTH PRINTS FOR SALE HERE & HERE. 

 

Getting inspired.

We're making progress on the kids' rooms. Well, I should say Kenneth is (and a pretty awesome sidekick!). He's been installing the floors, and I'm more than a tad bit excited to have it all done! I've been trying to decide between comfy carpet and hardwood for quite some time, and we opted with the wood for a few reasons. I love the cleanliness of wood floors, I love colorful accent rugs, but really, I'm allergic to dust. And it makes winter so much more bearable without all that carpet in the bedrooms.

We are going  with a white washed bamboo floors....super bright and light (I can hear the opposition now!)  But the bamboo is incredibly durable, and after a good year of weighing out the pros and cons to having nearly white floors in the kids' rooms, the pro's won out big time. When we bought the house, one of the main buying points is that it had wonderful natural light, and I want to bring that out as much as I can. Happy, happy and bright. Good for the soul.

But while we are waiting to finish up, I thought I'd show you some pictures that are inspiring me right now. I've been using Pinterest to collect my inspiration photos (keeps me so organized and ready to make decisions on what I want to make/look for as we are putting the rooms together).

Here's a few of my favorites. You can see more here.

 

We have 2 rooms that we are redoing, and currently the idea is to have all 3 in one room. I'll let you know how that ends up going...but since we've had to squash them all in one space for the past couple weeks as we've been painting and flooring, they are just loving being all together! And I love it too.

Stay Tuned!!

 

PS: Do you have Pinterest Boards with Kids Spaces? I'd love to see your boards! Link up in the comments if you do!

New lovely sponsors

A very warm welcome to some new sponsors here on the blog! Saturdays are going to be posts dedicated to my lovely friends, and I encourage you to visit them and all the lovely goodness they offer. Creativity, handmade, fabric and lovely things abound! There is more of them to come, so stay tuned for giveaways, and more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on how you can be a sponsor, you can email me here. 

 

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Coming back soon.

Hello! I've been absentee...but really for no good reason, other than, I needed a break.

Life has been super full this week. Just the normal stuff really. But honestly, what's kept me away has just been writers block. Creative blah-ness. Empty head and ideas. It happens enough to me that I know I just need to step away, and let the creative part of me just step out, float away, and drift back down again.  Does that ever happen to you? All the sudden you find yourself not feeling a creative bone in your body? I used to freak out about that kinda thing, especially when I was under the pressure of work deadlines. But I don't really fret any more, cause I know it's going to come back. It's like a little balloon that floats away and just needs to drift off for a while so it can come back fresh and ready to go.

I've got lots to share with you next week, but this week (and still today) I've been letting myself focus on all the other things that don't require my creativity. It's been a bit strange, but I'm used to it by now to know that it will come back when it needs to.

Have a lovely weekend! New prints (including this one!) will be in the shop next week too...many of the ones that you've requested....and so I'll be looking forward to that next week!

PS: I found some really great little bits of inspiration on how to get out of a creative rut. HERE | HERE | HERE. Great stuff, ya?