2012 CALDECOTT & NEWBERY AWARDS

Did you know that the Caldecott & Newbery Book awards were announced this morning? I wanted to post them here as soon as they were announced. Have you read these yet?

CALDECOTT WINNER

2012 CALDECOTT HONOR BOOKS

2012 NEWBERRY WINNER

So exciting! I'm super thrilled for Jon Klasson...I'm sure it feels absolutely SURREAL to win a Caldecott AND a Caldecott Honor book in the same year.

I'd rush off and get these from the library if I were you before they are stolen off the shelves:) Do you have a favorite of these? I'd love to hear!

Valentines Printables are up again!

Due to popular demand, these little friends are back for Valentines day.

Complete with 2 envelopes and 2 cards.

Have fun with these! These two are such a pleasure to illustrate:)

CLICK HERE to purchase PDF DOWNLOAD

xo

sarah

Creative Motivators

Lately, I've been thinking about creativity, ideas, and I've been drawn to reading and watching people I admire in the creative arts. Keeps me motivated. I've shared some of these on Facebook this week, but I wanted to post them here, because they've affected my own creative spirits so much, and I hope they inspire some of you too!

Love this one. Oliver Jeffers is a favorite of mine. Total creative genius. Such a fun peek into his creative process.

And Rilla Alexander has been on my radar for a while. This is a must see. She is speaking at the 99 Conference (have you heard of it? 99 stands for 1% inspiration 99% perspiration) Conference about ideas, but mostly getting those ideas into ACTION.

Love it.

Hope you are just as inspired as me!

 

I'm just starting to work on the portraits for the portrait project this year. And it's so much fun! Every month, I'll be posting new portraits. This is my way of keeping my art up, my skills in check and making sure that I'm drawing every day. Deadlines are great motivators!

This portrait was a wedding present to the little girl on the left, who isn't so little, given to her by her big sister on the right, now a big broadway actress. Love her blog. 

And maybe you know of the middle sister? Brilliantly talented family.

And just an FYI, this year is sold out, but if you email me (click the contact button on the top right of my blog) and title the email WAIT LIST I'll notify you when the first round of openings will be. (You'll want to know, cause this last round sold out in less than 24 hours).

So.....here's to more art making this year! Thanks for being my motivation to draw every day:)

xo

sarah

Pin&Flickr Friday: Coral Belles

 

Hey! It's been a while since I've posted your amazing creations to my Friday posts! So much to catch up on!

Today I wanted to focus on one company...new to me...and I'm sure you'll be in love.

Coral Belles. Take a look.

If you are looking for ready made, adorable clothing with OUT TO SEA, here you go.  A bit summery for now, but dosen't it feel nice to see it warm out?

With Gorgeous photography by EM Photography Wow. What a darling collection.

It's cold and snowing here in Utah right now. And it's just about now that I start dreaming of summer.

Thanks Coral Belles for sharing such a wonderful collection!

Have you been sewing with Out to Sea or Children at Play? Don't forget to add your awesomeness to the FLICKR groups or Pin them on Pinterest. 

You can see all links on my sidebar. 

Happy Friday everyone!

xoxo

sarah

According to a 6 year old....

 

Ian, my 6 year old, came up to me this week, and made this very profound statement. It really took me back (especially since he loves reading books on magic, dragons, and all kinds of fantasy creatures).

And I found myself so wrapped up in that thought. I've spent a lot of time as a mother valuing pretend play, imaginary play and all the ways that children experiment with that they know, see, fear and love. And that fact that he shows so much confidence in his pretending makes me so happy. But that he would take something like "magic," recognize that it doesn't exist, but acknowledge that anything can exist when he's pretending it to, made me smile.

I love childhood. I really do. I don't really know what I'll do when my kids grow up, or when I grow up for that matter. I just won't. That's that.

I am a Child of God Bookmarks

This weekend was so awesome. After a quiet and rather blah Christmas, we made up for it in the past few days with Addie turning 8 years old this weekend!  In our church, baptism happens at age 8 (old enough to know what they are doing), so we had both sets of grandparents and great grandparents in town, lots of family, celebrations and so much fun. I can't believe I have an 8 year old. Where does time go????

My mother-in-law is a fantastic seamstress, and made the sweetest white dress for her. It was  a perfect day!

With the new year, I've had a few requests for some printable religious stuff, and I thought these bookmarks woud be really sweet and a fun for you to print out and and use at home or at church.

These are a FREE download, and I hope that they will come in handy for Sunday School Teachers, parents, and of course...kids! Please....these are for personal and church use only. Not to be sold, copied, or tampered with.

Hope you enjoy! I'm back in the studio today after a long well needed break. It feels good. Back into art making....and a fresh new year. I'm ready to dive in:)

Happy Monday!

xo

sarah

PS: Oh! And in reference to the Sandy Hook donations made, we were able to raise $905 and they were sent to the Western Union Support Fund today! Thank you to all who contributed!

2013

 

Taking some time off from this space for the holidays felt just right. How are you? Hope you didn't come by too much, cause I was laying low and enjoying some well deserved home-body time. All of us (except the husband-turned-nurse) got sick over the holiday, which meant that instead of formal feasts, we stayed in our PJ's and had chicken soup on Christmas. It was a bit of a downer, but we were all together, snowed in under a foot and a half of snow, and it turned out to be just the pace we needed.

Taking time off from the computer and internet completely felt very well deserved as well. Maybe it's part of being creative but every so often, I get completely burned out of doing anything social, or creative, and December was one of those months for me. I have had these lulls long enough to know that I need to just go with the flow and let myself unplug. And it was good that I did. I'm ready to get back into creating again.

2013: I'm really interested to see what this year brings! I'm a goal person, and I consider myself  pretty driven. But this year, I'm feeling the need to be a little unattached to my goals, and instead be more focussed on the daily moment. To be a little less pushy of myself, and to allow growth and blossoming to happen in their own time.

There is a lot of stuff I have scheduled, and plenty to keep me busy. But for whatever reason, I'm feeling less go-go-go and more "listen and pay attention." Does that make sense? I won't be doing any less, but I intend to have my mind more open, and less filled with lists and pressures. I think last year, I had intentions of letting go of the clutter tasks, and focussing on the creative. But I wasn't as successful at it, because I still tried to push myself to get there. This year, I'm opening up, staying quiet in my mind, and being more intentionally aware and allowing myself to grow where I need to. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. My mother-brain gets in the way of letting me just "play" sometimes. I'm sure there are a few of you that can relate. It's all for good reasons, but I am letting go of the "musts" and "shoulds" a little more, and letting myself make more room for expression.  Good for the soul.

I'm excited to share it with you.

Here's to a new year!

xo

sarah

PS: The above illustration is the portrait of my kids I made for my parent's this year. I'll be sharing more of the Portrait Project as they come in!