Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

The fact that we are moving to a house, a perminent dwelling, a place we won’t move from in less than a year, gives me the design bug. Bad. Like really bad. I lay awake at night designing the house, the studio, the kid’s rooms…I even have the halls figured out.

It’s a curse really….but I love it.

And I don’t even have the keys yet. Tomorrow, folks. Tomorrow I will be a home owner!

The big “decision” we are figuring out in our house right now, is who gets to sleep with whom and where. Addie and Ian have been together since infancy, and surprisingly want their own rooms in this new house. But, that leaves Ella having to sleep with a big kid, and I just don’t know if I am ready to have her disturbed by the nightly ritual of getting out of bed 32 times for urgent demands like “another story”, “bedtime snack” or “I’m scared of the dark” incidences. Truthfully, I don’t think they could sleep apart…they have grown up as twins really, and miss each other after 5 minutes of being separated. So….since we haven’t decided yet, I have been designing up a few alternatives.

This is what I have so far for a possible Boy/Girl or Gender Neutral Room. Addie is for sure a girly girl, and Ian is my 1960’s school boy. The colors match up just right, and I am loving the color going on.

Here’s the round up:

(Left to right)

1. Vintage Map

2. Favorite room from blog land here.

3. Anthropologie quilt I found on Craigslist ($40 thank you very much)

4. Room Seven Inspiration

5. Image here.

6. Le Balloon print available in the shop

7. Via kikiandpolly.com from Bloesom home tours here.

8. Le Petit Prince: a fav. book and design inspiration

9. Designs from Shinzi Katoh

10. Summer Tea Party Print available in the shop

11. Red chair found here.

I’m having a ball scouting out Craigslist, my local classifieds, and second hand stores. I’ll let you know if this is what we go for…or if we end up going with the girls room/boys room idea. Personally, they only have so much longer until they really won’t want to be together…I want to keep them together for as long as I can.

And so far, I’ve convinced them to stay together with this design:) I’m a tricky one, I am.

Off to the paint store….!

The economy is messed up. Politics are crazy. It’s freezing outside (without the advantage of fresh snow). My kitchen has seen better days (maybe not).  The laundry is getting a wee bit on the scary side. My hair could use a good doing.

But just now,  my 5 year old breezes across the floor like this.

And I wonder if I could go back to when my mind was filled only with unicorns, purple things and bubble gum. My pace was that of hers.

But then I remember: I have unicorns, purple things and bubble gum every day. She hugs me and says “I love you, Mother.” And so I skip.

Hello, Hello!

Hope you all had a wonderful break for the holidays. I can’t tell you how good it feels get away from the computer and other essential electronics for 2 weeks. What a treat! But it is good to be back. We went to California for the break, and as good as it is to be home finally, I do miss the leisurely days.

But it’s the beginning of the week. And January. And 2010. And it feels good. I feel fresh, ready to restart. Like trying on new clothes. Or diving into the lap lane. Fresh is always good.

So, I am a big goal setter. Remember this post? And I have already started to round up my resolutions for the upcoming year. But I have learned through experience, to only set a few….too many goals ensures total doom (usually the lose 10 pounds kinda goals!)  I have my own personal and family resolutions (namely to stop complaining about things I can’t control and to make sure my husband knows he is the center of my universe), but for my art….

1. Finish the art for my first picture book

2. Draw every single day

You’d think that drawing every day would be rather easy to do…but OH it’s hard to find the time…and the free elbow room to even draw on paper when I have 3 other little ones claiming my other limbs! And the book….I’ve been working on this for a while now, and it’s so rewarding…nothing like being challenged doing something you love.

So yes…bring on the new year. Bring on the new vision, the new goals and the fresh start.

What goals are you setting this year? I have a good feeling. It’s going to be a great year.

I have an amazing mother. You want to know how amazing? Had-five-children-and-made-their-lunches-everyday amazing. For nearly 25 years, she made school lunches. I hear it now, “She spoiled her children!” Ah, yes. But we made our lunches too, of course. What made her amazing is that she didn’t mind making our lunches because she could then pack in secret notes. Mostly on post-its or folded pieces of paper. There were the “I love you’s,” “Good luck on your test today,” and other motherly love notes. But more often than not, there was what we call “Lunch Quotes”. I actually kept many of my lunch quotes…even when they were stained with grape water or condensation from my box juice. I kept so many, because they reflected what my mother cared about, and what she thought I needed to hear. It was a mother’s way of staying in touch during the days when she hardly saw her children because of school, homework and other activities.

Growing up, if you were to walk into my mother’s kitchen, you would see “lunch quotes” stuck to the fridge, close pinned above the sink, and by the phone. I always could tell what my mother was thinking about based on the quotes she chose to place around the house. It was a simple act of love for her family and for herself I will always treasure.

And so….after all these years of not having school lunches, I miss my lunch quotes!

So I made one.

For you and for me. And of course, for my Mom.

After watching this incredibly inspiring video, the end phrase was the catch-all for me.

This will be going in my kitchen above the sink. As a reminder for when things get stressful…as they always do…to kiss a bit more , listen more intently and hug a little longer.

You can download this “Lunch Quote” here. (For Personal Use only, please!)

Enjoy a love filled weekend!

xo

sarah jane

**And, no…there is not a typo in the quote…it’s just a fun + messy font. Enjoy!

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!

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!

There are days that just get you all fueled up, and Friday was just that. I went to the Startup Princess Touchpoint event (a conference for entrepreneurs) and was so delighted to meet Heather Bailey in person. She spoke twice during the conference and I also got to chat with her a bit one-on-one. What a treat! She is just as warm and genuine as she comes across in her blog. I was so impressed by here incredible work ethic, dedication to her family, God and to her talents. She is one smart cookie, I’ll tell you that. She was able to show us her new line of fabric coming any day now (she says she is just waiting for it to come in the mail!) and it’s just darling. I’ll let you check out her site for her to do the telling, but I was once again so impressed by her ability to create what she loves and what other people can’t wait to get their hands on. She shared a lot of her journey from before she even started a business until now. It was needless to say, very inspiring!

I was also able to meet up with so many great blogging friends. In the picture on the left, you see Marie from Make and Takes, Allison from Petit Elephant, and Kami from No Biggie. It was so wonderful to meet people I only t get to read from on a screen…meeting in person is the icing on the cake! Thanks Startup Princess for such a great event!

photo by Liz Draper

“AND ABOVE ALL WATCH, WITH GLITTERING EYES THE WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU BECAUSE THE GREATEST SECRETS ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES. THOSE WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN MAGIC WILL NEVER FIND IT.” ~ ROALD DAHL ~

One of my favorite all time quotes. Enjoy your day!

It was Maurice Sendak’s 81st Birthday last month, and I stumbled across this site while reading more about him. Have I mentioned how Maurice Sendak is my hero? Ok. I know he is basically every illustrator’s hero. But they’re are all just saying that. Really, Maurice Sendak is my hero and inspiration. I have often wondered what it would be a like to peek into his artist brain for a day and sense how he works. He is pure genius. One of the Greats.

“They’re not so terrible” by Peter DeSeve

So, about this site: Terrible Yellow Eyes. This blog is a collection of illustrated works by various artists inspired by the classic picture book, Where the Wild Things Are. Inspired by Maurice Sendak, and as a tribute to him, these artists have illustrated phrases or ideas from the book in their own style. What an incredible tribute, as well as a great experience to reillustrate something so brilliantly written. I think I have the original illustrations memorized detail by detail: so to see other interpretations is so refreshing.

Have a look:

Allie Biondi

Jeremy Vanhoozer

Mike Lee

Kate Burgess

annie koelle

Delightful, isn’t it? What a tribute for Maurice’s 81st birthday. And with the movie coming out soon, hope this gets you in the mood.

Above my studio room, in the eaves of the roof, a nest was built. And day in and day out, I have heard the flapping wings of the Mama bird come in and out, working hard on building that nest. And then this morning, in the new light of Mother’s Day, there was this incessant chirping above the ceiling from what seemed like a nest full of baby birds. Addie and I went out to check, and sure enough, that hard working black bird became a mother today. We sat on a quilted blanket under the tree and watched that mama bird fly off and catch a worm, and then fly back to her nest with chirpy, hungry babies waiting inside. She would fly off again, and 4 minutes later be back with another worm. We watched for over an hour and a half while this new Mama diligently fed her new babies…in and out of the nest, never resting. Me, with my huge belly and baby kicking; addie with her 4-year old motherly tendancies; and this new black bird mother….all enjoying a springtime mother’s day. It was so magical and slendid! Besides the incredible dinner, and three hour nap I got, it was the best mother’s day present to see new birth and a new mother in the nest above my studio window. Motherhood is magical! Happy mother’s day to all!