Okay guys, I finally finished the official SAJ posters. In fact, I designed two of them which is not really a good thing because I only want to print one version. But the Paris version was dying to get out of my head, so I let it out. If I don’t print it, it’s not a loss. It will show up somewhere…maybe a book cover? I don’t know yet. Before I go to press though I wanted to ask your opinions. Which poster do you like better? Which one would you actually hang up? I mean, if you were into that sort of thing of course.

And if you were hunting for the sentences and emailed me, Yay! You get to have one of these. However, as of right now, I will no longer be accepting emailed sentence lists. Thank you everyone who played along. I knew you were a fun stealthy bunch.

Here are the secret spy sentences for your proofing pleasure. I think everyone got them all right so no worries there. If you emailed me, you’re in. Free posters all around!

a. It’s a cold day for pontooning.
b. The spotted cuckoo is flying backwards.
c. The moles snuck into the garden last night.
d. The black dog walks in the noon-day sun.
e. The chimera has three sets of teeth.
f. The blue lake freezes in winter.
g. The green tea brews in tranquility.
h. The polar bear collects spare change.
i. The cheese stands alone.
j. Your sedated mouse is in need of a companion.
k. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
l. The last swallow of summer is winging his way over the horizon.
m. Silence is of the Gods…only monkeys chatter.
n. The dolphins are in the jacuzzi.
o. Do you want a shipment of chocolate?
p. Surely the caged whale knows nothing of the mighty depths.
q. Tell the man standing on the corner that the oyster owns a fine wristwatch.
r. The best chestnuts are to be found on Pigalle Square.
s. The pheasant has no agenda.
t. We need to send in The Urbanator.
u. The eagle flies at noon.
v. The green parrots have migrated to the south.
w. My postillion has been struck by lightning.
x. When the dogs away that’s when the cats play.
y. In London, April’s a Spring month.
z. Guys, I know Kung Fu.

Heather sent over the paypal money yesterday and it was a lot. I only needed $130 for a craft desk but apparently my wonderful friends (probably you and you and you too) on the internet think I need 27 craft desks! I could teach a class! Seriously though? I’m floored. I’m just a blubbering idiot who can’t think of the right ways to say thank you.

I haven’t seen the email addresses yet or the notes that came along with the donations. Heather is organizing all that for me so that the people that wanted to be anonymous can stay anonymous. I’m sure it’s going to make me cry. I wanted to hand paint postcards for everyone who donated but Heather said the donators probably didn’t want their money going to postage. So I had to think of something I could give away here free.

This is something I had saved away on my computer for some imaginary book deal I might get someday. But you know what? I don’t need no stinkin’ book deal right now! I need a thank you download. So I’m giving this to you. It’s little. But maybe you can go buy yourself a coffee or your friends some coffee or some hot chocolate for some little kids and you can wrap these little pink bears around your cups and pretend it’s a thank you hug from me.

Because that’s what I’d really like to give all of you right now. And then maybe somehow when we were hugging, I could transfer mentally how overwhelmed with thankfulness I feel.

I just don’t know what to say. Maybe you guys know what I need more than I do.

Please, download, print and share!

Thank you.

Grab your red pencils! I’ve finally finished the 2011 Secret Agent Josephine Calendar pdf! And guess what? Haste makes waste! So you guys get to be my editors! Download the free pdf here, print it out, find all my many errors, add in those Jewish holidays I forgot (like all of them, I think) and then email me your changes. I’ll fix it up and then sell the perfect version in my shop for two bucks! Thank you! Thank you!

Mwa!

Bug did my make-up. She did such a good job. I didn’t even have to touch anything up!

I might have to have her fix me up regularly because this shot was taken:

It’s probably the best glamour shot I’ve ever had taken! Thanks to Bug’s make-up job, CC’s photography skills and the giant soft box that was the Lilipad tent.

Anyway, go read my review and comment so you’ll have a chance to win $100 Visa card from Blogher!!! I really like it when my readers win and not just random contest hunters.

I have new Valentines for you!

So here’s the thing: my printer broke! Stupid printers, man. I can’t even print out my own valentines! (So if they act funny on the edges because I didn’t mask the shadow well enough, just let me know. I’ll fix them.)

These valentines are FREE but if you really like them and you find yourself printing them out by the dozens, you could drop a buck into my Brenda Needs a Printer Fund by clicking on the great big sad button below. No pressure though. I’m cheap all the time myself and I probably wouldn’t donate to me if I were somebody else. And NO big donations, please. I just want to buy a cheap printer. A buck for every twelve printouts would make my day.

Maybe you’re not diggin’ the new pastel palette. In that case I still have last year’s uber-bright ones available. Happy Printing!

I’ve finally finished up December for your downloading pleasure. And since I now have a whole year of designs I went in there and hand-typeset every single number for 2010. I wish I had a calendar generating program that worked with my illustrations but I don’t.

So here’s a deal: You can download it FREE until Monday if you don’t mind proof-reading it for me. I’m sure I’ve messed up at least one holiday or date. Then after Monday I’ll take down the pdf, fix up and typos and sell it in my shop for a few bucks.

Updated to add:

Thank you everybody! I should have you guys proof-read my work more often. The free download is no longer available but it’s all fixed up and in my shop for a buck! I’m hoping to make a printed version (spiral bound etc…) but it might not happen depending on my work load and how much attention my nearly-four-year-old demands. I personally like to put up two pages on my fridge side by side so I don’t have to flip between months. What are your thoughts? Spiral with a bigger design above the month? Months side by side spiral bound in the middle? Hmmmm!

Wouldn’t it be cool if I could make a deck of cards that had 52 different exercises on them that you could do WITH your kid(s)? The only problem is that I am not a fitness expert and I don’t really know 52 different exercises. Maybe 52 is a little bit much…maybe I’ll aim for 20 and see how it goes.

Then I had a brilliant idea. What if you guys helped me out the way you helped me with the alphabet cards. That worked out splendidly. In fact, maybe if I print these someday (What am I thinking starting another project right now? I must be insane), I could give a free deck to all the people who contributed. You could contribute by emailing me photos of yourselves doing exercises (properly) with your kid or maybe you could just leave helpful comments like, “Dude you have to keep your knee at a 90 degree angle!” or something like that.

What do you think? Then I could put helpful information on the back of each card and maybe some funny jokes too. And maybe once a card is done, I’ll post them here for a short time as a free printable pdf so that if you play along the whole way, you get a deck free.

So far I’ve got the “kid squat” above that is surely terrible on your back but great fun for your monkey kid and the “swing lunge” below.

Thoughts? What should I call this project?

Hello, it’s Bethany here, your friendly neighborhood blog editor! Since SAJ is busy whooping it up at her brother-in-law’s wedding this weekend, she asked me to do a quick guest post to announce the winners of the Daily Grommet Valentine’s giveaway.

I used the random sequence generator at random.org and the winners are the 30th and 24th commenters! To save you all the trouble of counting, I’ll tell you that the winner of the Sassy Sauces Sampler is commenter #24, Kim J.! And the winner of the Waters End Valentines Kit is commenter #30, BeachMama! Congratulations, ladies! Email SAJ for information on how to claim your prizes.

Around here a “grommet” is a little surfer guy. In other parts of the world it’s a nut or a bolt or something. And most recently, if you are in the know, it’s a website where they feature new and interesting products, called Daily Grommet. Too bad they aren’t featuring little surfer guys daily.

In order to get the word out about their new and exciting website, the folks at Daily Grommet are recruiting bloggers like me to hype it up a little. What better way to hype something than to give away FREE stuff!!! Because that’s all you really care about. I know. I’ve been watching my stats. You’re all a bunch of free-mongers.

Just kidding. But free stuff is fun, I agree.

So here’s what you have to do to win something:

Check out these videos featuring the giveaway products on Daily Grommet:

Oooh chocolate sauce. Mmmmmm…

Valentine’s Day Craft supplies! Sign me up for this one.

Then come back and post a comment—what do you like about these products or the Daily Grommet website?

One winner will be selected between now and Saturday for each product. I’m not making any promises on when the winner will be announced because I will be traveling and wifi access may be spotty but somebody will definitely win! So have fun!

Edited to add: As of 6:50pm PST comments are closed. A winner will be selected soon!