Blog | Sarah Mattern

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My Coding Cave

A Web Developer’s Rucksack

February 29, 2016

Ellie and Ben

Portraits + Landscapes

January 31, 2016

Oak Fitness Website Mockups

Share & Show

December 4, 2015

Shedding Light on Images

Illuminating images: 5 basic design tips

September 10, 2015

Creative Marathons

Creative Marathons

July 15, 2015

Visual Eavesdropping

Logos, logos, logos!

June 8, 2015

Bear Valley Map

Whimsical cartography

May 26, 2015

Six Basic Tips to Simplify Your Next Design

April 4, 2015

How to create a custom grid

How to create a column grid

April 4, 2015

Collections

organized mutterings

Creativity

inspiration to fuel your healthy creative habit

Simplicity

thoughts on a simple & sustainable life

Good Work

tips & tools for doing independent creative work you love

Behind the scenes

what's happening around here

Today must be Brag About My Clients Day because I

Today must be Brag About My Clients Day because I have another recommendation for you. Julian Stitick founded @thecastironbabe with a mission. She aims to extend her professional coaching career to help simplify family life and bring delicious food, positivity, and life skills to all. Her kind heart and deep soul are evident in all she does, including her YouTube show, which includes segments on kid-friendly cooking, travel, and strategies for happy families. There’s lots more in the works, so if this resonates, follow @thecastironbabe and sign up at castironbabe.com. Cast Iron Babe also supports the good work of No Kid Hungry, helping ensure every child in the US has access to healthy food.

If you’re looking for a wonderful gift (for your

If you’re looking for a wonderful gift (for yourself or a favorite person), consider @mydreamseventeen for beautiful candles and soaps. Client and now friend David Fischer makes these by hand using highest quality ingredients. My previous Dream 17 candle lasted us years and still has a light, lovely fragrance. The wooden wick makes soft, comforting crackling sounds. David recently relaunched his web store and has new candles (like this one) on offer. The best part? He gives a whopping 10% to his favorite charity, Africa Connect!

I did a thing! 🙃 Thanks @indie_reader. Intervie

I did a thing! 🙃 Thanks @indie_reader. Interview here: https://bit.ly/369wgJD

Also - somewhat related - check out this quote from a recent article by Dr. Jonathan Foley about greenhouse agriculture: “...there is a lot of publicity around ‘vertical farms’ — which grow food in artificial indoor environments. While some people think these will help feed the world (spoiler: they won’t), they use enormous amounts of resources and money to produce fairly-expensive crops, mostly herbs and salad greens. Most worrying, vertical farms use vast amounts of energy. Unless they are powered by renewables (ironically, using solar panels to power indoor lights is using the sun to replace…the sun), this will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, it’s not clear whether vertical farms actually save land when you include the space required for their tremendous energy demands.”

More on that here: https://bit.ly/3qFm1pQ

One more day left! If you're in the vicinity of Li

One more day left! If you're in the vicinity of Livermore, consider ordering your spring garden veggie seedlings from Fertile GroundWorks and help support their good work feeding people and educating backyard gardeners. Order now and pick up and pay for your seedlings in April. The plant sale is here: fertilegroundworks.org/plant-sale

We had to say goodbye to our beloved Ringo last we

We had to say goodbye to our beloved Ringo last week, and we are feeling a bit lost without him. He was my near-constant companion for the past 13 years. I’ve never been as inspired about anything as I was to find him, and I knew when I saw him that he was ours (or, more aptly, we were his). He was curious, complicated, and loving, and he had a surprising sense of humor. He was far smarter and busier than we were. He would only let us cuddle him when all options for activity were exhausted (so, at midnight). He was shy around most people, but he loved our family and sneaking them kisses. His favorite thing was when we all worked in the garden— he would work too, barking at passing trucks and chasing bees. I know so many are grieving these days, and I don’t have much wisdom to offer, except this: hug your creatures, kiss your people, and plant some seeds. ❤️😘🌱

My New Year’s wish for you is a renewed and vibr

My New Year’s wish for you is a renewed and vibrant perspective that extends into all areas of your life. In that spirit, I’ve created a Vibrant Vision Grid to help you piece together what a beautiful, balanced life might look like. You can find it at sarahmattern.com/blog

This winter calls for blankets and tea on the couc

This winter calls for blankets and tea on the couch with a book that will transport you, calm you, and delight you (bonus points for laugh-out-loud humor and a furry friend by your side). There’s a short list of thoughtful, feel-good reads to cheer your winter at sarahmattern.com/blog. ❤️

Tomorrow morning, please consider giving a gift of

Tomorrow morning, please consider giving a gift of any amount to Fertile GroundWorks through the Community Health & Education Foundation (CHEF) website. CHEF will generously match gifts tomorrow only in honor of Giving Tuesday. Fertile GroundWorks grows 20K pounds of healthy food each year for those in need and, along the way, helps backyard farmers like me have greener thumbs. The garden (and the people in it) create a welcome sanctuary during difficult times. The link for tomorrow is: https://chefgivingcommunity.org/givingtuesday/

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