Sandy Gingras

Sandy Gingras's Paradise Girls features a broken engagement. A ruined vacation in paradise. One adorable little girl. The perfect recipe for the chance of a lifetime...

A Novel

Paradise Girls

In Reasons to Be Happy, Sandy Gingras shares a heartfelt and eclectic list of things that should make everyone smile, all illustrated with her unique watercolor painting. From puppies in a basket to a walk in the garden to the quiet of early morning, each reason is a reminder that there is so much around us to be happy about. The perfect gift for any occasion, Reasons to Be Happy will put a smile on your face and a skip in your step! A few reasons to be happy: * That clean-as-a-whistle feeling of the world when the sun pops out after a rainstorm * Summer nights . . . catching fireflies on the lawn * Hearing an old song on the radio * When he calls you just to hear the sound of your voice * Politeness * Mini hot dogs at a fancy party

Reasons to Be Happy

Inside this inspiring little book, author and artist Sandy Gingras offers ways to find peace, hope, and healing at the beach. Each "walk" is a mini-essay about self-discovery, particularly a woman's self-discovery. Sandy muses about learning patience, leaving it all behind, taking risks and chances, recovering after storms, enduring and gaining strength, and loving and losing and loving again. Gingras finds inspiration in beachy moments and shows us that lessons are everywhere on her beach walks--in a split shell, in a dribble castle, in an upside-down horseshoe crab, in a green jetty, and in the freedom of wearing nothing but a bathing suit. Gingras's watercolors invite you to come along on her "walks." Even if you can't actually walk on the beach each day, Walks on the Beach gives you the sense that you have a little sand between your toes, a little beach in your heart, and a little beach philosophy in your everyday life.

Walks on the Beach

Simple prose and watercolor illustrations offer tips for living a simple, relaxed lifestyle by slowing down and finding happiness in the little things of life.

How to Live in Flip-Flops

Sandy Gingras evokes how good things can be when you and your environment are in happy agreement." --Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet An illustrated keepsake for your BFF that encompasses the ups, downs, and in-betweens of true friendship. Celebrating the fun and fulfilling, as well as the "flaws, fizzles, and foibles" of friendship, Sandy Gingras fuses her relaxed watercolor illustrations with an original narrative to craft the ultimate ode to friendship. With a special textured cover and heartfelt thoughts, Gingras reminds us that friends help friends forget and remember the bigger picture, they keep us in line, cheer us up through the gloomy times, respect our desire to be alone, and enable us to become a better version of ourselves. Without being overly saccharine, Gingras writes, "True friendship is bigger than anger . . . and we'll be friends until the end of always . . . because liking is a thing that grows and grows (even through the hard parts)."

(a little book of friendship)

I Like You

This charming illustrated gift book encourages us to live happily on simpler terms. We are reminded to ''float'' and ''make a splash,'' to ''ebb and flow'' and ''run with waves'' or ''laugh like a gull''; to ''sugar yourself with sand,'' to ''walk tender'' and to ''thank.'' This book by author/illustrator Sandy Gingras is the first of seven in her very popular and uniquely inspirational ''How To Live'' series.

How to Live on an Island

“She went out on a limb, had it break off, and realized she could fly.” We’ve all been there on occasion. We’ve over-reached and achieved success by reaching deep within, rallying, and overcoming life’s difficulties and challenges that would keep us from our goals. For every woman who has said, “I can” in place of, “I can’t,” author and illustrator Sandy Gingras offers inspiration inside She Went Out on a Limb, an illustrated list book of positive and affirming phrases, some original, some quoted. She Went Out on a Limb offers the inspirational power of words for putting your heart on the line, the value of dreaming and hope, trusting yourself, combating fear and adversity, getting out of your own way, not thinking too much, avoiding procrastination, stirring up inspiration, loving yourself, believing in yourself, and just doing it. The thoughtful and poetic prose along with original watercolor illustrations combine to focus on the positive and remind you to combat fear and adversity through affirmation in your own beliefs and abilities. The limb may break, but the flight holds exhilarating promise.

A Book of Inspiration for Women

She Went Out on a Limb

As artist and writer Sandy Gingras so aptly points out in the introduction to her book Thank You, a life lived well is perhaps the highest form of thanks a person can give to teachers as a way of repaying them for their attention and effort. A simple thank-you is also nice. Thank You is Gingras's own delightful way of conveying this sentiment. This charming keepsake book features her soft, sweet watercolor artwork and thoughtful original text celebrating teachers and all they do for us. Always striking the right tone of gratitude without being overly sentimental, Thank You is a wonderful way to show appreciation to teachers for their enduring gifts to us both great and small.

(a book for teachers)

Thank You

Long ago, Sandy Gingras read "The Tortoise and the Hare," a fable that teaches "slow and steady wins the race." But she didn't learn the lesson! Instead she lived the race of hurry-up and do-it-all every day. And it was tiring. But now, Gingras presents readers with a different kind of lesson from a different kind of turtle in the charming book Lessons of a Turtle. And it's a good lesson: Go with the slow! Life is about enjoying what's around you now and finding your own path. It's about the beauty of the journey more than the achievement of the finish line. So be like the turtle . . . notice, savor, bask, risk, grow. Put some life back in your life! Gingras helps readers get through life by using charming "turtlisms" that complement her just-as-cute turtle illustrations. She teaches us about life's little lessons with little treats like, "You can't move forward until you stick your neck out." and "The slower you go, the more you see." The author's little observations make a big difference on the journey through life. This book makes a lovely and inspiring gift.

(The Little Book of Life)

Lessons of a Turtle

With delightful illustrations and simple prose, Sandy Gingras strips away the complicated, structured way of life we cling to and helps us find perspective and appreciation in simple things - like the beach. How to Live at the Beach is a gift book that is at home anywhere, on any coast, or far from it. For the beach is only a metaphor, and with every reading we are awakened: How we might live, how we can pace ourselves, how we can appreciate our world, how we can love.

How to Live at the Beach

How to keep track of all those people leaving sandy footprints in your life? With this clever guest book that allows visitors to leave their own lasting impressions. Includes an envelope for mementos; bound to lay flat when open.

A Guest Book

At the Beach House

There are times in life when all you need to find solace is a small gesture of consolation. 100 Hugs, a collection of everyday comforts, offers such solace. Each hug is a reminder to slow down and take comfort in the little things, from indulging in warm cookies and milk to watching fireflies on a summer evening. Sandy Gingras’s “hugs” are the beacons of light that shine through the fog of everyday life. Sandy Gingras’s uplifting words illustrated with her original watercolor art create pretty little “hugs.” These hugs are perfect to give as a gift or to keep for your own personal growth. They are nourishment for the body, mind, and soul, reminding you to take a step back and become that flourishing version of you again.

Sandy Gingras

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