Photo by Brandon Sullivan

Sara Cina loves to play charades, but not in the stand-up, act-them-out kind of way. Instead, she prefers to play on paper, crafting catchy picture slogans and encouraging her friends to “figure them out.”

As the former manager of Tempe’s famed Long Wong’s restaurant, Cina had plenty of opportunity to pursue her creative passion. In fact, she designed logos for a slew of bands that she booked to play at Wong’s, including Dead Hot Workshop and the Gin Blossoms, as well as logos for Teakwoods Bar & Grill and Long Wong’s itself.

“It seems like I designed something for every local band there is,” she says. “I’ve been doing it since 1989, and even though I’m not designing logos as often now, I still like to every now and then.”

Now, what started as a hobby has evolved into Cina’s full-time passion. For the past several months, she’s been working on a line of clothing for children, women and dogs that features such charming phrases as “sweet pea,” “heartbreaker” and “bee happy.” And although she doesn’t have a little sweet pea of her own, Cina admits that she harnesses her own inner child as inspiration.

“I don’t have kids, but my style has always been to play with words – like charades on paper,” she says. “I used to do it at Wong’s for the bands, and I’d always get reactions like, ‘Wow! That looks like a little kid drew it. You should do that on kids’ shirts.’ So I did. I started with small designs, and they evolved from there.”

The line, available online at saracina-designs.com, features infant onesies in black and white, as well as toddler t-shirts and ladies shirts. Cina also recently added a selection of items for dogs to the collection, including a tiny t-shirt that bears a “Walkstar” slogan – undoubtedly the perfect garb for a glamorous, pampered pooch.

“I’m really glad that I can devote all of my time and energy to this now,” Cina says. “If I didn’t at least try, I knew I would regret it forever. I’ve had such tremendous support from my friends and from the music community. All of that support pushed me in this direction, and it has been wonderful.”

Although her designs are only available online at the moment, Cina hopes that they will become increasingly popular over the next several months.

“I would really like to branch out and get into boutiques,” she says. “I know that these are really high-quality items, but I really just want people to have as much fun with them as I do.”