Carla and Sarah are the best of friends.

They share a love of art, and have participated in the same clubs and associations. They work together. They have supported one another for as long as they can remember, through the most difficult moments in their lives. They effortlessly play off of one another in conversation, eliciting fond memories and hearty laughter with each story they recall.

They share countless bonds, but the closest one of all is that of mother and daughter.

Carla Binder, owner of Creative Framing by Carla in Palmerton, has always been a caring parent, fostering the interests of Sarah and her brother John.

“My parents were really supportive of me, and they didn’t say detrimental things to turn me away from the arts. They just supported me. I guess in the same way that was a natural thing for me. I always thought that when I had kids they would need to find their way, whatever way that would be, and I would support them in whatever they wanted to do,” Carla said.

Throughout her childhood, Sarah adored partaking in the world of art with Carla, enjoying adventures at home and beyond.

“I actually joined Palmerton Camera Club with her when I was 8 or 9 years old,” Sarah said.

“We’d go out on photography shoots together. Longwood Gardens on the hottest day of that whole summer... oh my gosh!” Carla said.

Carla provided all the tools and encouragement that Sarah needed as she explored her interests, and promoted self-sufficiency and an independent spirit, some of the hallmarks of Carla’s personality that helped her set up her own business.

That entrepreneurial drive passed on to Sarah, who developed her own beaded creations — Backpack Buddies, and later Sneaker Buddies — which she sold at Carla’s table during the Palmerton Community Festival. They were a massive hit, eventually infringing upon Carla’s table space.

“I was probably 8 years old when I started selling stuff on her table. I started out with a tiny little space, and I just grew and grew and grew every year until I think I actually had the majority of the space. And then we decided for the next year that we would each have our own space,” Sarah said with a laugh.

Nowadays, the mother-daughter team helps to organize the craft portion of the Community Festival. They are both part of the Carbon County Art League, with Carla working on the board and Sarah serving as president.

When it came time to consider a path for secondary education and a career, Carla was more than happy to let Sarah figure out what she wanted to do, providing help if she wanted.

“I let her set her own direction, and she decided which way she was going to go. I was just there to encourage her and help her with whatever she needed at the moment,” Carla said.

When Sarah embarked on a home-improvement project, Carla helped her with supplies as a birthday present.

“She bought me all the safety equipment, the hardhat, the mask. I would have just gone in there with a hammer and started swinging, but she got me all the proper tools so I could demolish the room.”

The pièce de résistance was a special helmet, personalized for Sarah.

“She painted it, put my initials on it, and put a warning on the back of it,” Sarah said.

“On the back, I put ‘Approach with caution,’ and on the front, ‘Born to demo.’”

To this day, Carla tags along to assist Sarah when she attends conventions for her own business, Sincerely Sarah Jewelry.

When it came to one of the most troubling days of Carla’s life, Sarah was there to support her beloved mother.

After a visit to the doctor’s office, Carla received a diagnosis that froze her — she had cancer.

“I was the first phone call as she was sitting in the parking lot. I was at work, and I know if my phone rings at work and it’s Mom, I answer. I walked out of the room and talked her through it, getting her calm enough to be able to drive home. I was the first one to get that news,” Sarah said.

Carla said that the hardest part of the ordeal was revealing the diagnosis to her children and her husband, Phil.

Once treatment began, Sarah was by Carla’s side the whole time.

“I was there. I went with her for appointments, surgery, I was with her for all of it. I was her driver, her caretaker,” she said.

And that support didn’t disappear after the last round of chemotherapy.

“Whenever I have down days, she puts my head back on straight,” Carla said.

Following treatment, Sarah helped Carla pick up a part-time position at her employer, White Water Challenges. No matter how busy they may be during the week, they still get to see one another over the weekends.

This Sunday, Carla and Sarah will enjoy one of their favorite Mother’s Day traditions.

“We are going out for breakfast, and then we will go plant shopping. We’ve done this every year for probably the past 10 or 12 years. Either I’ll come here and I’ll make breakfast, or we’ll go out somewhere, and then we always go plant shopping so that we have vegetables and flowers for the garden for the year,” Sarah said.

While Sarah and John often prepare breakfast on the holiday, this year, Carla insisted that no one would be cooking this year.

“She is everything. She is my friend, my mom, my support system. It would be hard to not have my mom around and be close to her,” Sarah said.

And while Sarah truly appreciates everything her mother is to her, Carla is just as thankful to have a loving child like her.

“I feel like one of the luckiest moms ever. I have two great kids. I have Sarah, and we connect so much with the arts and all of the interests. We like a lot of the same things. I’ve gotten to work from home, run my own business, and be with them. It’s fantastic,” Carla said.