Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas!

We are now on the countdown...2 days approaching! Hope you all have gotten your Christmas to-do lists just about complete and can sit back now and sip some eggnog or some hot chocolate (for all of you non-eggnog fans).

I thought I'd share our very own Christmas card this year...we had an amazing photographer named Sara Parker from Columbia drive up and do our very first family of four photo shoot in early November. I loved so many of the pictures she was able to capture, I couldn't decide on just a few. I decided to make our photo card this year extra fun with a "stamp" theme as well as tons of room to hold all of these fun photos :)

(Front)


(Inside Left)


(Inside Right)


(Back)



Happy Birthday Jesus!! Hope everyone has an extra special Christmas this year!

Friday, December 17, 2010

My Muse

Life has seemed to be going by at lightning speed...whew! I wish that I had a pause button so I could stop and just savor this Christmas season a little more. Every year I scratch my head on Janurary 1st and wonder where the Holidays went and how did it go by so fast!

In prelude to what I am about to talk about in this blog, I'll take you down a walk down memory lane...Since my senior year of high school, it was my dream and desire of mine to one day start a stationary and greeting card company. It has been almost 4 years ago that I took that leap of faith and combined my passion with paper. It has been such a journey. Once upon a time, Tamagrams started and consisted of 24 hand painted card designs. It's been exciting with each year, being able to add on new products as well as ideas. This year, I kept having a thought (and feeling) come over my heart about exhibiting in the National Stationary Show in New York City during May of 2011. Until this point, it had never crossed my mind because I knew I simply wasn't ready. I kept wrestling around with this idea as it is a very large expense for a small business to take this on without a guarantee. After speaking with several trusted and loved friends and supporters I knew that I did infact need to exhibit at the show and continue to step out in faith. So......on that note, I've been very busy designing fresh brand new designs and concepts, as well as tweaking old designs that need improvement or either discarding some older ones all together. It's kinda cool being able to look back at a certain skill/talent or trade and seeing the natural process of improving over time and practice. You can see this a lot with photographers and artists. Believe it or not, my husband is my biggest fan and supporter as well as an active part of my designing process. Our dream is to one day be able to work together designing. We are both equally creative, however his strengths are not my strengths and vice versa. That is another reason we feel we do work so well together.

Anyways, enough rambling...(sorry folks!) :) I'm posting some new stationary note designs. Yes, I do see a trend here! I am a sucker for birds! I think I am obsessed with them...I love watching them in groups, how they all instinctively know to flock together. I also love their natural delicacy and how God didn't just give us one type of bird, but hundreds! I find myself naturally diverting to them in so much of my work. They fascinate me...I guess you could call them a muse.

Hummingbird Flat Note


Hummingbird Folded Note


South Carolina Palmetto Flat Note (Gotta represent!) :)


Lollypop Roses Folded Note


Lollypop Roses Flat Note


Bird, Nest and Branch Flat Note



Lavender Bird on Thank You Branch Flat Note

Butteryfly Flat Note


Tropical Bloom Folded Note



Thanks for taking a peek! Until next time...stay warm, enjoy that cup of hot cocoa and most importantly enjoy this beautiful and special Christmas season!!!