Cards now in COSTCO!

First time to see some of my licensed card designs that are apart of a new Everyday Boxed Assortment distributed by Paper Magic Group that are now in COSTCO stores nationwide! Hip Hip Horray! The journey of licensing can be such a long process and moments like these are such highlights! Paper Magic Group did such a good job on the production and giving them a "hand-made" look with all of the special folds, die-cuts, foil and embellishments. Continuing to thank God for His faithfulness and favor to pave the way for all of this...so so blessed to be able to work doing something that I love so very much.

Up-cycle Living Room Project (Part 1)

I love a good "up-cycle" project. We've been in our house for over 10 years which is so hard to believe. The tuscan color choice I was into years ago has been very much enjoyed but this year I was really craving to update some things around here to feel like more of my current style. It only makes sense though doesn't it? As people we evolve and grow year after year and as a result our taste and style change and emerge along with us. I thought what better time than now to begin some changes for us to enjoy in our home and wanted to do my best to keep the cost down as much as I could since home decor can add up fast! So...here it goes.......

Recently we were given this entertainment table that we then painted white, found some lamps for $3 each at a yard sale (score!) and then sprayed them silver as well as knobs on entertainment table. Covered lamp shades with fabric and I sewed some pillows to coordinate and sewed new light teal drapes. Loving how a change can feel so refreshing and some elbow grease can feel so rewarding...

 Bought Silver Metallic Spray Paint at Hobby Lobby...

isn't it amazing to see the transformation of something that was out of date 

to something beautiful within minutes?

Covering lamp shades was something new to me but was actually pretty easy. 

To do this, lay your fabric out on the floor and then lay the lamp shade on it's side. I then took a pencil and traced it as I rolled the lampshade to the right and then to the left. After you get your marks for the shade, then cut out the fabric where your pencil lines are. You can see what this looks like in the photo above. Then I began to hot glue to the fabric around the top inside and bottom inside making sure the fabric is taunt. It took me about 15-20 minutes to cover each lamp. I love the result!!

For this furniture piece, I decided to go with a simple white painted look. In the past I have enjoyed distressing furniture, but lately I've been really drawn to the clean, crisp look of plain white. It seems to clear my mind. First, you need to sand the piece, then put on a coat of primer. The primer doesn't have to be perfect, just enough coverage to cover the wood underneath. Then put your top coats on once primer is completely dry.

I took the same bird fabric from the lamps and also made some coordinating throw pillows for the couch. Also, sewed piping and decorative trim into several of them. There are step by step tutorials online to show you how to do this if you are new to this like me.  I really love how they turned out. My daughters call the solid teal one the "cotton ball pillow" ;) Also, used the same solid teal fabric for the drapes so it all flows together nicely. Every time I pass through my living room now it feels sooo good to look over and see a refreshing little spot that feels more like me now. Up next...updating our gallery wall. Have some ideas up my sleeve and I'm excited to see it come to life. Will share more on this soon...until next time - I hope you have a wonderful Halloween week and enjoy all the festivity!

xo,

Tamara

Ghost Cupcake Halloween Card in Retailers Nationwide

Good Morning World!

I sincerely hope this find each one of you with an extra dose of peace 

and joy in your step today. 

Don't you love this time of year? 

     Last week was exciting when I got to see my "Ghost Cupcake" Halloween card in retailers.

Be sure to grab one and send some snail mail to someone special in your life this fall. 

You can find this yummy treat wherever Recycled Paper Greetings Cards

 are sold and independent retailers nationwide.

Have a fun-loving, festive, leaf falling, cider drinking, pumpkin carving, 

apple picking, trick or treating kind of month!

Until next time....

Many Blessings,
Tamara

The Dog Days

Hi friends!

Hope you all are doing wonderful in these early days August...the dog days of summer as I like to call them. Can you believe this summer is in the home stretch already? I don't even want to think about that yet...I love the season change to fall but not ready to say good bye to summer anytime soon. Still want to enjoy these last weeks before our girls go back to preschool and pumpkins and cool weather are in the forecast. What are some special experiences that you've had this summer?

For us, it's been time to collect ourselves and refresh. The spring was so very busy that my soul definitely needed some down time to ponder and my brain to de-frag. It's also been so nice not being on a schedule.  Our days have been filled with play dates with friends, parks and pools, ice cream cones, painting and drawing on the kitchen table, birthday parties, a visit to the in-laws and got to go to the beautiful Gibb Gardens for the first time outside of Atlanta. We were lucky enough to take a week vacation down to Hilton Head, SC earlier this summer. Just the four of us this time. Loved the days of biking around the island, beach and being pool side. So thankful for that time together and the memories that were made. This summer has been such a reprieve. Here are a couple shots from our trip.

  

BTW, thank you to everyone who voted for my fabric design, "Citrus Umbrellas" in the Spoonflower design challenge the other week. My design came in 16th out 403 entries. I felt good about that and am going to keep on, keepin' on trying my hand at fabric. It's been fun to be apart of a contest and good for me to practice more with surface pattern design as it is so very different from greeting card design.  Speaking of greeting card design...here are some samples of a couple of my new birthday cards that will be available in Recycled Paper Greetings retailers to be on the look out for...

"Book Birthday Cake" Copyright Tamara Brown/Tamagrams 2013.
All Rights Reserved.

"Sprinkle Text" Copyright Tamara Brown/Tamagrams 2013.
All Rights Reserved.

"Movie Set Birthday" Copyright Tamara Brown/Tamagrams 2013.
All Rights Reserved.

Lastly, I wanted to share with you a personal project that came together this week. I've been itching to re-do the bathroom that our girls use. I decided to take the plunge and design a shower curtain (this is a first for me) since I couldn't seem to find what I was looking in stores. I wanted to make the bathroom fun, bright and happy for our girls to grow with while also be versatile for grown ups since guests share the bathroom. Neat to see the idea that was in my head for our home really on a shower curtain now! I felt like a kid ripping open a package with excitement after it was delivered at the doorstep.

Copyright Tamara Brown/Tamagrams 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright Tamara Brown/Tamagrams 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all an amazing August!
Blessings,
Tamara

First EVER Contest for Tamagrams

Hi Tamagrams friends! So, I officially entered my first fabric contest ever...Spoonflower is an amazing company who prints fabric (I used them a lot last year when I was making demo samples for Surtex) and this week they are having a design challenge for Citrus Fruit fabric designs. I have entered one of my designs called "Citrus Umbrellas" and voting is open to the public.  I thank you in advance if you feel led to cast your vote for this juicy little design. I'm excited to share it and get it out there :) If you feel led to vote, you do not need to set up an account...just visit Spoonflower.com and cast your vote!  Thank you friends for your support!! Hope all of you are staying cool out there and enjoying these days of summer. Happy Friday everyone!

Blessings,
Tamara

Festive Beauty

Lately, I've been taking every opportunity to be outside. Working, eating, playing...haven't slept outside yet but we are planning on going camping soon. (which will be interesting since I'm not exactly the camping type) but hey, another memory to add to life right?? Seriously, been loving this weather as well as being inspired by it.

What has been inspiring you lately? I'd love to hear.

It is always an extra special morning in the studio when one of my design samples arrives in the mail and I'm able to see it for the first time in print. I love how this one turned out and the touches of glitter too! Be on the look out for this festive beauty in Recycled Paper Greetings retailers! It's been a very busy spring creating new art for greeting cards and I'm so looking forward to sharing them with you soon.

Hope you have been able to enjoy getting out in the sunshine and walking bare-feet in the green grass. Happy Spring everyone!

Copyright 2013 Tamagrams/Tamara Brown. Peacock Birthday Balloon Feathers. All Rights Reserved.

5 Years!

Tamagrams has been so much more than a business, but a spiritual journey that started 5 years ago. This experience has opened my eyes wider to a few things...Celebrating 5 years today :) Thank you for embarking on this journey with me, my heart is filled with gratitude to share it with you and hope that it would be a reminder of encouragement for just how good and how BIG our God is.

Copyright 2013 Tamagrams / Tamara Brown. All Rights Reserved. 

New Office and Recent Happenings!

Good Afternoon from beautiful and sunny Greenville, South Carolina! Can you tell this weather is making my heart sing today??! I've been sooo looking forward to spring and I can slowly but surely see that it is almost here. Not sure about where you are in the world, but here in South Carolina it has been such a tease. One day it will be sunny and 70, not a cloud in the sky and the next will be cold, rainy boot wearin' weather.

I wanted to share some things with you today...First, would be the new office we have been working on. For the past 5 years, our dining room has been my "office" but was still working off our dining room table...finally we just decided to embrace this room and make it a full fledged office, so glad that we did! So thankful to have a more inspiring and efficient place to create.

We have been painting (literally just about everything in this room with a surface has seen paint up close and personally here lately ;) My McGyver of a husband with his rock star skills built table top/counters that line two walls of the room for plenty of space to work and create on projects as well as shelves.

I typically love color but for this room I was wanting a tranquil spot - crisp, clean white walls, light teal countertops so a certain color wouldn't influence me too much when I work. However, definitely wanted bright pops of color here and there. As well as a new chalkboard wall to jot down inspirations, to-do's and a fun and inviting place for my children to use their imaginations too. I really love how it turned out. Can't believe we did all of this within one week. (I think the chaos from everything being moved around into the foyer of my house was definitely a motivator to finish this a.s.a.p) - I wish I had a better BEFORE picture, (still wanting to tackle painting the chandelier and a couple more odds and ends) but here is the transformation of my new office space...Feeling quite cozy in here now...

Here is the transformation...

One of my little cuties saying, "Yay, we're coming along!" ;)

 Old desk about to get a make-over...

Room starting to come "alive"...

Took some of my fabric and a mannequin I had made for Surtex last year 

and turned into some colorful corner decor...

Ta-da!

If you have ever entertained (or not entertained) the idea of a chalkboard wall, I would highly recommend it! It was my first time doing one and I love it so much I am thinking about using chalkboard paint in the hallway of my girl's rooms also. 

  A couple more fun and recent happenings...

Christa Sorauf was someone I was introduced to when I first embarked on the Tamagrams journey 5 years ago. She is also a licensed artist that has her work on numerous amounts of product in the market place. She was so kind to feature me on her company's blog. She has become such a treasured and creative mentor to me over the years...so thankful for the ways God has used her in my life!

 Click here to check out the feature. 

Again, thank you for taking the time to walk along this journey with me...I'm so glad to share it with you. Wishing you all a beautiful beginning of spring, a reminder of His way of making all things new and bringing true life and beauty into our lives. 

Tamagrams/Recycled Paper Greetings now in Big Box Retailers Nationwide!

This week has been one where I have once again found myself blown away by God's faithfulness.  I have been resting in feelings of overwhelmed thankfulness and gratitude on so many levels. It feels like a dream to see your own "dream" live on a shelf. Thinking back to some experiences that pushed me to take a leap of faith two years ago and exhibit at the National Stationery Show. Being in a Beth Moore study at the time, I remember writing down the words, "God is ABLE, God is WILLING and He LOVES to surprise us" - something about those words confirmed my heart on the decision as well as having a group of loving and supportive women speak into my life and encourage me just to trust as He was leading.  Now, inhaling some of the fruition that has come from all of that while reflecting on what I've learned from walking in obedience when you have no clue what is around the corner. For some reason "art" has been such a learning tool and vehicle for God to teach me through. Last week was such an exciting week here for us. We saw Tamagrams on shelves of big box retailers that will be available nationwide. PRAISES!!! So excited and VERY thankful! I can't wait to share more designs that will be hitting the shelves soon.  Thank you for taking the time and walking along this journey with me, so glad to share it with you!

Copyright 2013 Tamagrams/Tamara Brown. Birthday Girl Words Dress. All Rights Reserved.

Many Blessings your way!

Tamara

Butterfly Frames

One of the things in my life that I am so thankful for is my husband. We truly do make a great team. He "gets" the creative vision and supports and encourages me daily. I am reminded of this as we have been making butterfly shaped frames lately.  The frames are made from scratch - Taylor saws the shape of the butterfly out of wood and sands them down, while I paint and add the details. My hope is that these hand-crafted frames would serve as reminders to girls of all ages to spread their wings as they pursue their special gifts that God has entrusted to them as well as being a reminder that we can all walk in "freedom" in Christ's name.

Frames are 16" x 16" and fit a 5" x 7" photo. 

Larger size frames can be made upon request.

 Frames are now available for purchase on Etsy link below:

Butterfly Frames

Thank you for "spreading" the word! 

Welcome February!!

Whew, what a crazy month of January! Never had a month quite like that one before. Starting New Years Day some medical stuff happened with my husband resulting him to the ER then admitted to the hospital. After a procedure and then gall bladder removal, he ended up having internal bleeding and was rushed back to the OR later that afternoon. We had been praying that God would stop whatever was going on, things were really getting scary at that point. When they went in for the emergency surgery they found 2 liters of blood in his abdomen...and guess what...they never could find the source of the bleeding. It had already stopped. The doctors were perplexed but it was soon very obvious to all who had been praying that God heard and answered us. In this case, He answered very quickly. Once Taylor had been able to return to work, we were starting to feel some normalcy again with our family. However, two weeks ago my 2-1/2 year old daughter got very sick with 104 fever and signs of a virus. After a trip to the ER and then our pediatricians office, everyone thought it was a virus. Two more days went by and still no sign of improvement, so back to the ER we went. It was then we found out she had a UTI that had spread to her kidneys. When they gave her IV of fluids (she was very dehydrated), she then contracted some blood contamination that she got when they administered the needle into her arm. After 2 days in the hospital, on IV's and the strongest antibiotics they could give her she was "out of the woods" and we were able to take her home. The crazy thing is, we are generally a very healthy family. We spent more time in the hospital that one month than in our whole life combined. So very thankful that they both are doing so MUCH better now and able to get back to life as we know it.  Despite being a crazy way to begin the year with all of the medical drama, it was a powerful way to see the power of the Holy Spirit up close in this way as well as being reminded just how very dependent we all are. God, thank you for bringing healing to Taylor and to Kaia the way that you did. You never like to see your children sick. Thank you for answering our specific prayers and for the things that you taught us through all of this.

So on that note, we have very much been welcoming the month of February! A nice, new and fresh month upon us now. I have so much to be thankful for. I wanted to share some things that we made for Christmas gifts this year. They were all new projects we had never done before, so with that said, lots of a learning curve to figure out the best and most efficient ways to go about it.

First up to bat was making decorative frames...

                gets my blood pumping when removing the tape....ahhh, love to see the result!

Can also paint it on instead of spray paint. (I prefer spray paint for cleaner finish/less touch up).

Check out the little stray kitten who found her way to our home (and our hearts)

Meet the newest addition to our family, Charcoal.  She made herself cozy on my back as I worked. 

The next project was for my mother in law - she loves wine as well as products with initials.

What better than a initial wine cork wall art?

This next project was incredibly sweet. Since Taylor had been doing so much sawing for the frames, 

he came up with the idea to make letters that spelled "mom".  

He then printed out pictures of me and the girls to modpodge onto the letters.  

What a precious keep-sake, can't wait to hang them up when we finish my new office!

Now this next and final project I will share today turned out really cool! I've been wanting to get some frames for our girls rooms as they are getting to the age where I'd like to put some pictures of their friends/family up for them to enjoy. Yep, you guessed it...while we were on the frame kick, we decided to get creative and make them each a butterfly chevron frame. These turned out so well, we will be making a few more and will be available for purchase on Etsy very soon. I think it makes such a fun accent to any girl's room! What do you think of the chevron butterfly? What other shapes or design on frames would you like to see?