Exciting New Partnership & the Beautiful Beginnings of Spring...

I know my updates are rare these days...as much as I would like to have more time for blogging, at this stage simply put: life is full. BUT choosing it to be full of the things that matter as I have learned to pick and choose what is priority and what to say no to. That is a learning process in itself! 

I hope this find you all doing wonderful...isn't the first blossoms of spring simply stunning?? I am typically not much of a morning person, but since my daughter started kindergarten I've been embracing it and have been reminded of the sights during the small window of time watching the Earth wake up is nothing short of incredible! God's creativity and artistry just amaze me. Thankful for these mornings, such a great way to bookmark the beginning of a new day. Reminds me to be mindful, not wanting to miss any of the miracles that happen throughout each day.  It is true...His joy comes in the morning. 

So...I've got some VERY exciting news to share!...

I've been blown away at how such a specific prayer was answered and wanted to share this new licensing partnership that has now begun with Legacy Publishing. For several years, I've been praying to have an opportunity to create more faith based art for cards and product; desiring for there to be more oneness and unison with my life and my art. One's life is what so often inspires and I'm wanting to use the gifts God has given me well and wisely. The gift of art it is not meant for just me, but to be shared, to bring blessing and joy to others and to ultimately point back to Jesus. After all, He is the giver of our gifts! Over the past years as I've grown in my faith, I have had vision to design specifically a line of upbeat, trendy and fresh Christian greeting cards that would that breathe God's word (in my opinion the card aisles need more of those!) while wanting the art to also have mission and make a difference by having a % of sales go to a worldwide need. Two years ago I read the Circle Maker with a bible study group and felt led to begin praying circles around this idea. Fast forward 2 years later...through a random chain of events (and people) the opportunity has now opened up right before me to begin working with Legacy Publishing doing just that AND they just happen to have a program already in place called "Buy A Card, Feed A Child" where a portion of card sales go to buying meals for underprivileged children across the world. How crazy/cool is that?!? On top of that I'll also will be working on other products that I'm excited to share more about soon that will be available through Big chain stores as well as individual retailers. So grateful!!! I find myself again AMAZED at God's faithfulness and how often His timing is so different than mine...so neat to look back at some of my journal entries and prayers about this. Amazed, amazed, amazed!! Habakkuk 2:3

I also found out recently that I am going to be designing a faith inspired calendar that will be available in Hobby Lobby and some other retailers for this coming year. I feel like a kid beyond excited and thankful...the kind of excitement that makes you want to run and leap through fields and fall on my knees in gratitude at the same time! It is incredibly surreal to watch dreams, hopes, long time desires and prayers unfold after long periods of waiting. He truly does make all things beautiful in HIS time and it is a refining process for us to go through. Thankful to have the opportunity to share my heART with others that will be hung up year round! Now for the painting of 12 months to begin! I can't wait to share the finished products in the upcoming months of the new card line, products and calendar...stay tuned!

This past weekend was oh, so beautiful too. Thanks to my beloved hubby for playing with me and capturing some fun pics under a wide blue open sky in the field behind our house. 

Embrace today. Make the most of it. Our lives, our health and time are such a gift. 

Spartanburg Magazine Feature and CRBR

I was recently SO VERY honored to be featured in the Spartanburg Magazine for their fall issue! When I saw the feature I was blown away by the very kind and generous 

write up on my design company, Tamagrams. See below:

Also, I thought John Byrum, the photographer for the Herald Journal/Sptbg Mag did a great job capturing the essence and overall feel of my studio office. Thanks John!

Life is moving SO quickly as my husband and I are raising two little girls and all that activities that accompany work, church, trying to sell a house and making plans to build another all while trying to live life to the FULLEST and take advantage of all the special moments that come day by day. All while trying to be intentional to carve out "windows" of time to just simply be. As a culture it is just so easy to slip into being overly busy and I try so hard to avoid that even though that does seem to be life in this stage of living. So much happening that my time to blog is less and less these days. During the summer on a last minute whim, my husband kept encouraging me to enter the Cooper River Bridge Design Contest as I hadn't been planning on it. I ended up designing this piece the day before we left for a week vacation to Charleston, which also happened to be the last week to enter the contest in June. How was that for timing?? I was overwhelmed by the Bridge Run's response when I turned it in and so many faithful Facebook fans that the piece seemed to resonate with.

The design ended up not being the one that was chosen for the 2015 design and to be honest was really disappointed but once again reminded through that process to surrender the "gifts" that the Lord gives us and trust Him with the details of the rest. The Lord does and continues to teach me so much through the vehicle of art. Charleston being my home town and the place I spent my childhood years, holds an extra special meaning to me. I was able to go to Charleston for the reveal party in August and was once again so encouraged by people's responses to the piece. AND, how crazy is it that out of almost a full container of people's raffle tickets my mother won my design!!! Wild!! Thank you to my amazing hubby for encouraging me to go to the reveal and for holding down the fort while I was gone. Also, thanks to my mom for making the trip with me and my awesome longtime childhood friend Krissy for coming to the party. Such a good and encouraging night. I was encouraged by staff at the Bridge Run and friends and family to enter again next year. I'm already sketching artwork for next year's submission.  (I know, I'm a dork and way ahead of schedule!) I just really do enjoy it that much.

Charleston will forever be one of my most favorite places on earth. It's such a special city like no other. As an artist, I bask in all of the colors, textures, smells and charming and enchanting architecture - not to mention the peaceful coast line that I could spend days at a time on. Now, it's going to make us all want to walk the beautiful cobblestone streets with all of these wonderful reminiscent thoughts! ;) 

Happy Fall Y'all!

xo, Tamara

Hellllloooo Summer!!

Ah. Yes. Summer is almost here. I'm excited! Our girls are now out of preschool and we are getting into the swing of the summer activities and enjoying not waking up to an alarm clock. I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of summer time as well.

I wanted to share some news...
First off, I was so encouraged last week when I had entered a fabric design contest on Spoonflower.com for the utensils theme. I found out my pattern "Domestic Bliss: Ingredients for JOY" made the top 10! It came in 8th place out of 379 entries...so humbled to be amongst such other awesome designers! It was very encouraging to me as I have been desiring to branch out into fabric for some time now. It was a BIG day for my heart! Thank you to all of those who voted, I'm grateful! Neat to see Domestic Bliss actually printed on the fabric...

This fabric is now for sale to the public on Spoonflower.com - It's so weird to me to think people are buying the fabric I designed and making beautiful things with it. I have been getting notifications for every purchase and I'm so humbled to see so many people ordering it. I'm thinking curtains, aprons, tea towels and other kitchen goodies! Thanks from the bottom of my heart...I'd love to see a photo of what creations you made with it :)

Also. in other news...personal news...

WE ARE GOING TO BE MOVING!

I know, I know. It seems crazy to me. We have been in this house for 11 years. We had this house built right when I graduated college and it's been the home where so many of our memories over the 13 years of marriage have been. It's been the place we "grew up" in a sense and brought our daughters home to. However, we have bought a lot in a near by neighborhood and will be building (contracting the work out ourselves). The past 5 months have been beyond wild to say the least. Many people say building a house is stressful, however I think for us the stress started way before the building..it's been deciding between 2 properties to build on. There is a lonnng story that I won't go into all the details of for time and the sake of boring you but the bottom line of what I learned from it all..... :

1) Often the WISEST thing is the SIMPLEST thing.

We were wanting to be wise and had a lot of BIG financial decisions to make...we tried to sell one lot (we will call it LOT A, a beautiful.7 acre lot) to be able to go to LOT B (a lot we first didn't think would work out but the doors opened AFTER we had already gotten LOT A). Lot B was a gorgeous 3.5 acre piece of property (dream property really...) It seemed like God's favor was leading in that direction with a string of events that happened. But bottom line...our LOT A did not sell in the time frame we needed it to and we didn't want to try to juggle two lot loans and a mortgage, while trying to sell a house. See...I told you it has been WILD. We made the decision to stay and build on the original lot to simplify as things were seeming to mushroom and grow into something much bigger and much more stressful than our original plan and reasoning behind why we were doing this venture.  Anyways, since the decision has now been made...Taylor and I have been feeling such peace. The strange thing is...I thought I would feel disappointed it didn't work out for us to go the property with more land but it is just the opposite. I feel such REST and PEACE. Life just got a whole lot simpler and we both feel deep down in our spirit, that this is exactly the direction we are to take. There is such freedom in that on so many levels. Our realtor told us that there is a prospect client that is making the decision between our home and another...so we will see. However, I'm not worried about that. Our house will sell when it is suppose to sell. Just feels good to have a solid plan and solid peace in how we are moving forward. Thanks for listening...it's been a lot of our life over the past months. 

I will end this blog post with an overview of some of my recent work over the past months. Will be sharing soon lots of new samples that have been arriving from Recycled Paper Greetings. Always love to see the finished product!

 xoxo,

Tamara

Operation Anna and Elsa: Complete!

I know it has been a while since I wrote. So much going on this year (will be sure to fill you in soon!) but in the mean time there's been lots of card designing, sewing, playing, serving, and soaking in the beginnings of spring. Like the flowers, I can feel my spirit bursting in bloom with excitement of this warmth, bright color palettes and fragrant smells as I walk outside. Neat how change brings fresh new thoughts, ideas and perspective. How has your year been so far?

A fun project recently was making Anna and Elsa costumes for our girls. They are HUGE Frozen fans...thought I'd go ahead and make them now so they can enjoy them throughout the year and already have Halloween costumes done (double bonus) :)

For some reason, I find following patterns much harder so for most things I make up the pattern as I go. For Anna I actually used black felt to make the top (which was nice to not have hem all the edges), then got smaller sheets of pink and green felt from JoAnn fabrics, cut out shapes and then hot glued them to the top. I sewed on gold glitter ribbon as the border and cut the back of the shirt down the center and sewed on velcro to make it easy to get into and "grow" with. Skirt was just sewn to an elastic waist band and then sewed the clasp onto the cape.

For Elsa I got light teal glittery satin fabric and then glittery teal tulle and wrapped the tulle around the body of the dress while also creating a train like effect on the back. I choose to get white ball decorative trim to use as the straps to resemble snow. Didn't want to waste the left overs, so I also added this trim around the top of the dress. I thought it tied together nicely and the white trim color makes the dress "pop" against the light teal.

As the girls are getting older, we are able to start doing some "Sewing 101"

                           

   Sewed my heart out for about a day and half. 

Glad our little Anna and Elsa now have the costume to accompany 

them as they belt out the lyrics of "Let It Go"

Will be back soon to give you more updates of new NEWS and new CARDS that will soon be available in Recycled Paper Greetings retailers!

Blessings,

Tamara 

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

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

Welcome 2013!

Well, here we are...another start to a brand new year. Happy New Year, everyone!

I must say, I was a little nostalgic to say good-bye to 2012. It has been such a special year.  Lots of blessings and lots of learning. Sweet times with family and friends, new and old. It brought new adventures and many firsts as well as challenges that forced me to grow in ways to learn more about trusting Him in all things.

On the business home front for Tamagrams, the year brought amazing opportunity. Exhibiting at Surtex (our first time), new partnerships with new clients. As new partnerships began, new art targets also pushed me to widen the doors of my creative process. The year also brought an upbeat fresh look of Tamagrams with new logo/branding and new website. It's been a year that I am deeply thankful for as it has brought and taught me more about true contentment, inspiration, forgiveness, patience, creativity, gratitude, restoration, anticipation, dreaming, answered prayer, loving, loss and death, testing, faith and the power that is given to us when we believe Him at His word.

Lord, thank you for having my back at all times. Help me to trust you in ALL things as you lead and direct my steps. Thank you for being so dependable and so very perfect.  My prayer for 2013 is that You would fill me with more of You. I want to bring You glory as who you have created me to be. May my life and gifts be a blessing to my husband, my children, my family, my friends and everyone that I encounter. Amen.

(A little late, but hope you all had a VERY Merry Christmas) and are having a beautiful start to a brand new year. May 2013 be one that is filled with more growth and gratitude!

Tamagrams Wedding Collections & Kleinfeld Paper

Anyone familiar with the TLC show, "Say Yes to the Dress"? Tamagrams wedding invitation collections will be available through Kleinfeld Paper and supported by national advertising in Brides, The Knot, Martha Stewart and others starting January 2013...continuing to thank God for opening doors for this passion He has given me. 

On the note of passions and dreams...I wanted to end this post with an excerpt to share with you as it encourages me - I love to think about this... "I AM WORKING ON YOUR BEHALF. Bring Me all your concerns, including your dreams. Talk with Me about everything, letting the Light of My Presence shine on your hopes and plans. Spend time allowing My Light to infuse your dreams with life, gradually transforming them into reality. This is a very practical way of collaborating with Me. I, the Creator of the Universe, have deigned to co-create with you. Do not try to hurry this process. If you want to work with Me, you have to accept My time frame. Hurry is not in My nature. Abraham and Sarah had to wait many years for the fulfillment of My promise, a son. How their long wait intensified their enjoyment of this child! Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses." - Jesus Calling 

Interview/Feature on Sorry You're Happy Blog

One of the things I have loved about exhibiting at shows in the past have been the amazing people I meet. No seriously, just awesome.  It is so neat to be around and connect with other creatives who share a similar passion.  I have been lucky enough to also have some beautiful friendships blossom and still talk to on a regular basis, years later. (both were next door booth neighbors)

On the note about booth neighbors...do you remember back in the spring when I shared our experience exhibiting at the Surtex show in NY? Well, while we were there we were blessed once again in meeting a neat couple from Canada named Jen and Kyle. They were our booth neighbors and featured us on their fun company blog called Sorry You're Happy! So nice of them! To read the interview and feature, Click here!