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

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!

Peek at New Fabric Collection

Good afternoon to everyone! I wanted to give a peek at a new fabric collection that I've designed for little girl home decor and apparel. I was able to get the design printed on fabric and made a dress as a sample for Surtex (and after the show for my oldest daughter to sport!) I was going to put it on a mannequin but really wanted McKenna model it as God uses her in so many ways to be a source of inspiration to me.

Also, I'm excited to announce a new partnership soon...stay tuned!

Surtex 2012 Wrap-Up!

Our time spent in New York City last week for the Surtex show was a great experience...filled with meeting many amazingly talented artist and making contacts and connections from companies that I am looking forward to following up with! (Excited to share more about that soon!) After exhibiting last year for the first time at the National Stationery Show I was glad to have had that show under my belt as it made me more aware of the planning process, accommodations, logistics, and everything that goes into it. However, it was our first time to exhibit at Surtex which I was really excited about. So many of the opportunities and blessings that have come over the last year kept us honing into the world of licensing my art. In a way preparing to exhibit reminds me of planning a wedding...there are months and months of preparation, behind the scenes work to make it all happen for the big day! After I registered for Surtex last fall, I wanted to expand beyond the greeting card designs that I've created over the 4 past years and start designing for other products such as fabric collections, giftwrap, giftbags, tabletop concepts, etc. I must say...it has been thrilling!! I have LOVED the new challenge of learning about design for other categories!

Last year I kept having this urge to learn to sew. I am sure having two young little girls influenced that as I see so many cute dresses and think to myself, "gosh, I wish I could make this!"...so after enough thought, I bought myself a sewing machine and started teaching myself how to sew by looking at sewing blog tutorials online. As I was planning for Surtex, I hadn't even connected the two (sewing). But then it donged on me...sewing mock-up samples for my booth so companies that were walking the show could see what my patterns could look like on a pair of little girl pajamas, a backpack, pillows, aprons, and hand towels would be a neat visual! 

My husband Taylor (my best friend, hero and biggest encourager) plays such a vital role for the show as well as just every day life. His support and encouragement for me to spread my wings with my creativity has definitely been a big factor in order for me to be where I am today. Also, my cousin/friend Elizabeth who now lives in NYC graciously helped us set up our booth again this year...so so helpful! Thank you Elizabeth!! It did take us less time this year to set up, but one thing I have found is setting up always takes me longer than I anticipate as well as experiencing things you may not have planned for. When it was complete, I was really excited to see the booth come to life...such a gratifying feeling!

Ta-da!

First day of Surtex! 

 

Remember when I said there are some things that will happen that you don't plan on during a show? This would be one of them.  Despite the leaks coming in from the rain, it ended up not being a big deal since it was just one spot...who knew an umbrella could have so many functions! ;)

 biz postcards...

 candy anyone?

 Meeting Bella Pilar was definitely a cool experience as I have admired her work for years...

 Setting up...

 Elizabeth and Taylor helping set up...

 crazy to see how a booth can come to "life" with some dashes of design, color and some TLC...

 

 
Also, got to meet up for dinner one night with a good friend I used to work with at my previous job when I sold building materials. (Yes, you heard me right, I used to sell building materials in corporate america) - Isn't it cool how every step we take are stepping stones for us to listen, learn and grow? Feeling so thankful that God has led me to this sweet place...and that He continues to fill me with inspiration, ideas and also uses my little girls, my husband and a community of incredible friendships that add such joy in my life. Excited to see what unfolds next!