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

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.

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

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

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!

Not saying Good-bye, but see you soon...

Hey y'all! Hope each of you are having a fabulous start to the Christmas season. It feels like a lot has gone on over the past month or so in the Brown household.

Not to be a downer, but I thought I'd share with you something I've been walking through. We got pretty sudden news several weeks ago that my grandfather had only a couple hours to a couple days to live. My grandfather has been my father figure through out my life so it felt as if I was loosing a parent. He would have been 100 years old on December 8th.  He has been married to my sweet grandmother for 72 years. Despite how old someone is, I don't think you can ever fully prepare yourself for the finality of knowing you will never see them again on this Earth. I am so very thankful for the one on one time I had with him the day before he died. He was in his room at home and I was able to hold his hand while talking and reminiscing over my memories with him. I sung him some of my favorite songs and got to pray over him.  He already had one foot in heaven and was unresponsive but the hospice nurse told me he was definitely able to hear, as hearing is the last sense that goes. As I hugged good bye, I was reminded once again just how fleeting our lives are. Jesus said to not get too attached of the things of this world because our lives are vapors, fleeting and a bleep in the scheme of eternity. I am so thankful that I don't have to say good bye forever but know I will see him again when it is my turn to enter the gates. I can't help but rejoice for him in what he is experiencing now. Meeting our Savior face to face, being united with loved one that have entered before him and being in the most beautiful and breathtaking place. No sin. No pain. No brokenness that we experience here on Earth. Thanks for letting me share a tribute and my last hours with him. He was one special man who shaped me in more ways than he will ever know. He loved me and my family so well. I love and miss you Pop.

A picture of him when he was about 30 years old, so handsome...

This sobering reminder of the delicacy of life makes me want to be sure that I am living every SINGLE day to the fullest. Utilizing every gift and ability that God has so kindly entrusted to me. I want to share it with others in hopes that it can in some way bring encouragement and/or inspiration to others. It is a neat thought to think if we all were tapping into these sweet gifts we have received how each and every one of us DOES add more joy and beauty to this world.  Join me as we can ask ourselves, "Am I living each day to the fullest?", "Am I sharing these awesome gifts to touch others lives and make a difference?" If there is any bit of hesitation holding us back, my hope is that we would shine brightly through the light He graciously gives to us! Amen.

Greenville Business Magazine Feature

Thanks to Greenville Business Magazine for featuring Tamagrams as an Emerging Company. 

To read full article below, click here!

More exciting news to come 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!