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?