new store!

well, it's official! tama press now has books and cards at the incredibly popular sevigny studio in downtown anchorage! if you are out and about tomorrow for first friday, drop on by and check out the goods. sevigny studio is located at 608 w 4th ave, next to cake studio & the 4th avenue theater.

i met with katie a couple weeks ago to show her some of my products. i was nervous...this is KATIE SEVIGNY - a very well known artist in alaska. i've always admired her work and have wanted to approach her about my products for years...and i finally decided to go for it. and i'm so glad i did...

sorry that posts have been extremely infrequent...things have been so busy around here and there isn't any sign that it'll slow down anytime soon. i will post when i can but i'm not gonna make any promises. i'll try to catch up on your blogs too. i just don't like feeling guilty for not posting when things are so crazy. do you know what i mean? thanks for understanding...

custom wedding order meeting

i had the pleasure of meeting a very nice couple last night. they are getting married this year & wanted some custom pieces by yours truly. the groom to be saw my work in town at a shop that picked up tama press in december...and as it turns out, the shop is owned by his mom! and, he was friends with my brother in elementary school...and i was friends with his sister! such a small world.

the couple were so pleasant to work with - it sure makes a difference to have sweet clients. i'm looking forward to starting on their package. they requested a custom guest book, recipe cards (to send with their wedding invitations), a recipe card box, a photo box, and a larger clamshell box to house their custom made cake cutting utensil set! lots of stuff - it will be made from indigo chiyogami, printed with a bamboo design & chocolate bookcloth. i can't wait to start on it!

pretty things - wear it!

since it is chilly and gray outside, i thought i'd do a post on some pretty things to brighten up the day:

marquise twig ring, bittersweets ny

oscillations cardigan, anthropologie

strike a chord dress, modcloth

and since i inadvertently created a little outfit...here's a couple more things to complete the look:
soothing song heels, modcloth

pin flower hair clip, mimi charmante

pearl coral turquoise & silver earrings, crows catch
(i just got a pair of these & they are awesome)

pearls on a half shell necklace, annie's arts & follies

if you get a chance, check out the last 3 shops listed - they are all on etsy & make gorgeous work. and don't forget to drop by my etsy shop too. viva handmade!

etsy mini!

good morning! as you can see, i moved around a couple of things here in blogland. to the right, you will notice the brand spankin' new etsy mini - showcasing items from my etsy shop! so you can either click on TamaPress at the below all of the pictures to go directly to the shop, or you can click on one of the pictures & it'll take you to that particular item. i thought it would be extremely difficult to make and add to the blog. and it wasn't. at all. easier than dialing a phone. below that is my handmade pledge sticker and then the blog archives & lables follow.

if you haven't had a chance, check out the shop. i'm working on getting more items up soon!

etsy shop!

i finally have my etsy shop up! there are just a handful of items available right now, but i am working on getting more products up soon. lots of pictures to take & not enough daylight to take them. please go take a look around at tell me what you think!

here's the address: http://tamapress.etsy.com

you can also look at my main website http://www.tama-press.com and click on "etsy shop" in the upper right corner.

paper cutter awesomeness

i finally ordered a super cool stack paper cutter. i have a guillotine cutter that is super awesome too - i heart my kutrimmer. however, i wanted to get something else that will cut stacks of paper, specifically for the insides of my books and possibly some stacks of book board. that would save me SO much time, plus be a bit more accurate since there isn't a curve in the cutting blade. it'll be mailed out tomorrow and take about 12 days to get here...i can't wait!

here's a pic of the 50 pound beast:

photo credit

my work is doing well at artique (the most recent gallery to carry my art) and i'm thrilled that they already asked for additional merchandise! bella also wants to try some new products too. and on top of that, i have a handful of custom orders and some more on the horizon! hooray!

etsy store

been working on my etsy store today - mostly taking pictures for the shop. here's a few pics (unedited):

large stab binding books

medium stab binding book

side view of stab binding

guest books

back to work!!

etsy shopping

yesterday i was following some blogs and caught up on mimi charmante's blog. she sells items on etsy - a couple months ago, i even won something from her shop (a gorgeous photo!) i popped over to her shop and came across the most beautiful (blue) necklace...and immediately knew i must have it. so after a quick message to find out the dimensions, i placed my order. here it is:

photo credit

isn't it gorgeous?? to read more details about it, just click on the photo credit or the picture. and check out her shop too. some very pretty things there. oh, and it matches my new blue shoes too. awesome.

etsy shop project

since it is now 2010, i thought it would be a good idea to start up my etsy shop. really get it started - not posting a few things here and there like in the past. i would really like to start generating some sales through etsy and broaden my customer base. i've been doing a lot of reading regarding how to set things up and information about photo taking, advertising, etc. and to start, i opened a new account with etsy - one completely separate from my personal (shopping) account. so now, people will be able to find my etsy shop by searching for TamaPress (under sellers)! since there is currently nothing up, i'll post the link to the shop later...

i'll post updates as things progress and links to products once things are set up. in addition, i'll also work on updating the Tama Press website with new photos.

thanks to bfff for planting the seed (eons ago) to have my etsy site under TamaPress. once again, his support has helped me take one more step towards making my artwork full time!

felt & wire online shop

thanks to the pie bird press blog, i was introduced to an amazing new webshop call felt & wire. WOW. it is a curated collection of paper products ranging from prints & cards to wrapping paper & letterpress printed books. go here for a list of pie bird press products on felt & wire.

maybe i'll apply for this shop someday.