DIY Classes Coming Up Soon!

Hey there-I have a couple of fun DIY classes coming up soon that you may be interested in. The first one is going to be held at West Elm on the Country Club Plaza in KCMO on Sat May 30. I'll be teaching you how to stitch a KC pillow with my kit and then after the class, I'll put a pillow back on for you and ship it back to you. Pretty sweet huh? You don't even have to mess with sewing anything but the fun part--the front of the pillow. Cost of the class is $38.00 ($24 for the pillow kit and $14 for class/pillow back/shipping)

Questions? Just email me for more info or call 816-960-3765 to sign up.

I'll also be teaching a 45 minute DIY wire ornament class at the June Just For Her Event  on Sun June 14 from 2:30-3:00 at the Overland Park Convention Center. Cost of the class is $20.00. The show runs from Fri June 12-Sun June 14. Click on link above for more info or to sign up for this or several other classes.

Hollywood Star - DIY Chair Makeovers - 11 Totally Revamped Chairs - Bob Vila

Many thanks to my friend Jane Dagmi for featuring one of my Hollywood Regency chairs in her post

about chair revamps on Bob Vila.com! See all the recovered chairs here:Hollywood Star - DIY Chair Makeovers - 11 Totally Revamped Chairs - Bob Vila

Famous Bohemians series: Frida Kahlo

When I decided to create my new line of products, I first thought about people and places that inspire me and I knew I wanted to pay homage to some of the artists throughout history whom I admired. Looking back at the long line of artists, performers, and writers I realized the people I admired most possessed qualities that I wish I had more of: personal courage, tenacity, willingness to stand out in a crowd, and a desire to challenge the status quo. I've lived a pretty conventional (and some might say boring and safe) life, so sometimes I wish I could call on these qualities like a superhero calls on their superpowers--(wouldn't that be great?) The first person I thought of and decided to feature was Frida Kahlo. Below are some of my products that feature Frida, either in a group or on her own. In my perf-out postcard booklet, I actually have a short bio of each artist-Frida included. Her life deserves a much longer bio, but for purposes of the postcard format I kept it short and simple. Here's the super-short synopsis of her life:
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Mexican self-portrait artist who survived both polio and an almost fatal bus crash, going on to become one of the most admired female artists in history. She had a well documented and troubled relationship with Diego Rivera and although eventually married, they kept separate but adjoining homes and studios.
Click on the link here to visit the product page on my website.

I started by making Frida's portrait in wire as that's the way I "sketch"

This is the complete line including (clockwise from top left) perpetual calendar, tote bag, embossed greeting card, postcard booklet, pillow kit, tea towel, stitchable poster kit

Reinventing The State Plate

I've always loved state plates and have collected them over the years. When I was into doing ceramics and mosaics I would incorporate some state memorabilia into my pieces alongside my homemade tiles.  When I decided to launch my own line of products last year, I knew that I wanted some DIY component in some of my products, both because I love to see something textural or hand made and also because I wanted to create something that was a collaboration with my customer--something that they could interact with and add their own creativity to. So when I was asked to do a piece of artwork that had to do with the Missouri River last year for KC non-profit Bridging The Gap, I decided the state plate was the perfect place to start. I purchased plates from all the states that the Missouri River runs through and filled in the gaps (or "bridged" the gaps...hahaha) with shards from my handmade tiles.
When I was working on this project, I got the inspiration to reinterpret the traditional state plate in my own illustration style for a new customer, someone who may love the ceramic versions but also want a more graphic approach with a crafty angle for those who (like me) like to embroider and hand stitch. And that's how and why the Stitchable State Plate kit was born. I have started with the 6 most populous states-California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania-but am working my way through all 50 so if you don't see your state, please email me to see when it will be done or leave a message on my FB page too. These kits are $20.00 in my shop online here and they come with 2 skeins of thread, a needle, an 11"x14" poster with stitch lines to follow and simple instructions. If you're not into embroidery, I also offer fine art prints of each of these state plate posters here. In addition, I've made embossed postcard sets for each of the 6 states that are also for sale in my shop here. The dark areas in the design are covered with a cool emboss technique that adds that little something extra to the trad postcard. They are $11.50 for a boxed set of 10 postcards.

DIY ornament kits AND an Ornament-A-Day challenge

Happy November 1st! I have two big announcements today:
1. My DIY Christmas ornament kits are now available in my Etsy and Facebook shop! Click here to see details.
2. I am starting an Ornament-A-Day challenge! That means each day in November I'm making and posting a one-of-a-kind handmade ornament. I'm posting these on Instagram and Facebook only so if you want to see them, just go to my FB page. $1.00 from each sale of my ornaments and ornament kits will go to KC Humane Society. If you're interested in purchasing any of the Orn-A-Day ornaments, just message me on FB or Instagram or email me at tammy@tammysmithdesign.com.

Graphique de France Calendar and Pillow

I was shopping the other day at Office Max when I spotted the calendar that I did for Graphique de France in their lineup! So exciting to see the calendar finally in print! And it was perfect timing too because I just finished sewing a pillow that I made with one of my DIY chalkboard art panels from that calendar. Here's how it turned out. Next up I'm going to be putting DIY fabric panels for my faux taxidermy pieces in my Etsy shop so stay tuned. Just click on the photo of the pillow to learn more or purchase this fabric panel.