First Ever City Sale!

I'm having a sale on a city! This is the first time I've offered my city prints, tea towels, cards, and pillows at a reduced rate. This sale is all about the city of St. Louis Mo so just go to my site and type in the words STLSALE when checking out with any STL merchandise to receive your 20% off!
Sale ends March 8.

www.tammysmithdesign.com

STL Print Giveaway

Sandra was the winner of my Paris print! Now I'm giving away a print of St. Louis MO, a city that's much closer to home and one that I'll be doing a show in Feb. 20-22, 2015. It's called the Working Women's Survival Show and it promises to be a really cool event! If you're in the area, please stop in and say hi and see my STL collection of prints, card sets, and tea towels. Here's a link to the show and the giveaway. https://www.wwssonline.com/home/

http://www.giveawaytab.com/mob.php?pageid=206334139480176

West Elm Pop Up Shop

If you're in or near the KC area tomorrow, I hope you'll stop by West Elm on the Plaza and say hi! I'll be doing a pop up shop from 11:00-5:00 and a wire and stitch class from 10:00-11:00. Hope to see you all there!

Time to Start the Giveaways Again!

I think it's high time to start giving things away again don't you? And since it's almost Valentines Day, giving away a print of the City of Love seems appropriate! Just click on the link below to enter to win my 11 x 14 archival print of Paris--winner will be chosen at random next Friday, February 6th. http://bit.ly/1wtETXx

Thanks to the KC Star!

I was surprised and thrilled when Alice Thorson, art critic for the KC Star contacted me to be interviewed about my business. It's so gratifying to have such positive local support! Click on link below to read the article.

http://www.kansascity.com/living/home-garden/article7721276.html

KC Series: #2--The Kauffman Center

The Kauffman Center stands overlooking our city but not facing downtown or towards the river, rather it faces the creative hub of the city-the Crossroads District. It's a stunning building designed by Moshe Safdie, world-famous architect. When you stand inside the Kauffman you can look out through the glass wall that makes up one side of the building itself. At night the city lights dot the dark and in the daytime you have a view that's far reaching yet more intimate than from a skyscraper.
This piece is 12" x 12" x 1.5" and is mounted on gallery canvas and signed by me. It's for sale on my site here:http://bit.ly/1nAJ9xE

Cool Summer Pasta Salad

I just love a good pasta salad in the summer don't you? In fact, sometimes I'll find myself daydreaming about making this salad in the frozen throes of winter, but I usually put off actually doing it until I can use the fresh herbs from my garden because that's the BEST. If you don't have your own herbs growing, don't fret. As you probably know most everything's available at your local farmer's market or grocery store. I hope you enjoy this first easy and healthy taste of summer.

   Cool Summer Pasta Salad

1 cup Canola oil (or combo oil:

olive, sunflower and Canola)

1/3 cup wine vinegar

fresh crushed garlic-1 clove

few shakes sea salt

few sprinkles black pepper

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp dill weed

1-2 Tbsp chopped: basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley

3 Tbsp lite sour cream (or unflavored yogurt)

1/4 cup scallions, chopped

8 oz tricolor pasta

handful chopped baby carrots

greens:arugula, chard, leaf lettuces, etc.

Optional:

1/2-1 cup chopped cheeses: use your favorite cheeses

(I use mozzarella, sharp cheddar and swiss)

Cook noodles in water until al dente. Rinse, drain well and refrigerate.

Add all above ingredients together except for lettuces and cheese.

Whisk together until mixed well, then pour over drained and cooled pasta.

Add cheeses-mix well. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the pasta salad over a plate filled with greens and dig in!

Website Launch and Giveaway!

To celebrate the fact that my new website is officially OPEN for business, I'm giving away one of my silkscreened tote bags! Stay tuned for more giveaways to follow in the coming weeks.a Rafflecopter giveaway

See You At The Show!

I can't believe that several months of planning, designing, mocking up, etc. are already at an end and it's finally time for the NSS show! Super excited to launch my new line and I also can't wait to open the retail side of my website right after the show. Oh and to all the retailers out there-I'm offering FREE SHIPPING on all show orders!

Media Kits for National Stationery Show 2014

Things are ramping up around my studio in a serious way today and tomorrow in preparation for my debut at the National Stationery Show! I can't wait in some ways and in others, I'm slightly terrified. (Ok, maybe terrified is too strong a word but let's just say mightily anticipatory.) I thought I'd take a minute to give you a look at what I've chosen to put in my media kits this year. I'm making about 25 of these and they'll be put in the press room at the show. I've never created a kit before for my own line, so it's a bit different than doing Surtex. I've decided to include one of my catalogs so that whoever gets this can see my entire line (and hopefully write about it in the future!), one of my Famous Babes and Bohemians perpetual calendars, an embossed card, a postcard mailer (because it also has my booth number on it) and of course, my business card. Since some of my line is printed on fabric and most of my pieces begin with wire, I wanted to include that in my package in some way. I thought that putting everything in a fabric bag and securing my business card with a wire holder would be different and hopefully an eye and spark interest! These photos are not the best, as we haven't had much sun here in the Midwest for days now, but hopefully you can get the idea.

My media kit includes: 2 product examples (perpetual calendar and embossed greeting card), postcard mailer with booth number, and catalog

My business card secured with wire to the front of a hand-sewn fabric envelope that 

prominently displays my booth number

Thanks to: the stationery place

Many many thanks to Lyndsey at the stationery place for featuring some of my work on her awesome blog today! If you've never been to her site, click on the link here to go check it out! She chronicles all things stationery and paper craft related and is also a co-founder of SEATTLE BLOGGERS UNITE, an informal monthly meet up group.
Each of these cards shown below is embossed with a raised gloss varnish in strategic spots to add a fun tactile quality.

Famous Buildings postcard set of 10

Famous Bridges postcard set of 10

Famous Babes card set of 8

Famous Bohemians card set of 8

Best New Product Competition!

Just got the fantastic news that 4 of my products have been accepted for submission into the Best New Product Competition at the National Stationery Show this year! So happy to hear that as I was doing that little mental dance between semi-self confidence and manic second-guessing. Here's one of the products that was accepted into the competition: my Famous Bridges tea towel.

From Sea to Shining Sea

I can hardly contain my excitement for my newest product group that I'll give you a peek of today: the Famous Bridges notepad collection. These are only 3 of the bridges in my collection of 5 and there is a whole line of products to go with: stitch kits, pillow kits, postcards, and posters just to name a few. If you haven't gotten the message here--stop by booth #2955 to check out the entire collection at the National Stationery Show coming up May 18-21 in NYC!

Tres Fridas Friday-First New Product Peek!

Hi! This is my first time posting via FB from my Instagram feed so hope it all loads for you quickly. I'd compose a completely new post but I'm honestly working day and night getting ready for the Stationery Show so I thought I'd try it. Please follow me on Instagram or Like my page on Facebook to see ALL my product sneak peeks (plus, full disclosure: more than a few photos of my cat and dog.) Just click on the page below to get to FB.

Post by Tammy L. Smith.

Happy Almost-Valentines Day

I taught my first wire ornament class a couple of days ago here in KC at a gallery called Sav-Art Gallery (named after the owner, Mike Savage). I had a great time and look forward to doing it again. Here are some of the lovely hearts that my students made! Happy Valentines Day!

Atlanta Gift Show Recap-Patina Collection

I'm a bit late in writing about the gift show but I've been much busier since returning from Atlanta a few weeks ago. Last year was my first to attend the gift show and it remains to be a truly overwhelming experience for me. It's a super fun time and I'm so glad I went but let's just say it's waaaay different than being home alone all day in my little studio, working to the sounds of Ira Glass and This American Life! The Mart is a series of 3 interconnected 16-story buildings that are just packed full of products of all kinds: high end home decor, seasonal product, imported rugs, lamps, wall decor, kitchenware, etc. etc. I went to the show this year for a truly exciting event for me-the debut of my first large licensed collection of wire garden decor for Studio M/Magnetworks.
There are 30 products in this collection and since my photos don't do them justice, I'm using the photos from the Studio M catalog. I can't say enough good things about the Todd family: Curt and Sue Todd, the owners of Magnetworks and Studio M, along with their son Michael and his wife and sister-in-law, are some of the most genuinely nice people you'd ever want to meet. They really care about their artists and employees and treat them like family. They made me feel so at home in their showroom while I made some small wire creations for the retailers. And Anne Brown--well none of this would have been possible if not for her vision. She's an endless source of creative ideas, energy, and vision with a truly wonderful sense of humor and love of life! I had a feeling we'd be friends the moment we met and I'm so glad that came true and that I'm working with her.
As for the showroom----WOW! The team did a TREMENDOUS job and they won the "Best of Floor" display award again this year. Congrats to the team: Colleen Prout, Tammy Hickel, and Debi Baker! I posted some photos below of the incredible moss couch they built for my Patina collection display. Just wonderful.

Here's the lovely Anne Brown and me on the FAB moss couch!

A shot of the collection in the showroom-visit Studio M to see the entire line

Leaving For Atlanta!

I can't WAIT to go to Atlanta tomorrow! That's where I'm debuting my new wire garden decor collection "Patina" for Studio M/Magnetworks. If you're coming to the show, I'll be making fun wire art from 11-3pm on Fri, Jan. 10 and 11-1pm on Sat, Jan.11. The Studio M showroom is in The Gardens, 9-B-84 Building 2. Here's a shot of my large wire drum lampshade on the cover of their new catalog. More pictures to follow and a recap of the show next week!

Making A Winter Amaro

I'd never made an Amaro before-in fact, I didn't even know what one was until a couple of weeks ago. I started researching craft cocktails as a Christmas gift for my hair stylist. He'd been concocting some great cocktails of his own so I thought it would be fun to give him a taste of his own medicine (so to speak). I found a fantastic cocktail website called Mama Knows Her Cocktails  and it was there that I became acquainted with this recipe for a winter Amaro. According to Mama Beth, Amaros are bitter-sweet Italian herbal liqueurs, commonly drunk as an after-dinner digestif. Although my garden outside is definitely dormant for this season, I made do with some herbs and extracts purchased at local stores. Next year I hope to make a Spring Amaro from my garden though. For the liquor, I used a locally produced vodka named Most Wanted, made in nearby Atchison, KS. Then into a mason jar I put these ingredients:
•thyme
•bay leaf
•sage
•rosemary
•fennel seeds
•whole cloves
•cinnamon sticks
•cardamom seeds
•rind of tangerine
•a few drops of mint and lemon extract

I won't know how this turns out for 6 weeks (the time needed for infusion) but I'm hopeful it will be a good tasting treat.
If I follow Beth's advice, I would add a little turbinado syrup to the strained Amaro when it's ready to drink.

"Mod Lodge" Studio Nook Complete!

I am SO happy to announce that my studio remodel is finally completed! This project was going to take 5 weeks but ended up taking 4 months, which I know is something one should expect when you do any remodeling but it wasn't the remodel that took the longest time--it was the reupholstering of my two Hollywood Regency chairs. I underestimated the time and expertise it would take to recover these two beauties, but if I HAD known, I probably wouldn't have taken the project on and I learned so much from it and met some wonderful people! Since I've already posted several photos of the earlier process, here are more recent ones of the finished project.

Completed faux trophy wall

Completed wire wall

Here's how the chairs turned out. (Don't look too closely or I'm sure 

you'll find sewing errors:)

Side view of the painted wood base and inset panel.

The finished nook by day

And by night