~ NOW BOOKING PROJECTS FOR JULY & BEYOND ~ If you are interested in working together, I’d be happy to start the conversation and share more about how I can help you with your branding, design, and custom merchandise needs.

BUSINESS JOURNAL: A PLACE TO CELEBRATE WINS & REFLECT - 53RD EDITION

May’s highlights included traveling to NYC for the first ever Adobe Illustrator Summit, getting married, wrapping up work on two logo projects, and being on the Off the Grid podcast to chat about growing through generosity.

The Big Wins

1. Attended the first ever Adobe Illustrator Summit in New York City with 30 other creatives. Highlights of the 48-hour trip included befriending other passionate creatives, spending time at the Adobe office in Times Square, putting myself out there and sharing my journey into design, and soaking up the energy of NYC. 

2. Kicked off our Midwest Wedding Tour at the courthouse surrounded by our immediate family on Friday, May 24th. We are currently traveling throughout Milwaukee, Chicago, and Peoria to celebrate our marriage at intimate gatherings with some of our closest friends and family.

General Updates + Accomplishments:

• Wrapped up work on two fun logo projects - one for a local graphic designer who is launching an event series around community development and another for a multi-faceted artist in the Chicago suburbs. I also lined up an exciting custom merchandise project with the Atlanta Botanical Garden. 

• Attended the h+h Americas conference for a day and contributed to the LOOM 360 public art display that was hosted by Nowhere Collective. 

• Returned to Cary-Grove High School for the 20th Annual Odyssey Art Walk Senior Art Show. It was great to reconnect with high school friends and reflect on how far I’ve come since I was in their shoes twelve years ago.  

• Had a two-part emergency root canal to resolve an infection. While it was very stressful, I was happy to get it resolved before my NYC trip and wedding.

• Received a first order of Chicago Skyline necklaces and earrings from the Chicago Architectural Center Design Store. In addition to putting these into production, I stocked up on favorite pride stickers for pride month!

• Had a presence at MSA Forward thanks to my small business friend and collaborator, Katy of Narrative Material, and creating the Midwest Nice t-shirts for our Midwest chapter.

• Attended Daniel’s grandma’s funeral in Roanoke, Illinois. We honestly weren’t prepared to attend a funeral the same week as getting married and were really looking forward to celebrating with Daniel’s grandma just two weeks later. 

• Received my first purchase order for the new Blvd & Branch store in O’Hare Airport, which is focused on selling local Chicago goods. This has been a *long* time coming, as I’ve been working to get my products into O’Hare since 2019. 

• Launched my podcast episode and collaboration with Amelia of Off The Grid. Check out the episode and latest sticker collection that was inspired by our work together here. Additionally, my podcast episode: “The Strategic Creative: Chelsie Tamms on Blending Creativity with Business Acumen” came out on Creative Chats with Mike Brennan!

• Developed a new custom portrait offering that you can learn about here. Personal life took over this month, so technically this mention is the soft launch. 

May was a bit of a rollercoaster. Traveling to NYC for the Adobe Illustrator Summit and getting married were some of the biggest highs! An unexpected root canal and funeral added a little more stress to the two weeks before getting married than we would have liked, but we made it!

In June, I am looking forward to staying unplugged for a bit as I continue to celebrate getting married. I am also excited to line up more new creative work for when I return. I’m now booking projects for late June and beyond. Reach out if you’d like to get something on the calendar - you can expect a response after June 10th.

Thank you for being here, for supporting me, and for following along with my entrepreneurial journey.

PS - Have a project you’d like to chat about? Send me the details now to ensure your project gets on my calendar in 2024. Bring on all the logos, branded merchandise, + brand identity projects… let’s make some beautiful + impactful things together.

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