Ten Little Fingers. Ten Tiny Toes. Ten Great Years.

March 14, 2012 - PRLog -- West Michigan’s original clay impression business, Captured In Clay, is tickled pink (and blue and yellow and green and red and orange and purple) to be celebrating ten fabulous years in business.

Throughout this anniversary year, Captured In Clay will be holding memorable events, giveaways and participating in community service projects to celebrate.

On March 15, Captured In Clay founder, Deana Brownlow is partnering with Flourish Photography in the Smiles and Tiles event at the Flourish Studios.  Then, on Saturday, March 17th, Deana will be at Pooh's Corner in Breton Village Mall in East Grand Rapids.  On Saturday, March 24th she’ll be holding an event at Chambrei Chantel in Richland.

March events are just the tip of the iceberg.  Captured In Clay has impression sessions scheduled throughout the spring months with retailers all over Michigan like Tip Toes in Holland and Sweet Pea in Traverse City.  Check the company website, kidtiles.com, for specific dates and times.

In addition to retail events, Deana takes impressions at Captured In Clay home parties and offers individual sessions by appointment at her home studio.

Captured In Clay’s tiles have become especially popular for Mother's and Father's Day gifts. Since the tiles are made from raw clay and they require approximately 3 weeks to create, Deana encourages everyone to schedule appointments early.

"I'm seeing customers coming back with siblings and cousins to create really great tiles for the Grandma's in their lives," Deana said.  Adding, "one of my favorite quotes is "Best Grandma Hands Down" on a tile with all the grandchildren's handprints.

In addition to the numerous anniversary events, Deana is excited to share some truly heartwarming stories from her decade in business.

Ten years are a long time in the life of a child and Deana has watched as some of her “first impressions” teeter on the brink of young adulthood. She has also been honored to create meaningful keepsakes for families who have endured a loss.

As an ongoing way to give back to the community, Deana is partnering with a NICU Bereavement Team to create tiles for families experiencing the loss of a baby. She’s also worked with critically ill children, and terminally ill adults who want to leave something tangible for their children and families to touch when they are gone.

Deana founded Captured In Clay in 2002. She was inspired to start this locally owned company when she moved to Grand Rapids. While living in another part of the country, an acquaintance made impression tiles of Deana’s two young sons. These tiles were admired by many of her friends in Grand Rapids and she knew there was a potential business there helping others preserve those precious memories.

After doing some research, she realized that there was not a company in West Michigan that offered families this way of preserving memories.  Drawing on her marketing background and creativity (along with some elbow grease and sweat) she established Captured In Clay.

Captured In Clay was the first to offer this type of product to Grand Rapids and the surrounding communities. Deana’s vast experience taking impressions and her patience working with young children ensures impressions are deep, detailed and perfect every time.

Over the years, Deana has added new tile sizes, expanded the glaze colors to 25, and increased font and stamp options to fully personalize each impression tile.

Deana says, “I am always looking around my world for ideas. Often, I see something that makes me think, what would that look like in clay?”

You may find Captured in Clay anniversary stories and event announcements on the company website kidtiles.com or on their social networking sites on Facebook, www.facebook.com/CapturedInClay and Twitter @capturedinclay.