Hello and welcome. I’m Akram Taghavi-Burris, pronounced (ack-ram tag-ha-ve burr-hiss).Akram Taghavi-Burris is an award-winning designer, writer, educator, crafter, baker, sewer, and vintage collector, who brings creative and crazy ideas to life.
Akram Taghavi-Burris is an award-winning designer, writer, educator, crafter, baker, sewer, and vintage collector, who brings creative and crazy ideas to life.
A born and raised mid-west girl, I’ve always been creative. I had a passion for writing as early as kindergarten and have been writing stories ever since. I started drawing when I was in my early teens and about the same time I started programming websites. In 1995 I saw Toy Story and knew that a career in computer graphics was meant for me.
My Day Job
I teach video game design! Yep, I am an Instructor of Computer Simulation and Gaming in the Computer Science department at the University of Tulsa.
I’ve been in higher education for over 10 years and before moving to Tulsa I have held positions as Instructional Designer for the University of Oklahoma, Assistant Professor in Graphics and Imaging Technologies at Pittsburg State University (PSU) in the College of Technology primarily teaching courses in web design and development. Prior to that, I was the Program Director/Professor of Computer Aided Technology at the Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC).
My Cakes and Baking
While I loved computers and graphic design, I felt I needed a non-computer related hobby. Then one day I saw that Michaels craft store was offering classes in Cake Decorating
After taking the course I discovered I didn’t only enjoy it I was pretty good at it too. I eventually started entering the county fair and won first place for both 2012 and 2013.
Eventually, I started to bake more and play with other types of recipes. My cake pops are rather popular among my students. I’m also the Apple day dessert winner twice in a row.
My Sewing & Vintage Love
In 2012 my mother-in-law (Miss Linda) bought me a sewing machine for my birthday. I’d had been envious of her sewing skills (she made my wedding dress) and always wanted to learn to sew.
She taught me some basics and then I started using YouTube to learn more techniques (thank you Professor Pincushion)
I’ve always loved vintage fashion but never had the opportunity to buy vintage style clothing. Then one day it dawned on me, I can now sew!
Since then I’ve been collecting vintage patterns like crazy and sewing a slew of vintage/vintage inspired clothes.
My Co-Creative
When not at work I spend my evenings at home with my best friend and love of my life, Chris Burris.
We got married in 2006 and have been living the fairy tale happy-ever-after ever since. Speaking of a fairy tale, we were married at a Renaissance Festival. Miss Linda was so kind to make my wedding dress as well as pretty much all the costumes for the wedding party.
My hubby (as I call him) is my co-creative! He teaches 3D Computer Graphics and Computer Aided Design in the Engineering department at Oklahoma State University Institution of Technology. In his free time (when he has any) he spends working on his car, building robots, oil painting and making stain glass creations.
Why I Blog?
As I said before I loved writing ever since I was a child. I also loved to share my knowledge and teach people something new (probably why I ended up in education).
Over the years my blog has gone into various directions and most recently I took a long hard look at what this site was really all about. I wanted to teach people to be creative with simple how-to’s, share my love of vintage and I’ve always dreamed of having my own magazine.
Thus, think of Akram’s Ideas as a web magazine dedicated to “Bringing Creative and Crazy Ideas to Life” and sharing tips and tricks along the way to help you bring your own creative and crazy ideas to life.
