Tammy Tutterow

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From my studio: Metal Art Pins and Acrylic Pendants

My work table is buried in tons and tons of metal art and acrylic jewelry pieces.  Such a fun diversion from paper for a few days.  Hopefully they will be dried enough to photograph later today so I can share some pictures of finished pieces.

Tales From the Yellow Bungalow: St. Louis Spring!

I officially declare it spring time in St. Louis! It was beautiful out today so I escaped my basement studio for a bit and headed out to the garden to rake out all of the leaves and debris from my flower beds.  In the process, I unburied my treasured White Lenten Rose, a gift from a friend's garden.  I am always ready to declare it officially spring when I see the white of her petals starting to emerge.  As you can see, they are there and on the verge of blooming so I am happy to proclaim "Welcome Spring!"

Silk Ribbon Embroidery: Baby to Bride Bonnet

A sweet baby girl is being christened today.  I am flattered that a special friend of her parents chose one of my ribbon embroidered bonnets to give her parents as a special keepsake of the day.

Flashback Friday: Mother Daughter Friends Altered Canvas

designed January 2008

Ahhhh, this project makes me smile.  I made it the year my daughter Anna was a senior.  When we had her senior pictures done (by the awesome Holly McCaig) she insisted on including me in one.  I really do not like having my picture taken, I am probably the most self-conscious uneasy person in front of a camera.  But I agreed and we ended up with one of my favorite photos of us together.  I always smile when I see it.  It is kind of bittersweet looking at this project because I included a photo of us together when she was just a week old.  When I look at the two I feel a bit sad for the years that are gone and a bit confused about where they went.  Somedays it feels like it was just yesterday that she was that wee baby in my arms and somehow we are nearly 20 years later and she is away at college making her own life.  They simply grow up too fast.  sigh.  If I could go back and slow down time and have more moments with this sweet girl I would. I am choking myself up. . .  so anyway, about the project. . . This project was for CHA and features the Sultry collection from BasicGrey.  It was one of those projects that I sat down with no real direction and ended up with something pretty cool.  I could have gotten a similar look in probably a less complicated way, but the process was fun and just evolved along the way. I started out with a box canvas and ended up turning it into a shadowbox.  I had no real plan when I started, I just sat down with stuff and let it take me somewhere.  After painting the canvas, I adhered thick chipboard to the inside to give the front surface strength so I could cut through it.  I added pattern paper to the front and then cut an opening.  I added rub-ons to a  piece of plexiglass and adhered it to the opening on the inside of the frame.  I covered all of the wood framing with pattern paper on the inside.  For the inside back, I covered another piece of chipboard and added photos and embellishments and adhered it to the back of the frame.  On the front I added rub-ons, chipboard elements, buttons, brads, and sticker letters.  I think the whole project turned out so soft and pretty looking and probably way more simple and less complicated than it was.

From my studio: Lily Bee Trinket Box

I suppose you are all pretty tired of me talking about what I made for the Lily Bee design team by now, good thing I have just one last thing to share!  This little trinket box features papers from the Audrey collection.  I only needed to send in two projects, but I just couldn't stop at two because I couldn't decide which projects to send, so I sent three.  I really loved the blues in these papers from the collection and just had to use them on a decor piece. The flowers, stars, and crystals are all from Prima. I cut a square Audrey die cut in thirds and repieced it back together to fit the box lid.  I adhered it over a scrap of chipboard to give it a slight bit of lift off of the top of the box. I added a scrap of vintage blanket binding for a finishing touch.  I love that this binding piece has a subtle tone-on-tone pattern just like the paper. Thanks for indulging me in my three days of Lily Bee.  I will let you all know of course when they announce the team! {fingers crossed}

From my studio: Lily Bee " My " Mini Book

For my second project that I sent in to the Lily Bee design team call, I made a mini book featuring their Vintage Poppy collection.  The collection has  round die cut with a scallop edge that fits perfectly on the round 6x6 chip album by BasicGrey.  To embellish my book I used rub-ons from the collection along with paper flowers by Bazzill in an assortment of colors along with chipboard flowers by Pebbles Inc. Each page has a vellum pocket that holds a journaling card that has space for a photo and some text. Each pocket is decorated with a chip piece with flowers and a rub-on.  Some have phrases, some have just cute little posies and some have both! Tomorrow I will share a home decor trinket box I made featuring the Audrey collection.

From my studio: Lily Bee Design Joy Frame

I haven't tried out for a design team in forever.  I have gotten really spoiled with doing freelance work and enjoyed not having the monthly obligations of a regular design team.  Part of me really missed the challenge of being part of a team so I figured I would give it a try again if just the right company's call came along. If you remember, after CHA I posted some of my favorites from the show, one of which was Lily Bee Design.  Not long after that they announced that they were going to have a design team call.  I was immediately excited about it but had a few moments wavering self confidence about whether or not I would make it.  I really hate rejection.  I went back and forth about it and decided that I loved the product so I should give it a try.  What the heck, nothing ventured nothing gained, right?  In the past when I have applied for teams, I usually didn't say much about it because if I got rejected (which stinks and hurts a lot) no one besides me and the people picking the team would have to ever know. I am breaking with my normal tradition and being brave and telling everyone that I applied!  So anyway, I wanted to share what I made and submitted.  I made three projects, here is the first and my favorite: This frame is yet another clearance aisle find from my local Hobby Lobby.  I recovered it with papers from the French Couture collection.  I added rub-ons from the Three Little Birds collection. I crinkled and inked paper and then punched flowers from it.  I layered the punched flowers with paper covered brads from Bazzill.  I covered a pieced of chipboard with paper and added the phrase which I think was perfect for the sweet photo of my wee girlie Emma.  (Quick photo credit to my awesome photographer friend Holly McCaig.  If you are in St. Louis, you really should check her out!) I freehand cut some leaves and added a fold to them so that they would be domed.   The frame has distress crackle paint around the edges creeping out onto the pattern a bit.  I love the shabby effect it creates. As always, lots and lots of adhesive foam squares here to create lots of dimension.  (How about a shameless plug for my favorite ones, Therm O Web's Foam Squares.) To give the photo some lift, I matted the photo on pattern paper and then adhered it to a scrap of chipboard and then adhered that with adhesive foam squares.  The quote block was adhered with a double stack of foam squares to give it height above the photo. I cut one of the phrase rub-ons into strips and applied them around the edge of the frame.  I love how that little touch added so much to the project. I will be back tomorrow with another Lily Bee project, a fun little mini book.