Tammy Tutterow

Free Vintage Image: Universal Fashion Company- Bird Eggs in Grass

I have added this image to the new Vintage Botanicals gallery.  You can find the image here or by clicking on the image above. 

A quilt of petals-

Saturday I spent the day creating a box canvas project that I was making in response to a publication call for a magazine.  I am not good about submitting.  In the past I have been really diligent about submitting, sending project after project in for consideration.  I just don't have luck in getting things picked up.  I think in my scrappy design career I have had maybe 5 things published and only a few of those were from a general pub call.  So after too much rejection, I just find I am not too diligent about trying.  I am trying to change that but I struggle with not getting to share what I make.  I love to blog and share my creations.  To make something and tuck it away hoping it gets picked up is really hard for me.

So Saturday I spent the day creating fully planning to submit my creation.  Today I am blogging it.  I couldn't stand it, I decided I loved it too much to not share now!

 

The base of the project is a stretched box canvas.  I used Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi Medium to decoupage three different pattern papers on it: BasicGrey's Basics White Ledger, BasicGrey's Curio Doilies (die cut paper) and Cotton.  I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink on each element on the project.

 

 

I used small alphabet stamps to stamp this phrase on a piece of Sticky Back Canvas.  I layered the piece on a BasicGrey Basics Label Sticker and added some machine stitching.  It is tucked into the ribbon flowers with a Tim Holtz Memo Pin.

 

 

I used velvet and grosgrain ribbon flowers by Maya Road.

On the canvas, I layered frayed Sticky Back Canvas, squares of pattern paper from the Curio 6x6 paper pad, and photos from my garden.  I used a pair of mini deckle edge scissors to cut out my photos.  On the center square, I added a Tim Holtz Mini Paper Clip to help accent that photo and draw more attention to it. 

 

The photo square layers were attached to the canvas surface using Therm O Web Adhesive Foam Squares.

 

The deckle edge reminds me of vintage photos.

 

 

I also added vintage handmade lace and Tim Holtz's Ruler Ribbon along the side.

 

 

I am really happy with how it turned out.  I think it turned out as a sweet tribute to my home and garden that combines lots of my favorite papers and trims with lots of textures and layers.

Free Vintage Image: Eggs of Bullfinch

I have added this image to the new Vintage Botanicals gallery.  You can find the image here or by clicking on the image above.

Art Journal: If I Can't Create. . .

then I can't fly.

That is what I discovered this past week when I worked a whole bunch of hours at my part time job.  I was so tired each day that I just couldn't get my creative juices flowing each evening.  I really feel like it made me crabby to not lose my self for a bit in creative work.

Yesterday, after the end of a six day stretch I finally got to set down and play.  I didn't really set out with a direction in mind, just a page from my art journal, some new stamps that I wanted to play with, some favorite inks, and the need to create something.  That is one thing I am really loving about art journaling.  It is an opportunity to create without having to really make anything.  It doesn't have to be a page for your scrapbook, a big involved decor piece, nothing, it is just pure play.  Plus, the piece isn't a huge investment, if you really hate it, what have you lost?  Not much, a few scraps of paper, a few bits of ribbons and trims.  It is a total chance just to explore and step out of your norm a bit.  It doesn't have to be precise or follow any rules.  

 

For this page, I used Unity's Moments In Bloom, butterflies from Tim Holtz's Flights of Fancy clear stamp set, and the Let Yourself Fly word stamp from Red Lead.  The letters are some small single letter stamps that I have had forever.  I don't have any idea who made them.  Everything is stamped in various colors of Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

 

 

I used Tim Holtz's new Chip Block alphabet die to cut a few pieces of scrap paper.  I used Black Soot Distress ink to color them.  The surface of the stamped piece is covered in Rock Candy Crackle Paint.  I laid the letters down into the wet paint which adhered them without any glue.

 

I used the Blended Batik technique I learned at Ranger U (you can find it on page 36 of Tim Hotlz's A Compendium of Curiosities).  Rather than use embossing ink to stamp my first image, I used colors assorted colors of Distress Ink and then went over them with Rangers clear Embossing Pen.

 

After I finished my stamped piece and adhered it to my page, I decided I wanted to add a splash of color.  I am a bit afraid of random ink but I gave it a go with a blast of Tattered Angels Sugar Maple Glimmer Mist.  I really love the coppery color of it.  I wish it wasn't just a seasonal special edition color because I think it needs to be a staple color in every collection.

 

 

After I sprayed my project, I decided I should use some Rock Candy Stickles and Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint on it too.  I spread the Rock Candy Stickles with my finger in a layer over each butterfly.  I then painted on the Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint over the rest of the stamped piece except for the areas with the Stickles.  As it was drying, I decided I didn't care for the two different textures combined, so I brushed Crackle Paint over the Stickles.

 

You can see that when it dried, it left a really interesting effect.  It crackled in big flakey chunks and also lifted the stamp and spray colors from below off of the paper.  Some of the flakes came off, but most held tight.  I really like the effect it creates exposing the faded image below.

 

 

I love how sheer Tim Holtz's printed tissue tape is.  I added some to two corners and added some stitching over it.

 

 

I think I have a new extreme love for the Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint.  I think it totally makes this piece.  Serious love.

Alcohol Ink Rub-on Resist

I was looking back through some past posts on my blog this morning and noticed that one with one of my favorite alcohol ink techniques was missing its photos.  When I made the move from my old blog to this one on Typepad, almost everything made the move nicely with the exception of a few photos here and there.  While I was fixing the images, I thought I would re-post the technique and bring it to the top for anyone who missed it before.  I love this one and love sharing it.

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Originally posted 11/30/09

Last night I was working on making a bunch of these pins for an upcoming craft show and decided to do a batch with alcohol ink backgrounds.  In the process, I discovered something I think is pretty cool that you can do with alcohol inks and rub-ons.  As I applied my rub-ons to my inked metal piece, I felt like my design got kind of lost in the back ground.  I knew that the alcohol ink solvent would remove the ink so I started tinkering with it trying to remove some ink from around the rub-on.  In the process, I discovered that the rub-ons make a great resist. Here is how to do it:

To start off I took a sheet of thin metal (I use sheets from Making Memories) and colored it with an assortment of alcohol ink colors.

I trimmed my sheet to the size I wanted and chose a rub-on to fit.  (This one is an older one from 7 Gypsies.)

 Apply the rub-on as usual.

Pour some alcohol ink solvent into container.  It will get muddied up really quickly so don't use a lot at a time.

Dip a fine tip paint brush into the solvent and paint it over the areas that you want to REMOVE the ink color from.  Try to use a fairly dry brush so that you won't end up with puddles of the solvent on your piece.  The rub-on will help contain the solvent to the area that you are working in.  Depending on the size of the area you are cleaning out and the amount of layers of ink your metal has, you may have to make several passes over the areas until they are completely clean.

Clean your brush frequently through the process.  When the solvent gets muddied up, dump it and get fresh solvent.  If you use it when it gets muddy, it will transfer color back onto your piece.  I recommend keeping a small piece of cloth or inking felt nearby to blot your brush onto to keep your brush from being too wet.

Once you have the color cleaned out, you could stop there. . .

or use a dry brush to pick up drops of alcohol ink and use it like paint to fill in the cleaned areas with solid color. 

On pieces with large amounts of color to remove, I found it helpful to remove the color in several passes, cleaning my brush between each pass, repeating until the area was clean.  I also found it helpful to work from the center out, kind of pushing the color toward each sections edges. On this piece I layered two different rub-ons by applying the first one and then cleaning out the center area.

I then applied a second rub-on to the cleaned area.

To accent the lettering, I used a Copic marker fine tip to add a touch of color.  (These rub-ons are also an older 7 Gypsies set.)

On this piece, I again re-painted this piece using a dry brush dipped into drops of alcohol ink.  I brushed it on in thin coats in multiple layers, adding more layers in areas that I wanted extra emphasis of color in.  (This rub-on is an older BasicGrey set.)

I added extra detail of a pearly white Smooch ink to the center of the flower.

I applied the metal pieces to my decor piece, in this case a wooden block the spiral photo holders that I found for $1 each on clearance at Michaels.

I coated the face of the metal piece with Glossy Accents in a really nice thick coat.  It takes several hours to dry.  You wouldn't really have to do this to seal it, I just happen to really love the depth it gives the design.  It really makes the ink colors come alive.

After it is dry, the piece will have a nice glass like layer that will protect it and provide extra interest.

Free Vintage Image: To the moon!

Click on the image to see the full size downloadable version.

 

New Vintage Image Page-

I am a serious over thinker.  I can't tell you how much time I sit and fidget with my blog trying to think of ways to make it more user friendly.  Lately I have been pondering those vintage images that I love to share a whole lot.  I love how they are in albums now compared to how they were on the old blog, just mixed in all over the place.  The problem is, the right sidebar where the links to the albums were seemed to be loading really slowly.  I decided to move them to their own page so that the album links could be moved off of the sidebar on the main part of the blog.  I tinkered and designed and experimented and finally ended up with a page that I felt was a nice home for the images.

 

If you visit my blog just for the images, you will be happy to know that you can find them all here:  http://tammytutterow.typepad.com/vintage_papergoods/ .  You can add that address to your favorite feed reader and just get updates on new additions to the albums.  I have added a handy link to the page in my top menu and a clickable graphic on the right sidebar.

If you like to visit to check out the images and my artsy craftsy stuff, you can still get all of that here on the home page.  Nothing is changing except for moving the album links and rearranging a few things on the sidebars.  I will still post updates to the albums here.

In the end, after all of the work setting up the new page and moving the album links, I would love to report that the right sidebar is loading at a lightning fast speed. . . it is faster, but still not as fast as the left.  Maybe it is a Typepad thing, I don't know.  I guess I will have to get used to it and stop pondering it so much!

Free Vintage Image: Neener Neener!

Click on the image to see the full size downloadable version of this photo.

 

Free Vintage Image: Girl with Moon

It seems like forever since I posted a vintage image!  Remember, they are all now in the albums listed in the right column.  Click on the image below to see the full size downloadable version.

 

Missing my creative time-

I have been busy the last few days working at my part-time job as a 911 dispatcher. It has kept me from getting to spend much time creating. Since I don't have anything new to share I thought I would share a little of bit of Emma's art. She has a book that she makes story pages in with stickers. I told her that what she was making was an "art journal".

 
That always tickles her when I tell her a fancy name for what she has made. It is really cute to hear her tell someone about how she likes "mixed media"!

This is Emma's art apron.  We made it from a kit that she got for Christmas.  When she is in serious art mode she breaks it out and puts it on.