Tammy Tutterow

New class revealed: Made From Scratch Binder!

I am so glad to finally have some peeks at my other new class that I will be teaching for Spring and Summer 2011.  It features the beautiful Butterfly Garden collection by Pink Paislee and Art Parts by Wendy Vecchi and Stamper's Anonymous as well as plenty of Tim Holtz goodies and Sticky Back Canvas by Claudine Hellmuth!  I really love the way it turned out!  It is packed with pockets, tags, and pretty little bits of this and that.

If the "Made From Scratch" name sounds familiar, that is because this class is a follow up to my popular Made From Scratch class at Big Picture Classes!  If you loved that class and all of the options it gave you fro making your own books, I promise, you are going to love this one too!

If you are planning on attending any of my Spring/Summer classes in Springfield, St. Louis, or Moline this is one of the classes I will be teaching.  If you don't live in those areas, I hope you will check out the class when it goes live online.

Sketch Support: Wishes Do Come True canvas

One page sketch week continues over at Sketch Support.  Today's feature includes a stretched canvas project I did based on this week's sketch.  You can see the original sketch that I based this project on HERE.

I was inspired by the sketch to create a decor piece that I could display featuring some long time favorite photos of my three kids.  The photos are from a Christmas photo shoot we did in 2007 with St. Louis photographer Holly McCaig.

I used paper from BasicGrey's new Hello Luscious collection.  I began by covering the with the ledger style patterned paper.

I wanted to add stitching to the base paper to make it look like it was sewn to the canvas.  To do this, I cut strips of paper to go around the edges.  I laid them in place and made a pencil mark for a guide to show me where the strip would be on the side of the canvas and where it would be on the top.  After stitching I adhered each strip in place using Claudine Hellmuth Matte Multi Medium.

I also added stitching to the pink background paper before adhering it down so that it would also look stitched in place.  I love leaving corners free to curl up to expose the pattern on the reverse side.

I used a sticker from the collection's cardstock sticker sheet to create a little journaling strip with the names of my kids.

I used glittery sticker letters to add their initials by each of their photos.  To help each letter stand out better I outlined each with a fine tip black pen. 

I added lots of extra texture by distressing the edges of several of the papers with the Disstrez-It-All tool.  

Of course the edges of everything was inked with my very favorite Distress Ink, Vintage Photo.

If you can't tell, lots of layers and lots of stitching really make me happy!

In the original sketch there were small journaling strips in this spot.  Since this was a decor piece, I didn't really want journaling, so I replaced those strips with small number stickers to note the year of the photos.

For the title, I dug into my monster alphabet sticker stash and added in two more styles of letters with the silver glitter stickers that I used in the monograms.  I loved that I had two different stickers (both are Thickers) that had a similar letter style but with different finishes and colors.  I sanded the edges of the pink letters lightly and added a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give them a shabby touch and tie them in with the other shabby elements.

----------Supplies----------

• Patterned Paper- BasicGrey Hello Luscious: Raspberry Syrup, Inviting, Simply Grand, Rosemary, Jalapeño Jelly
• Cardstock- Bazzill (color unknown)
• Stickers- BasicGrey Hello Luscious Element Stickers
• Alpha Stickers- American Crafts Thickers: Marquise (pink) and Botanique (black); K&Co Glitter Alphas Light Blue and Coral; Making Memories Paper Reverie Alpha Shimmer and Tiny Alphas
• Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Paper Clips
• Adhesive- Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi Medium, Tombo Aqua, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L EZ Runner
• Ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo
• Misc- Donna Salazar Disstrezz-It-All, sewing machine

 

Home Sweet Home Canvas

I know I already shared a quick sneak peek, but I had to come back and show you my final "official" class photos of my new Home Sweet Home Canvas class.  In addition to offering it online (coming soon) I will be teaching this class in stores as well.  So far I have it planned for Springfield, MO, St. Louis, MO, and Moline, IL.  I will be adding the details for each of those locations soon!

The class features a fun vintage style collage on a 8x10 stretched box canvas.  It features products from Pink Paislee's Hometown Summer collection, Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts, and some fun uses for Tim Holtz's new Distress Stains!

 

Sing me your Song greeting card-

Just  a quick check in today to share a card I created while expirimenting with a few stamps and color wash.

I first sprayed the card with bit of Lettuece and Sailboat Blue Color Wash.

I added a stamped vine (Suzanne Carillo Cherish Flourish) over the Colorwash.

I stamped the Grid Frame onto a scrap of creme cardstock using Coffee Archival Ink.  I added a phrase that I created using the Teresa Collins Stampmaker.  I chose a combination of two grungey fonts to create my phrase.  I stamped them using Jet Black Ink.  I also stamped the super cute little birdie with Jet Black Archival.  I colored it in using a Letraset Pro Markers.

I used several different shades of green Letraset Promarkers to color in the vine.  I added a dark pink for the flowers.  I love the way you can color right on top of the Color Wash and still see the speckling effect of the mist.

I added a small dab of Stardust Stickles to the flower centers.

I added a subltle sparkele effect by coloring over the vine in some places with an American Crafts Glitter Marker.

I used adhesvie foam squares to lift the label and the birdie up off of the surface of the card to create some dimension.

I finished off the card and the elements with an edging of Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

----------Supplies----------

• stamps: Art Gone Wild Suzanne Carillo Collection- Thanks Grace (bird), Grid Frame, and Cherish Flourish; phrase stamp created with Teresa Collins Stamp Maker
• markers: Letraset Pro Markers: Pear Green, Antique Pink, Marsh Green, Powder Blue, Buttercup, Denim Blue, Blue Pearl; American Crafts Glitter Marker: Pure Glitter
• Ranger Adirondack Color Wash: Lettuce and Sailboat Blue
• ink: Vintage Photo Distess Ink, Ranger Jet Black and Coffee Archival Ink
• stickles: Stardust
• adhesive: Therm O Web 3D Foam Squares

Sketch Support: Downtown LA

Today is a one-pager week this week over at Sketch Support and I have a page layout up today!

As I have shared before, I think of myself as "layout challenged", which is why I am loving sketches so much.  They take all of the hard work out of the process and let me focus on the parts I enjoy most, choosing the photos, papers, and embellishments.  Still, I find that for me, I get so engrossed in the details sometimes that I spend a ton of time on a page.  Seriously, I can spend just as much time on one as I can an elaborate altered item.  For this page, I wanted to challenge myself to do a page that I was happy with in about an hour and I did!  Trust me when I tell you, that was an accomplishment for me.  It may not be the fanciest page or packed with detail (or journaling, which is still a huge challenge for me), but it does accomplish a goal which is to record a memory and not spend all day long doing it.  I am happy with that!

For this page, I stayed pretty close to the original sketch, except for measurements.  When I printed the sketch, I printed it the wrong way on the page and cut the part off with the measurements.  That is what I love about these sketches though, you can follow them precisely, following every measurement or you can follow the concept and just eyeball the sizes to what looks and feels right.  Either way, you end up with a great page!

On Friday I have another project to share based on this same sketch, this time an altered project.  I really love the way it turned out so I hope you will stop by both here and at Sketch Support to check it out!

----------supplies----------

• Patterened paper- BasicGrey Wander: Gridlock, Lost Luggage, and Layover; BasicGrey Basics White: Booknote
• Stickers- BasicGrey Wander- Designer Epoxy Stickers, Ribbon Doilies, and Element Stickers
• Alphas- BasicGrey Wander Micro Monos; BasicGrey Green at Heart Mini Monos
• Ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink Black Soot

New class sneak peeks-

I sooo love the way this project has come together!  It is one of my new class offerings for my spring and summer classes.  For those who can't attend a store class with me but are interested in the project, I will be offering it as a downloadable class as well.  I will share more details soon.  For now though, I just had to share a peek! 

Art Journal: Acts of Kindness

Today I am sharing another recent page from my art journal.  The phrase stamp is another from the Suzanne Carillo collection from Art Gone Wild.   It arrived in my studio at the same time I was reading about kindness.  I admit, I am the worst about thinking about and meaning to do kind little things for others but not getting to them because of the stuff in every day life, letting the moment pass without following through on the kind deed.  For me, I have felt both the joy of recieving an act of kindness, and the disappointment of being on the recieving end of someone's never followed through grand intention.  As I continue to think about happiness in my art journal, I was inspired to create a page to feature this quote because I believe a great deal of happiness can be given and recieved through acts of kindness. 

The base page is one of the pages with printed dots on it that came in the binder I am using for my art journal.  I applied bands of Ranger Adirondack Color Wash in blues and greens across my page.

Because of the light in my studio, they look really bright here.  I blotted away the excess with a paper towel.  I used a heat gun to help speed up the drying.

I placed a stencil (The Crafter's Workshop) over the page and applied more Color Wash over the page, applying greens over the leafy area of the design and blue over the bird.  I used the heat gun again to dry the ink quickly.  

Next, I used Ranger's Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp a flower design (Suzanne Carillo Noel Medallion) randomly on the stenciled area.  I used the Perfect Pen and an assortment of Perfect Pearls to add some shimmer the flowers.  I added some freehand lines with Stickles to create a vine connecting some of the flowers together.

I added embossing powder to several metal flowers and brads (Tim Holtz Idea-ology Foliage).  To add embossing powder to the metal pieces, I hold a piece with a pair of tweezers and heat it with my heat gun.  Once it is hot, I dip it face down directly into my jar of embossing powder.  I then heat the piece again to melt the powder.  If I like the effect, I stop, if not, I dip it again.  I really like the Distress Embossing powders for theis because of the texture they create.  I like to add a touch of sparkle to the pieces, so after I have the pieces covered, I lay them on my craft sheet and sprinkle them lightly with an embossing powder with sparkle in it (Ranger's Bridal embossing powder).  I then heat the pieces on my craft sheet until the powder melts and blends with the Distress Embossing Powder.  For the brands in the center, I used Bridal only and just held them with my tweezers, heated, dipped, and heated until I liked them.

I applied a thick generous layer of Clear Rock Candy Stickles over the sillhouette of the bird.  I love the way it dries so chunky and flakey looking and adds so much color variation and depth to the color of the bird.

The quote is stamped in Ranger Jet Black Archival ink on a scrap of paper from Basic Grey's Basics 6x6 paper pad.  The edges are inked in Black Soot Distress Ink.  I added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trinket Pin to the top to "attach" the strip to the page.

----------Supplies----------

• stamps: Art Gone Wild Suzanne Carillo Collection- Acts of Kindness and Noel Medallion
• stencil: Crafter's Workshop Paradise (TCW186)
• patterned paper: Basic Grey Basics White 6x6
• Ranger Adirondack Color Wash: Denim, Sailboat Blue, Stream, Meadow, Lettuce
• ink: Black Soot Distess Ink, Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink; Perfect Pen
• stickles: Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy, Stardust
• embossing powder: Ranger Ink Embossing Tinsel- Bridal; Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder Antique Linen and Tattered Rose
• Perfect Pearls: Pink Gumball, Blue Raspberry, Mint
• embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Foliage and Trinket Pin
• adhesive: Therm O Web Superstick
• tools: Ranger Craft Sheet; Heat-It Craft Tool; 

Art Journal: Happiness is a Place

"Happiness is a place between too little and too much." Finish proverb.

I happened upon this quote while browsing through some quotation websites.  I love looking for quotes.  I keep a little notebook of them.  I love when good ones really speak to you where you are and give you an a-ha kind of moment.  This one did.  I am seeking happiness.  I suppose we all are, but after some rough spots in life, I am truly seeking more happiness in life and trying to teach myself to find it more where I am.  Too little happiness really leaves us hungry, too much makes us suffocate.  I want to be there right smack in the middle, not too little and definitely not too much.  I created this page for my art journal to mark and remember that a-ha moment that quote gave me and to remind me to strive for the center, the just right spot in the middle.

My base page has super small printed dots on it.  It is one of the precut pages that came in my binder.  I placed the Crafter's Workshop Daisy Doodle over the page and sprayed Adirondak Color Wash (Butterscotch, Sunset Orange, and Red Pepper) over the surface.  I applied three colors in stripes across the page going from light to dark so that the color would blend in a gradient pattern.

I used PhotoShop and some favorite fonts to create a piece of word art for the phrase.  I then created a stamp from the word art using the Teresa Collins Stampmaker.  The fonts I used were distressed style fonts.  I am still tinkering and playing with what kinds of fonts and sizes I think work best for making the stamps.  I kind of like the effect of them although it kind of makes it look they they weren't stamped well.  Next time I think I will use a more solid font to compare. 

I really love these fun circle stamps from Art Gone Wild's Suzanne Carillo collection.  I love the freehand look of the circles and that with the multiple rings on each circle, it fit perfectly into my theme.  I used a Letraset Promarker to add yellow to the stars and used a silver gell pen to accent the rings.

I also stamped some stars on the piece.  I filled in the smaller center star with the yellow marker and filled in the larger outer star with silver gel pen.

After I was finished with stamping and coloring, I added Black Soot Distress Ink to the outer edges of the page.  I feel like it gives it a nice finished look and kind adds to the symbolism in the page that it is brighter and happier in the center.

This page was a pretty quick and simple page.  I tend to get wrapped up in thinking that projects have to be complicated and full of technique to be interesting.  I think this page proves that thinking wrong because I really love it and love the thought that went into.  I love the bold color and crisp lines and the whimsy in the fun circles.  It is simple and happy and that, I think, is a very good thing!

----------Supplies----------

• stamps: Art Gone Wild Suzanne Carillo Collection- Happy Birthday Yummy; phrase stamp created with Teresa Collins Stampmaker
• stencil: Crafter's Workshop Daisy Doodle
• Ranger Adirondack Color Wash: Red Pepper, Sunset Orange, Butterscotch
• ink: Black Soot Distess Ink, Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink
• markers: Letraset Pro Marker Lemon; Gelly Roll Silver Gel Pen

Art Journal: All That We Are

I really, really love this how super cute this page for my art journal turned out!  It is so fun a whimsical and cheery.

From the moment I first saw these stamps from the Art Gone Wild Suzanne Carillo collection, I knew I was going to make this page.  It all had to do with the super cute banner stamp (Fun Flags).  When I saw it I thought it would be a super cute sun.  If I do say so myself, I was right!  I stamped it on a piece of white patterned paper with small dots from the BasicGrey Basics White 6x6 pad.

I used the new Tim Holtz Distress Stains to add color to my stamped images.  To apply the color, I simply picked up color with a paint brush from the dabber top on the top of the bottle.  I used a wet brush for a thinner layer of color and a dry brush for a heavier, more intense color.

The background for the image is a single spray of Denim Color Wash.  I blotted it immediately after spraying so that it would be a light and soft application of color.

I applied multiple layers to get different areas of intensity of color.  After I was finished with each piece, I cut it out and applied Vintage Photo Distress ink to the edges with the ink applicator tool.

To apply color to the left side of the block behind the tree (Promise Tree) I applied a light coat of Weathered Wood and topped it with some light strokes of Peeled Paint, which is also painted in the box on the right.  I love the way you can brush the colors over each other and get blended effect.

The little house is a fun combination of several different stamps.  The roof is part of the Noel Tree stamp.  The scalloped gingerbread trim is the journal block from the Cherish Today stamp set.  I adhered the roof to the whole journal block and just trimmed away what the roof didn't cover on the sides.  It was much easier than trying to adhere a thin strip.  The extra layer also helped create an extra bit of dimention to each section of the house.  I used a tiny hole punch to punch out the insides of the circles in the scallops.  The main part of the house is cut from the patchwork block on the Thanks Grace set.

I love, love, love this journal block!  It is the Fun Notebook stamp.  I love that it has journal lines that look like stitching.  The super cute little birdie is from the Adventure set, which is new and not on the AGW website yet.  I have a thing for bluebirds so I totally see myself always coloring this little guy blue.

The phrase stamp is made from one of my hand drawn doodles using the Teresa Collins Stampmaker.  It is one of my first attempts and making stamps using the Stampmaker.  I am not totally happy with how this stamp turned out, but that is because of the image.  It was reduced a bit to fit the stamp which made some off the letters small and not as crisp as I would like.  I want to make more doodle stamps so I will be paying more attention to sizing and letter spacing on future designs.  Still though, it is super cool to have a stamp of your own writing and own original phrase!  

The grass at the bottom of the page is the inside large area of the flag banner stamp again.  I love that by just trimming off the flags I got a whole new use for the image.

{sigh} This page really makes me smile.  It is just makes me so happy!

----------Supplies----------

• stamps: Art Gone Wild Suzanne Carillo Collection- Thanks Grace, Fun Flags, Fun Notebook, Cherish Today, Adventure, Fun Halloween, Promise Tree, and Noel Tree; phrase stamp created with Teresa Collins Stamp Maker
• Tim Holtz Distress Stains: Broken China, Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Spun Sugar, Wild Honey, Weathered Wood
• Ranger Adirondack Color Wash: Denim
• ink: Vintage Photo Distess Ink, Ranger Jet Black and Coffee Archival Ink
• embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Paper Clip 
• adhesive: Therm O Web Superstick

Sunday Studio: New Class Sneak Peek!

Ahhh!  I love a good day in the studio!  I remember several months back I vowed that Sunday was going to be a studio day, no work, just play.  I finally got back to that and played and created all day long.  You could call it work though because the project I worked on is my next downloadable class that will be available here on my blog.  So while I created all day, I snuck in lots of photos and notes.  I love how this project is shaping up and can't wait to get it all ready to post.  I thought until that time I would share a peek at the front cover.  If all goes as planned, this project should be ready in about 2 weeks!