Designer Spotlight: Tammy Pyette

Today we are putting S:CY Designer Tammy Pyette in the spotlight here at S:CY as we get to know a little more about another of our Team Members.

S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
(with adorable baby Rilla)

Tammy is someone I know IRL, so  this is an easy one to "put to paper," so to speak!

In her current career, Tammy is wife to a guy in the Royal Canadian Air Force and "Mama" to 4 kiddos (really cute...). She's also a photographer. She does a lot of my younger 2 kids' photos... and with her quiet way, has a special gift in getting great shots of my littlest guy,  who has special needs.

Along the topic of photography, I asked Tammy what she'd choose if someone told her that she could ONLY scrap photos of scenery-- what would draw her in and become her favourite? She replied "Mountains. You can find a little bit of everything in the mountains. Trees, rock, glaciers, snowy caps, wildflowers, water falls, rivers, rapid runs, calm mornings, brilliant sunsets....it's all in there."  Tammy shoots with a Canon Rebel as well as "a couple different Nikons. Depends for what and where."

Like many Moms, Tammy's favourite subjects to scrap  are her four kidlets! "They do and say the darnedest things!" says Tammy. 

"Snowshoe: Valley View Provincial Park"
created by Tammy Pyette
[Credits: I made the background, ribbons, etc. using Photoshop brushes.]

Tammy is a digital scrapbooker. Always on time with every S:CY assignment, she's also creative in many other areas. As she tells it "I would like to build each of my pages completely from my own stuff….unfortunately time doesn’t always allow for that so I have a collection of digital papers to draw on and I almost always search for premade brushes before I take the time to create my own. With a toddler, a preschooler, and 2 kids homeschooling (one of whom has special needs) I have to do all I can to save time. When it comes to wants (rather than needs) fast and free usually wins out."




"Zac with his 'Miss Riss'- New Best Friends" layout created by
S:CY Design Team Member Tammy Pyette
using S:CY Sketch 01-11 below
[Credits: papers and embellishments from packages found at Shabby Princess except for the paw prints which were created using Photoshop brushes. Some of the papers and embellishments are as you see them on the Shabby Princess site, others have been altered.]

Sketch 01-11 created by
  S:CY Team Leader Ali MacDonald

Tammy's favourite way to build a page is to "use a location shot for the background, add the favourite pictures from there to the page, and any elements (flowers, etc) from location pictures."

For “go-to” stock resources, Tammy  gives us the addies of several sites that she likes:
Paper - http://www.shabbyprincess.com/

A bit of everything - http://www.deviantart.com/

Brushes - http://www.brushlovers.com/, http://www.brusheezy.com/
 http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes

Fonts - http://www.1001freefonts.com/ http://www.dafont.com/

Quotes - http://thinkexist.com
http://www.quotegarden.com
http://www.quotegarden.com

Tammy quips that although she has given us three sources for quotes, most of the quotes she uses lately come from her kids!

Like many scrapbookers, Tammy has other intereswts anbd skills. One of her hobbies is sewing. I have seen her work- she's awesome at it! She's been teaching her eldest daughter, Brielle, how to sew, too. Brielle made her own Christmas dress one year. 

Tammy also does counted cross stitch. I'll let her tell you about that in her own words. She explains it best! "Although I have decided to go completely digital with my scrapbooks, I do like more traditional crafts. I like to satisfy my need for hands-on crafts with things that I can't do on my computer, such as cross stitch. I'm never satisfied with the published patterns and almost always alter them to be more personal.


Cross stitch on right side of screen created by
 Tammy Pyette

 "In this (above) cross stitch I changed the little girls teddy from brown to white, because my daughter's special bear is white. I also took the old fashioned hat and suspenders off the boy, lightened his hair colour, and personalized his toys. He is carrying a fishing pole with Nemo on the end of it. My oldest son loves fishing and always use to tell me he wanted to 'catch a giant Nemo fish!' I also took the hankie out of the pocket and put in a train engine named Skarloie (one of his fav. characters from Thomas the Train). I'm still not quite satisfied with the boys hair, I may still go back and add a bit more red, but for the time being it is done. (I haven't stretched and framed it yet so you can see the fabric creases in the photo, but I won't be doing that for a while.)" 

Tammy organizes her layouts chronologically... "by date. By the month for sure, then by day unless they don’t flow well that way. For example, I'll move things around within the month to arrange for certain pages to face each other."

In terms of storing her digital layouts, Tammy told me that she has them printed into books! What a great system. "I’ve printed most my albums at http://www.photobookcanada.com/ but I think I actually prefer http://www.heritagephotobooks.ca/ .
The glossy covers are much nicer. I’ve got a couple new printing places I’m looking into. I’ll probably try a new one next year."

Tammy doesn't make mini-albums, but she has a very interesting "TAKE" on the concept that makes a creative gift idea. "I make 'year in review' calendars for grandparents, great-grandma, and one of my Aunts. I don’t tend to mail them any photos throughout the year, since they like printed rather than computer screen images, so they get a year's worth every Christmas."

Tammy has some wonderful thoughts on the concept of being "caught up" with scrapbooking her photos. "I am as caught up as I want to be, :o)" she says. "The first couple weeks of each month I work on doing pages for the previous month, so by mid-January my album for the previous year is ready to print!" 

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun"
layout created by Tammy Pyette
[Credits: All the papers, elements, and masks were from different areas on the freebies list at http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com.]  

The layout above has a special story. The photo was taken just this summer (2011) while at her sister's wedding. Tammy explains that Brielle and Xander were "picking flowers in the Devonian gardens! ...ooops. Throwing them into the stream! ...ooops. But the kids sure had fun! And it kept them happy while the photographer took pictures. (I think it's my favourite photo from the whole wedding!)" Tammy also asked for help from the Team and our readers re: this LO. She says "I'm not thrilled with the quote I've got on there so if anyone has any other suggestions which fit that moment I would love to hear them." (You can post any suggestions in the Comments section right here on the S:CY Blog.)

As mentioned, Tammy has 4 kids. She plans separate albums for each. As she explains..."I plan to make a separate, more individually personalized album for each child, but I’ll do that when they’re in their teens and I’m sitting around waiting for them to come home in the evenings. For now I just want a yearly account for me, complete with cute sayings and precious moments, right now, when they're fresh in my mind."

 

"Pretty Lilla Rilla- 6 months" created by
 Tammy Pyette
[Credits: Everything is from www.shabbyprincess.com vintage florals collection.]

There is a LOT to be said for making sure those precious memories are captured quickly, because as cliche though it sounds, those kids do grow WAY too fast!

Tammy, thanks for sharing your creativity with us here at S:CY for this feature today. An extra big Thank You for allowing us a brief window into the world of a digital scrapbooker, crafter, military wife, and Mom. Keep up the great scrapbooking work we've been witness to this Term!! ~