Polka Dot Chicks and Memory Mosaic!
I apologize for not getting this out to all of you on the first, but it’s been a bit nuts around here, what with the incredible heat and the wildfires burning all around us. My parents and siblings are prepared to evacuate, should it come to that. But I have some time right now and nothing pressing to drag me away, so let’s chat with Tammy (Polka Dot Chicks) and Joy (Memory Mosaic). Let’s start with the basics and then get into the more interesting stuff! (Today I’ll be “O“, to make it easier to keep the conversation straight.)
O: Ladies, how long have you been designing?
T: Since 2008
J: For me it’s been about 6 years.
O: And what tools do you use to create your designs?
J: I use photoshop, and I am learning to use Procreate. I hope soon to be able to incorporate things I have done in Procreate in my kits. I use templates and photos that I extract images from. Some photos I find on free sites like Pixabay, and some I take myself, depending on what the subject is. I also use a lot of different styles in Photoshop. I enjoy putting styles together and creating new ones.
T: PhotoShop Elements 21 for Mac on 27” iMac desktop computer.
O: Ooh, I love Pixabay! It’s a real treasure trove, isn’t it? Sorry Tammy, but I’m not an Apple fan. I’ve had nothing but glitches with their products, but my daughter LOVES her iMac, her iPhone, her iPad, all of them. Anyway, nobody is asking me… Now we know what you use, tell us a little about where you create.
T: I have a craft room/office on our finished lower level with plenty of space to design and set up my craft tables for crafting/sewing/silhouette etc.
J: I work on a laptop, so my “work space” is wherever I want to go. My husband and I are working on getting an office space fixed up in what used to be a storage shed/cabin on our property, and once that is done, I will have a more stationary work area. Right now, I have all my “stuff”… notebook with ideas, and calendars, external hard drives, pens, iPad, etc, in a pretty tote that I move from place to place… sometimes, it’s the living room sofa, sometimes the dining room table, sometimes in nice weather, it’s out on the deck enjoying the birds singing and the fresh air.
O: I’ve been trying to get my craft space organized but it’s such a huge job and I never know where to start. Joy, I love that idea of putting all the pieces/parts in a tote to keep handy. I might have to steal that. Tammy, which of your amazing kits in the GingerScraps store is your favourite?
T: Family Tree – I really like family tree stuff and seeing how names were picked etc. for example: my husbands middle name, Parker has been a family name since the late 1700’s and is always the first born middle name. (narrator: It’s on sale right now, ladies!)
J: A week at the beach. Preferably in a condo/beach house… not super crowded, able to sleep in, days spent walking the beach, collecting shells and rocks, lying under an umbrella, listening to the surf, reading a good book, spending the evening, watching movies, or playing games with my family.
O: That sounds like bliss! Is that what you’d do if you won the lottery?
J: Sort of. I would make sure any pressing needs of my family were taken care of, fix up my house, maybe take that vacation to the beach I mentioned above, and give a good portion of it to a missions project.
T: I’d buy a big enough house to house my kids/family/grand-babies but everyone could have their own space but we would all be together, Hire a chef and cleaning person.
