Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop: 3D Flower, Wrapped

Wow- is it already time for another hop? Every Tuesday and Thursday, until Nov. 3, one of my new Sizzix dies will be featured here starring the fabulous Fresh Vintage designers! Today they are working with the 3D Flower, Wrapped die. This is a such a fun one! This die looks great no matter what you cut it from: paper, fabric, fleece, felt, packing paper, sheet music, recycled bags or tissue paper.

HEY, this just in! Today is Designer Days at Sizzix! Just for today, 10/13/11, all Eileen Hull dies are 25% off! The promo code is: SZEH25.  This offer excludes Outlet items and cannot be combined with any other discounts. Come on by for a look at the new line coming out in November, It’s a Wrap (click to the end of the scrolling to see).
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To view the hop, you can click on the Fresh Vintage blinkie on the sidebar. This will take you around to all of the designers on the hop OR you can click on the linky party below for a look at all the projects. To see projects that have already been posted, visit the page above titled “Sizzix Blog Hops”. For a chance to win this die, answer the question about today’s hop on the Oh My Crafts blog today. There are lots of ways you can use this die and you are about to see some very cool ideas. Are you ready?

For my project, I decided to combine the Vase die and flowers into a canvas project that I had the idea for last week… Heard this reading in church and as the kids say, it got stuck in my head…

  1. Lay down a coat of Mod Podge over the canvas and add book pages on top (mine came from an old etiquette book which is hilarious). Coat pages with Mod Podge and let dry. Add a layer of gingham tissue paper over the bottom 3″ of the canvas and Mod Podge it down.
  2. Cut strips of foamboard to simulate a windowsill. Adhere them to the canvas with Tacky Tape.
  3. Cover 6″ x 13″ piece of matboard spray adhesive and cover with Grant Studio paper. Die cut Vase with Big Shot. Trim 2 segments from vase and bend into circular shape, flattening 4 back segments against canvas. Set on shelf and attach to canvas with glue gun.
  4. Insert one quarter of a 2 1/2″ STYROFOAM ball into the vase. Add flowers.
  5. Lay out text in your publishing software and print on transparency. (I always have trouble getting this work but this time I rubbed the sheet before printing with a bag of stuff I have to rub off scratches on matboard. Think it’s similar to the Perfect Printing Pouch which I have somewhere but could not find- it worked. After I printed it, I sprayed with Krylon Workable Fixitif.)
  6. Trim text to fit inside of window. Spray a light coat of spray adhesive on the back of the transparency and stick on.

Flower:

  1. Die cut Wrapped Flowers from a stack of coffee filter (about 20). Randomly dab them with four colors of paint  that has been slightly diluted with water. Allow petals to dry.
  2. Cut stems from branches. Wrap tape around top 1″ of stem and start winding the petals around the stem. Depending on how full you want your flower, add layers of petals starting with the smaller ones and graduating to large. Or if you want a small flower, just use the small petals. Cut flower bases from green felt and add to bottom of flower. Add green leaves adhered to sticks.
  3. Coil wire around a pencil and insert in to arrangement.
  4. Add a coat of Radiant Rain Egyptian Gold mist from Luminarte for a rich shimmery effect.
  5. Stick stems into STYROFOAM ball and cover with yarn or paper shred.
  6. Wrap wire around a pencil or dowel and insert wire coils into arrangement. Stretch out as desired.

Other Supplies:
8 x 10 canvas, old book pages, sticks from your yard, foamboard scraps, glue gun, coffee filters, transparency sheet, colored wire from Beadalon

Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop: ScoreBoard Vase

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Sizzix Fresh Vintage blog hop! Today’s featured die is the ScoreBoard Vase.

If you are a fan of flowers, paper or otherwise, you need this die so you can make a beautiful container to hold all of your handmade posies. But that’s not the only thing you can do with it!

  • decorate and use to hold treats at your next party
  • make some for your craft area to organize pens, markers and paint brushes
  • make a set for the little girl in your life to store her hair accessories in
  • use as a gift box for small presents. Tie on a ribbon and tag and it’s a unique and personal presentation.
  • cut some out of paper and use them as ice cream cone wrappers- they just fit!- I tried 🙂
  • make a special holiday ornament and place in the vase. Add a pipe cleaner handle and bow

Click on the thumbnails below or follow the hop using the Fresh Vintage blinkie navigation tool to the right. The designers have posted some amazing projects on their blogs and shown lots of creative ways that the Vase die may be used. Make sure to stop and check them all out. And we love comments 🙂 so please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts on the projects.

After you have hopped through all the projects, head over to the Oh My Crafts blog and leave a comment. You could win the Flower, Layers #9 die (one of my very favorites!)

So let’s get hopping:


I decided to use the Vase die for a different purpose. I bought a beautiful plant the other day but was not thrilled with the foil wrapper. So I decided to make a little slipcover for the pot!

Thanks to my “dear” husband for filming the video.

Here’s how I made the Plant Cover:

  1. Measure the circumference of the pot you’d like to cover. Determine how many widths of matboard you will need to cover pot. To do that, I ran several pieces of scrap paper using the vase die and my Big Shot. I taped them together and wrapped them around the pot to measure. For a 4″ pot, I needed 2 vase cutouts and had a little extra I needed to trim off.
  2. Cut or tear 2 pieces of brown kraft wrap into pieces approximately 6″ x 13″. Crumple the paper up and smooth out again. Coat the back of the paper with spray adhesive.
  3. Smooth down paper onto matboard. Wrinkles are perfectly fine, even desired!
  4. Place paper covered side of matboard face down on die and run through the Big Shot. Repeat with second piece of board.
  5. Select the colors of ink you would like to use and a stencil brush for each color. Place the stencil on top of cutouts and start swirling ink around the stencil, blending colors as you go, until all areas of the vase pieces are covered.
  6. With brown ink, shade edges of plant cover on top and bottom.
  7. Adhere both vase pieces together using Tacky Tape. Wrap whole piece around plant, and trim extra segments off as needed.
  8. Adhere vase die cuts end to end so finished design fits around the pot..

TIP: If the pot is just a little larger than the diecut, make a ruffle from fabric or brown paper and adhere inside the plant cover. This will extend the top just high enough to cover the pot edge.

Tags:

  1. Die cut 2 flower pieces from matboard.
  2. Punch hole with Crop-a-Dile on top of each flower. Write message on back of flower.
  3. Add glitter center to flower with Stickles and allow to dry.
  4. Cut a length of twine long enough to wrap around the pot twice. If desired, age twine with ink.
  5. Wrap around plant and thread tags on twine and tie.

Other Supplies:
brown kraft packaging paper

Haunted House

Happy Columbus Day to all! I just wanted to pop in and show you all a cool project sent to me by Susan Tierney Cockburn. She blogs at My Mother’s Apron Strings where she shares mouth watering recipes and photos of yummy desserts. I met her at about a year ago at CHA. She brought projects that she had done with some of my other dies and I was amazed at her attention to detail and meticulous work. She is so nice and friendly- we just hit it off!
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Here’s a picture of my Sizzix ScoreBoard Pro House die (above). Susan turned it into a spooky Haunted House for Halloween (below)! Can you believe these tiny little flowers? The haystack and tree? And it looks like some critter is up in the tree but I can’t tell what it is from this picture…Can anyone figure that out? I love this- what a fun project!

Susan- thanks so much for letting me share this cool project! Now I am in such a Halloween mood. Bring on the candy corn 🙂

Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop: Flower Layers #9

Hi everyone and welcome back to the fourth Fresh Vintage blog hop!  Every Tuesday and Thursday until November 3, one of the 12 dies in the collection will be featured. 6-10 projects for every die will be posted by 75 of the most creative designers in our industry. I am thrilled that they have agreed to work with my Flower Layers Sizzix dies and the projects that have been posted so far have been super inspiring!

To view the hop, you can click on the Fresh Vintage blinkie on the sidebar. This will take you around to all of the designers on the hop OR you can click on the linky party below for a look at all the projects. To see projects that have already been posted, visit the page above titled “Sizzix Blog Hops”. For a chance to win this die, answer the question about today’s hop on the Oh My Crafts blog today.
Eileen Hull Flower Layers #9 Sizzix Die
The die we are all working with today is Flower Layers #9. This is such a versatile die! I have made flowers cut from all kinds of fun materials:

  • book pages
  • old maps
  • sheet music
  • fabric, fleece
  • felt
  • ledger paper
  • coffee filter
  • bubble wrap
  • soda cans… the list goes on…

Ways to Create with Flower Layers

Ways to create with Eileen Hull Flower Layers #9 Sizzix Die

You can spray the Flower Layers petals with mists and dyes, stamp them, ink the edges,and add glitter. They can be framed, made in bunches and used for paper flower bouquets, added to shoes and hair accessories, and of course, you can add them to your layouts and card projects. They make beautiful home decor projects if you cut a bunch from fleece or felt and add them to pillows, lampshades or baskets.

Let’s see what our designers have created for you today!

Flower Layers Headband Tutorial:

I made a quick and easy headband from fleece.

Eileen Hull Flower Layers #9 Fleece Headband Tutorial

Supplies:

fleece, headband, needle and thread, elastic

Steps:
  1. Buy a premade headband in desired size and color.
  2. Cut a piece of fleece 6″ x 12″ and fold over. Run piece through Big Shot and flower layers die, yielding 2 of each flower sizes.
  3. Layer flower pieces on top of each other staggering petals so they lay in different positions.
  4. With needle and thread, sew all layers together. Secure In the middle with a button.
  5. Cut leaves from green fleece and position as desired around flower.
  6. Sew a piece of elastic to back of flower. Wrap around headband to measure and stitch to other side, forming a loop to slide over headband and make it interchangeable.

Wouldn’t these be a great activity for a child’s party or even to give as a gift with several flowers in different colors? I love fleece because it never wrinkles or unravels, has a nice feel to it, and gives great dimension. For a more sophisticated look, use designer fabrics. If you want romantic, use filmy sheers and organdies. Add beads, buttons and fringe too!

Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog Hop: Butterfly

Thanks for stopping by for the third in a series of twelve Fresh Vintage blog hop projects! Every Tuesday and Thursday, until Nov. 3, a new die will be featured here starring the fabulous designers that are putting their crafty skills to the test, creating some seriously cool designs. Today’s featured product is the ScoreBoard Butterfly die. ScoreBoard dies are designed to cut and score thick materials like matboard (my favorite!). But that’s not all…

Designer Tip for the Day: ScoreBoard dies also work with paper, fabric, felt, leather, recycled packaging, soda cans, etc! The only thing you will have to do is score the lighter material by hand since the scoring blade is set higher for thick material. However this takes just a few seconds using your scoring board, If you are like me, getting the best value for my money is important so I hope you will experiment and use your dies to the max.

The butterfly is a symbol of freedom, renewal and hope to me. It is appropriate to use for so many occasions where we handcraft cards, gifts or memory items.

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OK, on to the amazing projects! I get so excited the night before a hop posts because I have no idea what everyone will be doing- these designers just blow me  away. Let’s see what they have been up to…

I want to pass along a project that is free, eco-friendly and beautiful. When I got this die, it occurred to me that the butterfly would make a really cool pin if I could find an inexpensive way to cut it out of metal. And then the lightbulb went on- SODA CANS! So I cut one up and it worked great! I was concerned that the edges of the metal would be too sharp but it is not the case- they are fine- I have gotten more cuts from paper.But this butterfly still needed more…Wait a minute- how about running it through a Textured Impression folder? SCORE- another success- it looked great. And now for the color…hmmm, maybe those alcohol inks that had been sititng there on the shelf for a while might work…Yes, perfect!

Now we have a colorful pin that may be customized to each person’s favorite palette or to reflect the seasons. I have been saving cans all summer and plan on selling these at my annual Barn Sale in a month. The butterflies (or as my granddaugther Trinity calls them “beautiflies”) could be added to a project, layout or album cover for some great dimension. I have also used map pages and paint chips to cut these out, as well as double sided cardstock, matboard, glittr chipboard, vinyl and any other material I think would work.


Soda Can Butterfly Pin:

  1. Cut soda (or beer) can top and bottom off, then cut down the middle of remaining piece.
  2.  Place opened can on die and run through die cut machine using Butterfly die.
  3. Run butterfly shape(s) through a Textured Impression folder.
  4. Lay die cut butterflies on non-stick craft mat and put on latex gloves- this gets messy! Ink foam applicator with three colors of alcohol ink, and sponge on, blending and covering until you have desired look.
  5. Allow to dry. Add a line of glue dot lines on the back of the cut out butterfly shape and lay on top of solid butterfly.
  6. Add pinback adhering with Zips (clear adhesive lines) and gift wrap in a fun container or card!
Cupcake:
  1. Coat wrong side of matboard with spray adhesive and lay an old book page on top. Run matboard through die cut machine using ScoreBoard Cupcake die. Lay Crafter’s Workshop stencil on top of cupcake die cut. Mist with paint of choice. Let dry.
  2. Assemble cupcake using tacky tape.
  3. Add embellishments.
  4. Fill with crumpled shimmer tissue paper.
  5. Place butterfly pin inside container and add a tag.

You are finished- love these quick and easy projects!

Supplies used:

Westcott Pink Challenge

Westcott Scissors
Many thanks to Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools, maker of my favorite scissors, The Duck Brand® Duct Tape and VELCRO® Brand Hook and Loop Fasteners and to Marisa Pawelko for organizing this fun challenge! Our task was to create a project using product provided by these three companies… and it had to be pink… Hmmm, my mind immediately went to matboard since that is my primary medium. I decided to make a mini- album using matboard as a base. Did you know that you can cut matboard with scissors? You sure can! However, I opted to use the pretty pink Westcott Hobby Knife that they sent me along with the pink cutting mat so that my cuts would be straight and precise. I used a metal ruler as a guide.

Make sure to hop around to the other 32 participating designers’ blogs to see what they created for this challenge! Click on the DCC blinkie on the sidebar and you will be taken to the next blog in the hop!

Here’s a look at how I made it my mini- album…

 

Mini-Album:

  1. Determine the size of your album. I decided to make mine 4″ x 6″. Cover a piece of matboard measuring about 8″ x 10″ with pink Duck Tape on one side and white Duck Tape on the other side.
  2. Using your Westcott Hobby Knife and pink cutting mat, carefully trim two pieces of matboard to size at 4″ x 6″. Cut another piece of matboard covered with tape to the desired size spine you would like (mine is about 4″ x 3/4″).
  3. Emboss both covers with Sizzix Textured Impression folder by Eileen Hull. Ink raised part of design with Staz-on permanent ink and distress edges of book.
  4. Cut a piece of contrasting tape with your Westcott non-stick scissors. Place all three piece of matboard face down on a flat surface about 1/8″ apart from each other. Make sure they are arranged in a straight line. Run the piece of Duck Tape down the middle and cover the spine. Wrap around to the front and press down. Now your cover is all one piece and can fold in either direction.
  5. Make 5 signatures of paper, fold in half and wrap rattail cord around each section attaching closely to the spine of the book. Tie to other end of cording. Add beads to cording. Cut a 5″ strip of Pink Zebra Duck Tape and fold over, leaving a 1/8″ strip of adhesive. Make fringe by cutting every 1/8″ and wrap around remaining spine cording.
  6. Design a title for your album using the Duetica Lettering Arts System in your favorite editing software. This album is going to my friend in Germany just recovering from surgery, so I customized it for her. I added a piece of Velcro on the back of the tag and glue gunned another piece of Velcro to the front of the album so she can change the title if she wants.
  7. Make a flower from the pink Zebra Duck Tape and adhere to a scrap of matboard with a glue gun. Place a small square of Sticky Back Velcro ont he back and one where you want to adhere the flower. Now you can change the flower to another embellishment if you want!
  8. Cut a slit on the front edge for a closure. Thread Velcro Plant Tie through. Fold over one side and glue closed with glue gun. Adhere to front of album. Wrap other piece around and press done.

Support the cause! Here’s the link to the on line auction where some of these pieces will be offered up for your bids.

Did you know…
·         Westcott Brand® Scissors are the WORLD’S FAVORITE SCISSORS™ meaning Westcott sells more scissors than any other manufacturer in the world!
·         Westcott Brand® Titanium Bonded Non Stick Scissors are the BEST Non Stick Scissors on the market that never get stuck and can easily cut through Sticky Back VELCRO®, Duck Tape and multiple layers of fabric and other materials!
·         Titanium bonded blades are 3 times harder than stainless steel and never need sharpening!
·         Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools have the best performance! The 3” scissors can even cut through 5 layers of fabric!
·         Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools are ergonomic and come in several different color options!

Supplies used to create this project:
Duetica Lettering Art Studio font: Mandolyn
Sizzix Textured Impression folder by Eileen Hull
Queen and Company Pearl Bling
Tsukineko Staz-On black stamp pad
rattail cording, beads, glue gun