Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Back from Vacation


Wow, that was nice! A week away… no internet, no phones, white beaches, and frozen drinks… It was the perfect way to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Anyway, we got back to find out that we had no hot water so today was spent getting a new hot water heater installed. Aside from that, it’s good to be home.

I admit I did bring my laptop in order to stay connected till the last possible minute, but after the first 24 hours, I was free! Which made me realize how important it is to disconnect on a regular basis. We met fun people, read books and laughed, went on some adventures and just lived in the moment. I worry that we get so dialed in to life on line that we forget how to interact with real people and don’t know how to experience life in person. Actually I worry about that more for my kids, since that is all they have known. Growing up, there was no such thing as a computer so we knew how to entertain ourselves for hours on end with no gadgets to help. Except crayons and some paper! And speaking of coloring…

I brought my Copic markers with me and did some doodling and coloring. I made a fun file folder with one of my scribblings. I took a Sakura permanent marker and outlined the letters first in black on a scrap piece of matboard. This works great because it’s a nice sturdy base to color on. Then I just took my Copic markers and colored the letters in.  Mindless, yes. Cool looking? I think so… I was on vacation and did not need the stress of making perfect letters 🙂 I double-stick taped it to the front of a file folder and added some flowers from my Scalloped Box ScoreBoard die which I also colored in Copics. Topped it all off with a pretty ribbon and some lace that I misted in green. Of course now it’s all 3D and not so useful as a real file folder but will save this for a special presentation.

Now we are gearing up for the big blog hop- stay tuned. This is going to be HUGE! 

Gearing up…

It is finally getting fall-ish around here and I am loving it. What can I say, I’m a New York girl at heart and love the seasons! But here’s one last look at summer taken on our trip to Florida in July.

This has been an unbelievably busy week- trying to get dies done for the next release, getting things together for the next blog hop (you are NOT going to believe how cool this is going to be!), planning for the Barn Sale, attempting to get my first official newsletter up and running (that’s not going so well) and keeping up with some difficult family situations. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade any of it… as they say, “Variety is the spice of life”.  Man, is it spicy around here…

I read a cool blog post on The Hive today about choosing optimism by Carolee Clark that really struck a chord with me. To see lots of great projects and connect with designers, click here to join this group. It’s like Facebook for crafters!

Have a fun weekend everyone…

My product is in Michael’s!

The day did not start well and was getting worse. Until I stopped in Michael’s and saw my ScoreBoard Scalloped Box die hanging in the Sizzix section! You could have knocked me over with a proverbial feather! The picture isn’t great- I only had my phone with me- but as you can see I was pretty excited. 🙂

This collection of dies has been in the works for quite a while ago so to finally see this in Michael’s was very cool. I am so thankful to work with a great manufacturer like Sizzix who turned my concept into a product!

Appearing on Cool2Craft Monday Noon EDT

Hope you can stop by for a sneak peek at a really fun new die released at Summer CHA- the ScoreBoard Treat Topper! I’l be demo-ing the Big Shot die cut machine and show how to make this pretty and useful bag topper from matboard and paper too. Click here between noon and 1:30 to enter the room and join the LIVE TV show on Monday.
Last Thursday, the bookmark in my last post was featured on One Pretty Thing. I love that site- have you checked it out? Fun stuff…
I spent the weekend (mostly) working. On Friday, we enjoyed a fun evening with our Shots and Dots friends (we play dominoes once a month and there might be a round of shots consumed from time to time). Today I attended a Crazy for Copics class at Angela’s Happy Stamper nearby in Reston, VA. Laura, our instructor, was fantastic and showed some really cool ways to use Copic markers. I have a bunch and have used them but now I feel like I have the official seal of approval to go to town! We made four fun cards and learned some cool blending techniques. Here’s a look…

Have a great week, my friends!

Happy Labor Day!

OK, I’m back! Had to discipline myself this week to keep off the computer so I could concentrate on getting my next collection finished and off to Sizzix. And now on to the next deadline…

I never realized how much I need to create. How much I look forward to studio time. Sometimes right before I go to sleep, ideas of projects I want to try come to me and I have to write them down. Please tell me there are others of my kind out there?

Here’s a simple bookmark I made with a piece of pretty embossed matboard. Head over to my blog for instructions.

My husband is away for the weekend so I figured it would be a good time to clean up my workspace. Upon surveying the area, I see it’s going to take longer than a weekend. I have recently had the good fortune to receive a Sizzix Big Shot Pro and the new eclips. I told my husband we need to add on a Sizzix wing! These machines take up a lot of space. So out with the old and in with the new!  I am off to a good start.

Hope you can tune in to Cool2Craft tomorrow. It’s always fun to connect with other crafters. Speaking of other crafters, there’s a new site out there called The Hive. It’s a community of creative people who share their projects, tips, blogs and great info. I call it the Facebook for crafters… Click here if you want to join.

Have a great week!

Cool2Craft and The Hive

I am so excited about this new craft community that has opened up. It’s called The Hive and it’s like Facebook for crafters. I appeared on Cool2Craft today and Melissa Marro, the Queen Bee, was also a guest. She explained her vision for this group and also gave practical tips on how to navigate the site and showed us some of the cool features. So after the show, I started a Sizzix Lovers Anonymous group. If you are a member of the Hive and love your Sizzix, please post some of your projects for us all to see. I am always so inspired to see what people are doing with their die cuts. If you are not a member yet, you should be! It’s really easy- click on the link above and sign up today!

Here’s the project I demo’d today. It my new ScoreBoard Pro Frame die. There are so many combinations of shapes and ways you can use this. Great for books, frames, puzzles and albums. Cut-outs of this die and the Pro House will be available as a “Get Acquainted” offer on the Cool2Craft Marketplace so order a set today! If you missed the show today, you can listen to the recording here.

I am now hunkered down creating and will not come up for air until Wednesday when we’re hitting National’s baseball game! Wish me luck!

Sneak Peek

Here’s a quick look one of my new dies that came out at the CHA Summer show which I recently talked about on Cool2Craft. Click here to see my segment on the show. It’s the ScoreBoard Pro House die. This is a new adventure for me- the Pro dies are huge compared to the XL dies so I am liking having some room to work in. You will need the Big Shot Pro to cut the house out. I recently got one and it’s my new favorite gadget! I can also use it to cut several of my smaller dies out all in one pass. Great for doing mass production projects for large events like weddings and parties.

I can think of so many fun ways that this might be decorated, especially around the holidays. This picture shows a very simple version that I did right before leaving for CHA. I just added crystal glitter to the roof and made a small button wreath for above the door. A scalloped oval cutout and more glitter tells whose house it is.

It’s HOT…

…so the thought of slipping down to my nice cool studio and working on some new projects is especially inviting (yes, this is the same CHILLY studio I am cursing in the winter). While at CHA I was given some products to experiment with… and my brand new ScoreBoards are out! I have to test them for myself and make sure that they really work (I am always SO happy/relieved when they do)… and then there are the projects for the book proposal that have to be done by the end of the month. To sum it up, I am a happy camper!

I’ll be sharing some projects with you in the next few weeks. Make sure to tune into Cool2Craft this coming Monday where I’ll be showing one of my favorite new designs.

Here’s a look at the project I created using the Scalloped Box die and demo’d at the Craft Studio at CHA. See my blog at the Memory Keeping Collection for instructions. 

Home at last…

Hey everyone! It’s so good to be back and in my own little house. The past month has flown by…

This photo was taken in the booth of Craftside at CHA. They had a sign that said, “Take your picture with the ugliest sweater in the world.” How could I not? Actually I kind of liked it. My friend Stefanie Girard is barely visible on the very right of this photo. She has written a book called Sweater Surgery, which involves projects like the one I am standing behind.

I had a great time at CHA- made some new friends and got to catch up with my peeps (you’re not gonna catch me saying “old” friends). Lots of opportunities are ahead, along with some hard work. And I thank God every day that I am able to do what I love.

So here’s what I’ve been up to. I drove with my friend and neighbor Lorine Mason (how lucky am I that we live in the same town?) to Chicago. The drive was not too bad- 13 hours. We ended up staying in this fancy hotel where a bottle of water was $5.50! What the heck! Luckily I had a 12 pack of my diet Mountain Dew to sustain me. Whew.

More later about the show… right now I am doing laundry, answering 700 emails (mostly junk thankfully!), getting ready for a trip to the post office to mail the third installment of Trinity’s birthday presents and have lunch with a few friends. You have to stop and smell the flowers, right? I had a great idea for a die and am afraid to test it. If it works it will be VERY cool, if not, I am back to the drawing board. I am enjoying the suspense right now.

Time to post on my other blog over at http://www.memorykeepingcollection.com/ and should also check in at Sizzix since it’s been a while since I posted. I miss working on my stuff! Hope you can stop by…