Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Fleece weather?

I am not a summer person. The cool weather we’ve been having lately is so refreshing. And when it’s cold outside, it’s time for FLEECE! How they can make such a warm soft fabric from car tires is a mystery to me, but I love this stuff. It’s a dream to sew on and my favorite quality is the clean edges- no need to worry about fraying or threads sticking out anywhere. The last weekend in September for the past 8 years or so, my two sisters, me and Mom all converge in Saugerties, NY for the Garlic Festival where we sell our fleece wares. The burning question is always, “What can we make really quickly and sell at the show?” My contributions this year will be the camera case (pictured here) and laptop bags. My daughter recently purchased one of those adorable mini-laptops for when she’s on the ship and traveling and I had to measure it so I can whip up some cool covers to sell.

On another note, here are a few things to check out. One of our Barn Sale vendors, Teresa Balkin, (maker of beautiful soy candles) is opening her own shop! Opening Day is tomorrow from 11-5 at 12644 Chapel Road, Clifton, VA. Teresa says she will still be joining us on November 13 and 14th for the Barn Sale. Mark your calendars!

If you are looking for inspiring and fun demos, visit Where Creativity Knocks, a mother and daughter crafting duo who seek out new products and techniques and then share the fun with all. If you have 3-5 minutes and want to keep up with the latest trends and products, check out an episode or two! WCK has recently added a section called “Blogger’s Bonanza” where yours truly has been linked 🙂

Save the Dates- Oct. 16-17

Thanks to Stephanie Girard who posted my sock can cover on her blog CraftGossip.

I would like to invite anyone who would like to come to Demo Days in the Barn on October 16-17. I will be demonstrating my new Sizzix ScoreBoard dies (dies that cut and score matboard into all kinds of cute boxes and totes) and everyone that wants to will go home with a project or two or three. BasicGrey will be providing the paper. Lots of door prizes and refreshments will be available. Stay tuned for details!

Hope everyone had a nice relaxed Labor Day weekend. I managed to get a few projects underway. My daughter Jess arrived tonight- she’s in the Coast Guard and has been out on patrol for three months so I am looking forward to spending some fun time with her.

Recycled Tuna Can

A few years ago I discovered solid white albacore tuna- so much better than what I had been eating all my life- chunk light. There was no going back. I have it fairly frequently for lunch and those 12 oz. cans started piling up. I happened to have a roll of ribbon next to the can and it occured to me, that might be a cool storage place for a few rolls. What do you know- it fit!

I washed the can out, spray painted it, punched three holes in the sides with my Crop-a-dile tool and added eyelets. Then I cut two strips of coordinating paper and scalloped the edges. Using my tape gun, I adhered the paper on the top and bottom edges of the can. Took a spare matboard die cut I had on hand and stuck that over the middle eyelet with glue dots. The top is made from some corrugated matboard I had- traced around the top of the can and cut the circle out with scissors and laid it on the top. The can holds three to four spools of ribbon depending on the width of the roll. So far no tangling and it just looks so cute! Not sure I will deal with the other 200 rolls I have, but it’s a start!

Color

Tell me honestly- do I have a disorder? I can NOT go into a home improvement store without checking out (and taking) the paint chips. Like a new color might have been invented since the last time I looked!

Yesterday I went to Home Depot with Hayward. He was building a stand for a Rotary banner. I was helping him with some suggestions but he didn’t seem so receptive after a while so I wandered off to my favorite area of the store. When I see the neatly arranged and illuminated racks of color choices, I can’t wait to go through them. My bedroom needs painting desperately and I can’t believe that it’s the same horrible color as when we moved in 7 years ago. Although when confronted with so many choices, it’s a daunting task to narrow it down to just one or two…

Behr had some new colors die cut into leaf shapes with little plastic rings for you to collect the chips on. How cool is that? And the names! “Summer Breeze”, “Chili Pepper”, “Lemon Chiffon”- don’t you want to just go paint something?

I was listening to my designer friend Brenda Pinnick and her interview with Tiffany Windsor speaking on how different colors can actually help shape our moods. I was interested to hear that my favorite color, aqua, is actually the color associated with creativity. When my eyes scan the display, my eye automatically targets certain color ranges. My three year old granddaughter Trinity is into pink (or “mink” as she used to call it) and purple. No one taught her that- could it be that our color preferences, as well as taste in food, likes and dislikes are “born” in us?

Again I am amazed at the beauty in this world and how much God has given us to enjoy.

What’s new in crafts?

Maybe it’s just me but… are you noticing a lot interesting things on cards lately that you wouldn’t expect to find? Pleats, ruffles, flocking, doilies, lace, texture and dimension are all the rage as I scan through the cards at Target, my source for all things trendy. Letterpress is extremely hot as evidenced by one trip through the Paper Source, a beautiful, high-end paper and gift store.

At CHA (big trade show put on by the Craft & Hobby Association) this summer, the latest word on the street was prepare to see sewing and fabric arts crossing over into the craft arena. SEI, a paper company known for their bold graphic style, has partnered with Robert Kaufman fabrics. That makes sense to me. You go to the time and trouble to develop some really cool graphics for paper, why stop there? Midwest Modern, a style spearheaded by the amazing Amy Butler, is here to stay a while. “Green” crafting and up-cycling (formerly re-cycling) is now in and using environmentally safe supplies is preferred, even at a higher cost. Birds, especially owls, scalloped edges and lots of greens seem to be going strong.

Stay tuned for another update as soon as I recover from all these “research” trips. Don’t tell me YOU can get out of Target for under $50…

Categories:
CHA

School supplies!

The aisles of Target and Wal-Mart are beckoning me this time of year. Yes, it is school supply shopping time. The time that every mother dreads.

Mean Mother (me): What do you mean they are OUT of 5 subject college ruled spiral notebooks with 2 folder pockets in black and red, pink pearl erasers and red marking pencils (package of 3)?
Kid: I HAVE to get them. Mom, I’ll be the only one in my class that doesn’t have all the stuff on the list!
MM: Stop whining. Let’s try Office Depot… but if they don’t have it we’re going home! This happens every year blah blah blah…
Although my children are now doing their own shopping and I am not required to go, I still feel the pull like a salmon swimming upstream. I must see what new school items have been invented that I might need. Pencil boxes, post it notes, glue sticks, protractors… 24 pack of Crayola crayons for .27? Better get 5…
I have always wanted the set of permanent markers. This year I celebrated and purchased a pack of the 24 Bic Mark-it’s while I was down in Florida. The Sharpie’s looked good and there were more of them but the Bic’s price was better and won out.
I had been thinking about recycling some of my old wallets to present gift cards in. Without further ado, I started doodling all over the flap of a retired wallet. I used some copic markers for the sky and grass because the Bic’s were really bright. This is nothing like the professional work I usually do- not a big fan of “messy”. I felt like a kid again and it sure was fun.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Wish I could give you a big hug today. Kind of hard to do when you are in Iraq. This seems like a good time to tell you how proud I am of you. For being the son, husband and father that you are. For not complaining about missing half of your daughter’s life so far. For always sounding upbeat even in 130 degrees. For your kindness and gentleness even though you are a big tough guy soldier. For doing your job, day in and day out without a break.

I want you to know that we miss you. Every day I pray you will come back safely and there are many others doing the same. Thanks for being such a great son. I love you.

Crafty College Makeovers

My youngest daughter,
Maryanne, is getting ready to go back for her junior year at Longwood University. She came downstairs while I was working, scrounging for containers, cool stuff and organizing ideas. This year she’s living in an apartment with two other girls and gets her own room. I had a white rolling cart which she appropriated and also a white laminate unit with three shelves. The colors we were working with are ice blue, apple green, yellow and pink. First Mary cleaned them up, then we measured and I cut a matboard piece to fit the bottom so that desk supplies will not fall through the grid. Then I cut piece to fit on the ends so that papers won’t go flying out, and then some cute little label tags. Mary punched holes in the matboard with the trusty Crop-a-Dile and used some pretty cable ties to hold everything together. I made some black foamboard dividers since black is her other color in the room.

We didn’t do too much to the shelf unit except to clean it and add a blue matboard piece to the top for a little color and then put clear contact paper over it because she plans on using this as her night table.
Then it was on to a duvet cover. We have tons of blankets and I refused to buy another one. However when totalling up the amount spent and time involved on the cover, I could have been wrong there. But it was fun to plan and do it together. Oh wait a minute- she’s at work… who’s down here sewing??? I haven’t done a fun project like this though in a long time and it makes me want to sew more.
I also made some curtains for the RV tonight. Am I on a roll or what? The curtains are placed on a rod up behind the driver/passenger seats and are drawn in case the lights are on in the back. When driving at night the light is very distracting to the driver so this way you can still hear what’s going on, but see where you’re going in the front. Hayward calls this the “night driving system” 🙂 like we’re in a tank or something…

Sneak Peek!

I thought it might be fun to give my loyal viewers the first look at a finished ScoreBoard die project! I had a gift card for my niece Kate, who’s about to go back for her second year at James Madison University and just had a birthday. I used the business card box die (which also fits a gift card perfectly) some sunny yellow matboard and ribbon. It only took a couple of minutes to do. I ran it through the Big Shot to score and cut, folded the box up and added a couple of brads. I inserted the gift card with a scrap piece of matboard that I stamped Happy Birthday on, tied a length of ribbon around the box lacing it through the flower (included on the die), tied a knot and was out the door. If I had cut this by hand (which I used to do!), it would have taken me forever… I love my niece and she’s worth it… but now don’t have to 🙂

Thanks to Stephanie Girard who writes for CraftGossip She reviewed the recycling project of a Dove soap box I had done around Easter time. Stephanie works creating from recycled sweaters- her blog is called Sweater Surgery- love that. Also check out the blog of Carla Schauer, a fellow CHA designer who does some beautiful work and stopped by to see the Sizzix booth while I was there.

I will be posting more projects and will also be announcing a preview party in the barn… stay tuned sports fans…

Thank you my friends…

Does everyone use Google Alerts? They are the best! You just go to Google, enter the URL you’d like to track and every day you will get a message listing referring sites.

So just a little while ago, I got an alert. One was from a friend from way back, Korie, who is an amazing designer. She used to manage our local stamp store where I taught calligraphy and mat cutting. I still remember some really neat projects she did- my favorite was an altered Nancy Drew book. Check out her blog for local metro DC events and general cool stuff! Thanks Korie 🙂

The other alert was from my friend Ann Butler. Ann is a mixed media artist, she works full time and has 5 kids! And if I needed something to get done, I would go to Ann. Her secret must be that she never sleeps. I know when I’m on line at 2 AM, she oftens sends messages. I saw her and adorable 16 year old daughter Callie (yes, I am using adorable and 16 year old in the same sentence!) at CHA. We shared a cab to the hotel and discovered her older daughter was getting married the Saturday after the show which ended on Thursday! I’m telling you, this woman could rule the world… Thanks, Ann, for your nice photo and blog about the Scoreboards!