Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Duetica Baby Shower Layout

Last month we had a baby shower for my daughter Jess. She is due with her little guy at the end of June so we’ll be headed down to Miami. I can’t wait to meet him! And see my daughter and SIL of course 🙂

Here’s a layout I designed using the beautiful Mandolyn font by Duetica. I formatted the text in Illustrator and cut them out using my Sizzix eclips. Now, in addition to all of the fun  designs you can cut from eclips cartridges, there is a new feature called eCAL that allows you to cut files that you design yourself! Love it- and it’s really easy to do! Can you imagine cutting these delicate letters by hand? 

Supplies:
Duetica Mandolyn font (go sign up right now!)
computer
Sizzix eclips machine
Big Shot die cut machine
Borders & Hydrangeas Bigz die (shipping any day now!
white glossy 12″ x 12″ cardstock
photos and paper to mat them with
adhesive- glue pen and spray
scoring board
cardstock for words
scraps of paper for rick rack 

FYI- The background paper grid actually looks like bathroom tiles especially using the glossy paper…. My daughter looked at this and said, “Oh cool, I get it- baby SHOWER”. Yeah, I meant to do that. Really.

  1. Using Mandolyn font, lay out words on 12″ x 12″ paper, sizing them as large or small as you’d like. I love the graceful curves of this font and made my letters fairly large, about 2 3/4″ tall. The contrast of gray text on white is really crisp and not as harsh as black might have been.
  2. Assemble photos. Print and cut to desired size. Arrange on page. Mat with complimentary colors. I chose a light blue since blue tones were visible all through the photos. 
  3. Lay white paper on the scoring board and score every 1/2″ vertically on the wrong side of the paper, filling the page. Flip it over and rotate one quarter turn. Score every 1/2″ again.
  4. Add a border made from scraps trimmed from paper the words were cut from. Cut a few rick rack pieces from other colors in your layout and adhere them where there are gaps.
  5. Lay elements on page to arrange them and adhere in position. Use spray adhesive on the back of the “baby shower” pieces so they lay flat.
The theme we picked was “Welcome Sweet Pea” (realized this was not original as I shopped for plates and napkins) but I had a special reason for wanting it. My Grandpa Mamitsch was a florist and won numerous awards for his sweet peas at the International Flower Show held in NY in the 40’s.  I am lucky enough to have some of the certificates he received. I nestled the awards in pots of begonias, Gerber daisies and and some perennials. I considered buying cut flowers but decided this way we could plant them and enjoy all summer (or at least until I forget to water them). 

For favors, everyone took home a little peat pot and sweet pea seeds so they could grow their own.

 Crayon art masterpiece by Maryanne- isn’t it cool?

Something went wrong with our plan for the punch. It tasted good but the little marshmallow peep ducks weren’t swimming properly- kept flopping over…

Since rain was in the forecast, we put the tent up on the deck. It was decorated with big white and blue tissue paper flowers which we hung from the ceiling. 

 For sure…

My friend Lorine made some killer cupcakes…. and here’s the banner before it’s assembled. I made it using my Triangle Box ScoreBoard die and Serif Essential letters. 

We asked everyone to fill out one of these and sent them to the important people who could not be at the shower. I’ll make a book from them for the baby so he knows how much he is already loved. 

My three amazing girls (and baby)! So glad I have them…

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

On the Road…

It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks! I traveled out to Lake Forest, CA to Sizzix HQ for a meeting which went really well (I think, I hope!). Then it was on to Minnesota where Karen Burniston and I taught at VIP Scrapbooks in Rochester, MN and also got to spend time with her sister Julie, her husband Randy and two adorable nephews. Randy cooked us Mother’s Day dinner and I heard from all of my kids so that was a good day 🙂


Then we drove back to Minneapolis to the Mystic Lake resort to teach classes at a retail event put on by Erickson and Associates. Here we met store owners and reps and were able to give tips and techniques for working with our products. It was great to talk to the store owners because I got to hear things from another perspective.

I showed how to make a badge holder from the Index Card box die by cutting off a flap and adding two Business Card boxes to the inside. I put my cards in one box and other people’s cards in the other. You can also fit a few dollars for lunch and a tiny pen. On the back of the box you can put your badge. It’s a great way to carry all you need in one place, especially at trade shows! 

We did a Make and Take the first night and the next day I taught a class called Stacking Candy Drawers. I made stamps from my Borders and Hydrangea die and fun foam. Stephanie Barnard’s inks were used to stamp the flowers on the box. Loving these nice and bright colors! The flowers were outlined with black marker dots for a little extra touch. Adhesive pearls were added for the flower centers and a matching ribbon tied it all together.

 

We received some coupons when we checked into the casino- if you put $10 in the machine, you’d get it back when you cashed out. So each night we would go down and play the quarter slots… the first night we won $82, next night $38 and the last time $25. Since I didn’t have my ID with me the first night, we decided to play on one ticket and split the winnings- lucky lucky me- Karen has a way with those slot machines! 

We visited a very cool paper store called Anchor Paper when we got to Minneapolis (thanks to June, one of our students). So all of my purchases there were covered by the money I won! Almost like it was meant to be…

On Saturday, I head up to NY where I’ll be visiting the National Stationery Show, on the lookout for cool stuff. Will let you know know what I find!

Happy May Day!

I was just looking at a post of Ann Butler’s and she has a sweet May Day flower cone project up to celebrate this mini-holiday. Read her blog post to see where this tradition came from. I love it! Here’s my version for all of you, blog friends 🙂 

I used the ScoreBoard Pro Cone die which I covered with pretty papers from the IOD Devotion collection at Creative Imaginations.
  1. Coat the 12″ x 12″ piece of matboard with spray adhesive, then add the paper on top. With paper side facing the die, cut the cone using Big Shot Pro machine. 
  2. Adhere red glitter gift wrap to a piece of scrap matboard and cut four scalloped edges for the cone. 
  3. Cut a tag using the “For You” tag from the Sweet Treats for You Sizzlit set (coming next month from the Sweet Treats collection) from kraft paper and back it with red paper.
  4. Assembly is so quick! Run a line of strong double sided adhesive down the edge of the flap of the cone and adhere to the opposing side. 
  5. If desired, add a ruffle of crepe paper around the inside of the cone. Paper shred may be added inside to anchor the stems.
  6. The flowers are made using the Bigz Hydrangea & Borders die (also coming very soon!)

I hope to post a video soon showing how to make the hydrangeas- stay tuned and in the meantime, Happy May Day to all of you!

Teaching in Minnesota

In a couple of weeks I am headed out to Minnesota! Fellow Sizzix designer Karen Burniston and I will start the trip teaching a fun class at VIP Scrapbooks. If you live in the area, and are in need of a Mother’s Day treat, please join us! The next day, we’re headed to the Erickson Group rep event at Mystic Lake for more classes. Here’s what we’ll be doing and  sign-up info.


All Seasons With Sizzix!
















Join Sizzix licensed artists Eileen Hull and Karen Burniston in this class featuring products from both of their collections. In the first half of class, Karen will teach a double-page spread with a Seasons theme. Four cards open on the layout to reveal pop-up trees, each tree decorated for the specific season. Your handout will include instructions for altering page protectors so the layout can be easily opened in an album. The second half of class will be taught by Eileen Hull, the designer of Scoreboard dies. This hands-on gift card holder project will give you the opportunity to die cut mat board and emboss it. You’ll also learn how to create a 3D flower using one of Eileen’s layered flower dies. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the designers and have all your Sizzix questions answered! 
Treat yourself to this great opportunity! 2 nationally known designers at V.I.P. Sunday, May 13th, 1pm to 4pm 3 jam packed hours, dessert and You ~ only $35 Registration Required-Call Soon!

VIP Scrapbook store is located at: 
TJ MAXX Plaza at
1300 Salem Road SW (not far from Apache Mall)
Rochester, MN 55902
For more information, call (507) 281-2031. 

Hope to see you there!

A Cut Above class

When I saw there was a die cutting class being offered by Jennifer McGuire, Nicole Magouirk, and Kristina Werner, I had to sign up. They are such amazing designers- I knew I would pick up lots of helpful tips and tricks. So far it has been fun and I’m trying to keep up (kind of) with the lessons and do a project that has been shown that day. That is why I am posting two days in a row- shocking, I know…

On this card, the idea was to use cut out shapes. I am ashamed to say I had a set of Framelits from a 2 CHA’s ago that I had never used. So I cracked those babies open and had some fun.
  1. First I folded a card base made from my favorite Cougar 100 lb white cardstock. I ran it through the Big Shot using my Wreath Textured Impression folder (now available at your LSS!). I used a Robin’s Egg Color Box pigment pad and brayer to get a good overall coat of ink on one side of the folder. I folded over the other side and ran it through using the Multi-purpose Platform.
  2. I cut several Framelit openings- one circle in the center of the card and a larger frame from a piece of aqua. I added the aqua cutout behind the card. 
  3. Then I cut a white butterfly from the Birds and Butterflies Sizzlit set, flared the wings out a little and put a line of adhesive down the middle of the butterfly and centered it in the middle of the card.
  4. For the sentiment, I used the Daisies2Garden stamp set from The Stamps of Life. Inside it says… “a happy birthday”. You can always use a birthday card! I raised the inside of the sentiment on foam dots.
  5. I also used my Hydrangeas & Border die to add an aqua, white and aqua chevron pattern under the sentiment.

Let’s see how long I can keep the streak going… 🙂

Shower

This weekend, my daughters and I are hosting a baby shower for my other daughter. Here’s a pic of the invitations that I created using the Sizzix eclips. I drew an elephant in Illustrator and saved it as an .svg file, then cut it out on the eclips. The detailed cuts on this machine are unbelievable. Those little gray elephants are only about 1″ big! 

I curled the elephants’ ears out from their body to give a little dimension. This green shimmer paper is beautiful but almost too heavy. The ears did not roll back as smoothly as I would have liked and I think thinner cardstock would have worked better. But the color was not as good… so I chose color over weight…

I printed the card bases on the computer and then used the die cut elephants as accents. I also used the rickrack border from my Bigz Hydrangea & Border die coming in June from the Sweet Treats collection. Stay tuned for the rest of the decor- we were hard at work today… I am hoping it doesn’t rain Saturday (even though it’s a shower :-)).

Happy Anniversary!

It’s my daughter and SIL’s first anniversary. They are both officers in the Coast Guard and he is out at sea for sixty days. She is expecting at the end of June, and probably not for the first time, they had to spend a significant occasion apart. They have’t lived together yet because they are stationed four hours apart. Our military sacrifices a lot of things that most people take for granted and I am so proud of the way they are handling things.

  1. The card base is made from natural cardstock. I layered two pieces of pretty Basic Grey papers from the Picadilly collection on top and punched the bottom border with a Martha Stewart punch.
  2. The sentiment was embossed using my Textured Impressions Birthday, Thanks, and Congrats set on top of both layers and then I inked over it lightly in brown. 
  3. Flower Sizzlits (coming in June) called Sweet Treats for You and Birds and Butterflies were used to cut the flowers, leaves and swirls. 
  4. Pearl bling from Queen and Company and a piece of vintage mini-rickrack complete the card. 

Today is special. Happy Anniversary, Jess and Jason! We love you…

A Day Out…

On Tuesday I did something I should do more often.  One of my CHA Designer friends, Cheryl Boglioli, is teaching her way up the East Coast and Angela’s Happy Stamper was a stop on her route in nearby Reston VA. So I signed up for her class.


When I got there, I was happy to see the familiar faces of Kitty and Linda, who were also attending the class. Basically, it was a party just waiting to happen! 

Cheryl had everything organized for class and gave great tips and techniques for using Tattered Angels mists and Helmar glue on the Basic Grey canvas and papers. I loved the project that we made. Here’s how mine came out:
The time went by very quickly. There was a little excitement when Kitty dropped a very hot heat gun in the garbage can which resulted in a plastic coated heat gun and some toxic fumes.
But aside from that we behaved pretty well and all loved the new techniques we learned.

After class, Cheryl, Lorine Mason and I adjourned to Clyde’s and sat on the patio enjoying a leisurely lunch then topped the day off with a trip to Paper Source. It doesn’t get much better than that, folks! Do you take the time to recharge by spending time with creative friends? You need to…

Recycled Pencil Can

First Monday means that we’re hopping with the Designer Connection! Click on the blue logo in the sidebar to see what all of the other designers have created for spring!

Thanks to all the designers who participated in our Sizzix Spring Linky and also to those who visited and left your kind comments. I will be contacting the winner today and getting that Fringed Flower die out in the mail! 

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have been getting into the recycling bag quite a bit lately. My husband deposits stuff and then I go dig it out. Today he came home with some solar lights for our driveway and I almost had a heart attack when I saw the plastic packaging it came in. You will see it in another form soon 🙂

So anyway, about the project… it’s simple, easy and inexpensive to make. That’s sure to be a winner, don’t you think? 

Here’s how:

  1. Assemble materials- soup can, string, Big Shot die-cut machine, Flowers, Layers #9 die, wool felt, large girls’s headband elastic, 2″ piece of pipe cleaner, mismatched earring, glue gun
  2. Clean out soup can. If you have one of those Pampered Chef can openers that roll the lid instead of leaving jaggedy edges, make sure to use it. Unfortunately I do not have one and proceeded to rip my finger open. 
  3. Dab a tiny bit of glue along the bottom edge of the can and place the end of the string over it anchoring it to the can. Wrap string around the entire can. Keep pushing down on the string so all areas of the can are covered. Dab another dot of glue at the top of the can to anchor the end of the string. (I thought the effect of the string on top of the ridges in the can was really cool. The thicker your yarn or wrapping material, the less you will notice the bumps though)
  4. Die cut two flowers from felt. Layer them in size order. Find a pierced earring in your jewelry box that you don’t want. Stick the post through all of the layers of the flower. Put earring back on behind the flower. 
  5. Double wrap the headband around the can and use the pipe cleaner piece to secure the headband to the earring. 
  6. Fill can with pencils and place on your desk for a fun touch of spring!

I’d also encourage you to stop by the ScrapScene blog today and take a look at the WIP Monday where you’ll see some inspiring Works in Progress!


Thanks for stopping by today.
Tip Junkie handmade projects

Sizzix Spring Linky

We had such fun doing the Sizzix Fresh Vintage blog hop last fall that we figured it was time for the Reunion Tour! So you are going to see some fun spring Sizzix projects from your favorite designers. Click on the links below to see what everyone is up to: 


I needed a spring wreath for my front door. I wrapped a 12″ STYROFOAM wreath with ribbon that I had gotten on a fun field trip to the ribbon outlet for $1 per bag. In my CHA sample making frenzy, I had amassed quite a collection of die cut Sizzix flowers made from fleece, felt, bubble wrap, paper, canvas and cotton fabrics. So I decided to add these to the wreath along with some leaves. I used a glue gun to adhere the flowers to the ribbon and added a ribbon hanger to the back. Simple, quick and in my favorite spring colors.

If you would like to enter to win the Fringed Flower die, please visit the designers’ blogs and leave them comments. If you feel so moved, please feel free to follow their blogs too. (who doesn’t like a little blog love?) Then come back here to let me know which is your favorite project. I will pick a winner on Thursday night.

What are you working on this time of year?