Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!!!
Calling all crafters! We’ve gathered designers from some of our favorite manufacturers to show you ways to create something from the heart this holiday season. This 3 day Hop includes over 60 stops with inspiration brimming from every corner. Explore all of the thoughtful and frugal handmade gifts you could create for the holidays, all in one place, during our second annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!

 To sweeten the Hop, we’re offering a gift for you! For every comment you leave on the blogs in the Hop, you’ll be entered to win a prize pack from one of the participating manufacturer sponsors! Use the Rafflecopter widget on the Clearsnap blog to gain extra entries each day: http://clearsnap.blogspot.com

 Here’s the prize pack you can be entered to win by leaving a comment below. Extra entries if you follow me on Facebook or my blog. 🙂 

You could win the Sizzix Candy Drawer die, the Sweet Treats for You Sizzlits set plus some extra goodies from Globecraft Memories who has generously added to the giveaway! 

Visit the list of blogs below and leave a comment on each by Nov 27, 2012 at 11:59 PM PST. Each day we will be sharing a brand new list of blogs with brand new projects for you to explore, be inspired by, and create from!
Fiskateers – www.fiskateers.com/blog
Donna Salazar Designs – http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/
Eileen Hull for Sizzix http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/
Globecraft Memories – http://globecraftmemories.blogspot.com
Kristin Wilson – Graphic 45 –  http://www.kristinwilsonhandmade.com/
Jennie Garcia – Tombow –  earthyscrap.blogspot.com
Gini Williams Cagle – Hampton Art – http://ginicagle.blogspot.com/
Sabrina Alery – Clearsnap – http://Sabrinaalery.blogspot.com
DeeDee Catron – Globecraft Memories – http://umwowstudio.blogspot.com/
Michelle Grant – Donna Salazar Designs –  http://michellejbg.blogspot.com
Emily Lanham – Authentique Paper –http://www.createserendipity.net
Emma Jeffery – Fiskateers – http://hellobeautifulblog.blogspot.com
Natalie Clause – The Twinery –  http://www.southernbellescharm.com/
Alberto L Juarez – Graphic 45 http://vintageodyssey.blogspot.com/
Vivian Keh – Hampton Art – http://contadinak.wordpress.com/tag/vivian-keh/
Jennifer Priest – Clearsnap – http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com
Heather Conklin – Authentique Paper – http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/
Cheers to creating gifts from the heart this holiday season!
Happy Hopping!

And now for the project! In case we haven’t met yet, my name is Eileen Hull and I design the ScoreBoard dies for Sizzix. ScoreBoard dies are designed to cut and score thick materials. My absolute favorite material to die cut is matboard (yes, the stuff you frame pictures with). It comes in a great variety of colors, is super sturdy, the surface takes inks, paint, mists and stamps beautifully and you are also able to emboss it with embossing folders! These dies are exclusive to Sizzix- no one else has this technology. Hope you will head on head over to the Sizzix site and and see all of the fun designs available. 


My project today features the Caddy die. If you want, you can cut two of the pocket sections and add one to the front of the divider and one to the back. 


This packaging does not look especially holiday-ish, does it? But when you cover the matboard with some pretty holiday papers, it sure does! The ScoreBoard dies provide a great base for you to style, color and embellish just the way you want.
  • Coat the back of a piece of 6″ x 13″ paper with spray adhesive and then press onto a piece of matboard the same size. Roll through the Big Shot die cut machine. 
  • Ink the inside of the pocket section in a color coordinating with the papers.
  • Add strong double sided adhesive to all of the tabs. Make sure to fold over each score line before assembling to break the fibers and make it easier to work with.
  • Die cut flower and leaf shapes also included on the die, from paper. Place on the front of the caddy and adhere when you like the arrangement- this is the part that takes me forever 🙂
  • Ink edges of box in brown. Add some twine and a tag. I wrote” joy” and colored it in with Copics, then inked the edges of the tag.

This caddy would be a great way to present homemade candy or small cookies, a pair of earrings, package of spiced tea or mixed nuts, a gift card, tiny notebook or mini album or post it notes. Tie a package of pencils or pens and a notepad, insert  a teacher gift to the box and give to your child’s teacher, soccer coach or music teacher.


Wouldn’t this also make a great place card at a dinner party or event? You could write the person’s name on the tag and slip a party favor in the pocket and the whole thing could be taken home as a fun souvenir. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Don’t forget to leave a comment- good luck! 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each of you…

Get Creative Holiday Hop

I was so happy to be invited to join in this hop by Jen Goode. She is an amazing designer, web and tech guru, penguin artist, and last but not least, a great friend. Jen is hosting a linky party on her blog featuring some cool crafts for this holiday season. Click on the logo in the sidebar for lots of holiday inspiration or see the link list below!

I made a Christmas suitcase using my Sizzix ScoreBoard Suitcase die using some great papers by Simple Stories I found in Archiver’s on my trip to Houston last week.

 First, I covered my suitcase with paper- see my tips for doing this on this Sizzix blog post. Some items that fit in the suitcase include gift cards, keys to a new car :-), deck of playing cards, pair of earrings, a small mini album, ATC’s, candy, post-it notes, etc.

As you can see from the pictures, I changed my mind halfway through 
designing this 🙂 That happens quite a bit and I think it make the whole 
process more fun and interesting to see what works and what doesn’t. 
I started distressing with white but it didn’t show up the way I wanted 
so I just went over the edges with brown ink- much better!

 

There are two prizes to win when you check out this hop! (Plus, there may be some blogs that will be offering giveaways so make sure you leave comments along the way.)

  1. 1 winner will receive 2 Sizzix dies designed by Eileen Hull valued at over $35.
  2. A 2nd winner will receive a goodie box filled with a variety of crafty materials valued at over $50.
Eileen Hull Sizzix dies prize Winter Holiday Blog Hop at 100 Directions
How to enter: Check out all of the great project ideas shared by the participating sites. GO back here and tell us what you like more… what project has most inspired you, what holiday festivities are you most excited about or what project are you most excited to try.
The Rules: You must be 18 years or older and a US resident (US shipping address) to enter. Winner/s will be randomly selected after 7pm EST on Monday, November 19th, 2012. If you are selected to receive a prize, you will be notified via email and you will have 48 hours to submit your shipping address or a new winner will be selected.

Don’t forget to click through and see what the other designers made! Here’s the linky party:

Second Annual Holiday Noodle Party is in session!

Welcome to our Second Annual Holiday Noodle Party! Here’s where you can post your fun holiday projects using noodles 🙂

Pasta is everywhere you look. At World Market I purchased trees and snowflakes. At Ikea, they had really cute mooseheads. And that’s not even getting into the more standard fare like rotini, linguini, fusilli, fettucine, spaghettini and penne, to name a few, that may be found in your local supermarket. 

 At Big Lots, I found a package of Beer Mug Pasta (wow).

All of these cool little shapes may be used to create with! They are natural, edible, inexpensive, available, and accept inks, paints, glitter and mists. Are you crafting with noodles? If so, you are in the right place!

The linky party starts today, Monday, December 12 and runs till Friday, December 16 at midnight. This event is open to all and extended in the spirit of fun and sharing the love of crafting during this holiday season. Here’s how it works:

  • Post a blog on your site with a picture of your project and enter the URL of that post below from now until Thursday, December 15.
  • Enter as many projects as you would like. 
  • It can be a project created by you, your child, or anyone. 
  • The only requirement is it must contain a noodle of some kind 🙂 
  • Please vote for your favorite design on Friday, December 16. 
  • The project that gets the most votes will receive a bag of goodies from our friends at Noodles & Company! I’ll also be giving away one of my Sizzix dies to a random commenter. 
  • Post early so everyone has a chance to see your work. 
  • Please share this with your social media friends and invite them to join in!
WE WANT TO SEE YOUR PROJECTS so link up below:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Second Annual Holiday Noodle Party!

It all begin around this time last year… 

My husband and I wandered into a new Noodles & Company restaurant that happened to be doing it’s carry-out training but was not open for business yet. Although they couldn’t take our order, we were presented with a nice big bag of FREE steaming hot food, which we immediately took to our car and ate! (It was 9 PM and we were hungry!) Read about that adventure here.

Well, when I got home I was so grateful for the yummy meal, I blogged about it. The next day, I was contacted by Noodles & Company who had read my post! After some discussion, we decided to put together a fun holiday on line event: the Noodle Contest! The winner, Lynda, was crowned Noodle Queen for her beautiful holiday wreath. 

So the other day, I got an email from Noodles, (as I now call them since we are BFF’s), offering  dinner for me and a guest to try their new Grown Up Mac. I already know what kind I am getting…  Anyway, after making my reservation, I suggested that we return for year 2 of the Noodle Contest since everyone had such a good time last year.
So please join us for the the Second Annual Holiday Noodle Party starting Monday, December 12 and running through Friday, December 16.
If you are the proud owner of a holiday noodle ornament or decoration you would like to share, please blog about it and head on over here to post a photo on the Noodle linky party! This event is open to all and extended in the spirit of fun and sharing the love of crafting during this holiday season. It can be a project created by you, your child, or anyone. The only requirement is it must contain a noodle of some kind 🙂 Here’s my gift card holder from last year:

The linky party will open on December 12 and projects will be accepted until December 16. During that time, readers will be able to vote for their favorites. The creator of the winning project will receive some fun promotional goodies from Noodles & Company and I’ll also be giving away one of my Sizzix dies to a random commenter. Post early so everyone has a chance to see your work. Please share this with your social media friends! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Handmade Holidays

Tip Junkie handmade projects
Around this time every year, I get the itch to start making things for family and friends. Is it a reaction to all the commercials and electronics that surround us as the countdown to Christmas begins? Maybe. The act of planning a project in my head, gathering the materials, and finally, assembling the design into a pleasing finished product just soothes my soul. While I am working on the project, I am thinking of who I will give it to, where they might put it, the significance that it has of the relationship between us, and that is something you just can’t buy.

I’m not saying I don’t enjoy technology as much as the next person. I love all the cool things that you can do with it. But creating handmade items seems more in keeping with the Christmas spirit to me. So if time allows, I’m going that route this year. Are you with me?

Here’s a project that’s a lot of fun and easy to do once you get the hang of it. 
I used a candle that had a couple of dents in it- probably got it on clearance somewhere! In this case it doesn’t matter since you cover the candle with sheet music. I loved what I used- it was an old music book and had drawings of cute little kids sledding down a hill mixed in with the music.
You will need:
ModPodge matte finish
old sheet music (preferably in a winter theme)
candle
berry ring
matboard scraps
Sizzix Primitive Star die
Sizzix Big Shot
crystal glitter or Epsom salts
  1. Coat candle liberally with ModPodge. Wrap a page of sheet music around candle and smooth so there are no air pockets. Add another coat of ModPodge.
  2. Roll candle in tray of glitter or Epsom salts, making sure to cover surface well. 
  3. Use Big Shot die cutting machine and star die to cut stars from matboard. Coat stars with ModPodge and press into glitter/salts.
  4. Trim where needed. Allow to dry.
  5. Place candle base in a berry wreath and add glittery stars to the wreath. 
  6. Be careful when lighting candle and do not leave unattended. 
Thanks for stopping by. Do you plan on making gifts this year? What are you cooking up?

Give Thanks!

I really wish there was a little more time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Store decor seems to go from Halloween right straight to Christmas. I think Thanksgiving is getting short-changed! We should dedicate more time to giving thanks for all we have, don’t you think?

A few weeks ago, the Duetica Design Team was privy to a sneak peek at a new font soon to be released! It’s called Woodwynds and I love it! Lots of swirls and curliques. I decided to do a matted piece reminding me to give thanks every day. And who knows, I may just keep it up all year!


There are 15 versions of this font. Starting with a plain serif, each successive version contains more and more swashes as you click through Woodwynds A through P. The good thing about this system is that if it starts looking too swirly (really? is there such a thing?), you can intersperse your phrase or title with a balance of undecorated and decorated letters creating a truly unique final project that pleases your eye.
I decided to use the words, “give thanks” so I am not limited to the holiday. Here is my project and how I created it!

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  1. Decide what size you want to make your project. (I used an 8″ x 10″ frame without the glass. I triple matted the artwork using my Logan 750 Simplex mat cutter– favorite tool of all time!)
  2. The artwork was designed in Illustrator to fit in a 5″ x 7″ cutout. The text “give thanks” was added using the Woodwynds font by Duetica Lettering Arts Studio. Make sure to balance your type so that all of the swirls add value and do not distract from the message you are trying to get across. Plain and more decorated letters were alternated resulting in a fun yet still readable result. (I’m loving that “k” that descends below the line!) 
  3. In keeping with the fall theme, the message was printed on kraft paper in orange and green text. After printing the artwork, Stickles glitter glue was added on top of the letter forms to accentuate them. A fairly heavy line was applied to the larger letter strokes and then spread out to thinner areas with a toothpick.
  4. Acorns and 3D flowers were adhered with Thermoweb Zots. The flowers were die cut from fall colored cardstock using the Sizzix 3D Flower die designed by Beth Reames. The larger flower was cut from a page in a child’s Golden Book. Other accents include dimensional leaf stickers.
  5. Since the flowers added dimension to the project, a spacer from foamboard was built to bump up the matboard from the artwork. Omitting glass from the frame helps with photographing the project since there is always a glare with glass!
  6. You can use this technique for many different occasions. Quick and easy!