Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

LOVE using Metal Stamps

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I wanted to share a project I did for the ImpressArt booth at CHA. I used their awesome metal stamps to stamp into matboard- crazy, huh? But look at it! These stamps are so much fun…

According to Suzann Sladcik Wilson‘s CHA Jewelry Trends Report on Mixed Media and Cross Crafting, metal stamping will be hot for 2012, and not just for jewelry. I may be a little biased here but I think matboard is the perfect material to use with metal stamps. There is some give to it, but it’s also thick enough that the stamp does not go through it, as it could with lighter paper.

I will admit it takes a little practice to get the hang of metal stamping, but once you get going, it’s hard to stop. FYI, it’s best to do this in daytime hours as the banging gets the non-night owl people kind of cranky…

I used black pigment ink on my stamp before applying it to the matboard. I did this because it was going on a wall in the trade show booth and I wanted it to stand out. But the impression looks great even without ink. It’s subtle and has a letterpress look to it. Believe me, this is something you will want to try! So easy to make tags, title blocks and accents- then ink, distress, chalk, etc. I hope you will check out ImpressArt and give this craft a try!

Head over to the Tip Junkie to see lots of other fun Valentine ideas…
Tip Junkie handmade projects
Also make sure to check out the FaveCrafts blog hop!
Blog Hop Button February Blog Hop: Paper Crafts + Giveaway!

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

Creative Connection

Have I mentioned that I am heading out to the Creative Connection this week? This is the second year it will be held and basically it’s a gathering of women entrepreneurs who have found a way to market what they are passionate about and will be sharing how that has worked for them. I am so excited for many reasons:

  • have never been to Minnesota
  • a road trip is always fun
  • seeing my great designer friends
  • classes with Charlotte Lyons and Cathe Holden– learning from the masters!
  • reading on the plane, no cooking
  • meeting new people and hearing about what they do
  • hope to get lots of blogging tips
This week was crazed as I had many items on my plate to finish- my next Sizzix collection for CHAS 12, coordinating the upcoming Fresh Vintage blog hop (starting September 27!), making prototypes for my annual 1800 holiday AAUW card order, samples for another large invitation order and mailing two large boxes to the military posts I supply with product. When it rains, it pours… Speaking of rain, I also had major cleanup as my studio had 2 floods in the middle of this! Sheesh. Enough already! Yes another reason I am looking forward to the trip this week 🙂
One little side note… I just got an email blast from Oh My Crafts and they have the Sizzix Fresh Vintage Flower Layers #9 on sale for $7.88! If you have been considering buying it, get it now- that’s less than wholesale! Just click on the picture of it and you will be at the Oh My Crafts site where you can make the purchase- they make it so easy.

 

Hope you all have a great week and sunny skies! If you are also headed to Minneapolis for the conference, let me know and maybe we can meet up?

Designer Connection hop

Happy Labor Day to all! That just sounds wrong, doesn’t it? “Happy” and “labor” do not belong in the same sentence if you ask me 🙂

Today is the monthly round of fun- make sure to visit all of the blogs where you see the little blue icon like I have on my sidebar. We are a group of (mostly) CHA designers who post projects the first Monday of the month. Many of these designers will be joining me later in the month to show their take on my Sizzix Fresh Vintage dies. See the post below for more info.

Usually we select a common topic to post about and the one for today was Baby. I just happen to have a baby project that I created 8 years ago and sold to a magazine. After it was returned, I put it in the Home for Retired Projects and forgot about it. But I did think about it just this weekend because Kelly, my niece and the subject of this project, came for a visit. She is turning 8 years old this week. I thought it would be fun to give her this little album I made her. The pictures in the book were taken on Christmas while we were at the hospital after Hayward’s mom had her second stroke. She never recovered from it and died a few days later. We are not looking our best but that’s life…

The cover is made of pink matboard and I daubed some stencil paste over a brass stencil for the shoes and then inked over them in white. I did add some twine (from The Twinery!) and Stickles for a little update. I think she will be excited to get this and hope she knows how much we love her.

Off to work on my next set of dies for Sizzix. It is Labor Day after all, even though that is more fun than work 🙂 See you soon…
I know I have not been posting much lately, but occasionally I have to take a break to get some stuff done so I have more to show you! Lots coming soon- thanks for stopping by…

Blown Glass Reveal

I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago about my adventures in glass blowing at the New Orleans Glassworks and Printmaking Studio. Well, yesterday the box of my projects arrived! I was so excited to see how these pieces turned out since when I last saw them, they were still glowing red from the heat of the fire. As soon as they were done, they were whisked into the annealing oven to cool down slowly.

Are you ready? I will give you a little narrative since you may not be able to guess exactly what they are. 🙂 The piece below is a paperweight. And let me tell you, this thing is HEAVY.  I love the aqua blue glass embedded inside. Not sure about the green stripes but I think this was more of an exercise in how the different effects are achieved than making a “pretty” paperweight. Overall the shape was pretty good so that means my twisting and twirling was satisfactory.

Next we did the vase. This involved blowing glass gathered on the end of a long hollow stick until a bubble formed and caused a hollow in the middle. Then we pulled it out and shaped it into a bowl. I like the colors and ripply edge. And I know it’s not perfect but I still am amazed that I made that (at least a good portion of it).
Then it was time for this octopus. It is ever heavier that the paperweight. I am considering putting it on my bedside nighttable. Not sure I could lift it to hurl at intruders though.
If you angle it just the right way, it seems that there’s a little fish hiding in the water complete with eye and everything… Can you see it?
Now for the tough question. Which of these two do you think I did? No question about it, mine is the stumpy little one. I was too slow and let the glass cool down so when I went to pull the stem into the nice curlicue shape that Drake had done, that stuff would not move for anything!
So what, I’m still happy I did this class and urge you to step out of your comfort zone once in a while and give a new craft a spin! It’s inspiring…

Duetica Design Team

I mentioned a while ago that I was working with a new company called Duetica. Well, today is the first posting of the Duetica Design Team! I am so excited to see what everyone has come up with and hope you can check out all of the fun projects. Here are links to the other team members:

Becky Conley
Candice Windham
Christy Monge
Eileen Hull
Kathy Peterson
Kristie Taylor
Niki Meiners
Rebecca Lynn
Suzanne Sergi
Veronica Goff

Duetica, a cool new on-line lettering art studio, gives you lots of options for customizing your text. Using the lettering system, you are able to view a bunch of different options for each letter and select the exact version you want so that your finished piece looks hand written. I used one of my favorite fonts for the wedding invitations and stationery pieces- the graceful Mandolyn. I printed the bride and groom’s names larger and in a different color so they really stand out and then used an everyday font for the rest of the information. I don’t like to mix more than two or three fonts on one page as I feel it can be distracting. Thank you cards, favors and the program were also created using this combination of fonts and colors to keep the suite consistent.

 

Is anyone else around here a font geek? It’s sometimes hard to find an alphabet where you like every letter or symbol. With Duetica’s many font options, I was able to select my favorite ampersand! I enlarged it and reduced the opacity. It serves as a cool background and also draws attention to the two names and ties them together. There are so many subtle ways that fonts add impact to our artwork.

Here is a small favor tin using two capital Mandolyn “J”s- (one is reversed and together the J’s form the base of the cakestand). It’s so much fun to see what kinds of word art you can make using fonts!

The CD favor that everyone got was composed of songs that were played for the first dance at the weddings of their parents and grandparents, friends that have gotten married and songs that were special to them. We cut the envelopes from 8 ½ x 11 cardstock, scored them to size, embossed the envelope flap, slipped the CD in and added a label with song list.

Jess and I both saw these hearts in a Martha Stewart Wedding magazine and commented on how cute they were. She decided she wanted to use them as her seating cards. Here’s how to make them: (thanks Martha!)

 

You will need:

Cardstock- we used 5 shades of blue
Silver and black fine tip markers
Die cut or heart shape punch (I used my Sizzix eclips machine)
Glue pen or thin double sided tape
Scissors

Instructions:

  1. Cut as many hearts as you need and some extra to allow for mistakes. The size we went with was about 2 ¾” across.
  2. Cut a slit from the bottom point up toward the middle of the heart
  3. Cross one piece of the split heart over to the other side. Adhere in place. Trim unwanted sides off so heart shape is clean. Remember to make it large enough to accommodate your guests’ names in a readable size. The surface of the heart is tricky to write on as it is 3D but just keep it flat as you write.

A vintage window with decoupaged book pages served as a seating chart display. We ran 3 lines of double stick tape with my handy dandy 3M ATG gun down each pane, then stuck the hearts on in alphabetical order, so it would be easy for the guests to find their names. Many thanks to my niece Katrina, who made this look so pretty. The flowers were made from my new Sizzix Fresh Vintage dies using crepe paper, tissue paper and some foil.

A birdcage that I had found years ago in a thrift store was called into service to house the cards given to the newlyweds. Originally a natural wood, it was spray painted white and topped with a blue and white bow. I cut some of the bamboo spokes off the top of it to allow a slot for the cards to be dropped in.

I have been collecting silver plate for quite a while and had a good number of silver bowls on hand. We decided to fill these with hydrangeas and other spring flowers for the centerpieces.

Here’s me with my son Chris right before we walked up the aisle 🙂

And here’s the happy couple heading into the reception. Love her blue shoes. What a fun day it was…