Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Spring Bouquet in Recycled Glass

The glass jars in my recycling bin keep finding their way down to my studio. I am trying to slowly reorganize and glass containers are great because I can see what’s in them and also they’re free! But kind of boring…

Here’s what I did with a larger jar. It had no lid- I don’t know where this came from. I thought it was a good size for a vase. All I did was add a 12″ piece of pretty packing tape around the circumference of the jar. I thought about adding ribbon but then I won’t be able to send it through the dishwasher. So this is how it will stay!
The only flowers I have blooming right now are daffodils but there aren’t that many (in fact I just went out to pick some and saw that my zealous husband had just mowed them in a fit of spring fever! I will not repeat what I may have said. Don’t worry- he didn’t hear because he had returned to the mowing). So I picked the few remaining daffodils and some pretty forsythia and greens. 

 

I used the lid of a to-go cup from Subway to support the stems (daffodils are so floppy!). Using a Crop-a-dile and awl, I punched some holes to stick the stems in and there you have it- a pretty spring bouquet!

Phewww…

Did you just hear a big sigh of relief? The dies for CHAW 13 have been sent! Designing the dies is the fun part- it’s the hours of drawing them in Illustrator that gets me crazy. The good news is my skills are definitely improving. The bad news is I feel like I am permanently attached to my computer chair. Now to catch up on everything else…

Remember the birds from a couple of weeks ago? They have appeared again, spotted on the blog of Madeline Arendt! Visit her blog to hear how she made it. She made the sweetest mobile for a baby shower gift using the birds and tree branches. Madeline has posted so many beautiful projects on our Sizzix blog hops and I am a huge fan of her work. She always uses interesting materials and finishes every project with just that special touch. Here are some pics I grabbed from her blog- hope she doesn’t mind me sharing…
Sadly I was not able to make a project this weekend because today is our Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop. 🙁 You can follow that to see some cool spring projects.  Just click on the blue button on the sidebar for some great inspiration. I have a fun project to do for an event tomorrow night and promise to take pictures and post them.
In other news, I had a lovely email from a lady who I was chatting with on Karen Burniston‘s Facebook page 🙂 Her name is Leslie and here are a couple pictures of an adorable Halloween project she made using my Box with Scallop Flap ScoreBoard die.

This is what she said:
Here are a couple of pictures of my treat boxes made with your Box w/Scallop Flap Die.  I  made a belly band and fabric yo-yo with googly eyes to close the box.  They were filled with mini M&M peanut packages, my grandson’s favourite candy at the time. 🙂
Love this- thanks so much for sending that to me Leslie! I love the look on the little yoyo’s face- all nervous that the spider is going to get him 🙂
Now on to the stack of work… wish me luck! 

Crunch time

First of all, Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter Maryanne! Have to run out to get a cake mix for the traditional yellow cake and blue buttercream icing… 
It’s so much fun to be able to make a card using dies that I designed! The flower was die cut from a sheet of pretty pink gingham tissue paper and the leaves I cut from this cool grocery bag type fabric found at JoAnn’s which I have not been able to find again and am kicking myself that I didn’t get more. 
Blessings, love and hope for a great year to my beautiful daughter!
This week I have been hard at work in my studio brainstorming and drawing die designs for 2013. It’s hard to imagine working that far out but it takes a long time for the finished product to be designed, tested, produced and on the shelf.
I also received a box of sample dies that will come out at the CHA Summer 12 show. Thankfully they all work- I am always nervous that they won’t, even though I test them several times before sending the artwork.

I’ll be back blogging more often once these dies are finished and on their way! Hope you all have a nice long weekend!

Punch needle

It’s the Designer Crafts Connection monthly posting day! Make sure to stop by all of the designer’s blogs for a look at some great projects. Click on the blue button on the sidebar for a look. The topic today is journaling but my crafty adventures took me in a different direction. I have always loved stitching and last week I discovered a new craft (to me, anyway).


I went to Michael’s the other day with my daughter. She was looking for a cross stitch sampler design that she could work on for her baby due in June. Being the helpful mother I am, I was diligently rooting through all of the books and kits that I thought Jess might like. I happened to come across a book on Punch Needle Embroidery. The projects fascinated me but the technique sounded fairly simple to do. After combing three aisles looking for a the required punch needle tool, I came up empty handed… so I came home and found supplies on line and ordered a kit and tools.

It arrived on Friday and by Saturday night I had finished it. It’s addicting. Here’s a pic of my first project (which I did when I was supposed to be making samples for CHA). There are some mistakes but overall I love the colors and fun bumpy texture of it. And no, you may not see the back of it!

I meet with a group of creative friends every month including Pat Sloan (I was a guest on her radio show and we discovered we live in the same town. She generously invited me into the group!), Patty Symkowitz, Amy Powers, Lorine Mason and Ann Weber (who are the bloggers in the group- hi guys!) along with a dozen or so other amazingly talented women. We grab tables at Wegman’s and check out everyone’s Show and Tell, catch up with each other, laugh a lot, quilt, sew and stitch. I’m happy I will have handwork to bring with me!

Now to figure out how to finish it... any suggestions?

Recycled Zip Drive Cases

My husband was going through a bunch of his computer stuff the other day. What a mess! I thought the shredder was going to explode. But I happened to spy some cute little cases in the trash which I snuck out.

We usually give gift cards to my nieces and nephews for Christmas so I thought these were the perfect size to doctor up and give them in. I decided to use an old book of sheet music as the background paper. 

  1. Use the insert that came with the case as a template, cut pieces of sheet music to size and score folds on a scoring tool
  2. Cut a piece of foamboard to fit exactly inside the case.
  3. Decorate foamboard and sheet music with stamps.
  4. Add double sided tape to the back of the gift card and place on foamboard.
  5. Insert into case- you are done!
  6. I added a label designed and printed on the computer. 

You could also use ribbon and lots of other embellishments to pretty this up. My time is tight right now so I went simple. You could also use old CD cases in the same way.

I am flying to Miami on Friday to drive back to VA Saturday with my newly expectant daughter, her puppy and bunny. Woohoo, road trip! Merry Christmas everyone!

New Noodle Queen!

I know you all have been waiting with bated breath to hear who won the Noodle Contest… you can go to this post to see all of the projects.


(drumroll) And now for the winner…. It’s Kathryn, who received the most votes for her noodle portrait of Amy Winehouse! So congrats, your bag of goodies from Noodles and Company was sent out yesterday! I asked Kathryn to give us a little background on how she put this project together and here’s what she said:

The hair is made out of Ramen noodles. Use the kind that comes in a bag, not the cup. The bag noodles work better. The face is just made out of Tabasco sauce. You can make a similar piece of artwork with any person or character. You can also use the ramen for a person with a lot of facial hair (beard, mustache, etc.). The hardest part is to paint the plate with Tabasco sauce to make sure it looks like the intended person.


This is a very cool project but involves drawing skills which I lack. Maybe if I had a photo taped below and worked on a clear plate, I might be able to trace the main features though…hmmm. Might have to try that.


Remember I told you that I made an appointment at Noodles and Company to try the Grown Up Mac? Well, we go on Friday at 12. Looks like Hayward (my husband) and Ray (Hayward's 91 yo stepdad who lives with us) will be joining me for lunch. I'll let you know how that goes.


I apologize- not sure what is up with Blogger tonight but the spacing is all weird. Too tired to fiddle with it tonight! It has been a frustrating day and I need to calm down with a good book. Night everyone!