Eileen Hull

Art with Heart Challenge April “Spring Break”

7 Apr

Hello everyone! In celebration of the release of my new Sizzix collection Vintage Travel the Inspiration Team will be sharing Vintage Travel themed projects all month-long. We also have a new Art with Heart Challenge for you to play along with for a chance to win a die from the Vintage Travel collection! Our theme this month is “Spring Break”. We invite you to take the road less “traveled” by and try something new….anything goes here so stretch your creative wings! If you can’t wait to get your hands on my new Vintage Travel dies check with your local retailer in May.

Vintage Travel dies have already begun shipping and will be available in May so be sure to ask your local shops about ordering these fun Travel themed dies. One lucky participant will win a Vintage Travel die by playing along in our “Spring Break Challenge”.

Now for some creative inspiration from the fabulous Inspiration Team…

Tracy Evans starts us off with delightfully Distress Painted Passport Book from Vintage Travel! As usual Tracy has an equally fab inking and stamping tutorial sure to delight your creative senses.

Flutter on over to Tracy’s Blog for more on this gorgeous Mixed-Media Passport Book Project!

Donna Budzynski is sharing a darling Rusty Trailer created with my Vintage Camper die and DecoArt Media! Donna sure is taking the road less traveled with this creative camper creation!

Follow Donna down the road to creativity and a fun tutorial on Donna’s Blog HERE.

Pam Bray has a totally cool travel themed project to share with you. Pam used the Luggage Tag die to create a lovely Tag book for a Mixed-Media Cruise she will be attending.

Cruise on over to Pam’s blog to learn more about creating your own Luggage Tag Mini-Album.

Wow! Talk about inspiring Vintage Travel Projects eh? We would love for you to “Take the Road Less Traveled” and come along on a creative “Spring Break” with us…link up your projects below.

You can check out the entire line of Sizzix Vintage Travel Dies HERE

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a well-traveled day!

Eileen

Featured Fan: Tonya Trantham

3 Apr

I am so happy to introduce our Featured Fan today- Tonya Trantham of Creative Addiction to Paper.

Tonya’s creations for the Art With Heart Challenge that we do each month on the blog really stood out to me. Her projects always blow me away because they are so creative, charming and colorful. Tonya uses dies in unexpected ways, which I love because it shows people how versatile dies can be. And wow! Has she shown us some beauties today- oh my gosh, they are so clever!

[Read more…]

Paper Trail #4!

2 Apr

The Paper Trail 4 has officially begun- it started off with a bang two weekends ago!

In June 2014, Angela’s Happy Stamper moved to a new location which is about ONE MILE from my house! Somehow I find myself having to stop by for various reasons to hang out and see what’s going on. There is usually a class, Learn at Lunch or people chatting about what they are up to. If you are in Northern Virginia you should come and check it out here:

208 Elden Street, Suite 203 * Herndon, Virginia 20170

(703) 657-2952

The class I taught was a Sneak Peek of the Passport Book coming out in April. We had a full house including some folks who had never operated a die cut machine before. I love that- there is always the moment when they see how cool it is when a die comes out perfectly cut or embossed. I never tire of experiencing this through them. The book we made was a Metal-Covered Technique Book and each person who made one had a different take on the one seen below. They were beautiful! We forgot to get a pic of them all though…

We also took a minute to remember our friend Dyan Reavely who has not seen the new store yet and did a video for her.

Here are the rest of the stops along the way!

The first stop on the trip is the Great American Stamp Store on Wednesday, April 8. Rumor has it that a certain local crafty celebrity might be making an appearance…

Great American Stamp Store

8 Church St S | Westport, CT 06880
(203) 221-1229

11:00- 1:30- Doodled Journal Box and Cards

Do you dread writing in cards, scrapbooks or labels because you Hate your handwriting? With a few simple tricks and the right tools, you can write like a pro! We will die cut a Sizzix Recipe Card Box and several coordinating 3″ x 4″ Recipe Cards and doodle them up! Bring your favorite markers and pens to play with and bring home a finished box and cards. A perfect fit for wallet photos, gift cards, tags and small artwork treasures…

Next on the agenda is a stop at a store I haven’t seen yet… but can’t wait to! I saw a post on Instagram and took a chance to see if they might want me to come teach. If you are in the area, please don’t be shy! Sign up for a class! Click below and see the schedule and details…

April 9, 2015

Right at Home Scrapbooking

560 Francis J. Kelley Blvd. | North Attleboro, MA 02760

508-695-9290

Doodled Journal Box and Cards

Make and Take

Metal-Covered Technique Book

And then I am on to the Collins Group Rep Show! This show is open to reps and store owners who take classes on running their business, workshops using the latest and greatest products and attend networking events. I went last year- it was my first trip in Scotty and it rained for 4 days straight (and leaked all over the place in the camper) then snowed the day I left! Still it was great to meet so many store owners and have a chance to sit down and talk to them without the hustle and bustle of CHA. I will be teaching two classes and doing a Make and Take from my new Vintage Travel line.

April 10-13, 2015

I am so excited to return to Tonya’s store, Life’s Memories and More! Last time, we had so much fun that I couldn’t wait to see if there was an opening to teach here again. Looking forward to seeing some returning students!

April 14, 2014

Life’s Memories and More

Schoolhouse Commons

1085 Park Street | Palmer MA 01069

413-283-4448 info@lifesmemoriesandmore.com

1:00-4:00- Metal-Covered Technique Book

If you live near any of these stores, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a class- you will have a great time and there is no pressure to make anything perfect. The ideas is to allow yourself to play and have fun- from that comes some incredible art!

I get back home for a few days and then I am headed out (in a plane- not Scotty) for Utah and the SNAP! Conference. This will be my second time going- I would have gone last year but my daughter had the nerve to get married that weekend… 🙂 I love all of the event and classes they have that allow you to meet and chat with like minded people. How often does that happen?

April 23-26, 2015

Snap Conference

Little America Hotel | Salt Lake City, UT

After SNAP! I am home for a couple days and then head down to Goldenshill Papercrafts (it’s just about 30 minutes from my house) for the Metal Journal class.

May 2, 2015

Goldenshill Papercrafts

12644 Chapel Road | Clifton, VA 20124

703-298-7688

10:30-1:30- Metal-Covered Technique Book

So that’s my schedule for the spring. I wanted to add others but was not sure if Scotty would be back in time. Thanks to K & T RV Repair Scotty has gotten his life back. Still work to be done but the camper is looking fantastic! I will make a video soon so you can see the before and after.

This will be a quick trip but action packed 🙂 I am meeting up with my friend Cheryl Boglioli. She rode along with me for the Florida leg of the Papertrail 3 and next thing I know she had a camper of her own. See how much fun we had? Cheryl has done an amazing job of restoring her camper, Glinda. To see what she has done, visit Cheryl’s blog here.

I am just in from a long drive to Ohio so will say good night and to ask you to follow me on the Paper Trail 4 (see my social media icons at top of page). Now to sleep… See you on the Trail…

Surprise Baby Shower for Anna-Karin!

31 Mar

Anna-Karin Evaldsson is a very special member of the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team. You can see her work on her blog Layers of Ink. Last year there were a lot of changes in her life, including a move from one continent to another and just a few months later, a new baby! Leo arrived weeks ahead of schedule (and just 20 minutes after reaching the hospital!) but thankfully he and Anna-Karin are both doing well.

I first met Anna- Karin several years ago. It seems she can do it all- she is not only a super-talented designer, she creates amazing projects, takes beautiful photographs and writes great tutorials. She is always on top of deadlines and every project is more amazing and detailed as the next!

Here’s how dedicated she is… a few weeks ago, the team was doing a collaboration with our friends at Stampendous! on the blog and Amy Bowerman (our fabulous Inspiration Team Coordinator) and I received an email from Anna-Karin saying that she might be a little late with her project because she was having contractions but that she would post the project as soon as she could. That night Leo was born! Doesn’t that make us all his aunts?

Baby Shower Sizzix Projects | Eileenhull.com

We want to show Anna-Karin how special she is to us, so we are giving her a virtual baby shower today to celebrate Leo’s birth! Even though we can’t be with her, we send our love and a special crafty surprise. We invite you to visit each team member/shower guest’s blog to see what they created for this new little guy.

10561602_10152868354666312_7481624800877438608_n

If you have a message for Anna-Karin, please leave your well wishes in the comments- then she can read them all at once. Thanks for being part of our celebration!

Here’s a list of the “shower” participants. You can click on each link and hop from blog to blog to see all of the projects:

My project is a mini-album. Anna-Karin can use this for whatever she would like- it would work for photos, his first words, funny things he says as he gets older, or a mom journal. I wish I had written more down when my kids were little.

This was a fun album to make because I used the new Homemade Thinlits alphabet to emboss the cover of the book. Such a fun feature of the Thinlits dies when used on matboard- if it were paper, it would cut through, but on matboard it just leaves a nice crisp impression. I inked over the front and back albums covers using Clearsnap ColorBox Blends in soft pastel colors (in honor of Anna-Karin’s fondness for ink) I put twenty-four pages in the book and used the Sizzix Mini-Album die to cut the pages. It’s so easy! Fold a sheet of 12″ x 12′ paper in half, then in quarters. Place the big fold just shy of the first score line on the die and roll through your Big Shot. You will get two double fold page signatures and each page fits perfectly inside the album. Tie the pages into the book spine with green and white twine.

The baby’s name was spelled out with letters die cut from matboard and popped up with foam squares. I also added a tiny layered lion (Leo the Lion) from my Cherished collection using burlap to cut the mane and background.

Please feel free to leave some comments for Anna-Karin. Any advice for a mom going from one baby to two?

Anna-Karin, we wish you and your family health and happiness always in your new home!

Thanks so much, friends, for joining our online shower…

More “Go Green” Sizzix Projects

24 Mar

Hey there! It’s Inspiration Team Tuesday and you know what that means? The IT is back to share MORE “Go Green” Sizzix Projects to inspire you to create with us in the Art with Heart Challenge! Let’s have a look at what the girls have in store for you this week…

Oxana Moupasiridou has a Rustic Recycled Recipe Card Box project to share with you today. This little lovely is all decked out in Distress Paint, recycled cardboard, wood elements and Oxana’s touch of Mixed Media magic!

Stop by Oxana’s blog for more details on this Rustic Recycled Recipe Card Box!

Lisa Hoel is packing more than a “pinch” of green with this crazy creative Leprechaun House creation! I love how Lisa has stacked Loaf Pans from Vintage Kitchen to create her base…talk about “Go Green” inspiration!

Feeling Lucky? Stop by Lisa’s blog for more delightful details on this darling Leprechaun Dwelling.

Tracy Evans has a fun and festive Easter themed ATB project featuring Tim Holtz’s “Bird Crazy” stamps and Wendy Vecchi’s new embossing powders!

Bunny Hop on over to Tracy’s blog for more on this adorable Easter ATB!

Hope you will join in on the “Go Green” fun. There’s still time to enter your “Go Green” projects HERE.

See you soon!

Eileen

Featured Fan: Jean Bullock

20 Mar

I had the pleasure of meeting our Featured Fan, Jean Bullock, in person at CHA this year. Jean was gracious enough to do a Make and Take for a lady asking to see the new Big Shot Plus machine. It was so much fun to meet her because we had been chatting on line for so long, it was almost like I already knew her. I sent Jean my Sizzix Canister die to thank her for letting me video tape and share her demo and she made and shared this beautiful project!

I asked Jean if she would like to share another project or two with you and HOLY COW did she deliver! Wait until you see these delicate luminaries she created!

And now…. heeere’s Jean!

More Fun With Eileen Hull Designs Canister Die

I am having so much fun using Eileen Hull Designs amazing Canister Die. One of the things I love about Eileen’s dies is that they are so versatile. As I was working with the Canister Die, I started getting ideas for other projects. One of the projects I wanted to try making was a luminary.

The Kit N Clowder Facebook group was having a Fantasy Challenge, sponsored by the Flying Unicorn. The challenge was to create a Fantasy project and if we included a unicorn in our project, we could get an additional entry.

Here is what I came up with:

I used Kelly Papers 100 lb white cover stock for the paper. Because the cover stock was rather thick, knew I needed to create some openings for the light to shine through, so I used Sue Wilson’s Eternal Rings striplet to acheive that. The striplet die was narrow enough to use with the panel parts of Eileen’s cannister die. I got a wonderful public domain unicorn image from Wikipedia and fussy cut it and adhered it to the front of the luminary.

The flowers were created with a Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch. I used an embossing tool to give the flowers more dimension and added tiny self-adhesive half pearls to the centers and also to the pattern created by the Eternal Rings die and on the corners of the top and bottom of the luminary.

If you look closely at the photo above you can see the battery operated tea light I added. The tea light is from Walmart. Rather than open the luminary from the top, I created it to open from the bottom, so the tea light could be easily accessed.

For the top of the luminary, I used a beautiful filigree flower adornment from the Flying Unicorn and added a flower and pearl to the middle. The lid is glued to the top of the luminary, which is really the bottom turned upside down.

I love the effect of the lighted luminary.

I showed it to a colleague at work who asked me if I could make a night light for her new granddaughter. And so … I did! Unfortunately, I got the name wrong on the panel I added, so I will be making another one this weekend.

In a few days, I shall share photos showing how I created these.

In closing, I would like to share how I met Eileen Hull. We have been Facebook friends for several years. This year I was able to attend the CHA convention in Anaheim, and while I was there, I wanted to say hello to Eileen, so I went to one of her make and take demonstrations. After the demonstration, I went behind the counter to get my picture taken with Eileen. We were having a fun chat, and a very nice lady approached the counter, and being in a jolly mood, I asked her if she would like to do a make and take. Eileen let me show the lady how to do the project. I had so much fun. Eileen videotaped it with her phone and shared it on Facebook. Click HERE if you would like to see the video.

Please check back in a few days and visit Jean’s blog to see how she made the luminaries.

If you would like to try your hand at creating a Canister, you can buy the die here (and it’s even on sale!):

Sizzix Canister die

Cutting Pad – Extended, 1 Pair

Big Shot

InLinkz.com

Thanks Jean for sharing your art with us!

See you on Tuesday with another amazing selection of awesomeness from our super talented Inspiration Team!

And we have a Paper Trail update coming soon with details about the Paper Trail 4 Tour in April so check back! I would love for you to follow Scotty and I for an up-close and personal look at travel teaching in a vintage camper- follow me here on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!