Eileen Hull

Winner of Square Box Sizzix Die!

20 Feb

I am happy to say that Debbie K. is the lucky winner of the Square Box giveaway! Debbie, please email me (EileenHull@aol.com) with your address- congrats!

Debbie K. said…

I love this box die and would use it often. First I’d use it to make party favors for my cousin’s bridal shower. Then I’d make a keepsake graduation book for my nephew. Then I’d make them to present tiny Christmas ornaments I han make. The ideas for this sweet box are endless!

Congrats Debbie!

Square Box Chunky Book

14 Feb

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Today we are celebrating the release of my From the Heart collection over at the Sizzix blog with a Valentine’s Blog Hop! It’s so exciting to see- our fabulous Design Team has gone to town and whipped up some tasty eye candy for you- make sure to head on over and see all their HEARTwarming creations!

I decided to use the ScoreBoards Square Box die for my project… but in a different way than you might expect.

When designing a die, I want to give good value for the money, so many of my dies function in several different ways. The box I used today measures 3 1/4″ square and is a ScoreBoards die, which means it was specially designed to cut thick material like matboard or chipboard at least 1/16″ thick. There is a special blade set down in the die that perfectly cuts and scores all of the fold lines.

The Square Box can work as a gift box that opens and closes (it’s big enough to hold a cupcake!), an ornament for your tree, a photo cube, or for organizing or storage. The box may be embossed, stamped, painted, inked or misted. A set of baby alphabet blocks would be adorable, don’t you think? The possibilities for this die are endless!

I used the Square Box die to create a chunky little mini-album instead of building a box with it. The die cut pieces were used to make a book cover and page signatures. This is a super versatile die- hope you take some time to explore different options for using it!

Tear dictionary pages in half vertically and coat the back of the page with spray adhesive. Place page on the wrong (uncolored) side of a 6″ x 7″ piece of matboard. NOTE: You will only need two of the three panels of the long die cut piece for each book page so you don’t need to cut a full size panel. Place matboard just over the edge of the second score line, die cut, then trim extra off with craft knife).
Cover ten pieces of matboard (I used colored scraps left over from matting projects) and then roll them through Big Shot. Cut one full panel piece for the outer cover of the book and nine smaller pieces for the pages.

Distress pages with ink and blending tool.
Rub Viva Decor Inka Gold (Gold 901) on a soft rag and apply to edges of each book signature and cover. This adds a really rich look to the book (and I also love that this ink washes off with soap and water if you get it on your hands!)
Bend the large matboard die cut panel into a U shape. This will be your book cover and binding.
Fold each small signature in half. This would be a good time to arrange and decorate the cover and pages in the order you would like them to appear in the book. I used Glitz stamps, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Text stickers, rick rack, flower and butterfly dies of mine cut from some different materials such as bubble wrap, plastic packaging, old sweaters, and fun things I had left over from other projects.
Take a piece of twine and tie each matboard signature securely into the middle of the book. This allows for movement of the pages as the book is opened, closed and moved around. The nice thick binding piece allows you to include all kinds of 3D items.

Here are some sample pages. I’m not done with the book yet but look forward to adding little tidbits here and there as they fit. This is a sampler book of my dies and includes different materials you can cut and techniques to try.

Butterfly die cut from packaging, alcohol inked and heated

flowers cut from Place Card die then colored with Copics

watercolor paper flowers cut from Hydrangeas & Borders and colored
with Copics. I die cut rickrack from fun foam and used it as a rubber stamp
on the left page.

Flower, Layers with Heart Petals cut from book pages and inked

bubble wrap Fringed Flower colored with Staz-On

Label & Buttons die stamped with ImpressArt metal stamps on matboard

Glitz stamps

Fringed Flower, Flower, Layers #9 and DeNami love stamp

I love how this book came out! I hope it helped you to see how much you can do with the Square Box…

GIVEAWAY TIME! Leave me a comment below and tell me how you would use this die- one of you will win a Square Box die for yourself! I’ll announce the winner here on my blog on Tuesday so stop back then to hear who the winner is… And don’t forget to check out all of the DT’s amazing work- head over to the Sizzix blog now- there’s a nice giveaway over there too. Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO Eileen

Ombre Watercolor Gift Card Folder

13 Feb

I found some really heavy (180 #) watercolor paper the other day in the thrift store. Although normally I would never consider paying $6 for a tablet of 15 sheets of paper (in a thrift store no less!), I was intrigued because the paper was really thick. I wanted to see what would happen when I ran it through the Big Shot using a ScoreBoards die.

First I decided to try my hand at a fun ombre watercolor effect. Here’s how:

Pick four colors that look pretty together…

Dip the brush in water and load on some paint and just start

brushing on the paper, blending the colors in as you go.

I like the look of light leading into darker colors and even a little white

paper showing through..

Paint the front and back of the watercolor paper and let it dry

(or speed drying along with a heat tool). Place paper on top of the die

and run it through the Big Shot using the Gift Card Folder ScoreBoard die.

The paper is thick enough that the scoring blade should do its work and

leave a score line. To ensure that the folds stayed crisp,

line up the folder on a scoring board and trace over the score lines.

Stamp “for you” on the label that comes with the die. Then fold it up,

tie a piece of twine around the label and add a gift card!

These would be so easy to make for so many different people and occasions. It’s always nice to add a little personality to a gift card. Plus these are so fast to make, you can assembly line them and have plenty on hand for when you need them.

Hope you will try a ScoreBoard die today! Are you ready for Valentine’s Day yet? Still trying to find the perfect little something for my husband- any suggestions?

Die-cut Cork Doily Coasters

11 Feb

Here’s a quick and easy project that would make a perfect hostess gift.

I found some cork placemats at Ikea and was wondering how that material would react when rolled through the Big Shot. Success! The trick is to find the right thickness. If you feel resistance and the material is hard to roll through, abort the mission. Back it up and try something thinner. You could break the machine- and being without a machine is scary- trust me. Don’t ask about my first Vagabond 🙁 But… lesson learned.

So, you found the right thickness of cork… trim it to a 6″ strip and select a die to work with. I used the Doily, Lace Medallion to cut a set of four cork doilies. They measure about four inches and are the perfect size to hold glasses.

I used the Sweet Things set to make the Sweet tag. Cut one from red paper. For the backing paper, place two pieces of pink cardstock. The die will cut the one closest to the blade through and the one under it will just be scored, but the edges should be cut. Place the scored piece under the red tag.

Tie up doilies with a piece of pink wired ribbon and present!

http://www.tipjunkie.com/all-crafts/handmade-projects/handmade-projects-212/

ATC Box

8 Feb

Here’s a project that I did for the Sizzix UK blog last weekend.

I used the new ATC Box from the From The Heart collection. I also die cut a bunch of ATC Cards using the die of that name. (I just looked it up and it is on sale for $11.99 at Sizzix.com. Get it! Saves so much time measuring and rounding corners…)