Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

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:

It’s Getting Chilly!

Well I finally gave in and turned the heat on…


I want to get a head start on the holidays this year (sound familiar?) and decided to get in the mood by creating a holiday vignette. I built a glittery house using my Sizzix ScoreBoard Pro House die and some Smoothfoam™ rounds as a base. 


I took a 12″ x 12″ piece of matboard and ran it through my Big Shot Pro. The house was assembled with iCraft tape by ThermOWeb. I like this kind because you can just tear it off and it sticks just as well as their SuperTape but no need for scissors! 

After the house was done, I stacked three Smoothfoam™ rounds measuring 12″, 10″ and 8″. After gluing the three layers together to make sure they did not shift, I sprayed the outside of them with spray adhesive and added crystal glitter and fake snow and sprinkled it all over the pedestal. Then trees, the house and a gate were added. 

I think I will put it up on top of the kitchen cupboard I have in my front hallway so I can look at it whenever I come in the front door.

This post is part of the Designer Connection. Make sure to click on the blue Designer Connection button to see what the other designers have created using Smoothfoam™. Keep going because there are giveaways to be found! For more projects made using Smoothfoam™, check out the Pinterest board here and like their Facebook page here.

Keep warm! Have a great Veteran’s Day weekend and hope you will tell a vet thank you…

Scrapp’n Savvy and Quilt Market

Finally back from Houston, TX! 

I started off the trip on my birthday which was celebrated for several days- nice! I was greeted at the airport by my good friend, Karen Burniston, fellow Sizzix die designer. She gave me an arrangement of hydrangeas (my favorite!) 

We had dessert from Ooh La La cupcakes that night (yum). Lucy and Katy had a little fun while Karen was at the airport picking me up.

The next day we went out to Scrapp’n Savvy to launch the first meeting of the Sizzix club.

What a fun time! We taught two sessions and I really enjoyed meeting the group. We made a project called Thankful Cupboard using the ScoreBoard Candy Drawer die. Thanks to Karrie Allen, store owner, for hosting such a great event and making me feel so welcome.


Karen brought me in to Quilt Market the next day which was really interesting. Sizzix was there displaying their quilting dies. Watching the demos by Linda and Rosanne gave me a new appreciation for the Sizzix cutting system. Can’t wait to test out some of the ideas I saw them show with fabric, on paper. 

Some of the booths were amazing. 
Moda had a vintage trailer and were playing off the latest trend- glamping (glamorous camping). So cute… 
My apologies for the blurry photos.
Fairfield created a whole display where everything was created with their batting. 
This booth won a display award.
I also happened to meet Mr. Amy Butler (as he introduced himself) aka David Butler. He has designed a new line of man fabrics. Loved his display. 
Blurry again- ugh. He’s cute- trust me 🙂
Sue Spargo has such a great eye for color and I love what she does with wools!

Sandy delayed our return flight so my traveling buddy, Lorine Mason, and I had three additional days to hang out. 

Thankfully, Karen and family rescued us and we were able to spend some more time with them. We also got to visit with Gretchen Schmidt, help put together some kits for Karen’s next class and watch Shark Tank. 

On the homefront, my husband was dealing with the waters of Sandy as they came into our basement (where my studio is). Thankfully, he is an amazing guy and stayed up all night bailing it out and everything is fine. 

Finally headed back…
Home sweet home!

Neenah EPC Treat Bag

Halloween is almost upon us! Ann Butler had approached me a while ago to see if I would be interested in working with Neenah EPC film. 

Since I am a big fan of their paper, I was very interested to see another product from them… and so glad I tried it! It comes in white, black, blue, red, and green and is sold in 12″ x 12″ sheets, which is nice if you have a large project you would like to cut.

I found this cute little canvas bag a while ago for $2.99 and decided to make a bag to hold candy for my granddaughter when she goes out trick or treating. I designed the bag so that it could be used at Halloween or any time. I laid it out in Illustrator, but you can use whatever software you are comfortable with.

The Sizzix eclips is one of my favorite tools lately because of the ECAL software which allows me to cut files that I design… and I am just drawing up a storm lately 🙂 I saved the image as an .svg file and imported it into the eclips.

Things to remember when working with Neenah EPC film:

  • if your design contains text, make sure to mirror image it so that when you cut it out, the letters will be going in the right direction!
  • follow instructions on package
  • make sure that the material you are ironing onto will accept heat (the bag I have has a plastic lining. I will have to make sure not to melt it!)
  • if you need some help, watch this video which explains the process step by step.
  1. Design image on computer and save in desired format.
  2. Reverse text to mirror image.
  3. Lay EPC film right side up on eclips mat. Load and cut design.
  4. Carefully peel away background design leaving your image you want to transfer.
  5. Iron on die cut scalloped circle label. Stitch around label. Add glitter dots on scallops. Tie on a spooky black ribbon…
Want to see some other cool projects made with EPC transfer film? Here’s our blog hop schedule…

September 20 Melony
September 27 Ann 
October 4 Eileen
and stay tuned for
October 11 Jonathan
October 18 Debra 

So… where can you get this fun material? If you are not able to find it in your local craft store, you can purchase it here at Amazon. I liked this material and think you will too 🙂 Check back for some more fun ideas in the near future! Thanks for coming by…

Designer Crafts Connection Hop

Today’s hop day! Click on the blue icon on my sidebar to see all of the fun Halloween and fall projects created by my crafty designer friends. 

My Halloween project is a candle screen. Instructions for the project can be found here.I used an orange battery operated tealight that I found at Michael’s… a good alternative to fire when you are making a candle screen from paper :-).

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY! 
If you leave a comment below by 7 PM tonight, you will be eligible to win the Sizzix ScoreBoard Candy Jar die, which I used to make the project.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy October to all!

All Things Altered Blog Hop

Time for another fun blog hop put on by Pam Bray of Scrapbook Flair! Take a look at all of these cool fall projects:

Cut four jar dies from Crescent Bright Core orange/black matboard. (I love this and use it every Halloween. It’s orange on one side and black on the other. The core is orange instead of the usual white. It’s a little thicker than regular matboard which makes it nice and sturdy.)
Stamp a distressed pattern on the jar with black ink. Cut 4 jar lids from black paper and adhere them to the jars. Brush over the lids with silver metallic ink.
Adhere a piece of orange cardstock to black cardstock. Cut four pieces 2 1/2″ x 1″. Score in half down each long side- these pieces will be used to hinge the box together.
 
Fold paper on score lines and add adhesive to the orange side. Place in each corner of the jars until you have a box shape. Distress corners with black ink pad.

Cut the square piece of the Cupcake Stand die from the same matboard. Stamp the orange side as you did the outside of the jars. If you don’t want orange edges, color them in with a Sharpie marker. I also Sharpie’d the sides of the jars where they connect to give depth.


Add spooky embellishments. (I used Jolee’s glitter spiders) On the back jar section, cut a piece of clear packaging and add a spider partway up so it shows through when you look at the candle. What does the key unlock? Find out… if you dare!


Tie jute around the box of the jar lids.


The candle is decorated with a rub-on bat and then inked with black.


The square cupcake stand is used for the base of the project. I added kraft paper krinkle stuff to the inside of the box to raise the candle up a little.
Happy Haunting!
To make this blog hop even more fun, I have a giveaway! Some lucky person who leaves a comment below will receive one of the Sizzix Candy Jars die used in the project!

 Make sure to go all the way through the hop because there are other great prizes all along the way…


Don’t forget to leave a comment- let me know what you would make with the Candy Jar die. You could be the winner 🙂