Eileen Hull

Last week I had the pleasure of an overnight road trip to Pennsylvania with my friends Marla and Amy. Marla owns Glory Be, a beautiful shop in Occoquan, VA specializing in high country and primitive furniture, home accents and gifts. Amy creates beautiful stained glass nightlights and other pieces. We all love a good deal and always enjoy finding new places to explore and poke around in. One of our favorite places to go is an auction house called Yingling’s in Gettysburg. We were quite disturbed to find that it had closed but luckily asked in one of the stops along the way and they told us it had been relocated to a fire station down the road. We were able to find it. There were three auctions going on at once, it was very crowded and smelled funny. Amy took one look and said NOPE and went out in the car for a nap. I left Marla surveying the main room and wandered off to where they were selling box lots for a quarter and fifty cents. Is there something wrong with me? I LOVE the thrill of the bidding (and yes, it’s a pretty quick thrill when the bidding is a quarter and over in about ten seconds) and anticipation of finding out what could be contained in this box under the working(?) VCR, four doll sized straw hats and junky plastic tablecloth? As usual, I was not disappointed. When I unpacked it later that night, I found an antique atlas dating back to the late 1800’s which will be great for some collage ideas I’ve been wanting to try, four pretty little white milk glass vases that I am currently collecting, three silver bowls which polished up great and assorted other items which have since been assimilated.

My favorite find of the trip though, was a small green child’s size hutch I found in an antique mall. Although I justified desiring it by claiming that Trinity could play with it when she came to visit, I totally knew it was because I just loved it. The price was $75 which is more than I usually would consider but Marla asked if they’d take $50 and they said OK which was all I needed to hear and the deal was done. I am looking for just the right place to put it and am cnsidering using it on my desk with paper clips, rubber bands and pens inside. I know I will look at it and be happy and remember the fun trip with my friends.

Here’s a photo of an art case that I designed for my calligraphy samples when I was teaching a class. The glossy paper I was using was great for using on my demo board in class. However the problem with glossy paper is that it is very slippery and sometimes hard to handle. So I designed a case for it that it fit the paper perfectly and kept it contained. It’s basically a big rectangle with score lines where the folds are.

You will need:
a piece of matboard for your project (this is 18″ x 27″)
scrap foamboard strips equal to length of sides and depth of fold
ribbon
magnet pieces
craft knife
metal straightedge
tape gun

1. Cut matboard to size of desired folio. Score to create bends where box will fold. Use craft knife to cut down about halfway through the matboard to make a clean score line. Make sure you score on the RIGHT side of the project.
2. Fold box into folder shape.
3. Measure and cut strips of foamboard and layer to create sides to the folder. Adhere layers to each other with tape gun. Adhere to sides of folio.
4. Cut slits in sides to allow ribbon through. Thread ribbon around box and tie in front.
5. Adhere magnets to folder flap and front.
6. Punch two holes with Crop-a-dile on top of folder. Add eyelets if desired. Thread ribbon through for handle and knot.
7. Insert artwork and take it in style!

It would be very easy to go to town embellishing this, but I loved the pattern and colors of the matboard and didn’t want to add too much. Plus I probably decided to make this about 10 minutes before class! Hope you can use this idea to create your own art case.

A super quick post here. I have three daughters and they are constantly buying hair care products and tools. The other day I was working on a project and needed to iron some ribbon that had gotten wrinkled. Do I hear laughing? Hey, who told that I have not ironed a piece of clothing in 5 years?

ANYway, I remembered that my youngest daughter had gotten a super duper straightener at the mall at Christmas and left her old one in her bathroom. It occurred to me to use that to de-wrinkle the ribbon instead of taking out the iron! And what do you know, it worked! I would imagine all straighteners are different so you may have to play around with the heat settings and also take into account the material you are working with (i.e. silk vs. cotton). Now I keep it here in my studio with the rest of my tool arsenal: the heat gun, glue gun, and power screwdriver, ready for the next craft adventure. OK, that’s all folks!

Yesterday, my friend Lorine and I took a mini-road trip out to the Eastern shore of Maryland to visit our friends, Tiffany Windsor and Candace Liccione. What a treat! Candace has a beautiful home overlooking the Wye River and the day began with some creative talk by a warm fire. Then we sat down to a delicious meal of quiche and salad followed by yummy warm apple cake. After MORE creative chat, we headed over to Candace’s studio- the ultimate in crafting heaven! There were beautiful projects all over the walls including mosaics, jewelry, wall hangings, frames, you name it… Jars of colorful embellishments lined the walls and windows-tiles, beads, charms. Another nook was dedicated to tea and various herbal items. Several work tables were set up for classes and workshops. I found it difficult to stop looking around surrounded by all of the cool stuff.

Over tea, we discussed the state of the craft industry, where we see our talents and goals fitting in and shared ideas and fellowship. We got on the road and talked the whole way home about our visit- such a great day. Thanks to our creative friends, for sharing your time with us!