Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Industrial Chic Composition Book

I was so excited to be invited to join the Susan Lenart Kazmer Industrial Chic Blog Hop. The display of this product in Michael’s caught my eye and the cool metal jewelry pieces and findings intrigued me. So of course I said yes! Now, you know me, I love my paper. I wanted to come up with an idea combining the metal elements and paper. 
A couple of weeks ago, I lucked out and found composition books for $.39 at Big Lots. (why did I only buy 3???) I decided to use the book as a base for my project- an inspiration journal. I am always tearing things out of magazines to inspire me when I get in a rut. But they sit in a huge pile and I never look at them because it is too overwhelming. So I decided to tape them into this book. Since I am the only one who will be looking, I don’t need to line anything up or be neat about it. Love using washi tape for this!

  1. Cover front and back of notebook with an old atlas or dictionary page using spray adhesive. (I got this atlas at an auction in a big box of junk for $1!) Trim the excess paper with a craft knife and distress the edges with brown ink.
  2. Choose three colors of Viva Decor Inka Gold and blend them on a scrap of glossy paper so the colors meet and overlap. Spray a little water on top and then blot off. Trim to size. I love this product because it dries almost immediately and contains beeswax. Once it dries you can buff it up and wow- really nice effect… the colors are beautiful! 
  3. Stamp an image on top of the inked paper- I used a Unity stamp set from my friend Susan Weckesser called “Sing your song”– love it! Color images in with Copic markers and add a little glitz accent on the leaves and sun with Stickles.
  4. Trim stamped image to size for the front of the book. Outline edges with stitching lines using a permanent marker.
  5. Create a banner with the phrase, “East, west, home is best” (or whatever you want to title your book) using the Duetica Mandolyn font. (In the top corner of the map of Kansas is Ft. Leavenworth, where we lived for a year.) I love using the Duetica Lettering Arts Studio. For one thing they have beautiful fonts! And each font comes with 10-20 versions of each letter. So if you want to add a swash at the end of the sentence you can do it- it gives a customized handwritten look to your text. 
  6. Make creases in two sides of the banner to make it pop up and add glue dots under the tail sections. If you do not want a cover that is so dimensional, then fold banner flat under and adhere. 
  7. Cut dimensional flowers from brown coffee filters from Flowers, Layers #9 and ink edges with Copic markers.
  8. Cut grass strip from Flowers, 3D #2 and Leaves using shopping bag fabric.  Cut butterflies from Bazzill paper using the Bird & Butterflies set and lightly distress with brown ink. Position elements on book and adhere with glue dots.
  9. Finally, position your cool metal Industrial Chic embellishments where desired and adhere to book. I didn’t have the right color brads so I inked colored ones with silver alcohol inks so they blended in. 

Holy cow- look at this list of artists that are participating! Check out their projects here:

10           Barbe St. John 
11           Cheryl Bodkin Waters 
12           Cindi Bisson 
13           Gretchen McHale 
14           Jenny Barnet Rohrs
15           Kari McKnight
16           Lindsay Obermeyer
17           Seth Apter
18           Suze Weinberg 
19           Tami Bayer
20           Theresa Cifali
21           Tracie Stivers Lampe 
22           Traci Bautista
23           Jen Crossley 
24           Eileen Hull– you are here!
25           Pam Carriker 

26           Sandy Martin  

Thanks for stopping by!

Long Live the Queen!

It all started when I turned on the TV the other night and watched Katie Couric interviewing Prince William about his grandmother, the Queen, and what it was like growing up in the royal household. I was inspired to create a tribute to the good Queen for 60 years of service to her people and her country.

I used a page from a cool vintage atlas from the early 1900’s as a photo backdrop.

The crown was made using my ScoreBoard Cupcake Holder die and the royal Crown Stand was made from my new Sweet Treats Cupcake Stand & Pennant.


Today is first Monday so don’t forget to check out other cool projects by the Designer Connection- click on the blue icon on my sidebar and you will be taken through the webring!


Visit the Sizzix blog today for instructions on how to make this project. Thanks for stopping by- tata! 

Spring Frame

This year I am going to be ready for Mother’s Day! Here’s the front of a photo folder I am giving my mom.  
I used my new Sizzix Mailable Frame ScoreBoard die to make it. Inside I am going to add our family picture taken at Christmas.

I used one of my favorite Duetica fonts, Woodwynd, to create the text for the frame. The thing that I love about this font, and all of the other Duetica fonts, is that you can customize them. For each font family, there are 10-20 coordinating fonts that all work together. On this design, I used fairly flourished M’s and left the O in the middle plain so the word is still readable. I love how all of the little viney stems radiate out from the letters. 

  1. Cut Mailable Frame from matboard.  
  2. Emboss frame using Dot, Flowers and Rick-rack Textured Impression folder.
  3. Ink white over the raised areas and around the edges of the frame.
  4. Access Duetica Lettering Arts Studio and layout text on site. Size the text to your project. 
  5. Import into your design software and print. Accent letters with pearls.
  6. Glue trim around inside edges of frame and top and bottom.
  7. Add elements such as flowers, leaves, pearls and swirls. Flowers on this project were made using brown and white coffee filters, page from an antique atlas, off-white cardstock and chipboard. I colored the outer layer of the white flower by running a line of yellow Copic marker around the edge before I fanned the layers.
  8. The flowers are on the “Sweet Treats for You” Sizzlits that are coming out in June, but any flowers may be substituted. I also added in leaves, buttons and swirls to complete the arrangement.
  9. Add fluffy white yarn for a finishing touch and use it to secure any pages you want to include inside the frame!


Monogrammed Mirror

Happy New Year everyone! We had a great break and now I am getting back to work. Lots to do before I leave for CHA.

My youngest has gotten a real job! Soon she will be moving out on her own 🙁 I decided to make her something for her new place. She loves bling- her screen name has been Glttergirl since she was in middle school.

You will need:

one clean 12″ x 12″ mirror tile 
frosted contact paper
flat Swarovski crystals in 3 sizes
craft knife
transparency sheet
Copic markers
12″ x 12″ frame without glass

  1. Go to the Duetica site and create your monogram. (mine was sized at 215 pts) 
  2. Import the letter to Illustrator. Highlight letter and click Type> Create outlines. Print sheet.
  3. Place transparency sheet over printed paper. Cut a piece of frosted contact paper about 5″ x 5″. Remove backing and adhere to transparency sheet, lining up with letter printout. 
  4. Run transparency and contact paper through printer.
  5. Cut out letter with craft knife. Do not cut through the transparency, just the contact paper. When letter is all cut out, remove the background contact paper. Letter will remain. Carefully peel from transparency and place in position on mirror tile.
  6. If desired, color in letter with Copic markers.
  7. Add Swarovski crystals to letter if desired. Adhere crystals with Zip Dry glue.
  8. Place in frame and hang!

Another (and much easier) option would be to cut the letter from vinyl on your Sizzix eClips machine. Unfortunately, I had some technical problems and was not able to do it. Instead of crystals, you could substitute with dots of Stickles.

Once you cut the letter, this project goes really quickly. I love how it turned out and hope Maryanne will too! 

Give Thanks!

I really wish there was a little more time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Store decor seems to go from Halloween right straight to Christmas. I think Thanksgiving is getting short-changed! We should dedicate more time to giving thanks for all we have, don’t you think?

A few weeks ago, the Duetica Design Team was privy to a sneak peek at a new font soon to be released! It’s called Woodwynds and I love it! Lots of swirls and curliques. I decided to do a matted piece reminding me to give thanks every day. And who knows, I may just keep it up all year!


There are 15 versions of this font. Starting with a plain serif, each successive version contains more and more swashes as you click through Woodwynds A through P. The good thing about this system is that if it starts looking too swirly (really? is there such a thing?), you can intersperse your phrase or title with a balance of undecorated and decorated letters creating a truly unique final project that pleases your eye.
I decided to use the words, “give thanks” so I am not limited to the holiday. Here is my project and how I created it!

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  1. Decide what size you want to make your project. (I used an 8″ x 10″ frame without the glass. I triple matted the artwork using my Logan 750 Simplex mat cutter– favorite tool of all time!)
  2. The artwork was designed in Illustrator to fit in a 5″ x 7″ cutout. The text “give thanks” was added using the Woodwynds font by Duetica Lettering Arts Studio. Make sure to balance your type so that all of the swirls add value and do not distract from the message you are trying to get across. Plain and more decorated letters were alternated resulting in a fun yet still readable result. (I’m loving that “k” that descends below the line!) 
  3. In keeping with the fall theme, the message was printed on kraft paper in orange and green text. After printing the artwork, Stickles glitter glue was added on top of the letter forms to accentuate them. A fairly heavy line was applied to the larger letter strokes and then spread out to thinner areas with a toothpick.
  4. Acorns and 3D flowers were adhered with Thermoweb Zots. The flowers were die cut from fall colored cardstock using the Sizzix 3D Flower die designed by Beth Reames. The larger flower was cut from a page in a child’s Golden Book. Other accents include dimensional leaf stickers.
  5. Since the flowers added dimension to the project, a spacer from foamboard was built to bump up the matboard from the artwork. Omitting glass from the frame helps with photographing the project since there is always a glare with glass!
  6. You can use this technique for many different occasions. Quick and easy!

Westcott Pink Challenge

Westcott Scissors
Many thanks to Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools, maker of my favorite scissors, The Duck Brand® Duct Tape and VELCRO® Brand Hook and Loop Fasteners and to Marisa Pawelko for organizing this fun challenge! Our task was to create a project using product provided by these three companies… and it had to be pink… Hmmm, my mind immediately went to matboard since that is my primary medium. I decided to make a mini- album using matboard as a base. Did you know that you can cut matboard with scissors? You sure can! However, I opted to use the pretty pink Westcott Hobby Knife that they sent me along with the pink cutting mat so that my cuts would be straight and precise. I used a metal ruler as a guide.

Make sure to hop around to the other 32 participating designers’ blogs to see what they created for this challenge! Click on the DCC blinkie on the sidebar and you will be taken to the next blog in the hop!

Here’s a look at how I made it my mini- album…

 

Mini-Album:

  1. Determine the size of your album. I decided to make mine 4″ x 6″. Cover a piece of matboard measuring about 8″ x 10″ with pink Duck Tape on one side and white Duck Tape on the other side.
  2. Using your Westcott Hobby Knife and pink cutting mat, carefully trim two pieces of matboard to size at 4″ x 6″. Cut another piece of matboard covered with tape to the desired size spine you would like (mine is about 4″ x 3/4″).
  3. Emboss both covers with Sizzix Textured Impression folder by Eileen Hull. Ink raised part of design with Staz-on permanent ink and distress edges of book.
  4. Cut a piece of contrasting tape with your Westcott non-stick scissors. Place all three piece of matboard face down on a flat surface about 1/8″ apart from each other. Make sure they are arranged in a straight line. Run the piece of Duck Tape down the middle and cover the spine. Wrap around to the front and press down. Now your cover is all one piece and can fold in either direction.
  5. Make 5 signatures of paper, fold in half and wrap rattail cord around each section attaching closely to the spine of the book. Tie to other end of cording. Add beads to cording. Cut a 5″ strip of Pink Zebra Duck Tape and fold over, leaving a 1/8″ strip of adhesive. Make fringe by cutting every 1/8″ and wrap around remaining spine cording.
  6. Design a title for your album using the Duetica Lettering Arts System in your favorite editing software. This album is going to my friend in Germany just recovering from surgery, so I customized it for her. I added a piece of Velcro on the back of the tag and glue gunned another piece of Velcro to the front of the album so she can change the title if she wants.
  7. Make a flower from the pink Zebra Duck Tape and adhere to a scrap of matboard with a glue gun. Place a small square of Sticky Back Velcro ont he back and one where you want to adhere the flower. Now you can change the flower to another embellishment if you want!
  8. Cut a slit on the front edge for a closure. Thread Velcro Plant Tie through. Fold over one side and glue closed with glue gun. Adhere to front of album. Wrap other piece around and press done.

Support the cause! Here’s the link to the on line auction where some of these pieces will be offered up for your bids.

Did you know…
·         Westcott Brand® Scissors are the WORLD’S FAVORITE SCISSORS™ meaning Westcott sells more scissors than any other manufacturer in the world!
·         Westcott Brand® Titanium Bonded Non Stick Scissors are the BEST Non Stick Scissors on the market that never get stuck and can easily cut through Sticky Back VELCRO®, Duck Tape and multiple layers of fabric and other materials!
·         Titanium bonded blades are 3 times harder than stainless steel and never need sharpening!
·         Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools have the best performance! The 3” scissors can even cut through 5 layers of fabric!
·         Westcott Brand® Cutting Tools are ergonomic and come in several different color options!

Supplies used to create this project:
Duetica Lettering Art Studio font: Mandolyn
Sizzix Textured Impression folder by Eileen Hull
Queen and Company Pearl Bling
Tsukineko Staz-On black stamp pad
rattail cording, beads, glue gun