Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

It’s a great day!

Started off with a phone call from my son Chris who is in Iraq and has been sick. It’s very frustrating to have no information and be worrying about what’s happening. So he’s getting better and sounded almost back to his old self.

Then I came down to my studio and there was a blog post by my friend, a very talented designer, Jennifer Ellefson who created a beautiful garden cupcake holder out of one of my new (and yet unreleased) Sizzix Scoreboard dies! Thanks Jenn- it’s so pretty… love what you did!

But wait, there’s more! Here’s a Christmas gift card box I made for some store samples. The business card box is very versatile. I used BasicGrey papers to cover the box and the embellishments that come with the die to deck it out. Do you have any great ideas for dies? Let me know wonderful readers! My day can only get better. Thanks for stopping by…

Sneak Peek!

I thought it might be fun to give my loyal viewers the first look at a finished ScoreBoard die project! I had a gift card for my niece Kate, who’s about to go back for her second year at James Madison University and just had a birthday. I used the business card box die (which also fits a gift card perfectly) some sunny yellow matboard and ribbon. It only took a couple of minutes to do. I ran it through the Big Shot to score and cut, folded the box up and added a couple of brads. I inserted the gift card with a scrap piece of matboard that I stamped Happy Birthday on, tied a length of ribbon around the box lacing it through the flower (included on the die), tied a knot and was out the door. If I had cut this by hand (which I used to do!), it would have taken me forever… I love my niece and she’s worth it… but now don’t have to 🙂

Thanks to Stephanie Girard who writes for CraftGossip She reviewed the recycling project of a Dove soap box I had done around Easter time. Stephanie works creating from recycled sweaters- her blog is called Sweater Surgery- love that. Also check out the blog of Carla Schauer, a fellow CHA designer who does some beautiful work and stopped by to see the Sizzix booth while I was there.

I will be posting more projects and will also be announcing a preview party in the barn… stay tuned sports fans…

Thank you my friends…

Does everyone use Google Alerts? They are the best! You just go to Google, enter the URL you’d like to track and every day you will get a message listing referring sites.

So just a little while ago, I got an alert. One was from a friend from way back, Korie, who is an amazing designer. She used to manage our local stamp store where I taught calligraphy and mat cutting. I still remember some really neat projects she did- my favorite was an altered Nancy Drew book. Check out her blog for local metro DC events and general cool stuff! Thanks Korie 🙂

The other alert was from my friend Ann Butler. Ann is a mixed media artist, she works full time and has 5 kids! And if I needed something to get done, I would go to Ann. Her secret must be that she never sleeps. I know when I’m on line at 2 AM, she oftens sends messages. I saw her and adorable 16 year old daughter Callie (yes, I am using adorable and 16 year old in the same sentence!) at CHA. We shared a cab to the hotel and discovered her older daughter was getting married the Saturday after the show which ended on Thursday! I’m telling you, this woman could rule the world… Thanks, Ann, for your nice photo and blog about the Scoreboards!

Sizzix booth!

Here I am in the booth pointing to my logo on the Sizzix sign- such fun! Debbie did an amazing job demonstrating the Scoreboard dies and it was very rewarding to see people’s reactions to them.

I work alone in my basement studio. I make what I like. But to see my designs in a very cool booth at a major trade show and see other people liking them too is like a dream come true. Thanks, Sizzix, for giving me the chance to work with you all. What a great group of people- you can just feel the excitement and creativity in the air as you walk into the booth. These people love what they do and are very good at it. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead!

So now, back to work! It’s good to be home. After CHA, my husband and I were lucky enough to spend another week in Florida with our friends Lorine and Bill at their timeshare a few hours south of Orlando. The condo was beautiful and located right on the golf course, which Hayward and Bill took advantage of several times. We spent hours at the pool, beach and took a trip to Miami Beach, which was cool. But all good things must come to an end… I am ready to get back into life here at home.

Bahamian flowers

I am a sucker for a deal. That’s why I found myself on a three day cruise to the Bahamas last Friday and not running around like a maniac getting ready for the Craft and Hobby Association’s Summer trade show which is now 6 days away! The cruise was on a converted ferry boat and was $158/person for 3 days. We went with 3 other couples and had basically no expectations. But it was great. We had a day in Nassau which was hot but really interesting. We explored the island a little and rented a jet ski.

So, now I am back… I am so excited to see my new product up in the Sizzix booth after 2 years of working on this. I have been testing the product at home and think people will like it- I hope so, anyway. Our seminar, “Licensing for Project Designers” seems to be under control and I had an email today from a CHA member who had some questions about something she is working on and how to proceed. She is attending the class so hopefully others will join her 🙂 My Designer Showcase display is getting done tonight. In fact I am on a Krylon high as we speak, after spraying my foamboard display pieces. The press kit is coming along too, slowly but surely.
I want to thank Violette for her enthusiam after winning my book, Matboard Magic, on the Inspired at Home radio show last week. I met Violette at CHA a year and a half ago. Her booth was next to ours and she was a lot of fun to talk to and hang around with. She is from Canada and has a new book out- check her web site to see it. I love her studio- it’s painted purple and she has some really cool projects she’s working on. I would love to be able to show you my studio but you would run away screaming! But good job, Violette!
OK, now back to work…

Free craft project!

Well, thought I would post these fun little magnetic clothespins. I found them in a dollar store a while ago and bought them because I loved the colors but never did anything with them- does anyone hang clothes out anymore?

I used my Stampin’Up Word Window punch for the paper that covers the clothespin. It was the perfect length and width. The middle sample is 1/4″ ribbon- also great width. Love when things work out like that! Ran some matboard through my Big Shot to die cut some cute little flowers for the top and then tied them with a matching ribbon. There is a magnet glued to the back of the clothespin so I can use it in my kitchen, file cabinet or wherever. I was thinking this would be a nice gift to give with a cute little paper pad in coordinating colors. Of course it was not complete without a matboard gift box! Very simple- a few scores on my Logan matcutter.

These were so much fun that I thought I might make some up for the craft fair this weekend. I’ll be at the Community of Faith UMC, Franklin Farms Road, Herndon on Saturday, April 25 from 10 AM to 3 PM- stop by if you’re out! Anyway, I went looking for more of these clothespins, but no luck finding them. So I worked some up using wooden clothespins and they came out pretty cute too- will post later.

A sad note on the hot tub… it has been determined that repair costs are too high so we will be passing it on the the landfill… unless someone wants to try their hand at fixing it! My vote was fill it for the summer and use it as a pool. This was vetoed…