Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

On the Road…

It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks! I traveled out to Lake Forest, CA to Sizzix HQ for a meeting which went really well (I think, I hope!). Then it was on to Minnesota where Karen Burniston and I taught at VIP Scrapbooks in Rochester, MN and also got to spend time with her sister Julie, her husband Randy and two adorable nephews. Randy cooked us Mother’s Day dinner and I heard from all of my kids so that was a good day 🙂


Then we drove back to Minneapolis to the Mystic Lake resort to teach classes at a retail event put on by Erickson and Associates. Here we met store owners and reps and were able to give tips and techniques for working with our products. It was great to talk to the store owners because I got to hear things from another perspective.

I showed how to make a badge holder from the Index Card box die by cutting off a flap and adding two Business Card boxes to the inside. I put my cards in one box and other people’s cards in the other. You can also fit a few dollars for lunch and a tiny pen. On the back of the box you can put your badge. It’s a great way to carry all you need in one place, especially at trade shows! 

We did a Make and Take the first night and the next day I taught a class called Stacking Candy Drawers. I made stamps from my Borders and Hydrangea die and fun foam. Stephanie Barnard’s inks were used to stamp the flowers on the box. Loving these nice and bright colors! The flowers were outlined with black marker dots for a little extra touch. Adhesive pearls were added for the flower centers and a matching ribbon tied it all together.

 

We received some coupons when we checked into the casino- if you put $10 in the machine, you’d get it back when you cashed out. So each night we would go down and play the quarter slots… the first night we won $82, next night $38 and the last time $25. Since I didn’t have my ID with me the first night, we decided to play on one ticket and split the winnings- lucky lucky me- Karen has a way with those slot machines! 

We visited a very cool paper store called Anchor Paper when we got to Minneapolis (thanks to June, one of our students). So all of my purchases there were covered by the money I won! Almost like it was meant to be…

On Saturday, I head up to NY where I’ll be visiting the National Stationery Show, on the lookout for cool stuff. Will let you know know what I find!

Happy May Day!

I was just looking at a post of Ann Butler’s and she has a sweet May Day flower cone project up to celebrate this mini-holiday. Read her blog post to see where this tradition came from. I love it! Here’s my version for all of you, blog friends 🙂 

I used the ScoreBoard Pro Cone die which I covered with pretty papers from the IOD Devotion collection at Creative Imaginations.
  1. Coat the 12″ x 12″ piece of matboard with spray adhesive, then add the paper on top. With paper side facing the die, cut the cone using Big Shot Pro machine. 
  2. Adhere red glitter gift wrap to a piece of scrap matboard and cut four scalloped edges for the cone. 
  3. Cut a tag using the “For You” tag from the Sweet Treats for You Sizzlit set (coming next month from the Sweet Treats collection) from kraft paper and back it with red paper.
  4. Assembly is so quick! Run a line of strong double sided adhesive down the edge of the flap of the cone and adhere to the opposing side. 
  5. If desired, add a ruffle of crepe paper around the inside of the cone. Paper shred may be added inside to anchor the stems.
  6. The flowers are made using the Bigz Hydrangea & Borders die (also coming very soon!)

I hope to post a video soon showing how to make the hydrangeas- stay tuned and in the meantime, Happy May Day to all of you!

Teaching in Minnesota

In a couple of weeks I am headed out to Minnesota! Fellow Sizzix designer Karen Burniston and I will start the trip teaching a fun class at VIP Scrapbooks. If you live in the area, and are in need of a Mother’s Day treat, please join us! The next day, we’re headed to the Erickson Group rep event at Mystic Lake for more classes. Here’s what we’ll be doing and  sign-up info.


All Seasons With Sizzix!
















Join Sizzix licensed artists Eileen Hull and Karen Burniston in this class featuring products from both of their collections. In the first half of class, Karen will teach a double-page spread with a Seasons theme. Four cards open on the layout to reveal pop-up trees, each tree decorated for the specific season. Your handout will include instructions for altering page protectors so the layout can be easily opened in an album. The second half of class will be taught by Eileen Hull, the designer of Scoreboard dies. This hands-on gift card holder project will give you the opportunity to die cut mat board and emboss it. You’ll also learn how to create a 3D flower using one of Eileen’s layered flower dies. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the designers and have all your Sizzix questions answered! 
Treat yourself to this great opportunity! 2 nationally known designers at V.I.P. Sunday, May 13th, 1pm to 4pm 3 jam packed hours, dessert and You ~ only $35 Registration Required-Call Soon!

VIP Scrapbook store is located at: 
TJ MAXX Plaza at
1300 Salem Road SW (not far from Apache Mall)
Rochester, MN 55902
For more information, call (507) 281-2031. 

Hope to see you there!

A Cut Above class

When I saw there was a die cutting class being offered by Jennifer McGuire, Nicole Magouirk, and Kristina Werner, I had to sign up. They are such amazing designers- I knew I would pick up lots of helpful tips and tricks. So far it has been fun and I’m trying to keep up (kind of) with the lessons and do a project that has been shown that day. That is why I am posting two days in a row- shocking, I know…

On this card, the idea was to use cut out shapes. I am ashamed to say I had a set of Framelits from a 2 CHA’s ago that I had never used. So I cracked those babies open and had some fun.
  1. First I folded a card base made from my favorite Cougar 100 lb white cardstock. I ran it through the Big Shot using my Wreath Textured Impression folder (now available at your LSS!). I used a Robin’s Egg Color Box pigment pad and brayer to get a good overall coat of ink on one side of the folder. I folded over the other side and ran it through using the Multi-purpose Platform.
  2. I cut several Framelit openings- one circle in the center of the card and a larger frame from a piece of aqua. I added the aqua cutout behind the card. 
  3. Then I cut a white butterfly from the Birds and Butterflies Sizzlit set, flared the wings out a little and put a line of adhesive down the middle of the butterfly and centered it in the middle of the card.
  4. For the sentiment, I used the Daisies2Garden stamp set from The Stamps of Life. Inside it says… “a happy birthday”. You can always use a birthday card! I raised the inside of the sentiment on foam dots.
  5. I also used my Hydrangeas & Border die to add an aqua, white and aqua chevron pattern under the sentiment.

Let’s see how long I can keep the streak going… 🙂

Shower

This weekend, my daughters and I are hosting a baby shower for my other daughter. Here’s a pic of the invitations that I created using the Sizzix eclips. I drew an elephant in Illustrator and saved it as an .svg file, then cut it out on the eclips. The detailed cuts on this machine are unbelievable. Those little gray elephants are only about 1″ big! 

I curled the elephants’ ears out from their body to give a little dimension. This green shimmer paper is beautiful but almost too heavy. The ears did not roll back as smoothly as I would have liked and I think thinner cardstock would have worked better. But the color was not as good… so I chose color over weight…

I printed the card bases on the computer and then used the die cut elephants as accents. I also used the rickrack border from my Bigz Hydrangea & Border die coming in June from the Sweet Treats collection. Stay tuned for the rest of the decor- we were hard at work today… I am hoping it doesn’t rain Saturday (even though it’s a shower :-)).

Happy Anniversary!

It’s my daughter and SIL’s first anniversary. They are both officers in the Coast Guard and he is out at sea for sixty days. She is expecting at the end of June, and probably not for the first time, they had to spend a significant occasion apart. They have’t lived together yet because they are stationed four hours apart. Our military sacrifices a lot of things that most people take for granted and I am so proud of the way they are handling things.

  1. The card base is made from natural cardstock. I layered two pieces of pretty Basic Grey papers from the Picadilly collection on top and punched the bottom border with a Martha Stewart punch.
  2. The sentiment was embossed using my Textured Impressions Birthday, Thanks, and Congrats set on top of both layers and then I inked over it lightly in brown. 
  3. Flower Sizzlits (coming in June) called Sweet Treats for You and Birds and Butterflies were used to cut the flowers, leaves and swirls. 
  4. Pearl bling from Queen and Company and a piece of vintage mini-rickrack complete the card. 

Today is special. Happy Anniversary, Jess and Jason! We love you…