Think Spring with Eileen Hull

Hello Eileen Hull fans! This month the Creative Team has been working on projects with a spring theme. We got to search our Eileen stashes and use any of her past and present products. I created a cheerful box with her XL Storage Box Die.

I made this as part of my Mom's birthday gift. She's a quilter so it's perfect to fill with sewing notions.

I lined the inside with paper embossing using Eileen's Floral Damask Embossing Folder.

The outside is decorated using her Plate & Pattern Layered Stencil Set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Get connected with Eileen:

Find it on the Sizzix Website - the Eileen Hull Hub! Besides inspiration, you will also find die assembly videos and exclusive content. Check it out today and watch it grow!

Are you a member of the Eileen Hull Fan Club? Join the 8400 other members to share ideas, inspiration, sources, challenges and make some fabulous friends. Above all, make sure to answer the questions so we know you are legit! Watch her Lives at Eileen Hull Designs Facebook or her YouTube on Tuesdays at 6:00 Eastern and Thursdays at 4:00 to for project ideas, techniques, inspiration and creative community. Additionally, you can also find Eileen on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Tune into Eileen’s live videos! (You can watch the replays on her YouTube channel or Eileen Hull Designs Facebook.)

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull Die - Storage Box

Eileen Hull Die Set - Bookbinding & Label

Eileen Hull Die - Heart & Soul Flower #661108 retired

Eileen Hull Die - Spring Leaves #661111 retired
Eileen Hull Layered Stencils - Plate & Pattern ( Sizzix, Eileen's Etsy )
Eileen Hull Embossing Folder - Floral Damask  ( Sizzix, Eileen's Etsy )

Sizzix Surfacez - Mat Board

Funkie Junkie Focus – "The Flowers Are Coming"

Happy Spring! Our current Funkie Junkie Focus theme is "The Flowers Are Coming" and they are popping out all over, both in the garden and the craft room. I always think it's nice to have some cards on hand for any occasions that come up so I made a set of spring themed flower cards.

Think pink!

The beautiful Floral Trims stamp set from Tim Holtz is perfect for creating a focal image on a card! The Simple Sayings stamp set is also a favorite sentiment set that I use often for my cards.

I started off by creating several pages of pink inky backgrounds using Distress Spray Stains and Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock. I cut them down into card fronts and stamped with Black Soot Archival ink. I then loosely watercolored over the top to fill in the flowers. Easy!

Thanks for stopping by. Keep an eye on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, Inspiration Ave. because you are now getting regular doses of expanded (and inspiring) content each week. Don't miss it…

Supplies used:

Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Floral Trims
Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Simple Sayings
Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Ranger Distress Spray Stains - Kitsch Flamingo, Saltwater Taffy, Picked Raspberries

Ranger Distress Oxide Spray Stains - Tattered Rose

Ranger Archival Inks - Black Soot, Picked Raspberries

watercolor paint

Funkie Junkie Focus – "Easter Joy"

Our current Funkie Junkie Focus theme is "Easter Joy" and I had fun making an Easter decor piece using lots of Tim Holtz goodies and the new Eileen Hull Storage Box Die.

One of my Eileen Hull Inspiration Team teammates had the idea of flipping the box upside down to make an exploding box card. I thought turning the box over was such a great idea, I wanted to try it. I created an Easter scene inside of mine:

I made some glittered Tiny Eggs and tried the new and improved method of making a chocolate 'Salvaged Rabbit' that Tim Holtz recently shared.

I made sure the back side was interesting too!

I covered the outside of the box with stamped panels (using the new Mr. Rabbit stamp set) and die cuts.

Top view:

Here are a few 'in progress' photos:

1) Glittered eggs. First I colored some Distress Rock Candy Glitter with alcohol inks. (See this Tim Holtz tutorial to see how. It's really easy.)

Tim also shared several different ways to decorate the Tiny Eggs. You can see that here.

2) Here are all the box parts laid out.

There are rectangular strips on the die that you glue inside of the box to help the lid fit on snugly and stay in place. (It seems like a mystery piece at first ha ha.)

Thanks for stopping by. Keep an eye on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, Inspiration Ave. because you are now getting regular doses of expanded (and inspiring) content each week. Don't miss it…

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull Die - Storage Box Die 
-Eileen Hull Die Set - Shadowbox Elements 

-Tim Holtz Die Set - Crochet
Tim Holtz Die Set - Bunny Games
Tim Holtz Die Set - Papercut Chicks, Colorize

Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Mr. Rabbit

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Backdrops

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvaged Rabbits

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tiny Eggs

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Bouquet

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Barrel

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat Stickers - Seasonal
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvaged Stickers - Seasonal

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Memo Pins
Sizzix Textured Cardstock Pack

Distress Collage Medium Matte
Distress Rock Candy Glitter
Ranger Alcohol Inks
Ranger Glossy Accents
Distress Spray Stain - various
Distress Paint - Gathered Twigs
Distress Glaze - Walnut Stain
Sizzix Mat Board

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!)

Eileen Hull Sizzix Cantilever Sewing box Die Tutorial

Hello Eileen Hull fans! At the beginning of the month, Eileen released some Classic Sizzix die designs that were brought back due to popular demand. (If you missed the Release Party, you can watch the replay here.) The Inspiration Team had a lot of fun revisiting these old favorites and we've been sharing tutorials for our projects all throughout January. Here is a closer look at one of mine featuring the Scoreboards Cantilever Sewing Box Die:

This die design is based on vintage cantilever sewing boxes. You can swing them open just like the originals!

Think of all the fun goodies you could stash in one of these cute boxes!

Top view:

How to assemble:

1) Before I cut all the pieces out, I colored my Sizzix Mat Board with blue Distress Paint on one side and spritzed with Winterberry Mica Spray on the other.

2) On the two boxes I was going to use on the bottom, I added die cut grass around the edges.

3) I used sections of washi tape glued at the corners to assemble all the box parts. A rubber band around the top held it all in place while the glue dried.

4) To help reinforce the base of the box, I cut an extra piece of mat board 21/8" x 6" to glue underneath the two bottom boxes.

5) Using the brads and cross pieces, you just start building up and attaching the other boxes.

These are the new dies released this month:

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to keep an eye on Eileen's blog for more inspiration from the Educator and Inspiration Teams.

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull Die - Cantilever Sewing Box  ( Sizzix, FJ )
Eileen Hull Die Set - Shadowbox Elements ( Sizzix, SB, FJ )
Eileen Hull Die Set - Birds & Butterflies 661901- retired
Eileen Hull Die Set - Journaling Cards, Flowers & Leaves 662811 - retired

Sizzix Mat Board
Distress Paint (blues)

28 1/8" brads

washi tape

Distress Mica Spray - Winterberry

Sizzix Making Tool - Shaping Kit

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!)

Funkie Junkie Focus – Spring Frolic

Hello there crafty peeps! The weeks keep flying by and spring is getting closer and closer. The theme this time around is "Spring Frolic". Everything is still grey and brown here so it was fun to create a bright and cheerful spring project. I am in love with the seasonal Idea-ology Tiny Eggs and Salvaged Rabbits (stock up!) so I knew they had to make an appearance in my project.

The base is a vintage silver plate basket I had in my stash.

Tim Holtz did a great live demo last month covering several ways to alter the Tiny Eggs and Salvaged Rabbits. (Hot tip: he now divides the videos into time stamped sections so with a single click you can get right to the part of the video you want to review. So handy!) I wanted to make a chocolate bunny and try making foiled eggs. They turned out so cute!

I also decorated the back so it's interesting from all sides. The Bunny Stitch Die Set is a new one that I love. Those bunnies will be showing up in future projects too!

Love the foiled eggs!!

The carrots are from the Bunny Stitch Die Set too and I incorporated one of the Collage Layer Frames to make that panel. Flowers are made using the Tiny Tattered Florals Die Set.

Here are a few "in process" steps.

1) Base - I hot glued a chunk of styrofoam into my vintage basket to form the base. I then hot glued some Vintage style Easter Grass over that.

2) I created a little layered collage on the back using a label from the new Idea-ology Transparent Things 2, stamping and Curator Snippets pieces with the bunny die cut. I like the effect of things underneath the transparent pieces showing through.

3) Assembling - Memo Pins hold the cards in place and stuck easily into the foam. I arranged the bunny, eggs, flowers and spun cotton mushrooms and glued them in place. This was a fun little project!

Thanks for stopping by. Keep an eye on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, Inspiration Ave. because you are now getting regular doses of expanded (and inspiring) content each week. Don't miss it…

Supplies used:

Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Bunny Stitch
Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Tiny Tattered Florals
Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Field Notes
Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Stitches

Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Tiny Eggs

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Salvaged Rabbits
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Layer Frames, Collage
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Transparent Things 2
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Flash Cards
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Memo Pins
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Ephemera Snippets, Curator
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Chit Chat Seasonal
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Worn Wallpaper
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Holiday Woodgrain Cardstock, Gray

Distress Paint - Walnut Stain
Distress Rock Candy Dry Glitter
Stampers Anonymous Glitter Duster
Ranger Alcohol Ink - Stream, Purple Twilight, Sunshine Yellow, Raspberry

Vintage style Easter Grass
Vintage silver plate basket
styrofoam
foil candy wrappers

Funkie Junkie Focus – Aren't We Lucky?

Hello there, our current Funkie Junkie Focus theme is "Aren't We Lucky?" Since it is March I decided to go all in with a St. Patrick's Day make. You would count yourself lucky indeed if you found a leprechaun's pot of gold!

This little scene has a vintage saucer for its base (in the perfect shade of green). A Halloween Idea-ology Cauldron is a nice stand in for the 'pot of gold'. The leprechaun's wee little house stands under the shadow of four leaf clovers.

I couldn't resist adding one of the new Salvaged Rabbits to the scene…

Let's take a look at some of the how-to!

Step 1 was to make the pot of gold. I crammed a small styrofoam ball into a cauldron and painted it gold. To make the gold coins, I first cut 3/4" circles out of shrink plastic.

I shrank them with my heat gun so they made nice little coin shapes. Tip: flatten the coins with an acrylic stamp block while the plastic is still hot. I then painted each coin with Gilded Foundry Wax. When the wax dried, I heated each coin again with my heat gun to set the wax. It gets so shiny! (I held the coins in place with tweezers so the heat gun didn't blow them away.)

Step 2 was to form the scene base. I cut a circle of foam core to fit into the saucer. Aluminum foil was molded into the shape I wanted for the base and hot glued in place.

Then I covered the foil with plaster cloth strips. After that was dry I painted it various shades of green and covered it with moss.

Step 3 was making the lucky four leaf clovers. I colored white coffee filters with various colors of Distress Spray Stain. I like to use coffee filters because you can dye them any color you like and they look like tissue paper but are much stronger.

Heart shapes make great clover leaves! The handy thing about using the Hearts Stacked Tiles Die Set is that it comes with multiple dies of the same size. I was able to cut out all the shapes I needed in one pass.

Covered floral wire is perfect for the stems.

With a dab of low temp hot glue, I adhered the first leaf. I added each leaf with another dot of glue and compressed the leaf tips around the stem.

I hope you are feeling lucky now…

Thanks for stopping by. Keep an eye on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, Inspiration Ave. because you are now getting regular doses of expanded (and inspiring) content each week. Don't miss it…

Supplies used:

Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Paper Village
Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Stacked Tiles, Hearts
Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Funky Florals #2
Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Funky Florals #3
Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Small Tattered Florals 
Tim Holtz 3D Texture Fades - Mini Lumber

Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Halloween Cauldron

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Salvaged Rabbits
Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Bouquet

Distress Paint - Lost Shadow
Distress Spray Stains - Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Cracked Pistachio, Saltwater Taffy, Squeezed Lemonade
Distress Crayon - Walnut Stain
Distress Foundry Wax - Gilded
Distress Kraft Heavystock

Plaster cloth

shrink plastic

coffee filters

moss

floral wire

mini spun cotton mushrooms

Birds, Nests & Eggs – May Theme with Eileen Hull

Hello Eileen Hull fans! We are kicking off May with a new theme - Birds, Nests & Eggs. Perfect for spring, don't you think? I'm continuing with my Book Box of the Month series for my project. I'm using Eileen Hull's Sizzix Book Box Die and each month will have its own holiday/seasonally appropriate diorama book. Here is the May book:

When you open it up:

A little closer look:

I'm pretty happy about Eileen's new 'Making Plans' stamp
set with all the month & labels stamps! Perfect!

Here are a few "how-to" details:

1) Super awesome (and super easy) way to use the Crochet Mandala. All you have to do is rub the inside of the debossing part of the folder with archival ink. Insert your paper, close the folder (don't let the paper move around and get ink smudges), then run it through your machine. The ink gets deposited in the recesses of the embossed paper. It is so effective!

I started of with lightly inked, mottled cardstock and then experimented with three different ink colors on the folder. I really love the look!

2) I made the bird nest out of "twiggy" pieces cut with Eileen's Wreath die. Some I folded in half, others I cut into pieces. Glue and layering them up made quite a nice nest!

3) Building up the scene! The white blossoms are cut with a die that is part of Eileen's new Shadow Box Frame #1 set.

So now I have a book series of three. ;-) More to come!  You can see the February and March boxes in other posts.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to keep an eye on Eileen's blog for more inspiration from the Educator and Inspiration Teams!

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull die - Book Box  (Sizzix / SB )

Eileen Hull Shadow Box Frames #1 (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Eileen Hull 3D Embossing Folders - Crochet Mandala (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Eileen Hull Wreath & Snowflake (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Eileen Hull Die - Spring Leaves

Eileen Hull Die Set - Journaling Cards, Flowers & Leaves #662811

Tim Holtz Die Set - Bird & Egg, Colorize (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Tim Holtz Die Set - Funky Nature (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )
Eileen Hull Stamp Set - Making Plans

Sizzix Mat Board

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!)