Creative Juice: June 2020

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Eileen Hull Has Released New Sizzix Dies & We're Hoppin'

Hello there and welcome! You have arrived at your next stop on the Blog Hop to celebrate the new Chapter 3 Die releases of Eileen Hull! If you are jumping in midway, you can go back to her blog to begin at the beginning. For my hop project I used the new Snowman Die. There is a tutorial so scroll on down past the Hop list to check it out.

Throughout the hop you will see all the creative ways the Inspiration and Education Teams have used the Mitten and Snowman dies! We hope that you will be inspired too and share how you use the dies in the Eileen Hull Fan Club.

But wait – there’s more – the Release Party continues! You won’t want to miss the Facebook Live at Eileen Hull Designs at 12:00 noon Eastern time on Wednesday, July 1! Join the chat – and a random commenter will WIN a Snowman Die.

Please hop with us through all of the projects and leave comments on the different designers' blogs. A lucky commenter will WIN a Mitten Box Die…

Hop Participants:

Tutorial time!

Step 1 – I used foil sheet covered matboard and chipboard for the box sides and pieces. I had it in mind to make a vintage, "chippy paint" look project. I really like how Distress Paint applies to a metal surface (more on that later).

I did not cover the snowman body parts because my plan was to use white embossing powder on them (more on that later too). The snowman "accessories" and parts are cut out of thinner chipboard. The box sides are matboard that I embossed after die cutting.

Tip: Those eyes and carrot nose are small and hard to get ahold of. I took a scrap of matboard, applied repositionable adhesive to it and stuck those tiny parts on. It made it so much easier to paint them.

Which leads to…

Step 2 – Painting the parts! The backs of the snowman bodies and inside of the box I painted red. When dry, I flipped the box sides piece over and also painted the metal embossed side red. When the paint was halfway dry, I took a damp baby wipe (not too wet though) and gently wiped off some of the paint from the high points of the embossed design. If you wipe off too much, you can always add more paint back on and try again. Do not let the paint dry all the way or that's it. It is permanent when dry.

I did the same thing to the little parts. I painted them and gently wiped off some paint when they were partly dry.

Step 3 – Embossing! I have an old Ranger Melting Pot (sadly discontinued, try ebay) that works really well for small shapes like this. (See my other tutorials Here and Here for more projects using it.) I used Eileen's Clear Blends Ink on the snowman body to adhere a thick layer of her White Wonder Embossing Powder. I set it into the pot and let it sit to melt.

While the white was molten, I carefully pressed the parts into the liquid powder and then lifted it all out (with that handy little craft mat insert!) The powder cooled and set and the parts were stuck down tight.

Step 4 – Assembly! I peeled the top (metal foil) layer off the tabs so the glue would stick better when assembling the box. I used a small glue gun to glue the tabs onto the back of the snowman bodies.

As a final step, once the box was assembled, I gave the whole thing a very light wash of watered down black/brown acrylic paint to give it a vintage look. I used a baby wipe to dab off some areas that got too dark and just played around with it until I was happy with the "grunging" up.

Supplies used:

Dies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix
Snowman ( Sizzix / SB )
Starlight Embossing Folder #660337 - retired

Sizzix Mat Board
Eileen Hull Blends Ink - Clear
Eileen Hull Molten Dimensions Embossing Powder - White Wonder
Distress Paint - Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade
Ranger Foil Sheets
glue gun

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!) If you shop at Topflight Stamps, use my coupon code LISAHOEL for 12% off your order.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Jungle Wrap Journal with Eileen Hull & More Cork Fabric

Hello again! This month Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team has an exciting opportunity to work with Belagio Cork Fabric in our June Journal creations. This collaboration has been lots of fun! (Last week I shared this Firefly journal project.) This durable and user friendly fabric can be easily die cut, sewn by machine, combined with fabric, paper or pretty much any substrate you can think of. Thin sheets of real cork are laminated to a fabric backing so it is very flexible and durable. It is thinner that other cork sheets on the market but that is intentional to make it suitable for many different applications. It’s perfect for covering three dimensional projects like boxes, books, and home decor pieces. This week I'm sharing a jungle themed Wrapped Journal with you.

Eileen's retired Lion & Monkey Die Set is the perfect complement to the jungle cotton fabric and the animal print Cork Fabric.

How-to:
Step 1 – First I made the little lion and monkey to decorate the journal. Some of the parts I cut out of plain cork fabric. I also discovered that you can color the cork with ink and paint.

Step 2 – I fused the jungle print and green cotton fabrics to either side of a 13.5" x 5.5" rectangle of Pellon Peltex II #72F 2-sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer, then die cut out the journal cover using the Wrapped Journal Die. I cut a piece of the animal print cork fabric to fit over the spine area and overlap onto the front and back of the journal.

I stitched along the spine score lines through all the layers.

Step 3 – More Stitching! I die cut some leaves out of the cork fabric and colored them green. After drying the ink, I stitched veins onto them. I also used a zig zag stitch to sew around the edges of the journal cover and the loose edges of the spine cork fabric.

Step 4 – You can buy mini composition books at Dollar Tree stores that fit perfectly into the Wrapped Journal. Decorate the covers and it's a quick way to take care of your signatures!

To make some quick background paper to glue onto the mini books, I used some PaperArtsy Fresco paint and a brayer to lay down color on plain cardstock.

I cut it into strips a little wider than the book covers and ran them through a Xyron 3in Disposable Sticker Maker to add adhesive to the back. It's easy to apply to the book covers and then just trim to fit.

I cut some trim strips out of more of the animal print cork fabric and used the Xyron Create-A-Sticker 150 to add adhesive to the backs of them. (No wasting of adhesive!)

Step 5 – Stringing on the elastic is simple and makes it easy to add the mini book signatures.

Just slide each book under one of the elastic straps!

Step 6 – Finally I added a closure to keep the journal shut. I cut a little hole in the bend of the flap to install a Hitch Fastener. Then I punched a hole in the cover, added an eyelet and tied a loop of elastic cord through it to hook over the Hitch Fastener. Easy!

Where can you find Belagio Cork Fabric?

• Hobby Lobby carries packaged cork in 18″ x 15″ pieces in 9 different patterns in the notions department.
• There are two types – a natural and a natural with gold at Walmart stores that have fabric departments. It is sold by the yard.
• As for the entire collection, many quilt and craft shops around the country carry it by the yard and in packaged 18″ x 15″ pieces.
• Online the Belagio cork fabric is available on Walmart.com and Amazon.com.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great week and have a chance to do something crafty and creative. =) Be sure to check out Eileen's blog all this month to see what fab creations the Team has made to inspire you! I am also entering this into the June Mini Album Makers Challenge.

Supplies used:

Dies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix
Wrapped Journal ( Sizzix / SB )
Spring Leaves ( Sizzix / SB )
Lion & Monkey Thinlits #658973 - retired

Belagio Cork Fabric
jungle cotton fabric
Pellon Peltex II #72F 2-sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer
Elastic cord for binding
Eileen Hull Blends Ink - Leaf, Frog, Nutmeg
acrylic paint
Tim Holtz Hitch Fastener
Xyron 3in Disposable Sticker Maker
Xyron Create-A-Sticker 150

Jungle Wrapped Journal
by MonalisaH -Lisa Hoel
Scrapbook.com

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

June Journals Eileen Hull Collaboration!

Hello! This month Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team has an exciting opportunity to work with Belagio Cork Fabric in our June Journal creations. This collaboration has been lots of fun! (Did you miss the first installment of projects in last week's post?) This durable and user friendly fabric can be easily die cut, sewn by machine, combined with fabric, paper or pretty much any substrate you can think of. Thin sheets of real cork are laminated to a fabric backing so it is very flexible and durable. It is thinner that other cork sheets on the market but that is intentional to make it suitable for many different applications. It’s perfect for covering three dimensional projects like boxes, books, and home decor pieces. I know I really enjoyed using it to create this little notebook for my cousin's new baby:

I thought his parents might appreciate a little book they can write down all the "firsts" in and to record those baby moments and memories.

back of book

I used the cork fabric combined with printed cotton fabric. I can attest that the cork fabric does die cut and stitch beautifully! I love the foil shine on it; especially on the base layer that you see through the cut out moon and stars.

I covered pre-made little notebooks for the signatures.

How-to Tips:

1) First I cut pieces of Mat Board a little bigger than the final sizes of the covers and spine and then covered one side with the firefly fabric and the other side with the gold foiled cork fabric. (I used double sided adhesive sheets.) Then I used the Passport Book die to cut the two covers and spine.

Next I cut two pieces of the blue cork fabric slightly smaller than the covers so there would be a border of the base fabric. I used the moon and stars dies to cut out the shapes. The "B" is cut using Eileen's retired Block/Cube/Bank 3-D Die

2) I added decorative stitching to the "B" and edges before I glued the blue parts onto the cover. The mat board is thick and I didn't want to stitch all the way through it (and the adhesive) with my sewing machine.

3) The Passport Book Die also has a section on it for cutting pages to fit in the book. I already had pre-made little notebooks that fit perfectly so I used those. (Time saver!!) The covers were Christmas plaid so I definitely had to cover them!

I made little scalloped trim pieces from the cork fabric to decorate the edges of each signature. Again, I did the stitching on the pieces and then glued it onto the booklets. The covers were thin enough, but I had used adhesive sheets to stick the cardstock on and didn't want to gum up my sewing machine.

All ready to put together:

4) Binding! There are several ways you can bind these books. One of my favorite ways is to use elastic cord so you can just slip the signatures underneath the straps and they are held in perfectly.

Supplies used:

Dies:

Eileen Hull Sizzix
Passport Book ( Sizzix / SB )
Movers & Shapers Die, Scallop Border #662815 - retired
Block/Cube/Bank 3-D #658983 - retired

Tim Hottz Sizzix
Witchcraft ( Sizzix )
Movers & Shapers Mini Owl & Crescent Moon #658725 - retired

Belagio Cork Fabric
firefly cotton fabric
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Dried Marigold
Elastic cord for binding
Sizzix Mat Board
button
sari silk/ribbon

Firefly Baby Journal
by MonalisaH -Lisa Hoel
Scrapbook.com