Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Sizzix Party Decor Ideas with Eileen Hull

Howdy! Summer is in full swing now and that often means lots of celebrations and get-togethers! For the month of July, Eileen's Inspiration Team will be sharing our creative ideas for Sizzix Party Decor. You’ll find ideas for storage, centerpieces, favors and more that you can create with your favorite Sizzix dies for your next party, bbq or bash. For my project, I used the Tea Cup 3-D die to make a favor for a bridal shower:


I have an oldie but goodie technique to share to help you get more use out of your Sizzix dies. Let's get going!

You've probably heard of using dies to make fun foam stamps. This is a great technique to remember and it's super easy! I applied a double sided adhesive sheet to a piece of fun foam and ran it through my Big Shot with the Lace Medallion Doily die.



Remove the adhesive backing and stick it on a piece of scrap plastic packaging. Voila! Instant stamp!

I used a brayer to apply white acrylic paint to the stamp and then stamped the image onto my tea cup pieces. You can't see much of the white on white but the paint acts as a resist. See what happens in the next step.



I spritzed the pieces with Spray Distress Stain and gently wiped the excess off the stamped parts. The stamped design pops right out! Next came the assembly of the cup which isn't hard at all. You can use a strong dry adhesive like tacky tape but mine was already packed away for the move. I used a wet adhesive which takes a bit longer but works well. Clothespins make great clamps to hold things in place while the glue dries a bit.


While the glue was drying, I assembled the flowers. Eileen's flower dies make it a breeze. Here I used the Heart & Soul Flower die to cut out several parts to work with.


I also shaped the petals by placing the parts on a foam pad and using a rounded tool to make it dimensional.


Finished flowers:


Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to head on over to Eileen's blog to check out all the ideas being shared this month. You'll find lots of inspiration! We'd love to have you share your projects on Eileen's Facebook page too. Have a great week… ;-)

The supplies I used for this project can be found at Sizzix or Simon Says Stamp. Follow the links below and a shopping you may go. ;-)


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Friday, July 1, 2016

The Mixed Media Monthly July Challenge!


Welcome to July and another fun challenge at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog! Our theme for this month is Reach for the Stars and our guest designer is Seth Apter! He is donating one of his super cool stamp sets as a prize so you will definitely want to join in our challenge this month. We are also welcoming a new member of the design team. Be sure to head on over to the blog after this to check everything out! For my project, I created a triptych of space themed ATC cards and a matching holder for them.


Here are the cards right next to each other so you can see the design better:


I used an interesting technique for the background that involves a material you probably have sitting in a kitchen drawer right now – aluminum foil! When you paint over the foil and leave some parts with a thin coat, the shine comes through and gives you a really nice effect. It's easy too!


I cut my card bases out of heavy cardstock and glued them to a piece of foil that I had crumpled and then carefully flattened out again. Depending on the texture you want, you can really crunch the foil or just make larger creases. I used Prima 3D Gloss Gel, which will adhere anything, to glue the foil to the cardstock. I did put a large acrylic stamp block over the cards to hold them flat while the gel dried. As it was drying, I sketched out my scene and painted it with DecoArt Media fluid acrylics:


After they were dry, I fussy cut all the little pieces out to glue onto my card backgrounds.


I trimmed out the cards and left a small margin of foil attached that I folded over the edges and glued on the backs of the cards. Then came the fun part of painting! I used a combination of black and metallic colors to make "nebulae". I also splattered on some of the DecoArt Media mists. Spacey! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Canada Day to my northern neighbors and I hope my fellow Americans have a wonderful and safe Independence Day holiday weekend. Everyone else have a grand ordinary weekend lol.

The DecoArt Media fluid acrylic colors I used are: Titanium White, Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Carbon Black, Gold, Yellow Oxide, Hansa Yellow Medium, Medium Grey Value 6, Green Gold and Naphthol Red Light. I also used Primary Yellow and Shimmer Violet Misters.

The supplies I used for this project can be found at Sizzix or Simon Says Stamp. Follow the links below and a shopping you may go. ;-)

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Eileen Hull – More Projects with Crescent Artists


Well, I couldn't resist doing a second project for the collaboration that Eileen's Inspiration Team and Crescent Artists is doing this month. I had an idea for a little art journal to make (with a new set of Lynne Perrella stamps that seriously needed to see some ink) and I really wanted to give the Rendr paper a test run. Thus, my cherry blossom art Passport Book art journal was born!

I love crackle paste!!!
The inner pages are all made from Crescent Rendr paper which has the wonderful property of NO bleed through. I really loaded up each side of the paper with lots of water and mists and it worked perfectly!


The paper really grabbed onto the pigments so I sprayed on extra water and just let it sit so the colors could wick and bleed together as it dried naturally. I used Distress Spray Stains and Color Burst pigment (Lemon Yellow). When one side was dry, I flipped them over and did the other side.

I cut the pages out of the larger colored sheets using the Passport Book die. I then stamped and embellished the pages. I left lots of empty space so you can actually write in this journal (maybe compose haiku?) The images are from a Paper Artsy Lynne Perrella set (link below). Her sets are just so gorgeous – I want them all! I stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink and then embossed with clear detail embossing powder. I added color with Distress Markers and blended with a water brush.





So, back to the book construction! Once I had all my parts together, I first assembled the cover by gluing the spine to the front and back cover. Because none of the parts had smooth surfaces, I chose to use a strong wet adhesive to make sure the parts bonded together well.


Api's Crafter's Pick 'The Ultimate' is one of my favorite glues.
I set aside the cover to dry and stamped the pages while I was waiting. I also put together my cherry blossom flowers for the cover. I had misted coffee filters pink and cut six flower parts out using the smallest flower of the Pansy Flower die. I put a dab of glue in the center to stick them together and shaped them around the handle of a large paintbrush. Brads and painted centers finished them off!

I need better lighting for photo taking!

Hang in there, we're almost done! ;-) Next I folded the pages and threaded lengths of lace through the holes, leaving generous tails.


I then threaded the lace through the holes in the spine, pulled them all tight and tied them in a decorative knot.


Whew, all done! Thanks for sticking in with such a long post! Be sure to head on over to Eileen's blog to see the final week of Crescent project sharing. You won't want to miss what my teammates have been up to! We'd love to have you share your projects on Eileen's Facebook page too. Have a great week!

The supplies I used for this project can be found at Sizzix or Simon Says Stamp. Follow the links below and a shopping you may go. ;-)


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