"Get Wrapped" Blog Hop Eileen Hull & Friends

Hello Happy, Inky Friends, I am here today playing with some of my favorite people & their awesome products!!! I am jumping into a blog hop with the amazing Seth Apter (artist, designer, teacher, blogger) the dynamic Kim Evans owner/designer & mad scientist of incredible embossing powders Emerald Creek & the brilliant Sizzix designer & teacher Eileen Hull. I am also very lucky & honored to call them friends. If you know me you know this combination of products is perfect!

Let's Get Wrapped Blog Contest!

We are blog hopping with some amazing people today all in the name of fun, and cross brand creativity. 

Of course there will be a prize pack valued over $150 USD from PaperArtsy, Seth Apter, Eileen Hull & Emerald Creek.

To be entered you must pop by and comment on each of the blog posts. 

(We don't want you to miss any of the tips and tricks.)

Contest closes Aug 29th at midnight and a winner will be announced Aug 30th, 2018.

The design theme for this blog hop is Get Wrapped & we are using Eileen Hull's Wrap Journal book!! I had so much fun playing & making this book, I love how it turned out. I am planning a second post as I work on the inside of the project! Let's see how this book was created!

This is what my desk looked like as I was blogging, after the carnage of creating!!! Between these 3 designers there are so many products to choose from & I used a lot. You may need to sit down with a cup of coffee or you can play along, there are quite a few steps. Also if you like journals you will definitely want to hop along & see what every one else it making, there is a hop list at the bottom of this post.

I started the Eileen Hull Wrap Journal, by die cutting a piece of mat board. I covered it with a light coat of Super Heavy Gesso, leaving some small spots open on purpose, to create an uneven coat. Then using some of Seth's stamps I pressed them into the gesso which left an impression behind. You get a better impression if the gesso coat is thinner & bonus it dries quicker. Wash the stamps immediately using a tooth brush & warm water to get the gesso off.

Next was a coat of paint. PaperArtsy makes this wonderful Fresco Finish Chalk Paint. Using Spanish Mulberry, one of Seth's newer colors I mixed it with Acrylic Glaze, 50/50 ratio. *This is a favorite technique of Donna Downey's. Covering the outside of my book with the glaze & then wiping back the paint until I had the desired color. The paint sits in the debossed image area, making it pop.

I decided to darken it up a bit so added another coat of the paint/glaze mix, wiping back as before with a baby wipe. Ah better, the color is darker but I still have great texture. Distress the edges using Seth's Blue Lagoon created a pretty blue/purple edging. 

One of my favorite Emerald Creek products is Fractured Ice. It takes on the color of what ever is underneath by looking like a layer of ice on top that has oil in it. Like ice on asphalt, with some sparkle- frickin brilliant. I added this on my spine, which bonus gives the spine extra strength.

Time for embellishments!! Let's make a cool grungy butterfly. Using the butterfly die from Eileen's Bird & Butterfly set I cut it out of corrugated cardboard. Pull off some of the top layer of cardboard revealing the texture. Paint the piece with Seth's Double Denim paint. Once dry, ink using an embossing pad & emboss with Seth's Rocky Road & Burnt Copper Leaves by Emerald Creek. Love, love how this turned out. Imagine just pulling out dies & making these- hum good idea! *I also added the Burnt Copper emboss to the key, (on the finished cover) which adds a vintage look to it.

Next I took a piece of card stock & painted it in the aptly named Butter, such a pretty pale yellow. Then the card was stamped using one of Seth's new stamps. After that the piece was cut with Eileen's newest flower die, the bonus is with one cut you get a zillion flower pieces & a star. If you want to see what I do with extra die cuts as I create, check out my newest die cut organizer. It is a tutorial on another book that houses my extra die cuts in one place so I can always find them! 

The final flourish was to emboss with Seth's Ancient Amber and add a tiny brad to the middle. This embellishment looked so cool, I decided to make another. Using some left over Gel Press paper from the inside cover (further down in the tutorial) & one of Seth's stencils, I added embossing ink through the stencil using a piece of foam. Next I poured some of Seth's Deep Sea powder, heat set it & cut it out to create this cool bullseye piece. I added the star which was created with the flowers. OK I may love these. 

Before gluing down anything on the cover we need to work on the inside. However, something I keep forgetting, is to figure out my closure before gluing everything down. It completely changes the cover placement potentially. Once you know everything that is going on the cover, you can decide if it needs to be placed before the inside cover papers. For example on this book I should have added my handle before gluing down my paper on the inside. The paper would have hid the back of the brads. Now I have to be clever & add a pocket, washi or embellishment to cover them up. 

For the inside covering the flaps in paper seemed a good way to go. I took white card stock & created paper using a Gel Press & more of Seth's paint.

I tried a few color combos, this combo was used for the inside covers, some to make the embellishments & some will be cut to make tags etc. for the inside of the books.  

Using a foam piece, more paint, plus a few of Seth's stencils, I decorated the paper.  After painting the background inside of the book using spots of Double Denim & then Blue Lagoon, the paper was cut to fit & adhered. 

Some stamping was added just for fun using Eileen's ColorBox Blends. It really is amazing to watch as the piece changes with each layer! 

Time to string the book & add the embellishments, we are almost there!! I did a video recently on how to string a journal which you can see above. In that video I was stringing only 3 holes but the principal is the same. I did a hidden binding using a piece of grey 1mm elastic. 

The only thing left was to finish adhering details like my closure, a title, & some charms. I added books to the inside but we will get to that another time. Thanks so much for joining me today! Please join us in this hop and see what other awesome-ness has been created! Follow my blog as I will be doing some posts showing you the inside, or subscribe to my Instagram which hask  all the updates.

 Hot Tips:

1. To add metal embellishments on an embossed surface, heat the embossing until it looks a bit fluid & press the embellie into the emboss & hold while the powder cools. 
2. Figure out how you will add a closure on the book before gluing anything down. You will potentially want to add eyelets or screws etc. Knowing where the closure will go may drastically change the placement of embellishments on the cover. Also this way you can hide any mechanics like the ends of brads on the inside of you book with paper. 
3. If you get stuck, like I did trying to figure out a closure after gluing everything down. Stop & walk away,  let your mind work on it while you do something else. The solution may come a lot faster then if you sit at your desk staring at it!

Get Wrapped Hop with Eileen Hull, Emerald Creek & Seth Apter: I hope you hop around!!!

 Eileen Hull
 Kim Evans
 Debi Adams
 Josefine Fourage

 Susie Bentz
 Linda Cain
 Karla Yungwirth
 Jenny Marples
 Amanda Pink
Livia Yellowbird
 Karen Bearse- you are here
Alison Bomber
Nora Paolini
Tonya Trantham
Emma Williams
 Peg Robinson
 Maggi Harding
Stephanie Eaton

Supplies:

• Eileen Hull by Sizzix- Wrap Around Journal, Journal Card, Flower & Leaves, Bookplate Hinge & Label, Birds & Butterflies.
• Eileen Hull By Clearsnap- ColorBox Blends
• Emerald Creek Emboss Powder & Brads
• Seth Apter-Fresco Finish Paint & Stamps by PaperArtsy 
• Seth Apter Stencils by StencilGirl
• Gel Plate by Gel Press

*Some of the products for this blog post were donated by the companies represented. The crazy ideas, all mine!