Pocket Notebook Reveal with Eileen Hull

Welcome to the Pocket Notebook Release Party! This is Eileen Hull’s newest book die with Sizzix.

Eileen’s Inspiration and Educator teams have combined to show us their amazing Pocket Notebook ideas. Please follow the Blog Hop to see all of the fabulous projects, techniques and videos! There are links at the bottom of this post to the other designers fabulous projects.

There are also two GIVEAWAYS- the Pocket Notebook die and a gift certificate for Eileen’s Etsy store. To enter to win, leave a comment on each of the posts. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, October 8 on Eileen’s Facebook Live show.

...drum roll please the Pocket Notebook!! 

On this die, you get all of the pieces you need to make an entire book- the cover, pages, latch and pen loop! The Pocket Notebook measures 6 3/4” x 4 1/2” with a spine that can adjust from of 3/8” to almost 2”! String it with elastic, hemp, ribbon or twine. So many options for this fun die! I decided to use one of my favorite background techniques that I have not done in awhile. Love the textured lusciousness it creates!! My project is a "Through the Years" Mini Album.

Here are all the beautiful projects that the Inspiration Team & Education Team made for this hop!!! So many lovely projects...

1st Step- cut 2 covers using mat board. Cover them in light modeling paste but a fairly thin layer like peanut butter on toast layer. The idea is it is thick enough to stamp into but not so thick that when your lift the stamp the image is lost. Do not add paste around the edges. 

Using a clear good quality stamp with multiple images press into the paste & carefully pull stamp straight up. If your image is not good you can smooth the paste out & redo it. Once dry add the crackle paste around the edges. 

I had an idea for the cover & this was the start of nothing going right. Using Color Blends 2 cut 1/2 & 1/2 with Acrylic Glaze & a paint brush I added color & took it off with a baby wipe. It did work as a sort of glaze but did not blend together as much as I wanted.

What happened next was many layers of Metallic Acrylic paint as I tried to get this cover to bend to my will!!! I really thought I would have to scrap it & start over but I was on a deadline & did not have the time for new pages to paste & dry. "Sometimes you have to get through the ugglies to get to something good" quote by me!

I also added Faded Jean Distress spray & carefully wiped off to leave the dark blue in crevices. That really helped the image pop. Next time I would start with a navy acrylic paint cut with glaze & wipe down to leave the navy in the crevices. Then I would add the other colors one at a time & wipe back with a baby wipe. As a final step a heavy body Copper paint was scuffed across the top layers to add more of the images pop!

Next the spine was put together using Redline which is super strong. The die cut makes this easy as all you have to do is line the holes up. I advise you add the inside paper at this point if desired. I added copper colored eyelets to add even more stability. The spine was stamped using archival ink & once dry embossed with Glistening Glass.

I stung my elastic so it was fairly hidden on the outside. 

 
There are many ways to do this and here is a video showing a few different ways.

Time for some embellishments!! I die cut the butterfly with heavy cardstock & used the same red metallic that is on the cover for the solid piece. The fancy cut out piece was heat embossed with Golden Rod. 

 These pieces were assembled and a hat pin from my stash was strung with wire & beads to act as the butterflies body. In this close up you can really see all that wonderful texture created by the pastes and highlighted with the paint.

A label was made with layers of black cardstock & the same metallic paints as well as a quote. Charms dangle on the side & an elastic band with another metal quote which may be too much but for now helps keep the book closed. 

This book has room for 5 signatures. I decided at this moment that I would make a book of me through my life with each signature spanning 10 years. We as documentors are so focused on family and kids that our story is sometimes lost. I have started putting in some papers with 3 signatures & will add as I go.

I like the idea of pulling photos from the past & creating my journey up to now. The beauty of this book is the pages are removable so as I add photos it is easy to re-arrange the papers. 

I chose some of my favorite scrapbook papers & did a mix of those plus journal, mix media, tags & project life cards. This was super fun using up lots of stashed papers saved over the years. Adding die cut pieces really gives this project extra life. 

Hot Tips: 

-some of my favorite papers I left 12' long & created flaps or side pockets out of them.

-use your paper scraps as you make your book to cut tags, pockets journal spots out of which has the bonus of automatic matching embellishments. 
-keep all the pieces of your project in one container so it is easy to pull out & work on it. 

Here is a look at the Pocket Notebook from the packaging.


Supplies:
Eileen Hull Pocket Notebook diecut by Sizzix
"           " -  Credit Card Sleeve & Tags, Birds & Butterflies, Bookmark, Tag & Pocket...
Mat Board by Sizzix
Eileen Hull Red Line 1/4" Tape by Thermoweb
Color Blends 2
EH Embossing Powder- Glistening Glass & Golden Rod by Emerald Creek. 
Stampsl403 by Studio Light
Light Molding Paste & Crackle Paste
Finnabair Metallic Paint in 
Golden Heavy Body in Copper. 
Wanderlust Tim Holtz Assemblage Charm & Chat Stickers - Snarky.
 *Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I like so enjoy the inspiration.

 Thanks for hopping with us today!!! Remember to tune into Eileen's Facebook Live today, Thursday, Oct. 3rd at 4pm to see some of these samples live!

Eileen Hull 

Susie Bentz

Pam Bray

Julia Aston

Annette Green

Kathy Clement

Cheryl Waters

Ginger Ropp

Mitsyana Wright

Debbie Bankston

Anita Houston

Maggi Harding

Anne Redfern

Jenny Marples

Betsy Skagen

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Tonya Trantham

Madeline Arendt

Lisa Hoel

Karen Bearse (you are here)

Sue Eldred

Elizabeth Robinson

Nicole Wright