Lacrosse Shadow Box Duo for Eileen Hull & Sizzix

Hello Maker Fans, today I am making a Lacrosse Shadow Box Duo. This post is for my Eileen Hull Inspiration Team project for Sizzix. This month the theme is Leftover Loves, the stuff on your desk, recycled items, leftovers from another project etc. My item was the netting surrounding a fancy pear. I have a box filled with weird netting type objects, from orange packaging, cheese cloth & those colored puffs used for bath soap. They come in quite handy & I may cheat by buying them just to recycle. Part of this project is also to bring awareness to Morgan's Message. Morgan was a Div 1 lacrosse player for Duke University. She was high achieving, artistic, beautiful girl that struggled silently with mental illness & at the age of 22, took her own life. You can read more about her story here. Her family created a non profit that helps promote mental health awareness, especially among female athletes. Please hop over & take a look. Donate if you can. Get involved it you can. The message from the website... "Morgan’s Message strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics. We aim to expand the dialogue on mental health by normalizing conversations, empowering those who suffer in silence, and supporting those who feel alone. " 

Lacrosse is a big sport in my household & we are just winding down after being involved for about 14+ years. My husband played in college & then coached my son, who played through Varsity in High School. The school frowned on parent coaches, so my husband, wanting to still coach, wrangled my daughter into playing. She was all of 6 or 7 at the time. The learning curve was great as the sport is completely different from boys, & there are about 1000 more rules. It was quite funny to see my 6'5 husband try to wrangle these little girls into learning the sport as they giggled their way through practice. My daughter decided immediately to be the goalie & stayed in that position her whole career. I coached her and her goalie team mates for quite a few years as well.

Here is the ode to lacrosse box I made for my kids. Both my kids played high school under the number 24, in fact my daughter chose that number whenever she could as it was her older brothers. I love this keepsake and while it was challenging to figure out the logistics with the directional paper once that was done it was quite easy to make the boxes.I don't have a lot of step out photos but you can see how this box was made by going here. 

 I do have a hot tip for you. Placing the photo into the frame so it lines up well can be tricky. Putting Pixie Dots which are a removable adhesive dots makes it so much easier. Simply put a few dots on the back of your photo.

Place your photo on a grid background like a glass mat, lining up the top & side with the ruler guides. The photo will stay in position with the Pixie Dots. This makes lining up your frame super simple. Make sure your photo is at least 1/4" larger than the frame opening. 

Use a strong tape like Redline or Supertape & tape around the edges of the frame. Carefully lower the frame down on top of the photo, using the lines as a guide for proper placement. Shazam a personalized frame for your photo. 

To attach the 2 frames together the netting from a peach turned out to be just perfect. These pieces are just glued on and a tad fragile. I wish I had thought of it ahead of time as I would have used brads before the frame was built. It would have been tricky but more secure. 

Lastly I attached a chain & some charms to a lacrosse medal the kids had received. The clock represents all the time that was invested in the sport & of course their #24. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you have a chance to check out my teammates work this month as we play with all things left over! Have a great day. 

Supplies:

• Eileen Hull Shadowbox Frame #2 by Sizzix
•  Thermoweb Pixie Dots
• "        "   Ultrabond
• "         " Redline Tape

Eileen Hull Shadow Box with 49th & Market.

 Hello Eileen Hull fans, it is time for the start of a new month which brings about a new theme. 1st can I say... how the heck is it MAY???? Our theme for the month is Birds, Nests & Eggs. You can play along in the Eileen Hull Fan Club Facebook group. Hope to see you there. *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.  **some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This helps me deliver free content!

Here is one of the latest die cuts called Shadowbox Frame #2. I used 49th & Market paper which is really nice & sturdy and makes for a great frame. The collection is called Vintage Artistry, Hike More. It is harder to find as they these papers to sell out pretty quickly. You can find the link below & an alternate suggestion. 

I wanted to make the paper be directional & have some control over which elements showed on the front side. Therefore started by cutting a piece of clear acetate & marked the lines with a sharpie. Then made a diagram that showed which piece would be left side vrs. right side etc. 

You can see from this photo that in order for the frame to fit together you want the diagonal, with the tab portion facing inside and matched with a straight side end. Before I adhered the individual piece I cut out the butterfly & flower, using a kraft knife on a mat. Put a strong wet glue like Art Glitter Glue or Ultrabond on the inside of the tab & inside edge of that piece. Push the square into the space, the tab will fold as you do. Below is a video, which Eileen made.

If you want to see how the frame is put together Eileen shows you at the 12:05 minute mark. You can also watch the whole video to see the entire release! Hot Tip: Use a scoreboard or another tool that has a 90 degree edge so you can use it as a guide to keep the pieces square as you assemble. 

Once my frame was dry & nicely set up I measured the background paper & a piece of card board, cut and adhered to the back. This gives the frame more stability. Here is an example using different paper. You can cover both sides of the card board to create a nice backside piece.

Time to decorate! I cut out one of the houses from the Elements set using wood grain paper & covered it in clear embossing powder.  The door was embossed with Crackling Campfire Glaze, and glued in after.

This was adhered along with the picket fence from the same set. Also some ephemera from 49th & Market. 

Hot Tip: Take a piece of mat board & adhere a pixie dot to it. Pixie dots are a removable glue dot that will hold your paper but not tear the delicate die cut. That way you can heat emboss without using tweezers & having to touch your piece up.

I wanted my metal title which is a word band, to show up. It was colored with Distress Crayon and adhered using Redline Tape. 

The top of my box was finished with some washi tape, this helped cover the holes made from cutting the images on the front. I also added a handle just for fun. 

The last step was to decorate the backside as well. Now my frame can be displayed on a table & be happy looking, from both sides. Bonus: I have a lovely table decor item that reminds me of my friendly hummingbirds! I hope you have the chance to make one of these cool shadow boxes, they are a touch addicting and also make great gifts. Be sure to check out the other projects that my teammates are making, & check back throughout the month. Have a great day!

Supplies:

• Eileen Hull Shadowbox Frame #2 by Sizzix
• "        "      Shadowbox Elements by Sizzix
  
•  Clear Embossing Powder by Sizzix
  
• 49th & Market - Vintage Artistry Paper
• "             "      - Collage Stack
•  "             " Botanical Collection 
• Art Glitter Glue
• Thermoweb Pixie Dots
• "        "   Ultrabond
• "         " Redline Tape
  
• Distress Crayon- Twisted Citron
• Distress Glaze- Crackling Campfire