New Eileen Hull Display Stand Release!!!

Happy New Year & with it brings new Eileen Hull die cuts by Sizzix! This whole month the team will be showing the newest dies with brilliant ways to use them! First up is the Display Stand. This is an XL die that works in the Big Shot, Vagabond... It cuts in one piece & can be flattened to send in the mail or for easy transport.

I really wanted a stand that could have multiple functions as the winter months go by. This way I can change what it is holding to fit either a calendar, photo, canvas or even decorative tags & projects. 

Let's go!!! The stand cuts & scors and makes for pretty easy assembly. I ran mat board through 1st. Then I added adhesive to the part that will be the back stop & the ledge using double sided adhesive & foil.

I ran this through a snow embossing folder. This folder is discontinued but you may already have it or could use the newer 3-D version for a similar look. 

Whatever you decide to cover you stand in, paper, ink or foil remember that the edges will show unless the edges are wrapped, colored or inked. I did a bit of both. Some of the edges had foil wrapped around the edges, some were inked with a silver paint pen. 

This was my 1st time playing with the Display Stand, so I have some tips for you. The front of the stand is a bit smaller than the back so you will need something to cover the mat board or your stand will have a white edge. I added glitter washi tape. This made the perfect edging for my project.  

I loved the color of the foils I choose but decided to add some purple to the Lapis Watercolor foil. This is also a great way to cover any mistakes that may have occurred along the way.  

If you would like to see the basics of playing with foil & adhesive you can check out my video here. 

To assemble the stand simply bend at the scored areas. Take the w shaped flap & bend it then push it through the gap. 

Keep pushing the piece through sliding the "W" portion pushing the stand piece back, 

until the middle of the W clips into the tabbed hole. 

Then simply bend over the flap front bringing it down toward that same gap. It will clip into the base quite nicely.

I added a lip to the edge of the stand so any paper or tags would easily stay put. This also gave me a place to add my flocked snowflake. It was made with layers of card stock, adhesive & flocking then simply die cut. The layers were too thick to cut through but made for a very cool embossed look. I didn't use the flock the way it is intended as I thought the die too delicate to mess with.  

I hope you get a chance to check what my teammates have come up with & be sure to check back this month as it is reveal month! Creativation is mid January so we will be up to all sorts of crafty shenanigans. Until next time- spend some time getting inky!

Supplies:

Eileen Hull Display Stand 

               - Double Sided Adhesive

Snowflake embossing folder

or 3-D Textured Impression

Foil Transfer Sheets in Lapis Watercolor & Rainbow Shattered Glass. 

Flock Transfer Sheets in Blue Sky
Stamps by Darkroom Door
Embossing by Emerald Creek 

 *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.

Angel Mix Media Monday for Topflight Stamps

Hello Blogland, I am here with a quick tutorial making an angel mix media card for Topflight Stamps. I was sent a stamp set from Crafty Individuals & not going to lie it was a challenge to make some mix media fun with it. 

Paper piecing the angel image using gel press pages gives this card a mix media vibe for sure. As the angel with the gel prints was quite busy and had a lot of pattern going on I decided to keep the rest of the page simple- never an easy task for me. 

Let's get started! First step was to pick some background Gel Plate prints. Using a stamp press, stamp on the paper with an archival ink until you get some good images. I like using a press because the gel prints are made with acrylic paint so it is sometimes hard to get a good stamped image. The press alleviates this challenge. Cut out the pieces. Stamp the full angel image on a piece of card stock & assemble the pieces on top. Adhere. I left the face blank so I could color that in using a bit of water color & some markers.

Stamp the background paper with the star banner & heat emboss in black detail powder. I used the press for this as well to get a fully covered image. Check positioning of angel before doing this step.

Color in the stars using metallic paint pens. Adhere 1/8" SuperTape along the edges of the card. Place the foil pretty side up on the tape & simply rub with your finger. The foil easily adheres to the tape. Pull the sheet of foil off to reveal the cool metallic shine! If you miss a spot simply replace the foil and rub. 

Assemble & voila, you can use this as a card, or art journal page. Love that foil border!! Thanks for joining me today, I hope you have the chance to get inky!!! Remember use my code karenbearse to save 12% off you order at Topflight Stamps. 

Supplies:

Christmas Collection-set 1 by That's Crafty. 

Stamp Press by Hunkydory 

Embossing Ink

SuperTape 1/8"

Rainbow Shattered Glass Foil

*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 may help me continue to bring you techniques & more inspiration.

Re-purposed Canvas Tote with Eileen Hull's House Ornament Die Cut

Hello Blogland, I am here today with a fun re-purposed canvas tote using Eileen Hull's newest House Ornament die. I am sure you have received a canvas bag or 2 that maybe the logo no longer applies or you are bored with. I decided to give one of mine new life!! 

Here is my fun bag!!! This was a project that really allowed me to play with different techniques. Once I got going it was easy to just keep adding & adding.... This is a no sew project but you can easily add sewing to the list if you like. I still may zig zag stitch around the houses. 

The House Ornament die will cut a piece of mat board & score allowing you to make a strong 3D house. As I just wanted the house shape I made a template using the mat board piece, & then a piece of paper to mark where to cut off the tabs. This will make it easier to cut the tabs off the fabric shape as the score lines may not show up. 

Let's get started!! There is a supply list at the bottom of this post so you can see the products used that made this an easy no sew project. Start with either a plain canvas bag or as I did re-purposing one. The logo for this bag was in black so I covered it with a coat of black gesso, let that dry & then added a coat of white gesso. This covered the logo nicely & gave my bag some tooth so the stencil images would adhere nicely. Hot tip: wash you hands after this step so you don't put black finger smudges on your project!

While that was drying, it was time to cut some fabric. Using a few pieces of batik & some Heat & Bond Fusible Fleece was a good place to start. Following the directions I cut the fleece the size of the fabric needed. I ended up cutting each fabric piece separately.

I used my iron, on the steam setting to pre-shrink the fleece & then to adhere it on the back of the fabric (as per the directions). This will give my houses that puffy quilted look. I cut one house but realized I wanted to have a no sew option so my work around was to use another layer of iron-on adhesive. Using Heat & Bond Lite (this gives me the option of sewing) was the answer. You could use Ultra-hold instead for a stronger bond without sewing.

I simply cut a piece the size of my fabric, moved my iron to no steam, med heat & adhered according to the directions. 

This piece only has the fleece adhered.

Next step was to run these fabric pieces through & cut my houses. Put the piece fabric side down & run it through your Big Shot or equivalent. The steel rule die easily cut through the layers to leave me with the nice little house. I trimmed the flaps off using my template. Voila! 

I cut 3 houses & positioned them on my project to see what else I wanted to do.  

This is where the fun really started! I decided to make some stencils using Eileen's flower dies & acetate packaging. Next I sprayed the back of my stencils with Pixie Spray. This is a "light tack, repositionable adhesive for stencils" it helped stick the stencil down so my ink didn't bleed underneath making the image sharper. 

Using Colorblends 2, I stenciled flowers around where my houses would be, so some of the flowers would peak out behind the house. I heat set the flowers as I went adding layers of petals once the bottom flower was dry. 

Using a posca paint pen I outlined the flowers giving them a sketchy look. I also added a leaf diecut using Flock Transfer sheets. Love the look of this material. 

Time to add my houses. I heat set my houses with an iron, following the directions on the Heat & Bond package. I also had to add my wee Minion on there just for fun. He is made of fabric & I just followed the same steps as the houses, then cut fussy cut him out. 

Now my repurposed bag is already to go for a shop maybe at a fabric store so I can make another?!!! Thanks so much for joining me here. I hope that I inspired you to play with some of Eileen's dies, fabric & Thermoweb products! Have an inky day!!

Supplies:

Eileen Hull dies by Sizzix- House Ornament, Spring Leaves, Flower w/Heart Petal, Hydrangeas. 

Color Blends 2 in Pansy, Bay, Beach, Hydrangea, Sunshine, Wildberry,  Melon, Tutu, Coconut.

Therm O Web- Pixie Spray, Fleece Fusible, Heat & Bond Lite,  Flock Transfer Sheet in Green Envy.

Canvas Bag

Gesso & Black Gesso

Posca Pens in black. 

*Thanks to Therm O Web, Sizzix & Eileen Hull for supplying me products to experiment with!!!
*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.

Upcycled Journal with Eileen Hull & Thermoweb

Hello fans of the journal, today I have a fun, functional recycled journal using Eileen Hull's diecut & Thermoweb products. The Inspiration Team are playing in a cross promotion in the month of May using Thermoweb. I will have a number of projects over the coming months playing with their vast array of fun. 

For this project I used a recycled shopping bag. I love the patterns on these bags and it brings in the opportunity to make a durable book that is perfect for using everyday in & out of your purse. The bags are made of a plastic which makes them easy to wipe off if they get dirty. Supply List is below.

I have a full video tutorial for you on my YouTube channel. This video took hours & hours to create, mainly as I am learning a lot about editing like moving clips in different places,  fast forward with music etc. I hope you like it!

I am entering this in the Mini Album Makers Challenge! There is always great inspiration over there!

Supply List:
*a few of these companies have been generous with supplying product for me to create this project. Hopefully one day I will get affiliation marketing going but for now I just love to create.

Eileen Hull- Journal & Journaling Words diecuts by Sizzix
Thermoweb - Foam Adhesive, Easy-Cut Adhesive, Purple Tape
Flower Flair- A Flair For Buttons
Paper by Ciao Bella
Shopping Bag- TJMaxx
Journey Books- Paper House Productions

Let's Decorate the Inside of My As the Crow Flies Wrap Journal

Hello Blogland, today I am back to decorate the inside of my spooky wrap journal from last week! I love making these books but I am less fabulous at working on the inside. DCWV gave the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team a paper stack to play with. I scored the Spooky & Sparkly stack. I thought today I would come up with some simple formulas to create pages. This makes it easy as I work through my book to add tags, flips & pockets.

 Here is a hodge podge of items I made to include in my book. It is kinda hard to just take one photo to show all the fun. There is a flip through video of my book too, below so you get to see all the nummyness! Working from one paper line can make the job easier as it limits the "now where did I put that...favorite sticker" syndrome.

Here is a photo and link to make the outside of my As the Crow Flies Wrap Journal. 

First up on the day I started creating this project, a fine fall day in October, it was 82 degrees out. This makes it a little tough to get in the Halloween mood. The obvious solution was to crank up the AC, put a Halloween t-shirt & cardigan on & have Nightmare Before Christmas movie & a few episodes of Supernatural on to set the tone!

I made a video flip through so you can see all the fun elements in this book. Plus I have the written tutorial with some of the highlights & supplies for making this spooky book.You can find this 12x12 paper stack at Joann Fabrics.

I started by cutting my paper stack. The great thing about this paper pad is there are 2 pieces of each paper plus a sticker sheet. I have 1 booklet to show you today with the idea of adding to it. I cut paper in 2 sizes- 6.5" x 4.5" & 8.5" x 4.5. I cut the height 4.5" as I wanted to be able to use elastics & slide the booklets in & out. If I was adding them in permanently I could have made the books a little taller.  Beware of the pattern when cutting so your bats are flying right! 

I have been working on batch creating to save time. The idea is instead of creating one item you work in batches to save time. I also wanted to add in distressed ruled paper so I cut some of that. This is one of my favorite techniques, cause the paper ends up all crunchy. I distressed the paper with Eileen's Colorbox Blends in Ebony & mixed up some water colors on my craft mat with the Blends & water. Did you know that Bay & Wildberry make a very pretty purple? 

Next up was to add some stamping. Basically stamped a little something at the top & bottom or 2 corner sides. I can always add titles as I go. 

Time for tags! Using the Blends to distress the edges of some tags, plus some more stamping. These tags can be used for photos, journaling or ephemera. Maybe a favorite candy wrapper!

Let's add foil. The paper stack by DCWV has silver foil touches that go fabulously with the paper line. I decided to add some more foil using Therm*O*Web & various techniques to make that happen. So many options!! Using one of Eileen's latest thinlet dies- Journal Card, Flower & Leaves to cut double sided adhesive. The purple tape you see holds the die in place during cutting without tearing the paper for easy removal.

Remove one side of the backing & place foil shiny side up. Simple burnish with a bone folder or your finger. Lift foil off & you are left with a shiny, happy, embellishment sticker that can be placed where ever you need to add some wow. In this case I added some to my pockets & tags. 

The second way to add foil is using Peel n'Stick Transfer sheets. For this you need a heat laminator. I die cut the word wander & added a new foil called Glittering Green which is so cool as it has the look of sequins kind of embedded in it. Sandwich the die cut with the foil color side up between a piece of parchment sheet & run it through the laminator. 

The 3rd way was making a side tuck spot using Deco Foil Clear Toner Sheets. Here is a Therm*O*Web video showing the sheets & how to use the heat laminator. 

Finally using the Transfer Gel I edged a card with it & added red foil. This is also a great way to add some stencil work. Simply apply the gel, let dry clear & use the same sandwich as above to set the foil on your project. 

This book definitely required lots of pockets, tags & tucks. I cut some tags with Eileen's die & paper from the stack using the Credit Card, Sleeve & Tag die then added tabs using her other dies. See my video above for more info on the individual die pieces used. 

Here is an example of the Credit card sleeve at work on the left side. The right side has a simple pocket. The spider & crow are stickers from the paper stack. 

Who says Halloween can't have flowers? I cut them using the Flower & Leaves dies out of one dark, & one light foiled paper & sandwiched them with a brad. The flower was used as a tab to lift the pocket card. I added some washi at the top to make the card flip. This book was so much fun to make & is now ready to go as I take photos this Halloween season. As the book has room for 4 signatures I can add more to it. Please head over to Eileen Hull's Blog to see what the rest of the Inspiration team is up to this week!! 

Supplies:

•  Eileen Hull dies by Sizzix- Credit Card Sleeve & Tags/ Journal Card, Flower & Leaves/ Journaling Words/ Bookmark-Tag & Pocket/ Bookplate, Hinges & Label/ Wrap Journal
• Clearsnap Color Blends
• Tim Holtz dies by Sizzix- Stacked Labels, Movers & Shapers: Mini Cat & Raven
• DCWV (Die Cuts With A View) Spooky & Sparkly Set
• Therm*O*Web- DecoFoil- Designer Toner Sheets, Peeln'Stick Toner Sheets, Transfer Gel, Foil Transfer Sheets. Purple Tape
• Stamps by Recollections, Inkadinkado, Stampers Anonymous.
• Tim Holtz- Ephemera & Charms

Let's Play with Whales Journal Page

Hi Blog Land, I have a fun whale journal page for you today on the Southern Ridge Trading Co. blog. SRTC has lots of wonderful sea themed chipboard pieces that are perfect for your crafting needs!

This is the first page from My Favorite Memories book that I posted last week. You can see it here with a full tutorial. There are more photos over on SRTC blog and a bit of a tour . Please hop on over there for a tour of my page! See you next time.

Rebekah Meier by Therm O Web Mix Media Journal

Very excited to be playing along with Rebekah Meier using her line of Therm*O*Web Mixed Media products to make a Mix Media Journal. This is a Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop so I hope you join in & see what the other designers have made! 

I used my product pieces to create this Mix Media Journal using the Eileen Hull Journal die as my base. Yes I am completely addicted to this die but you could use these techniques on a canvas, in your art journal, cards, tags or the cover of a mini album etc. There are multiple techniques that I will be highlighting so please play along! There is also a supply list at the end of the post. 

Thanks so much to Therm*O*Web for the generous box of goodies so I could play & experiment! 

 

Technique 1: Playing with Tape

A very simple way to create dynamic art tape. Using Rebekah's Mix Media Art Tape, simply peel off the backing & adhere the tape to your craft mat. Leave strips of tape & as you art the tape will pick up the products you are using. When you are happy with the background simply add some stamping & use your eclectic tape! Great for an art journal, tag, even along the edge of your planner.

Another way to do this is simply create your tape by swiping multiple colors of Glimmer Glam to create a colorful glittery background. When dry use as is or stamp some background images or text. The tape can be used washi style, for a binding on a book, as an accent to the edge of a planner. Limitless and the great thing is you can custom color it. 

 

Technique 2: Foil with Mix Media Tape

Oh this is a fun one & there are all kinds of different applications once you start playing with this. We are going to use the sticky side of the tape this time. I used a piece of the finished tape, adhered it to some mat board with Rebekah's double sided adhesive. It was die cut & you can see it will be used as tabs for my book.

Peel off the backing of the tape and adhere your tape sticky side up to your craft mat using a couple pieces of washi tape. Take a stencil, place it on top of the tape. The great thing is the stencil will stick to the tape making working easy. Using acrylic paint stencil multiple images in different colors. Use just bits of the stencil image or have smaller images like the butterfly. Rebekah has some great mixed image stencils for this technique. 

Once the paint is dry simply take your foil & shiny side up rub with your finger onto the tape. Where there is no paint the foil will stick creating a cool, shiny metallic tape. I used New Penny & Patina. I liked the look of some of the white so I left it but if you don't, simply reapply more foil. I covered this with a coat of the mixed media medium to seal it & protect it.

Ok I had to add this wee video in. THIS IS MY FIRST EDITED VIDEO!!!! WOHOOO.

Technique 3: Die cut using Foam Sheets

Love THIS!!! Rebekah's Mixed Media Foam Sheets are double sided adhesive. The ideas are once again endless. Peel one side of backing off & adhere paper, fabric or foil. Die cut an image. Simply peel off the adhesive & adhere to your project. You can paint, ink, wax, use whatever product you want to colorize.

Using this technique I made my center piece "x"  & circles  using Seth Apter dies. This is a super easy way to add height to the die cuts. I adhered word search paper to one side of the foam & ran through my die cutting machine 2x. It cut through like butter! I ran the same image through to create a 2nd piece using just the foam. I also made a 3rd piece to create my "x".

The bottom layered piece was adhered sideways to the cover. Hot tip: the foam is pliable & can lose it's shape if handled too much. I found it easier to stick each layer down to a base as I built the embellishment. That helped it maintain it's shape. 

Once my sideways X base was down, I peeled up the backing only where I wanted my foil to be. I rubbed Patina on the sideways X portion and where there are gaps on the next layer. After painting my second layer iron color, (the word paper covered layer) simply peel off the adhesive backing & position on the base piece.

After rubbing foil on the X piece, I ran a brad through it, peeling the backing off before bending the back part of the brad. Now my brad won't turn around. Adhere the X to the middle of the piece. 

The same technique of adding paper to foam was used to create the circles on the back. They were then painted with acrylic paint & glaze mix. Oh this gives all my dies a new life potential!!

Technique 4: Foiling with a Stencil

Seriously one of my favorite techniques. Just scrape some of the Mixed Media Medium through a stencil with a spatula. Let dry which actually doesn't take too long, maybe 10 minutes. You will know it is dry when the product is clear. It will be nice & sticky. Apply foil color side up & rub with your finger or a bone folder. Bam a beautiful metallic image will appear! 

This technique was used randomly over the cover of my book. I just love how it looks! This is a great way to add some wow to your art journal, scrapbook or mix media images. The medium holds it's shape so you get a raised metallic image. I used Vintage Tin for the cover. 

I hope you enjoyed my techniques with foil! If you want to complete this type of journal there is a tutorial here. I used the same steps to make this journal. Thanks so much for joining me today. Please hop along to the other gals blogs & leave us some comments!! Have an inky day.

Anita Scroggins
 Susan Brown
Nadine Carlier
Candy Rosenberg
Steph Ackerman

Supply List:

Rebekah Meier by Therm*O*Web

• Mixed Media Art Paper
• Mixed Media Foam Sheets
• Mix Media Adhesive Sheets
• Mixed Media Medium
• Mixed Media Transfer Foil in Vintage Tin, Patina & New Penny

Rebekah Meier Stencils by The Crafter's Workshop (TCW)

• 6x6 Grow Page
• 6x6 Stencil Postcard
• 6x6 Specimen

Eileen Hull Journal Die by Sizzix
Seth Apter Die:Drip Drop, Coffee Ring, Cross Bars
        "        Stamps: ConText, Pattern Play
Glimmer Glam by Tattered Angels: Organic Garden & Light Blue
Goldens: Micaceous Iron Oxide, Permanent Violet Dark, Acrylic Glazing Liquid.
Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso.