Making An Eileen Hull Journal Out Of Resin

Hi Resin Fans, I have a 2 part Resin project tutorial for you over on the Resin Obsession blog. This is such a cool project & I was so excited that it worked!!! I challenged myself to make a journal book using resin to create it, die cut & have it be the base of the cover. 

Resin Journal with Wings!

Here is my finished project. As a designer I have made a lot of projects over the years but I have to say this is one of my favorites. It took some time but it was so worth it! 

Die Cutting with Resin

Part 1 of the project has directions for making the cover out of resin, how to die cut it & how to string it together. I I used Eileen Hull's Wrap Journal die which is perfect for this project but you could also use any of her other journal dies as well. The tutorial for creating the base of the book is here. 

Part 2 shows how I made the wings using resin, a mold & Resin Obsession pigments for color. It teaches how to complete the cover including tips for a closure & working on a transparent surface. The results are a unique book with 4 signatures, that can be used for anything. The tutorial covers adding magnet closures as well as tips & tricks to adhering resin onto resin! You can find part 2 here.

Thanks for looking & I hope you have a chance to go check out my tutorial!! Resin is so much fun to play with & the possibilities for making these books is only limited by your imagination! 

I am entering this book in the Mini Album Maker's contest. If you haven't seen this blog there is tons of awesome inspiration over there so I hope you check it out!

"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!

 

Sizzix Diecut Organizer with Eileen Hull Journal

Hello die cutting fans, today I am making a Sizzix die organizer using Eileen Hull's Passport die. If you are anything like me you may find yourself with either lots of unused dies and/or lots of die cuts that you can never find when you need them. You may also have lots of dies but find when it is time to add one, pulling everything out is too daunting. Either way you may not be using your die cuts to their potential! 

I am here to change that with an organizer that is functional, fun & easy to make! A pretty place to store your die cuts so you can batch cut & have easy quick access when you need to find that special flower, butterfly, or tag...plus it is full of color & looks great sitting near your desk. 

Inside my journal I added photo albums to store my die cuts. There are plenty of spaces to add to this collection & it will be easy to see my cuts if I need to pull any out to pop them on my projects. Let's get started!

Start by cutting a spine using the Passport die. Cut 1 spine piece using the Passport die & cut this piece in half. This technique allows you to create a book in whatever size you want. The signatures of this book are soft covered mini photo albums that fit 4x6 pictures. I cut 2 pieces of mat board larger than the front of the books, it ended up measuring 5 1/4"x 7".

Using Eileen's color blends spritz the mat board with a very light spritz of water & color both side of the spine. The water helps the ink to blend smoothly. I used a paper palette to get the colors flowing. Create the outside covers the same way using random color with the Color Blends. Add to the covers with stamped images. I will adhere paper to the inside of the covers so there is no need to color the other side. 

I wanted to add some foiling to the covers. Place down a stencil & using Deco Foil Transfer Gel, scrape a layer with a palette knife. Set aside until the gel goes from white to clear,it will take 30 minutes to an hour. 

Heat your laminator so it is warm-10 minutes. Place pieces of foil over the raised gel area. I chose to use different colors, in keeping with my cover.

Place the cover between a folded piece of parchment paper & send it through the laminator, the folded side first. 

Peel off the foil & voila you will have a raised foiled image- very cool. Here is a little sneak-gotta love the shimmer & how metallic sparkle the images turned & because I used different color strips the colors are very dynamic. 

I did the spine using the same technique.

Next I decided to add a name plate to the cover using one of Therm*O*Web's Clear Designer Transfer Sheets. I die cut "Doodles" & "Distressed Lines" using Eileen's Journal die. This die comes with 3 other images, a tab, hinge & book plate. I ran it through the laminator per the instructions using the Fancy Foils in Glittering Green- this foil has the look of embedded sequins- very different. 

Once the foil was pulled off, the swirly circle image was covered in foil on a transparent sheet. This piece I backed with paper cut from the same die shape & adhered with brads. The whole thing is very shimmery like the circle on the far left. Hummm the potential for fun with these sheets is great & they come in many different flavors!!   

Next up was paper from Dylusions Creative Dyary, they are pre-printed with Dyan Reaveley's fabulous backgrounds. I tear them out of the book & use them in other projects. They were used for the inside covers, pocket, & name plate. I also cut them & added a Dylusions stamp and then a quote for the first page of every book. I made 3 books but realized they are pretty thick so there is really only room for 2 with the idea the books will expand as I add die cut shapes in the sleeves.

All that was left was to string my book & add a closure. I get a lot of questions on how to string these books especially when the elastic is hidden from the spine so I did a video on 2 different ways to string the book. 

The final touch was to add a title. I used a Sizzix Thinlet from Eileen's set Book Plate Hinge & Label to add a title. The die is being held down by Therm O Web's purple tape, which is perfect to hold your paper down when you die cut & easily pulls up without damaging the paper. 

Here is a shot of the title added on & a good view of the foiled images! I hope you enjoyed this project, leave me a comment & take time to make one yourself!! Have a great inky day. 

*this post was sponsored with product from Eileen Hull Designs by Sizzix & Therm*O*Web* thanks to these companies I can bring you this fun project!