May Flowers at Art With Heart

Hello Friends

What better way to celebrate May than with Eileen Hull's latest flower releases!  So the Inspiration Team are celebrating all month by showcasing some of Eileen's new flower dies and also her re-release dies.

Today, I have used Eileen's re-released Candy Box die and the latest flower release - Heart & Soul Flower die.  I also used Eileen's fabulous Sunburst Embossing Folder.

I wanted a rusted tin effect for my box with galvanised steel accessories.

A close-up of the Heart & Soul flower.

I prepared the box cover first, by painting some card with DecoArt Media Fluid, Burnt Umber and once dry the card was embossed with Eileen's Sunburst Embossing Folder.

A coat of DecoArt Antiquing Cream in English Red Oxide was applied, when dry it was wiped over with a slightly damp cloth.

Next, I die cut the candy box and assembled it as per the instructions.  I painted all the edges with DecoArt Media Fluid in Raw Umber.

I covered the box and drawer with the 'rusted' card and then dry brushed DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue to give a slight patina look.  When I attended an Andy Skinner class recently, he said that you should always 'try out' techniques on a scrap - which is what the little scrap at the front is

To create the flower centre and the drawer pull I painted  them with a mix of  DecoArt Grey Value 3, a drop of Prussian Blue Hue and a drop of white.  This gives the look of galvanised metal.

Once the flower was die cut, I used the Waffle Embossing Folder (in the same pack as the Sunburst folder above).

To create feet for the Candy Box I used some scrabble pieces, two glued together for each of the feet, painted with Raw Umber.

Here is another look at the finished box, I hope you like it!

Thanks so much for your visit, if you would like to see more the new release flowers and re-released dies, the team will be posting their creations each week on Eileen Hull's BLOG.

Take care, hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne xx

Artist Trading Block Favourites

Hello Friends

I apologise for my long absence and lack of visits, hopefully by early next month

I will be be in a better position to rectify that, I hope you will bear with me....

This month at Art With Heart we are not having a challenge (and things are being changed up for future months).  Eileen Hull has released some fabulous new products at CHA (like the cantilever sewing box I featured here and here) and Eileen has also re-released some all time favourite dies.  One of these is the large Artist Trading Block (ATB) die (Szzix 658983) which is my personal favourite.  The Design Team are showcasing these re-released dies during this month. 

First up is my Artist Trading Block Storage Cabinet, details of which can be found here.  I used some fabulous G45 papers to cover the cabinet.  This shows how versatile the ATB die is, you can create 3D projects with it.

Next is my Valentine Heart Box, details can be found here.  This was the first ATB I ever made and DH still has it out on show to this day.

My next choice is my Circus themed ATB using Tim Holtz's Big Top Circus stamp set (details here).

Another favourite is an Andy Skinner inspired ATB, made using DecoArt products and Andy's Faux Letterpress Technique (details here)

My final choice is a project made for our lovely DT member Anna-Karin, we held a virtual baby shower for her, following the birth of her beautiful baby Leo (details here)

I hope you can see how wonderfully versatile the Artist Trading Block (ATB) die is.  I have made houses with it - and even a steam train, it is such a fun die to use.

Edited:  I have had some very exciting news.  Thanks to Eileen Hull and Jo Packham of 'Where Women Create'  I have had four pieces published in Sizzix's newest book release 'Make it a Party'.  I am so thrilled and honoured, it is a beautiful book and wonderfully illustrated and it is my first time ever being published!!

Thanks for looking, take care and I hope to see you soon!

Hugs, Anne xx

Art With Heart - Dr Whoot and his Tardis

Hello Everyone

I am still on my blog break, this is a scheduled Design Team post for Eileen Hull's Art With Heart where the challenge this month is Favourite Fall Things.  One lucky winner will receive Eileen's Vintage Camper die from her new Vintage Travel range of dies!

When I think of Fall/Autumn I generally think of Halloween, autumn leaves and harvest time, but it is also the time when some of my favourite TV programmes start - like Downton Abbey, Strictly and so on.  It is also the new season for Dr Who (who I admit I have not watched in a while).  My favourite Dr Who character was Tom Baker, a rather colourful Dr Who with very distinctive eyes.....

I have been wanting to used Eileen's Artist Trading Block die to make a Tardis for some time and along with my current love, the Bird Crazy and Accessories stamps from Tim Holtz, I created Dr Whoot and his Tardis...

I cut out all of the elements first and stacked two ATB's on top of one another (I used the middle one from Eileen's ATB die 658984).  I measured, drew and cut out the four pairs of doors with a craft knife and then made a plinth for the bottom and two for the top.

I painted all of the elements with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paint in Ultramarine Blue.

I added some white card behind the top windows and then cut and painted some strips for the sides of the Tardis.

Once assembled, I added a small Tim Holtz Idea-ology bottle for the light at the top and added a sign to the front door.

I stamped the Bird Crazy 'owl' bird and used Tim's thinlit dies to cut him out and coloured him with Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks.  I added a hat from the Accessories stamp set.  The scarf was created with a piece of calico fabric, painted in stripes with Tim Holtz Distress Markers.

I don't know about you but I think there is quite a good likeness between Dr Whoot and Tom Baker's character....or is it my vivid imagination I wonder...

Please be sure to check out Eileen's blog where you will see a wonderful Fall/Autumn creation from my DT buddy Tracy Evans here and from my DT buddy Pam Bray here.  There will be more inspiration from my teamies every Tuesday.  We would love it if you joined in!

As always, thanks for looking, hope to see you soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

Make it 3D for Art With Heart

Thank you so much for all your well wishes, I truly appreciate it, I think I am on
 the right side of it now.   You really are the best!

Well, the title says it all really - I love making 3D projects so I was in my element doing this Design Team project - or should I say - three projects for Art With Heart!  If you join in the challenge you could win the die that will Make It 3D!  See the challenge HERE.  You don't have to use Eileen's 3D die to enter, just show us a 3D project.

The wonderfully talented Eileen Hull designed a die that can be used to make almost any flat project into a 3D project so I have taken Eileen's Thinlits die - Travel Trailer, Tim Holtz's Layered Butterfly and also Tim's Pocket Watch dies and made them all 3D.   I will try to keep the words to the minimum as there are quite a few pictures, I hope I don't bore you!

My three finished 3D pieces.

I started with Eileen's Thinlits Travel Trailer and also some of the Make It 3D pieces.

In this photo you can see the difference in size between Eileen's Bigz XL Trailer and the Thinlits one, which is only 3 inches long.  Eileen is off soon on her Paper Trail around USA in her vintage trailer, Scotty so it just seemed right to commemorate this with a mini trailer.

Next up with Tim Holtz's Pocket Watch die and again I used the Make it 3D dies to 

add dimension.

The pieces, once assembled were painted with DecoArt Metallic Silver Media Paint, it gives great coverage and has a lovely light sheen.

I used some beautiful Maja Design paper for the background and the flowers, the flowers are from Eileen's Borders and Hydrangea Bigz die. The young ladies are from Tim's Found Relatives. It was hard to capture the image, it is so dull and overcast here these days.

It was a little trickier making the butterfly box but I wanted to show the versatility of Eileen's 3D die.  The box and butterfly were painted entirely with DecoArt Media paints shown.  I also used Weathered Wood Crackle Medium on the box and Ranger's Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint on the butterfly topper.

The crackled butterfly was added to the top of the box and then I added some wire antennae and seed bead for the body.  I also cut off the 'swallowtail' part of the tail so that the box can stand up - it will also lie flat.

We hope you will join in the challenge HERE, you could win the Make It 3D die, just imagine how many things you could make 3D!  At the moment you stand a very good chance of winning too!  You don't need to use Eileen's die to enter, just make something 3D!

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx

Art With Heart - Love Grows Here

I am loving using my Eileen Hull dies and this one is no exception.  My creation for Art With Heart this month features Eileen's Window Box die.  If you join in the 'Projects to Love' challenge this month you could win one of Eileen's fabulous cookie box dies.  See here for more details.

Since we are still in the month of love, I created a love themed window box card for some family members who are moving house soon.  I used my new DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics, which are just fantastic.  If you want to see more of the paints and how to use them, just visit DecoArt's Mixed Media Blog for more information.

The wall at the back is created using Wendy Vecchi's wall stencil and DecoArt's Media Texture Sand Paste.  Once this was dry I spritzed it with some watered down DecoArt Quinacridone Red, mixed with a little Quinacridone Gold.  The bricks have a wonderful textured feel to them and they look amazingly realistic.

The window frame and window box were given a coat of DecoArt Titanium White and once dry I applied some Weathered Wood Crackle Medium and finally a coat of Titan Buff Medium Fluid Acrylic.  Once dry I went over the whole area with Raw Umber Antiquing Cream.  The beauty of the cream is that it can be rubbed gently into the cracks and edges but until it is sealed (with All Purpose Sealer) it can be easily removed or just placed here and there to give an aged appearance.

The heart flowers were created by punching out three hearts for each flower, these were scored down the middle and placed back to back and then glued to the stems (also part of Eileen's window box die).  The words were stamped with a small alphabet stamp from my stash.

The curtains were created using Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric and some lace from my stash.  Behind the window I added some of Tim's Wallflower paper to give the impression of wallpaper.

There is still plenty of time to enter Eileen's 'Projects to Love' Challenge and it would be lovely to see you there.

Thanks so much for looking, I hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

I love you because.....

Interesting title I know, but it will all make sense!

It is no secret that I love Eileen Hull's 3D dies and I just got the Candy Box die and I still had the G45 French Country papers out on my desk so I made a little Valentine's gift for my DH.

I die cut the candy box cover and drawer and covered them with the G45 French Country papers.  I added some square feet and an Idea-ology piece for the handle.

I made a chunky little album to fit inside the drawer, we are both on a diet so chocolate just would not do.....  sadly!

I used the same papers to cover the album and fussy cut one of the flowers and layered this onto the front with a couple of fussy cut leaves.  One of the sheets in this paper pack is covered in these gorgeous sunflowers.

I cut another sunflower and leaves for the inside, I made 10 pages in total, so that I can put my messages on each page, so now you can see where the 'I love you because' comes from.....

For the top I added another sunflower.  I coloured some Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon with Rusty Hinge Distress Stain and made a messy bow for the flower to nestle in.

***

Eileen Hull's Art With Heart challenge for this month is 'Fresh Ideas' and this is my DT piece.  There is still plenty of time to join in the challenge, Eileen always has a fabulous prize on offer and this month is no exception.  You don't have to use a Sizzix die but it would be great if you did!

***

At Inspiration Journal the challenge for the month is 'Fresh Start' and there is a very generous $50 voucher to spend at Inspiration Emporium for one randomly chosen winner.  The die and papers I used on this project can be found at Inspiration Emporium, I have added details at the end of my post.  If you do buy from Inspiration Emporium and you use my code Redanne you can get 10% off your whole order.

Thanks for looking, hope to see you soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

Products used from Inspiration Emporium
G45 French Country 12 x 12 Paper Pack
Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon
Rusty Hinge Distress Stain

Art With Heart - Holiday Traditions - Carol Singers

Hi everyone

Firstly, I apologise if I have missed any of your recent posts, we are away at the moment and time with the Grandkids is precious.  Fingers crossed this scheduled post goes up!

Eileen Hull's fantastic challenge this month at Art With Heart is 'Holiday Traditions'.  With the festive season fast approaching we hope that you will enter one of your seasonal projects.

I was asked by one of my neighbours to create a holiday house (complete with Carolers - a holiday tradition) along the same lines as my Halloween house here.  I do love building 3D projects so of course I used my Eileen Hull Artist Trading Block dies to make the base and roof.

To create the basic structure I used two large ATBs for the main house, one medium ATB for the porch and three small ATBs for the side tower.

The exterior has been coated with Tim Holtz Texture Paste, it is lovely and white so I just gave it a very quick coat of Picket Fence Distress Paint.

The windows and doors are just all cut free hand, the windows are 'glazed' with vellum.  The wreath on the front door is created with Tim's pine twine and some red ribbon.

The Carolers are cut from clear shrink plastic which I covered with black alcohol ink before shrinking.  I decorated the trees and added a star to the top of each.

The roof has been covered with black glitter and some fake snow.  The ridge boards are cut from a Tim Holtz strip die.  The opening at the back houses a set of battery operated lights so that the house can be lit up at night.

The base has been covered with some white fleece which has had some fake snow sprinkled on.

I hope that the little scene raises a few £'s for the school funds and I hope you like it too!  I have got a commission to build another one now.....

Like I said earlier, I hope you will join in Eileen's Art With Heart challenge - Holiday Traditions. Eileen always has a wonderful prize on offer.

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I would also like to invite you to join in another challenge, over at Inspiration Journal which is 'Sing it Loud'.  You need to include music in the form of sheet music, stamping, patterned paper, die cuts etc.  As always there is a prize of $50 Emporium Dollars for one lucky winner.  If you go shopping at Inspiration Journal and use my code Redanne, you will get an amazing 10% off your whole purchase.

Thanks for looking, hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne xx

Products Used

Eileen Hull Scoreboard Die - ATB Large  or HERE

Eileen Hull Scoreboard Die - ATB (set of 3)  or HERE

Tim Holtz Texture Paste  or HERE

Distress Paint - Picket Fence  or HERE

Tim Holtz Caroler die  or HERE

Tim Holtz Strip die - Vintage Lace  or HERE

Woodland Trees - Lot  or HERE

Pine Twine   or HERE