Artist Trading Block for Eileen Hull + Giveaway

Hello Friends

I wanted to celebrate the fact that it is my 4th Anniversary with Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team!  I started out on the Artist Trading Block (ATB) side of the team and  my lovely friend Tracy Evans was on Eileen's other Inspiration Team. I thought I would mix up the Spring Flower theme for this month by creating an ATB, using Eileen's ATB die and stamps designed by Tracy for AALLandCreate.

I have a few step out photos and some brief instructions for you.

I started by created the large flower first.  I die cut the petals using Eileen Hull's Pansy Flower die and coloured them with Eileen's ColorBox Blend Ink in 'Stop' (bright red).  After spritzing the petals with water, I scrunched them up, dried them with my heat tool and assembled the flower.

The background was created by adding some ColorBox Blend to my craft mat (in 'Stop' and 'Bay' - a beautiful turquoise) and brayering this over a piece of A4 card, quite randomly until I got the desired effect.  Once dry, I used a stencil, by AALLandCreate (Stencil #28 by Autour de Mwa) and also added some marks here and there with stamps and the lid to the paint top.

Once I had die cut the 3 inch ATB, I coloured the edges with ColorBox Blend in Bay and left this to dry.  Then I cut the brayed and stenciled piece into 2.7/8" squares and inked the edges with Bay.

I stamped four of the squares with an AALLandCreate stamp (Set #70) set by my talented friend Tracy, and stamped and coloured the flowers in 'Stop' ColorBox Blend on a separate piece of card, fussy cut them and added them to the stamped flowers on the squares.  I added words to each side, again using Tracy's stamp set.

To finish off I added some black threads to the top before mounting my big flower on top.

All this month my team mates have been creating Spring Flower projects which you can see on Eileen's Blog, HERE.


Giveaway!

My other project this month was this Passport Journal die that I made into a little rusty and patina storage box and using another of Tracy's stamps for the butterfly.  To celebrate my 4th Anniversary as part of Eileen's team I would like to offer this project as a Giveaway.

If you would like a chance to win the box, please leave a comment below and I will choose a winner  on 30th May here on my blog.  You do not need to follow me but it would be quite nice if you did!  I am happy to post this box to anywhere in the world, to the winner.

Thanks so much for your visit, 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

The Artists on the Block - A Money Box

Hello everyone, as it is the third Thursday in the month, I am back with my Design Team piece for The Artists on the Block.  This time I have kept it fairly simple as it is a gift for a young man called Logan, who is absolutely dotty about buses.  He has recently had a few days in London with his Grandma and I thought it would be nice for him to have a money box to save up for his next trip.

My London themed money box also follows Eileen Hull's monthly challenge (HERE) which is red, white and blue.  Eileen has a fantastic prize on offer and you don't need to create an ATB to enter, so why not give it a try!  You have got to be in it to win it.

I started my project by cutting the largest of Eileen's Artist Trading Block (ATB) from Sizzix Mountboard.  As this was going to be a money box I also used Eileen's fabulous Money Slot Movers & Shapers die.  I used masking tape to hold it in place on my ATB base and cut it.  With hindsight I should have attached my paper to the box first and then cut it.........

I also used the die to cut through my patterned paper.  The paper is a recent release from Craftwork Cards and this pad is simply called London.  They do a Paris theme too which is also lovely. You can see the money slot in the top of the box.

I cut my pieces of card slightly smaller than the base and glued these in place.  You need to be careful and glue the papers on - the right way up for your box - ask me how I know that !....  Once assembled I decided to make a rosette to decorate one side.  I used a Darkroom Door London stamp set on one side of the box but the rest was decorated using the same paper pad.

Rosettes are easy to make.  Ideally you need a piece of paper that is 12" long but the paper pad I used was 8" x 8".  I took  a full sheet and scored the whole sheet at 1/4" intervals. and then cut two strips about 1.1/2" wide.  I added an extension to one piece to make it up to 12", concertina folded the whole piece and glued the two ends to form a 'circle' which you can see below.

Cut a circle of card or paper, take the concertina piece, place it over the circle which you should cover with strong glue or use a glue gun. Press the concertina circle down from the middle, onto the glue covered circle and hold for a few minutes.  Place another circle on the top, this will hide the centre, again using strong glue and if necessary place a weight on top until the glue has dried.

In this case I added the letter 'L' to signify London and also Logan, the young man's name.

This is a view of the top of the money box and you can clearly see the money box slot opening, which easily takes the largest of coins, and is big enough for paper money too.  I just had to add a bit of Tim Holtz in the form of the lettering for Logan's name. 

This really was the easiest of boxes to make and I do love the idea of a money box, they would make wonderful gifts for Christmas for people of all ages.  They can be sealed as in this case, or left with the lid unsealed - for easy access!

Thanks for looking and I hope to see you soon.  Take care.  Hugs, Anne xx