Eileen Hull - Share a Card Technique

Hello Everyone!

Belated Happy New Year wishes to you!  We have been under the weather in our household so I am a bit late with this post.  This month for Eileen Hull, the DT are concentrating on card techniques.

I have gone for a simple technique, not new by any means but one that is useful for covering up papers that you may not like and a great technique for making quick and easy cards.  Of course, I had to add my all time favourite of Eileen Hull's flower dies - Flower, Heart & Soul - Sizzix 661108.

The technique is very simple.  Using a piece of packaging material and your favourite die, cut two sets of flowers from the same sheet.

Cut your chosen patterned paper to size.

Stencil over the paper, I used some Cut & Dry foam and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic in Translucent White, but this would work equally well with watered down Gesso, or any chalky paint.  The idea is to create a faint outline and not not a solid print.

The leaves were cut from another of Eileen's dies - Leaves, Spring - Sizzix 661111.

To create the flower I die cut three sets of petals, and used a button from my stash for the centre.

  I die cut a sentiment using a Tim Holtz Thinlits word die and then gathered my pieces together to complete the card.

It was a last minute decision to add some splatting to the card and I did this using Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Picked Raspberry.  In real life the splatting looks beautiful, the light is very poor here today.

It took me less than half an hour to put this card together, the die cutting took the most time but you could have lots of items die cut and you could put cards together in no time - so quick and easy.

As I write this post, Eileen Hull is making her way to Creativation (formerly CHA), in Phoenix, Arizona in her beautiful vintage camper van, Scotty.  Eileen will be taking Scotty onto the convention floor and she will be demonstrating her fabulous new release of dies (they are must haves!!).  I am also thrilled to tell you that my dear and exceptionally talented friend Jenny Marples (Buttons) will be demonstrating for Eileen Hull, in the Sizzix Booth!!  If you are attending, please do try and visit both Eileen and Jenny, they would both love to see you! 

Thanks so much for your visit, I will try and catch up with you all soon. 

Hugs, Anne xx

Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or other celebration, this last week and are now looking forward to the New Year!

At A Vintage Journey it is Tag Friday time, as there are five Fridays in December.  Whilst attempting to tidy my Craft Room I found some bits and pieces that I wanted to use to make a tag.  It was lovely doing something grungy, just for fun - and not related to Christmas....

I did not do step by steps for this one, I just got a bit carried away in the process.  For those of you who like a little detail - the tag base is a Tando chipboard one, they take a lot of mediums without buckling.  The base was painted with DecoArt black Gesso, left to dry and then coated with a fairly thin layer of DecoArt Crackle Paint.  Once the paint was dry the tag was covered with a couple of thin washes of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic paint in Cobalt Teal Hue.  I lightly brushed some watered down DecoArt Quinacridone Gold, in places, over the tag.

To colour the cogs and the edges of the tag I first applied a coat of DecoArt Paynes Grey Media Fluid Acrylic, followed by a coat of Quinacridone Gold.  Whilst still wet I dabbed on some Prima Artisan Powder and left this to dry.

The heart is also Tando chipboard, it was coloured with  DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic in Pyrole Red followed by a thin layer of One Step Crackle.  The words are Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers.  They have had a light wash of DecoArt Titan Buff Media Fluid Acrylic.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and DecoArt Titan Buff paint to do the stencilling.  I wanted it to show more so I went around the stencilled words with a fine liner pen.

The heart was a little too red for my liking so I toned it down with DecoArt Antiquing Cream in Carbon Black.  Once dry, I wiped it off with a damp cloth and the cracks show up beautifully. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!

If you would like to see some more tags, created by my talented teamies, then please have a look over at A Vintage Journey, you will find some wonderful creations there!

As always, thanks for looking, I hope to see you again soon!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours
A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR,
 I hope it is a great one for you all!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Art With Heart August - Choose Your Own Theme!

It is so hard to believe that we are in August already - how did that happen??

Over at Eileen Hull's Art With Heart Challenge for August the theme is a simple one - Choose Your Own Theme!  What could be easier than that!  Eileen is asking you to dig deep into your stash and break out some oldies but goodies and make them new again.  Use forgotten dies, stamps, trims, techniques of what have you and make them new again with a fresh project.  The theme you choose is completely up to you!  There is an awesome Sizzix prize pack that you can win just for sharing your creation with us...

I have chosen to make two projects using some of the dies that are in this month's prize and another one of Eileen's older dies - the Recipe Box (cut for me by my lovely friend Kath Stewart - thank you Kath).

This is a picture heavy post so I will keep the words to the minimum.

I used DecoArt products throughout, the flowers are from Eileen's Sweet Treats for You set of dies.

I wanted to create a faux wood look, originally taught to me by my wonderful friend Jenny (Buttons).  I used part of her technique but with DecoArt paints in Titan Buff and Quinacridone Burnt Orange, followed by Andy Skinner's 'dirty wash' and then overstamped with Andy's Industrial set of stamps by Stampendous.  See lots of Andy's techniques here.

The flowers are painted with Cobalt Teal Hue Mixed Media Fluid paint and seed bead were added to the centres.  The clasp has been 'aged' with Quinacridone Gold.  The little label is from Eileen's lovely labels set of dies.  Although a Recipe Card Box, it holds packets of seeds nicely.

Next up, I created a mobile for the garden, again using Eileen's dies and DecoArt products.

The dies I used are from Eileen's Birds and Butterflies set and also the Doily Lace Medallion and the small medallion is from Eileen's Sweet Treats for You set of dies.

The elements were cut from metal covered card.

Each piece was coloured with Cobalt Teal Hue and Blue Green Light Media Fluid Paints and then dabbed over with Quinacridone Gold to give a verdigris effect.  The butterflies were embossed with Eileen's Sunburst Embossing Folder.

Close up of the medallions.

A close up of the beautiful embossed butterfly (with matching jewellery wire antennae).

The little mobile in situ in the garden - it is weather proofed with a coat of varnish.

I really do hope you can join in our challenge at Art With Heart, just get out some of your older stash and let us see what you make!

As always, thanks for looking and 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