Eileen Hull - HeARTfelt Creations Journal

Hello Friends

Today I have another couple of Journals to share with you.  I guess some of you may have been wondering how long it would take me to use seahorses on one... well, today is the day!

I cannot stop making these wonderful Journals.  I am so thankful to Eileen Hull for designing this particular die, which is out later this month.

Rather than showing individual steps, I am using a collage to show you how this came together.

I used Eileen Hull's fabulous Colorbox Blend inks in Leaf, Golden and Bay to colour my seahorses, the leaves and also the gauze.  The gauze was 'thickened' with fabrick stiffener.  The starfish is from a previous project and the wheel and crab were coloured with a mix of Ebony and Nutmeg.

This photo shows the three stages of creating the covers.  First I painted the blank cover with DecoArt Crackle Paint, just a thin-ish coat.  Once dry I coloured the whole of the cover with Colourbox Blend in Bay, with a touch of Leaf mixed in here and there.

Once dry, I flicked white Gesso and Bay Colourbox Blend over the cover.  To assemble, I added the stiffened gauze (still wet) to the front and then glued all the other elements in place.  I glued them fairly flat so that the Journal can be easily handled.  I added the closure (which I first covered with paper leather to give it strength) and used a Tim Holtz Hitch Fastener as my closure. The whole Journal was then completely sealed with DecoArt Matte Medium.

For the inside, I created three signatures, one with watercolour paper, one with ruled paper and the third one is a pocket envelope.  Don't you just love that great journal quote by Oscar Wilde??  It makes me smile each time I see it, the stamp is by Darkroom Door.

I also wanted to show you this Journal that I made for a friend, David Rose of Craft Obsessions, who did me a huge favour.  I used Tim Holtz's latest release fabric - Correspondence (a gift from my dear and lovely friend Kath Stewart).  These fabrics are beautiful quality and  perfect for covering Eileen's Journal.

The fabric is now available in the UK too!  I just got some more from The Cotton Patch.  They have a lovely selection of the Correspondence and also Tim's other range of fabrics.  I have just invested in a few more pieces of Tim's fabric.

On the bottom left photo you can see that I used a genuine Midori insert in the Journal, it fits perfectly.  I am pleased to report that David loved his Journal.

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing my Journals, I am sure I will be making lots more!!

If you have time to visit Eileen's blog each week HERE you will see more Journals and more of Eileen's HeARTfelt die release projects by the Inspiration Team.

As always, thanks so much for your 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

Inspiration Journal - In Disguise - Project #3

Hello Everyone

Here I am back today with Project #3 for Inspiration Journal's 'In Disguise' Challenge which you can find HERE.  There is a fabulous $50 voucher for one lucky winner to spend at Inspiration Emporium.  I decided to keep away from Halloween for my third project and to make something practical.

I took a simple bamboo place mat, some beautiful Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric, some elastic, glue and seam binding or ribbon...

And created this:

And opened out it looks like this:

A paint brush holder!  This could easily be used for knitting needles, pens, scissors or anything else that might fit in the holders.  You simply make the holders any size you wish.

This is so simple to make, you just need glue.  I suppose you could sew it if you have a sewing machine that takes quite thick fabric (the bamboo makes it quite thick) but my little craft sewing machine would not take it, so if you do want to make one, test it out on your sewing machine first!

The first thing to do is to thread the elastic through the bamboo at regular intervals.  You can put something in to test how big the loop on the top side should be.  You just need to make sure you use the same slats top and bottom on the bamboo mat, as you can see in the photo below.

Once you have threaded the elastic, just secure them at each end with some hand stitching.  This will be covered up later.

I did not take a photo of the next step because I was 'in the zone' but all you need to do is lay the mat on top of your fabric and cut around the fabric leaving approx 1" - 1.1/2" border of fabric all round.

Turn the bamboo mat over and apply glue (I used Ranger Glue N Seal) to the whole of the wrong side of the mat.  Lay the fabric onto the glued mat (pattern side up) and press firmly all over and then set it aside to dry.  This is important!  I did not heed my own advice and have a few ripples in mine...

Once dry, turn over and then fold the edges over to the inside.  I did this by gluing the fabric again with Ranger Glue N Seal, folding it over half way to hide the raw edge, gluing again and then folding it over to the inside as you can see in the photo above.  This gives a lovely neat and tidy edge and gives strength to the piece.  Do this on all four sides, cutting some bulk from the corners if you wish.

To finish off I sewed a piece of ribbon (or you could use some seam binding folded over and machine stitched) to one end (as you can see in image 2 above) so that the the piece can be rolled up and tied closed.

To finish off, because the corners are quite thick and I did not want them to come apart, I added some of Tim's Idea-ology corners, they keep the corners nice and snug.

So there you have it, a bamboo place mat disguised as a brush holder.  Thanks for looking and I hope you feel inspired to join in the challenge at Inspiration Journal where one lucky winner will receive a $50 voucher to spend at Inspiration Emporium.  You have got to be in it to win it!

If you make a purchase from Inspiration Emporium, don't forget to use my code Redanne to receive a 10% discount off your whole order.  Postage and Packing is very reasonable - $5 in the USA and $10 to Europe.

Hugs, Anne xx

P.S.  I have typed up some very basic instructions, if anyone wants them, just email me (address on my sidebar) and I will send them to you....

Items Used from Inspiration Emporium

Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements (Documentation)
Ranger Glue N Seal
Idea-ology Mini Corners