A Valentine's Card with Eileen Hull Designs by Sizzix

 Need a fun card for  a special someone?  This one fits the bill, inside there's a spot for a gift card and a few photos too!   On the front of the card I've used a diecut from the Eileen Hull Designs by Sizzix Hearts Journaling Cards.  I love all those cut out hearts!

I used Simple Stories Romance papers, I love the cut aparts that come with their collections.  On the left side I made a flip up and a pocket that holds a fun little file folder where you could stash photos, tickets, money, any kind of surprise that you like.

The right side features a fun fold out that reveals a gift card holder which is one of the die cuts from the Hearts Journaling Cards Thinlets Die Set.  I used the word "love" on the gift card from the Thinlets Journaling Words Die Set.  The great thing about the Book Club Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 dies is that they are all designed to work together creating so many possibilities!

The gift card holder is designed to hold a standard gift card.  Included in the Journaling Card Set is a card die that is the size of a purchased gift card so that you can make you very own gift card.  I used a scalloped journal card underneath the gift card holder, also part of the Journaling Cards Die Set.

Here you can see the gift card outside of the holder.  Isn't that so cute with the scalloped edge?

I am so excited about the Book Club - Chapter 2 release, there are so many fun dies in the collection, you are going to LOVE it!!  I know, it isn't coming out until the May/June timeframe, and that IS along time, BUT it is well worth the wait!!!  We can play with the fabulous Book Club - Chapter 1 dies in the meantime!

Products Used:

Eileen Hull Hearts Journaling Cards by Sizzix - available May/June 2018

Eileen Hull Journaling Words by Sizzix - available May/JUne 2018

Simple Stories Romance Collection

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate it so much!

More fun from Creativation!

I really enjoyed spending some time in Ken Oliver's booth and learning all about Color Bursts.  Gotta tell you, they are so fun to work with especially for someone like me that loves bright vibrant color!  Ken also has a mixed media mat board that is really awesome.  It is thick and takes watercolor without warping, love love love!  I have used two  6" x 6" pieces of his mat board to create this Inspiration Art Journal. 

Now I've never been an art journaler, not my thing.  But this is my year to break out of my comfort zone and do something different, so here I am with my very own art journal.

So far I've created a few pages with Ken Oliver's Color Bursts.  In their simplest form, you just spritz some water onto a mixed media paper of some sort and then sprinkle with the Color Bursts and watch the colors explode!  The trick, of course, is keeping the colors from running all together and creating mud.

Another highlight of my trip to Creativation was visiting the Little Birdie booth.  Oh my, talk about some really gorgeous and different flowers, you should see the succulents.  They are AMAZING!!  I was lucky enough to get a package of these blue blooms that are sprinkled with glitter.  They are gorgeous!  Many thanks to everyone at Little Birdie for these blooms!

I'm also playing along with a challenge at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog with this project.  The challenge is to pick a word for 2018 that inspires you and create a vintage or shabby chic project featuring your word.  I've chosen courage as my inspiration word and it has a lot of meaning for me.  I see a lot of changes and challenges ahead for me in the months to come and I hope that I will have the courage to meet them all head on.  As an artist, I want the courage to explore new techniques.

More Color Burst action and one of my very favorite characters, the Umbrella Man!

Isn't that a really inspirational quote?  It really is so true, you just have to let your mind wander where it hasn't been before.  

To create this page, I spritzed with water, sprinkled on different colors of Color Burst and then dried the page.  Then I took a mask and modeling paste and stencil on a vine and leaves.  Next, another spritz of water and more Color Burst letting the colors pool around the raised texture of the paste.  I love how this turned out!  I add some tiny Little Birdie blooms from my stash, and the larger bloom from Creativation.

On the left side, it's more of the same color palette but on the right side, I played with black and brown Color Burst.   Then I added in some gold stamping and the gold butterflies.  I'm not too happy about how my butterflies came out, the paste seeped a bit under the stencil.  I guess I need more practice right?  And that's what art journaling is all about .

And finally, the back cover, I need to add a quote or two here. (There are plenty of blank pages inside, I'll share them with you as the year progresses.)   This was the page I did with Ken at Creativation.   I really love the color splashes on the white background.

Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my Creativation fun!

Supplies:
Ken Oliver Color Bursts Carribbean  and Rich Morroccan Collections
Ken Oliver Mixed Media Mat Board
Little Birdie Flowers
Graphic 45 Typography
Stamper's Anonymous Mini Motivation Set, Phrases 2, and Life's Possibilities set
Cinch Binding System

Wrap Journal designed by Eileen Hull for Sizzix

Hi everyone! I'm just home from a wonderful trip to Phoenix for the 2018 Creativation show. It was a nerve wracking and amazing trip, all at the same time! It started off in the snow storm. Ya'll, we don't do snow very well here in the south and we sure don't have the equipment to battle the 10" of snow that fell at the airport. I got up Wednesday morning and viewed the weather report and decided that if I wanted to make my early morning Thursday flight, I better get myself to Raleigh and check into a hotel. I literally, threw some "stuff" in a suitcase and headed to Raleigh, arriving just as the snow started to fly. It's 73 miles from my house to the airport and on Thursday,it would have been 73 treacherous roads covered with snow and black ice. So my Thursday flight out of Raleigh was delayed 2 1/2 hours causing me to miss my connection out of Atlanta by about 5 minutes. 😩 Well then, I was routed to Los Angeles and finally to Phoenix, arriving at my hotel at 10:30. Whew, what a long day!

Enough of that, let's get to the amazing part of my journey!   Many of my teamies from Eileen's design team were in attendance and I loved meeting them all.  What a great supportive group, I feel like I've gained a bunch of sisters and a brother!

This is the new Wrapped Journal from Eileen Hull Designs that we debuted at the Creativation show.  It is such a fun journal with the cover wrapping around as it does!  The flower cutouts and the scalloped edge are not part of the wrap journal die but are both accessory Mover & Shaper Dies that are part of the Book Club Chapter 2 die collection. They are sold separately from the wrap journal die.

I used Ken Oliver's Color Burst powders to make this colorful cover.   Meeting up with Ken at his booth was another highlight of my trip.  Of course, we had to talk dogs for a minute as his Baxter is just adorable!

 Inside the journal are 3 signatures filled with blank papers for art journaling.

I used a selection of Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamps to embellish the cover and the signatures.

 All of the signature covers are made from mixed media paper.  I used Color Burst powders on all the covers.  I just love the vibrant color that reacts with water and makes the wonderful patterns of intense color.

After the color was dried and set, I stamped patterns with black Archival Ink.

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - Wrapped Journal

The Creativation show was great and I met so many wonderful people and saw so many fabulous products.  I'll be sharing more of my experiences in the days ahead!

Stamperia project from Creativation 2018!

This is a canvas I made while visiting the wonderful people from Stamperia.  WOW, they are so lovely and I am completely enchanted by their products!  This is a 9.5" x 12" canvas that was first covered with a Stamperia rice paper image.  I used crackle paste, gel medium and gold paints to achieve the overall effect and I love it!  Stamperia has many lovely vintage images to chose from but I am a total sucker for anything red, so you know I chose this!

The red poppies are so gorgeous, I applied clear gel medium over some of the petals and dry brushed on gold paint.

I used crackle texture around the edges.  Love the aged appearance.

BEST NEWS EVER!!  The Funkie Junkie Boutique will soon be carrying Stamperia products, woo hoo!!  I will let you know the moment Stamperia hits the stores, I can hardly wait as Stamperia has been a bit difficult to locate in the US (It is an Italian company.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Radiant Layout for Creative Embellishment

 This is my mother in law as a young woman, she was very pretty wasn't she?  I used Stamperia's Time is an Illusion paper collection and embellished it with some pretty Creative Embellishments chipboard flourishes and a mini border word.

 I used Flourish Set 19 underneath two of the floral clusters.  First I painted the chippy with Champagne Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze.  Remember that stuff?  I'm on a quest to use some of the oldies in my vast art supplies collection!  Then I sprinkled on some Stampendous Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel and heat embossed.

Here I used the Leafy Corner Flourish and heat embossed it with Stampendous Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel.  The flowers are a mix of 49 and Market and Petaloo.

I used the word Radiant from the  Gorgeous Small Border Word Set and misted it with Prima Color Bloom Mist Empress Gold. 

Creative Embellishments Chipboard Used:

Leafy Corner Flourish

Flourish Set 19

Gorgeous Small Border Word Set

Thanks for stopping by today, I so appreciate it.  You still have time to enter our Creative Embellishments Inspiration Challenge, you can find out how on our blog and NOW it's even easier than before.  Read about it here.

Sizzix Trinket Box by Eileen Hull

Here's a sweet treat for someone special that I made using Eileen Hull's Trinket Box & Frame.  This makes into such a sweet little box!

The great thing about this die is that you can use it for so many things.  You can just cut the cover and use it as a frame on something else like I did on a photo storage box in this photo:

Or, you can use the oval cutout as I did on this project:

There are so many possibilities with the Book Club die collection!  You can also make a cute little mini with this die.  I haven't tried that yet, but stay tuned, it will happen!

Filled with chocolates, well what could be better?

SizzixScoreBoards XL Die - Book & Pages, Trinket Box & Frame byEileen Hull Designs

Simple Stories Romance Paper Collection

A Collage Tag

Do you have a creative game plan for 2018?  I do, of a sorts.  I want to explore that "other me", the one who likes to go off on tangents to see if something "works" or not.  Yep, this often results in projects destined for the trash but it really is the only way for me to grow as an artist.  At this point, I think I've scrapped all the photos that I want to scrap at least twice, so it's time to channel my creative interests in a different direction.  Of course, I will ALWAYS love Graphic 45 and I will always make pretty things with their papers but I can do that while I also play at other things!

On this giant Creative Embellishments tag (it's 5.5" x 10") I decided to try my hand at collage work.  First I painted the tag with white gesso and then gathered up some fun images and glued them on with gel medium.  After that dried I used some clear crackle Texture Paste over some of the images.

I'm entering this project in the "Three is Not A Crowd" challenge at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog.  The challenge is to create a vintage or shabby project that includes multiples of 3 of something.  I've used 3 chipboard flourishes, 3 dimensional flowers and 6 different mediums, gesso, texture paste, gel medium, ink, Distress Stain, and mists. Frilly and Funkie always has fun challenges that are sure to stoke you imagination!

Tim Holtz has a great botanical images ephemera pack and I used a lot of those along with some miscellaneous items from my stash.

The Creative Embellishments chipboard pieces were colored with Lindy's mists and then crackle paste was applied here and there to give an aged effect.

After applying the crackle paste and letting it dry, I went over it with Distress ink to bring out the crack created by the paste.

Supplies Used:
Creative Embellishments Chipboard:
  Large Tags
  Flourish 2
  Flourish 30
  Flourish Corner 4
TCW Gel Medium
TCW White Gesso
Prima Clear Crackle Texture Paste
Lindy's Mists - Gator Gumbo Olive
Prima beads
Petaloo Darjeeling Flowers
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Botanical Layers

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate it!!
 

Layout for Creative Embellishments

"Do the Things You Think You Cannot Do."  That is a wonderful quote and that's what this layout is all about.  I think it is important to always reach higher and higher, attempting to do things that you haven't done before.  Yes, it might be difficult or even impossible, but just trying gives me satisfaction.

The paper collection that I used on this layout is Stamperia's Time is An Illusion.  It goes along with this quote and the image of this woman is part of that collection.  Her look is so haunting and I thought it worked well with the quote.

I used  a lot of Creative Embellishments chipboard on my design beginning with the Circle Vine Frame to really emphasize her image as the focal point.  I inked the frame with Oxide Distress Ink and then covered with Ranger Crackle Accents.

I made her head piece with a Greek Gable End Ornament and the smaller of the corners from the Photo/Page corner set 6.  To achieve the silver look, I heat embossed with Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing Enamel.  I love how that turned out!  

A few flowers added to complete the look!

I used two border strips, Dripping Heart Lace Border and Swirly Border on either side of the image and layered them just underneath the image design paper. I added some cotton lace over the Dripping Heart Lace Border.  Both border strips were heat embossed with Stampendous Aged Ivory Embossing Enamel.

The quote says "Do the things you think you cannot do" and it is also heat embossed with Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing Enamel.  

Creative Embellishments Chipboard Used:

Dripping Heart Lace Border

Swirly Border

Do Things Quote

Circle Vine Frame

Greek Gable End Ornaments

Photo/Page corner set 6

Thanks for joining me today!  Be sure to join in our monthly challenges, you can read all about how easy it is to enter on our blog!  Lots of new flair in the store too, be sure to stop by and take a look.

Sneak Peek at Graphic 45's new line, Sun Kissed!

It's my favorite time of the year when all the new products are coming out and Graphic 45 has their winter release sneak peeks!  This collection, Sun Kissed, is sooo drool worthy!!!  You'll capture all your seaside adventures with this smart little folio mini album that I made with this new collection.   

  It has a gate fold front and opens to reveal flip-up and fold-out pages and even a waterfall page.  There are fun little pockets with tags galore to hold photos and journaling.

  There's even a little box on the right where you can tuck in mementos, or, if you're using this as a gift, you can tuck in a gift card and some chocolates.  Yum!

Here you can see some of the flip pages and tags.

 The right center page flips over to reveal an ephemera card that also flips up.

Tip:  Score an ephemera card at the top or side and adhere it to a page,  that gives you an instant flip  page that's already to use.  Graphic 45's ephemera cards have such gorgeous color graphics on both sides, that they need no further embellishing.

Graphic 45 Supplies:

Graphic 45 Sun Kissed 12 x 12 Collection:

Ephemera Cards

4501674 Sand Dollars

4501673 Under the Sea

45014670 Kids at Play

4501669 Sun Splashed

4501672 Sail Away

4501668 Floating Floral

Graphic 45 Staples - ATC Tags Ivory

Other Supplies:

Bazzill Cardstock - French Vanilla

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Seam Binding Glory Blue, 5/8" Satin w/Grosgrain Edge Light Navy

Embroidery Floss - Navy Blue

Sizzix by Eileen Hull Scalloped Box

Fiskars 1" Thick Circle Punch

Petaloo Flowers

This collection should be shipping around the end of January. Can you hardly wait to get your hands on it?

Thanks for stopping by!