Blog Hop with Eileen Hull Designs, Seth Apter and Emerald Creek Crafts - Get Wrapped

Hi everyone and welcome to the "Get Wrapped Blog Hop"- a creative collaboration between Seth Apter, Emerald Creek and Eileen Hull using some of their exciting products and featuring projects from members of their respective teams. Be inspired, learn new techniques and celebrate the collective talent in this group! Make sure to check out each post (all details given at the end of this post) as you will not want to miss one...

My project is an Eileen Hull 'Wrapped Journal' using her Scoreboards XL Die from Sizzix. I love that Eileen has designed this die to do the cutting, folding and hole punching in one pass with no need for gluing pieces together. And even though it's pocket sized, the extra depth means you can fit four notebooks inside! And since there's no sticking pieces together you can get straight on with the business of decorating it, which is of course the most fun part!

So here's how this journal came together. I had in mind that I wanted to keep the cover as flat as possible so that it would be comfortable to hold and practical enough to slip inside a bag when on the go. To begin with I used Seth Apter's multi-layer paint application technique with his 'Winter' set of Acrylic Paints from PaperArtsy over both sides of a number of sheets of paper. Each of the four colours were used in random layers, adding additional patterns with Seth's 'Pattern Play' stamp set from Impression Obsession.

Two of these sheets of paper were cut into panels, designed to fit  the front, back and sides of the journal cover on both the inside and outside. After drawing white pen lines onto them and adding hand stitching with embroidery thread, I used Seth's 'Spot Lights' stamps to apply several Emerald Creek embossing powders. The powders used included Seth's Baked Texture 'Ancient Amber' and 'Dirty Sand' Embossing Powders alongside Emerald Creek's own 'Weathered Wood' and 'Oil Rubbed Bronze' Embossing Powders. I love that these powders have a mix of colours and textures built in enabling you to get interesting effects all at the touch of a heat gun.

The journal cover itself was painted a buff colour, after which I stamped one of the images from Seth's 'Solar System' stamp set across it using StazOn 'Vibrant Violet' ink. The paper panels were layered onto scraps of cotton muslin cloth and then added to the cover inside and out. On spare offcuts of the painted paper I used one of  Seth's 'Planetarium' stamps and Emerald Creek's 'Hammered Metal' Embossing Powder to create larger circles. These were trimmed and added to the outside covers together with a die cut word from Eileen Hull's 'Journaling Words' Thinlits die set.

You'll see below how using the same painted paper for the journal inserts gave this little book a coordinated look. Several sheets were trimmed to size, torn along the outside edge, stitched together and secured in place with elastic threaded through the spine. Finally, by punching a hole through the front cover and adding some sari silk I created a tie that could be wrapped around the outside of the journal to keep it secure when not in use.

So that's it for my completed journal. I hope you've enjoyed finding out more about how it came together. Now, as promised at the beginning of this post, here are the details for the blog hop...

Let's Get Wrapped Blog Contest!

We are blog hopping with some amazing people today all in the name of fun, and cross brand creativity.

Of course there will be a prize pack valued over $150 USD from PaperArtsy, Seth Apter, Eileen Hull & Emerald Creek.

To be entered you must pop by and comment on each of the blog posts. 

(We don't want you to miss any of the tips and tricks.)

Contest closes Aug 29th at midnight and a winner will be announced Aug 30th, 2018.

Here are the links to the blog hop participants - make sure you check out each one;

Eileen Hull

Kim Evans

Debi Adams

Josefine Fourage

Susie Bentz

Linda Cain

Karla Yungwirth

Jenny Marples (you are here)

Amanda Pink

Livia Yellowbird

Karen Bearse

Alison Bomber

Nora Paolini

Tonya Trantham

Emma Williams

Peg Robinson

Maggi Harding

Stephanie Eaton

Enjoy the hop and good luck everyone!

Jenny xxx

Back to Nature with Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. Over at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog we are at the mid point of our current challenge, 'Back to Nature'. Here's what our host Sara Emily has to say about it; "Having just returned from our annual trek to the mountains of West Virginia where we observed so much natural beauty on our hikes, I couldn't help but make my challenge nature themed. You can make anything you like, from a card or tag to altered art, just be sure to include a natural element in your vintage or shabby chic project. Think real twigs, leaves, shells, pebbles. Or you could include a die cut or a stamped or stenciled image representing a natural object."

As ever, the Design Team will choose their top four picks, with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive Top 3 badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Nature's Wonder Framed Panel

As someone who frequently picks up all sorts of random stuff I just knew one of the pieces of bark that peeled away from our Eucalyptus tree would come in handy at some point. And when Sara Emily revealed that we could use something from nature in our projects for this challenge now seemed the perfect time! It fit inside the Framed Panel beautifully and proved to be the catalyst for this piece which also includes one of my latest obsessions, Alcohol Lift-Ink.

I took a few photos of this panel as it came together to help explain the process.

The Tutorial

I began by adding a strip of Woodgrain Paper, coloured with Iced Spruce Distress Paint and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain next to a piece of Memoranda Paper Stash brayered with Picket Fence and more Iced Spruce Distress Paint.

After adding some Salvaged Design Tape to two of the corners I worked out where to place the bark and a strip of the Provincial 3D Impresslits Embossing Folder (altered in the same way as in my tutorial HERE) and drew around them so I could work out where to place the leaves from the Botanical Collage Paper.

Once the Collage Paper was dry I smudged the drawn lines with some Hickory Smoke Distress Crayon blended with water to add shadows to the edges. Then Opaque Texture Paste was applied through the Nordic Mini Layering Stencil. I also stamped one of the Ornate Trims borders over the Design Tape using Jet Black Archival Ink. With all of that dry I dribbled and splattered dilute Evergreen Bough Distress Paint over the stencilled areas to add more colour and contrast to the background.

The frame was given a weathered look with layers of Distress Paint and a drop or two of Rust Alcohol Ink before being glued to the edges of the panel. By applying Design Tape around the outside it disguised any uneven edges perfectly. The embossed strip and bark were glued in place where marked and I then added a small Baseboards Frame over the top, having scuffed it and added some Walnut Stain Distress Ink to the edges.

With the main elements of the panel complete it was time to work on the focal points. I knew from existing experiments that the Alcohol Lift-Ink is amazing but this bit blew my mind! There is a lot of detail packed into the leaves in the new Nature's Wonder stamp set and you can see from the photos below that all of that was revealed, even on a lighter background. I cut around all the leaves and then heated them, knowing this would slightly warp the Yupo Paper to give them more dimension.

To finish the framed panel I combined the leaves with some die cut branches, cogs and gears and placed them in and around the Baseboards Frame. One of the sentiments from the Nature's Wonder set provided the finishing touch.

The Close Ups

Here are a few close ups of the completed Framed Panel so you can see the details more closely;

That's it for my Back to Nature project for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge. My talented team mates have created lots more amazing projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE. And remember to link up your own shabby chic or vintage lace projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

Take care of yourselves and get creative!

Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Framed Panel	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology 12 x 12 Paper Stash Memoranda	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Distress Woodgrain Cardstock 8.5x11"	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Iced Spruce	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Walnut Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Vintage Photo	(LATE AUGUST PRE-ORDER) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Nature′s Wonder	(EARLY FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ornate Trims	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils Set 21	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper Botanical	(MAY PRE-ORDER) Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Provincial
(February Pre-order) RANGER CRACKLE TEXTURE PASTE	Ranger Texture Paste	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink Pad - Acorn	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Evergreen Bough	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Hickory Smoke TDB49685	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Tape Salvaged	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Baseboards - Frames	(EARLY JULY PRE-ORDER )Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Yupo Paper, White 10PK 5x7 144lb
(EARLY JULY PRE-ORDER ) Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift-Ink Pad	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Shell Pink	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Rust	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Red Pepper	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Mountain Rose	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink - Valencia - TAL52623	Sizzix® Thinlits Die Set 14PK - Fall Foliage by Tim Holtz	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sprocket Gears
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Gears	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Pad #3	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte 1 oz Bottle