Eileen Hull Designs Chapter 3 Release Party Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome. Thanks for joining us for the Eileen Hull Chapter 3 Release Party Blog Hop. The Inspiration Team and Educators Team are excited to share their projects using the brand new 'Box, Mitten' and 'Box, Snowman' Scoreboards Dies. Throughout July, the team will be sharing tutorials and videos with you and today we start with a launch blog hop. We hope that you will be inspired too and share how you use the dies in the Eileen Hull Fan Club.

But wait - there’s more - the Release Party continues! You won’t want to miss the Facebook Live at Eileen Hull Designs at 12:00 noon Eastern time (that's 5pm UK time) on Wednesday, 1st July. Join the chat - and a random commenter will win the 'Box, Snowman' Die!!!

Please hop with us through all of the projects and leave comments on the different designers' blogs. A lucky commenter will win the 'Box, Mitten' Die (to be announced on 7th July) - there's a list of links for everyone's blogs at the end of this post.

Now for the first of my projects using the new dies this month - I used the 'Box, Mitten' Die to create two coptic-stitched hand-bound notebooks ready for all those lists and plans through the festive season;

Here's a rundown of how they came together and how you can create your own Mitten books. I started with a session pulling prints from a large gel plate using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints and a mix of tissue and brown wrapping paper - the idea was to get layers that could be applied to heavier surfaces (like Matboard) as well as creating 'shattered' patterns on the plate from the crumpled papers.

Next up I die cut the basic Mitten shapes, some of the zigzag patterns and medium heart shapes using the 'Box, Mitten' Die. After gluing the pattern pieces onto one of the Mitten's were painted on both sides with 'Midnight' Fresco Finish Paint.

Below you'll see where the tissue was applied over the painted pieces with the unpainted shatter marks on the tissue being highlighted by the dark colour underneath. I also added some 'London Bus' Fresco Finish Paint to the zigzags and hearts as well as blending 'Chocolate Pudding' Paint around the edges with a sponge.

Taking folded plain white paper I cut signatures by lining the folded side just underneath the top cutting line of the Mitten and running each one through with the die.

Three holes were poked through each side of the book and through the middle of each signature, and then I stitched through them using coptic stitch and coordinating brown waxed thread. I repeated this process with some lime green gel plate printed tissue to make a second book. Once assembled I felt that the paint colour was still a little flat so added touches of pearl and matte finish Izink Pigment Inks to both; in this way it was possible to add more colour without losing the patterns underneath since these inks are translucent.

To finish each book I die cut and painted some festive greenery and included some of the metallic finish flower stamens from Sizzix. The idea was to embellish them but still allow them to be useful for adding 'to do' and Christmas lists when the festive season comes around. Below you can see more of the stitching and what one of the books looks when opened up.

Thank you for joining me here as part of this latest Eileen Hull Designs Blog Hop. Here's the full list of Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team and Educators Team blog hop participants - make sure to visit them all and leave a comment on each post to be in with a chance to win a 'Box, Mitten' Die;

Eileen Hull Designs
Madeline Arendt
Julia Aston
Jennie Atkinson
Debbie Bankston
Karen Bearse
Susie Bentz
Pam Bray
Sue Eldred
Anna-Karin Evaldsson
Annette Green
Maggi Harding
Lisa Hoel
Anita Houston
Sarah Lizzie
Jenny Marples - you are here
Elizabeth Robinson
Tonya Trantham
Cheryl Waters
Mitsyana Wright
Nicole Wright