Sunflower Book with Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. This month has already started with a bang as Eileen launched her new Chapter 4 Sizzix Die and Embossing designs. Now Eileen's design teams are sharing tutorials for some of the samples shown during her FB Live and as part of the blog hop.

Going back to the blog hop you'll remember I decided to feature the new 'Sunflower' on the front of a hand-bound book, made using the 'Card Caddy' Die and 'Woven Leather' 3D Embossing Folder.

Let's find out how this came together, starting with that gorgeous sunflower. Cut three of each petal layer, three leaves and one centre using the Sizzix 'Sunflower' Bigz L Die from Sizzix Cardstock. I save card by cutting one of each shape from photocopier paper, then use it as a template to cut out the cardstock to size.

Next cut the central part of the Card Caddy from Sizzix Matboard using the Sizzix 'Card Caddy' Scoreboards XL Die. Cut off the spine section before embossing the two covers using the Sizzix 'Woven Leather' 3D Embossing Folder. Misting the Matboard with water before embossing it helps to get a deeper impression.

I then used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints to add colour to the sunflower, leaves and book covers. A tip when painting the sunflower and leaves is to dry brush the colour from the centre out to create a feathering effect. Add a vintage look by blending brown permanent ink to the edges of everything before blending a little 'Gold' Luster Wax on top.

To make this a thin book I cut away two of the scored spine pieces to leave just one, joining it in the centre of the two covers with some Architape®. Use the 'Card Caddy' Die again to cut folded paper/cardstock signatures before binding them inside the finished book cover. There are a lot of great bookbinding videos on YouTube to help with that bit.

Here are a few close ups of the finished book, including a peek inside;

Thank you for joining me today. Make sure to check out all the fantastic projects and tutorials from the rest of Eileen's team members - links to their posts can be found on Eileen's blog throughout the month.

For now thanks for visiting,

Jenny xxx