Creating the Cover of my Architecture Collage Concertina Album for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. Well it's been a minute! Due in part to a general dwindling interaction with blog posts these days most of what I have been creating has been shared on my Facebook page and YouTube channel. However for this tutorial I felt the instructions were too long to share there so here we are.

So let's start by introducing the project I made for Eileen Hull's September 2025 Sizzix release - a concertina book with wraparound fabric cover. Opening that cover reveals...

This whole book is a mix of collage pages featuring architectural images taken from Eileen's September and May Sizzix releases. For this tutorial I'm going to share with you the process taken to make the archway scene panel on the front cover. So let's get started!

The whole panel is made from layers of die cut card using the ever-decreasing arch dies from Eileen's Sizzix Thinlits Die Set #666980 'Tunnel Arches'. My card was painted but you could easily use coloured card instead.

The first panel is cut with the largest arch die, offset to one side and as close to the bottom of the card as I dared, leaving room for a 'step'. My card was cut at around 4 1/2" x 6" (11cm x 15cm) though I did take a little off the top before gluing it all together.

The next piece of card was cut with the second largest die, moved over to the right and up a little. I found the best way to line up my inner arches was to put the first layer on top of the second one and move the second arch die around until it looked right - the plan is to off-centre the arches rather than line them up. In this way you create that sense of perspective and journey through to the view beyond.

Third layer, third largest arch, again moved up and along from the second. I started drawing in some simple stone shapes around the arches and steps along the bottom with a pencil.

The fourth layer, and I skipped to the fifth largest die, cutting two arches side by side back over on the left side of the card. The eagle-eyed might spot that I cut out a section to the side of the stairs but then decided to leave it in place.

Now for the drawing part. This might seem a bit daunting but remember, ancient arches are not supposed to be perfect! Start with a pencil and only draw over with a pen when you are happy. Make the closer stones/steps larger than those behind to add to the sense of perspective.

Keeping going to the third and fourth layers you'll see how the stones are smaller and the horizontal part of the steps gets thinner as they go up, until they disappear completely. Keep putting the four layers together to get that overall look working.

Adding shading to the horizontal steps and inner arches makes the card start to come to life. I used PaperArtsy Mattints 'Shadow' for this purpose but you may prefer watercolour, pencils etc.

Now you are ready for the background. Draw a line across the back panel of card just below level with the top of the steps.

Make marks where the right arch meets the horizontal line and draw a pathway from there, making it smaller towards the top where your tiny villa will sit in the distance. Start cutting out fields using the dies from Eileen's Sizzix Thinlits Die Set #666978 'Home Sweet Home' using various pieces of green card.

I cut a piece of blue paper to create the sky background, feathering some white paint across to give the impression of whisps of cloud. Colour in the pathway and cut your villa, again using the dies from the 'Home Sweet Home' die set.

Build your scene with the field die cuts and more strips of green card. I decided to use a bit of texture paste to fill in parts where the path curved back on itself and cut some teardrop shapes to represent the cypress trees so familiar in Italian landscapes.

To further enhance that sense of perspective cut a large urn and flowers using Eileen's Sizzix Thinlits Die Set #666979 'Windowsill Flowers & Vase'. I find if you add paler colour on the centre of the vase and darker colour on the edges you can make it look more 3D.

Assemble your arches and stick onto the background. Slip the urn of flowers onto the bottom step, partially disguising the plain area of wall next to the inner steps. The panel is now ready to add to the front of your book (in this case Eileen's 'Handbound Journal' from the May release). Embellish if you want or leave it plain and let all your creative work shine through!

I hope this has helped those of you wanting to know more about how the cover panel came together and hope to see your own takes on it over in the Eileen Hull Fan Club on Facebook. There's a video flip through of the finished album over on my YouTube channel here. And make sure you check out what the rest of the team have made by hopping over to Eileen's website here.

Thanks for visiting,

Jenny xxx