Seth Apter Collage Folio Journal for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. This month the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team are continuing to share projects using her Chapter 1 2021 Sizzix Scoreboards and Thinlits dies. Last month I shared a tutorial for creating a new folio journal lined with handmade decorative papers and with pages ready to decorate. Here's a reminder of where I got to;

With a colour scheme picked and a bunch of decorative elements already gathered together it was time to start designing the pages inside. In this post I will be sharing half of the completed pages with the rest coming soon.

Throughout the journal I used my collection of Seth Apter stamps (a combination of designs from PaperArtsy and Impression Obsession) and dies alongside Eileen's 'Mandala' Thinlits Die which was used a lot for stencilling and embossing. And it's that embossing that's most evident on the first of the pages. Following one of Eileen's many FB Live tutorials I used the Mandala die to emboss a piece of card that had been given a rusted metal effect using Seth Apter's Izink Pigment Inks. Here it's been teamed with a piece of Gel Plate printed tissue, cotton lace and some hand stitching. I also continued the Mandala pattern across the page with a little stencilling.

The Mandala was used as a stencil on this page too with the high spots hit with some darker and lighter paints to emphasise the the design. There's more Izink Pigment Ink rusted card, some embossed stamping, hand stitching and a heat embossed die cut cog shape in the middle. As with the first page some of the background paper has been left exposed.

The corrugated card on the page below had layers of paste, embossing powder and ink applied before I took the decision to sand it all back and reveal the layers below which produced the blended worn look. After cutting a hole through the middle of the page and stamping the crosshatched circle image I added a piece of coiled wire, some stitching and a leftover piece of rust coloured lace.

The second half of the Mandala embossed card was added to the reverse side of the coiled wire page. The circle in the middle had Chunky Rust embossing powder applied to it, dots were stamped and embossed to one side and the bands at the top and bottom were stitched in place.

On this page some of the embossed stamping was done on vellum and more Gel Plate printed tissue was used along with hand stitching and lace. Even the 'waste' from the edge of the background paper was used to trim one side and add more patterning.

This page was one of those happy accidents where a bundle of mixed paper and fabric over-stamped several times with in and paint became a focal point when layered with lace and a stamped dial. The stamping on the bundle was extended across the page along with the stitching and a lot of the background was left exposed to reveal yet more stencilling.

This page began with the other half of a Mandala stencilled piece seen previously. This time a larger hole was punched through the centre of the page to reveal the stamped piece of vellum captured between. More stitching and stamping added to the texture whilst the die cut ring surrounding the cut out hole was embossed with an older Eileen embossing folder and highlighted with more Izink Pigment Ink.

The next page still needs some work doing to it but at the moment I haven't found the right combination of elements to make the final design work. The layers of heat embossed stamping, die cut circles and stamped vellum sit to one side of the page leaving the rest of the background exposed as on previous pages. Sometimes it's worth 'walking away' from creative blocks like this because eventually (and usually by accident) the final pieces of the jigsaw will emerge.

On to the final page for this reveal and as before there's Gel Plate printed tissue, heat embossed stamping, lace, hand stitching and die cut elements in an asymmetric design. Working to a narrow colour scheme as has been the case throughout this journal means it's easier to concentrate on the overall design of the page.

There are still another nine pages to share with you in another post. I hope you've enjoyed seeing how I've been filling this Eileen Hull Folio Journal. Make sure to check out the projects and tutorials from the other Inspiration and Educator Team members - links to their posts can be found on Eileen's blog throughout the month.

For now thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Saturday Showcase ATC's for The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Hi everyone and welcome. Today the Design Team over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog have collaborated for the latest Saturday Showcase post and we have taken the opportunity to make ATC's as part of the current 'Anything Goes' challenge theme. Here are mine;

The background for each of these came from the masterboard I made and used for the card shared in this recent challenge post. As promised I have put together a tutorial to show how it was created and how it has been used for these ATC's.

It all started with a large piece of heavyweight mixed media paper which I covered in part with strips and chunks of paper from books, old projects, music score, gauze fabric and maps. 'Carnation' and 'Apricot' Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints were brayered over the top in patches before White Gesso was applied through the Tim Holtz 'Stripes' and 'Latticework' Layering Stencils. When dry areas were spritzed with water and 'Tea' and 'Sunflower' Izink Dye Sprays were dripped through them to create stronger patches of colour.

By this point it looked a little scary and there was more to come. Wendy Vecchi's Crackle Paste was applied through the Tim Holtz 'Slate' Layering Stencil in patches and allowed to dry. I then brushed a little heavily diluted Seth Apter 'After Dark' Izink Pigment Ink over the top to make the cracks stand out more.

Adding to the texture I spread Plaster Paste over other areas to blend some of the different patches of paper, fabric and stencilling together.

With this mish mash of textures totally dry I set about unifying them by brayering over the top with more White Gesso followed by the Carnation and Apricot Paint. This gave the finished background paper a look reminiscent of the crumbling plaster and brickwork seen on Italian architecture.

As well as chopping some of the background into pieces for cards (like the one shown last Wednesday) I cut three ATC pieces and set about adding further layers of interest to them, beginning with some torn tissue which had a Gel Plate pull mainly made up from 'Aloe' Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint.

Even more stencilling was applied with texture paste through the stencil which comes with Wendy Vecchi's MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set 'Thanks A Million'. It is the ideal size for smaller projects like ATCs. I also added some hand stitching across the bottom of each ATC.

To decorate the ATCs various flowers, leaves and butterflies were stamped, coloured, die cut and layered together; these included images from the Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Sets 'Thanks A Million', 'Thank You' and 'Bravo', all coloured with Seth Apter Izink Pigment Inks in various combinations of 'Burnt Orange', 'Mimosa', 'Roast Chestnut', 'Cotton Candy', 'Purple Haze' and 'Avalanche'. The leaves were stamped in Wendy Vecchi's 'Prickly Pear' Archival Ink.

Wendy's Tip Tuesday fb video prompted me to cut into some of the stamped images to create more dimensional layered flowers, buds and butterflies. These were all then added to the ATCs to complete them. Here's a closer look at the individual ATCs;

That's it for today's tutorial. Make sure to check out the amazing ATC's created by my team mates over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and to enter the current 'Anything Goes' challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create this card are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - 'Bravo'

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - 'Thank You'

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - 'Thanks A Million'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Stripes'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Slate'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Latticework'

Seth Apter Izink Pigment Inks and Dye Sprays

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gesso

Anything Goes with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. For the latest challenge over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog we are going with an 'Anything Goes' theme and are looking forward to seeing your vintage/shabby chic projects.

The Design Team will choose their four top picks with the overall winner receiving a $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. All four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

I've made another collage card for this challenge but in contrast to the last set there's plenty of colour on this one as we look forward to the imminent arrival of Spring and all it holds.

The flowers come from Wendy Vecchi's 'Spring Bouquet' Stamp It Stencil It set and have been painted using Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints. To ensure they stand out against the paler background I've used some of the brighter paint colours (Apricot, Carnation, Blushing, Lemon and a Lime/Umber mix) and stamped them on top of a deeper coloured gel plate print (which is mainly Sedona).

As well as some hand stitching there's a little lace trim and dots of Wendy Vecchi 'Sunflower' Liquid Pearls. The sentiment comes from the Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set 'A Million Thanks'. The pale textured background has been designed to emulate the crumbling walls seen on Venetian buildings - I'll be back this Saturday with a tutorial for that and some extra projects using it.

For now that's my take on the 'Anything Goes' theme. For even more inspiration my amazing team mates have come up with their own projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE.

For now, thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create this card are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp It Stencil It - 'Spring Bouquet'

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - 'Thanks A Million'

Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls - 'Sunflower'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Stripes'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Slate'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Latticework'

Tim Holtz Ideaology Trimmings, Lace

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gesso

Mostly Neutral for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. Sara Emily is hosting the latest challenge over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. She's called it 'Mostly Neutral'; "For this challenge, I would like you to use mainly neutrals, but I will allow you one accent color or use of metallic accents. Let's see how you use beige, ivory, taupe, brown, black, gray or shades of white or any combination of these to make any vintage/shabby chic project you would like."

The Design Team will choose their four top picks with the overall winner receiving a $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. All four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

Staying neutral was not a problem since I love making neutral backgrounds on which to pile more colourful focal points. The challenge came in selecting which colour would be the accent colour. As you'll see in the card below the final decision came down on the side of red.

I took photos as this card (and two extra) were created to show the process. I started with pieces cut from a large sheet of paper that I'd covered with brown watercolour paint, blended charcoal patches, white gesso, tea staining and finally stencilling with some plaster paste and the Tim Holtz 'Stitched' Layering Stencil.

For a previous project I had pulled some neutral coloured prints onto tissue using a Gel Plate; I picked a couple of these to add to the backgrounds and tore them into strips/chunks, applying them to the backgrounds with soft matte gel medium.

Here's a trick for helping to work out where to stamp an image and place the elements to compliment it; stamp your image onto a piece of clear waste packaging and you'll be able to figure out exactly how your finished piece could look.

After adding the tissue prints I added a blurred line with a charcoal pencil - being able to see how this would work with the final design as shown above was really helpful for this step.

After stamping Wendy Vecchi's 'Bouquet' image directly onto one of the backgrounds using black Archival ink and a stamping platform I used the matching stencil that comes with the stamp to apply white gesso over the top.

Keeping the stamped background in place I re-stamped it before applying 'Ruby' and 'Sterling' Acrylic Paint over the top. A final re-stamping with the black ink added the detail back onto the image. It was only at this point that I removed the now stamped background from the stamping platform.

To finish the card I added Glossy Accents over the stamped image; you could alternatively use translucent gloss gel medium over the top by applying it through the matching stencil. Finally some Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls 'Carnation Red' dots were applied along with white cotton lace (with a little tea staining to make it less obvious). The finished collage was layered onto a kraft background and a white card blank.

You'll have seen me mention three cards earlier; here are the other two which were created in the same way, the first with Wendy Vecchi's 'Simple Reality', the second with Wendy Vecchi's 'Spring Bouquet'.

So that's my take on the theme 'Mostly Neutral'. For even more inspiration my amazing team mates have come up with their own projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE.

For now, thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create this card are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp It Stencil It - 'Bouquet'

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp It Stencil It - 'Simple Reality'

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp It Stencil It - 'Spring Bouquet'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Stitched'

Tim Holtz Ideaology Trimmings, Lace

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gesso

Creating a Folio Journal for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. This month the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team are sharing projects using her new dies. At the start of February we celebrated the release of Eileen's 2021 Chapter 1 dies by Sizzix with a blog hop and release party on FB. As part of the blog hop I shared this Floral Folio Journal;

Several people asked how the folio journal was created so today I'm sharing a tutorial to cover those questions with a bit of a variation on design. It all started with a change to the cover; rather than leave the four sides and adjoining spines together I was inspired by Eileen's extra long cover and chopped off the smaller sides from the die cut pieces. After separating the central spine pieces I re-joined one of them to the centre of the two long covers with some Architape using 1/2 inch Hinge Spacers. This allows for extra flexibility in your spine, particularly important if you add a hand bound text block.

With the covers re-joined to the spine some plain cotton calico fabric was glued to the front of the cover and folded onto the inside using matte soft gel medium. It's important to let the glue dry before moving on or alternatively use dry adhesive sheets instead.

You'll notice below that I added another small piece of the calico fabric to cover the inside spine section since some of this will still be visible when the book is complete. Once the gel medium was dry I painted the fabric surfaces with a taupe colour paint.

With the paint dry I used a sanding block over the surface of the fabric, softening it and deliberately over-rubbing it in places to create a timeworn look.

I'd made my own sheets of decorative paper in neutral tones with watercolour paint, charcoal, gesso and plaster paste through a stencil. After cutting pieces to fit (two pieces 5 1/2 inches wide by 5 inches tall and one 1 1/4 inches wide by 5 inches tall) and distressing the edges I hand stitched them and stuck them onto the inside covers and spine.

Now to make the section that will hold the pages in place; I followed Maggie and Kay's tutorial HERE to create a flexi hinge spine piece using some of the decorative paper. It allows for dimensional page layouts like the ones in my Floral Folio Journal to lie flat. In that one I added just two of these hinged pieces to each side, gluing them onto the smaller spines - this had the added bonus of covering where the closure pieces had been secured at the back.

For this new Folio Journal I wanted to add some extra pages in between the hinged ones as an experiment. If you want to allow room for the flip outs and extra dimension on your pages there is no need for this bit. Using more of my own decorative paper I cut four pages 10 inches wide by 5 inches tall. These had tissue gel prints added in places before being stitched and distressed on the edges.

Below you can see where I made three holes along the spines of the four pages and matching holes along the centres of the gaps between the flexi hinges. Lining up those holes I stitched through them to secure the pages to the spine piece.

The photo below shows where the pages have been stitched in place. I then glued the spine hinge onto the inside cover spine using strong glue and allowed it to dry thoroughly. Remember, if you would prefer to keep it simple don't bother with adding the stitched pages in between the hinges, just stick your finished pages to the hinged sections.

Below you can see the front inside of the folio journal with the flexi hinge ready for it's page to be attached and the first of the stitched pages.

Flipping over to show another of flexi hinges sitting between two of the stitched pages. I am thinking that I'll add lace trims and gauze between the two sides of each of the stitched pages before gluing them together on the undecorated sides. I also added more of this decorative paper to the front and back covers of the folio journal to coordinate with that added to the inside.

So now it's time to add collaged pieces and pages to the inside of this folio journal - with a colour scheme picked and some more(!) handmade decorative papers collated it's time for more creative fun.

I hope this tutorial proves helpful as you create your own Folio Journals. Make sure to check out the projects and tutorials from the other Inspiration Team members - links to their posts can be found on Eileen's blog throughout the month.

For now thanks for visiting,

Jenny xxx

Groundhog Day at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. Suzz is hosting the latest challenge over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. She's called it 'Groundhog Day'; "This challenge is inspired by the movie Groundhog Day. In the movie Bill Murray is forced to repeat the same day over and over again for 10 years. This past year has been a little challenging and people have felt like they might be in a little bit of a Groundhog Day time loop. I am challenging you to create a shabby chic or vintage project that uses a technique, stamp, ink, or any other consistent tool that you find yourself using over an over in your art. Think of this as your opportunity to share what you find yourself repeating in your art frequently. Be sure to share with us in your post what it is that you keep repeating in your art."

The Design Team will choose their four top picks with the overall winner receiving a $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. All four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

It should come as no surprise that I made a book for this challenge given how many I've created over the past few years. There is something fulfilling about making something that can be useful as well as decorative. That being said this one is a Tiny Book so if you are a person of few words it's ideal!

I also love adding different layers and textures where possible; in this case the card used on the covers was painted with a mix of purples and golds before transparent texture paste and clear embossing powder applied through Wendy Vecchi's 'Rectangle Grate' stencil. When set and dry 'Buff' paint was applied over the top before being rubbed back to reveal the pattern.

Creating collages can go one of two ways - either it comes together really quickly or time is taken up 'auditioning' a huge range of bits and pieces until the right combination of elements can be found. I now store scraps and leftovers by colour to make this process a little easier. The collage on the front of the book started with a piece of painted card left over from the background (minus the stencilling). I added some fabric and gauze behind it to ensure a contrast with the background.

The collage elements on top include a strip of text, hand stitching, a die cut key (one of the elements on the Tiny Book Die) and a little vintage daisy cut using a die from Eileen Hull's new 'Folio Page, Pocket & Flowers Die Set. The addition of the thread through the centre of the button and rub on numbers add touches of black detail that coordinate with the text and contrast with the more muted main colours. The flourish behind the flower was stamped in dark brown ink using a stamp from Wendy Vecchi's 'Thank You' MAKE ART Stamp, Die, Stencil Set. Gold thread tied around the book spine adds that final touch of 'bling'.

So that's my take on the theme 'Groundhog Day'. For even more inspiration my amazing team mates have come up with their own projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE.

For now, thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create this card are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Sizzix Scoreboards Bigz L Die by Eileen Hull Designs - Tiny Book

Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Eileen Hull Designs - Folio Page, Pocket & Flowers

Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp, Die, Stencil Set - 'Thank You'

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stencil - Rectangle Grate

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gessos

Ranger Texture Paste - Transparent Gloss

Tim Holtz Distress Mini Archival Ink Pad Kit #3

Tim Holtz Ideaology Remnant Rubs - Specimen