Eileen Hull Release- Foolish Mortals Pocket Notebook

Pocket Notebook Release Party

Welcome to the Pocket Notebook Release Party! This is Eileen Hull’s newest book die with

Sizzix. On the die, you get all of the pieces you need to make an entire book- the cover, pages,

latch and pen loop! The Pocket Notebook measures 6 3/4” x 4 1/2” with a spine that can

adjust from 3/8” to almost 2”!

String it with elastic, hemp, ribbon or twine. So many options for this fun die! Eileen’s Inspiration and Educator teams have combined options to show us their amazing

Pocket Notebook ideas.

Please follow the Blog Hop to see all of the fabulous projects, techniques, and videos! There are also two GIVEAWAYS- the Pocket Notebook die and a gift certificate for Eileen’s

Etsy store.

To,  enter to win, leave a comment on each of the posts. Winners will be announced

on Tuesday, October 8 on Eileen’s Facebook Live show.

**The Full BLOG HOP LINE-UP will be listed below**

Thanks for hopping along with us today!

Let me start off by saying... I am a Halloween JUNKY!! It is absolutely my most favorite holiday EVER!! So I love any and everything Halloween-y! And that includes all the creepy-crawly things that go bump in the night, like SKELETONS & BUGS!

So with that in mind, I created this ghoulishly delightful piece...

If this tickles your Halloween fancy, let me show you how I created it...

Supplies Used

Eileen Hull Designs Pocket Notebook Die (Sizzix)

Eileen Hull Designs Gift Card Folder & Label (Sizzix)

Big Shot Plus (Sizzix)

Mat Board (Sizzix)

Creative Station (Xyron)

Burlap (DCWV)

Cheesecloth/ Gauze

2"x3" Ornate Picture Frame (Recollections)

Skeleton Toy

Pegasus Pony toy 

Black Chalkboard Paint (Prima Marketing)

Gilding Wax (Pebeo)

Crown Charm

Tim Holtz Idea-ology -Adornments- Wicked (Advantus)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology -Adornments- Typed Tokens- Halloween (Avantus)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology -Word  Bands- Incantations (Avantus)

Metal Brads

Beaded Garland

Jump Rings

Quickgrip (Beacon)

Black Twine

Black Mat Board (Grafix)

110lb Black Cardstock (Recollections)

Jewelry Making Tools

Button Shank Remover (Buttons Galore)

Nail File or Fine Grit Sandpaper

2mm Black Elastic Cord

Long Reach Stapler

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret... I love toys... shhh, don't tell anyone! But more importantly, I love to incorporate toys into my creations. So I love to keep them in my crafting arsenal. But you don't need to spend big bucks to get an amazing project, I found these cool items at the dollar store! 

It's Halloween and you can find skeletons aplenty everywhere! I picked this skelly garland up and untied one from his noose. 

And... what little girl doesn't love pretty ponies?? Well, this girl is no exception... so, this pretty little thang is going on my project too!! Or should I say,  just her wings?? Yup, I ripped those suckers off and now she's wingless- Oh no, that's so sad... ok, I'm over it. LOL

I'll start on first prepping my boney friend...

I had some really cool charms my amazing friend, Eileen Hull, had sent me. In the batch, I found this cool crown charm. It had two rings on each end that I didn't need, so I cut them off using a button shank remover. Then I filed down the jagged edges with a nail file.

Once the edges were smooth, I glue the crown to the skeleton's forehead.

I laid him face down till the glue hardened. Then severed his pelvis from his spine using kitchen shears... Wow, sounds kind of gruesome! 

I set his pelvis and legs aside- I'll incorporate them later. They're in perfect condition... I don't want to waste a perfectly good pelvis!

Now, we bring in the wings...

I painted both the upper torso and pegasus wings with black chalkboard paint.

 I removed the backing of the ornate frame to get rid of bulk and painted that too with chalkboard paint then set all the pieces to the side to dry.

Now onto the main part... building my pocket notebook.

I die-cut white Mat Board using Eileen Hull's Pocket Notebook Die using a Big Shot Plus machine.

Then ran sheets of burlap through my Xyron Creative Station and attached them onto my notebook panels.

I made sure to burnish the burlap with a bone folding tool for maximum adhesion.

I added clear drying liquid glue to the spines and connected the spines together and used a couple of clothespins to hold my spines together till the glue set and dried.

Then, ran some cheesecloth through my Xyron Creative Station too and attached it to the front panel.

I added glue to the back of the frame an attached it onto the cheesecloth.

Then, glued the painted wings and skeleton onto the frame.

Next, I took a little spider adornment and cut off the little charm shank and filed down the sharp edges and attached it to my skelly's chest.

Then, I painted the entire notebook (back, front, and the reverse) with more chalkboard paint.

Once the paint was dried, I attached a word band with brads onto the cover.

Then, using my finger, rubbed gilding wax over the surface of the brads, band, and all the raised surfaces of the entire notebook cover.

I finally got back to my pelvis and dangly legs...

Using a piercing tool, I poked a tiny hole through my tailbone. And painted the lower body with more chalkboard paint. Then, rubbed gilding wax over the raised surfaces. And hooked a tiny jump ring through the hole.

For the inside of the notebook...

I decided I wanted a pocket on the inside front cover, so I die cut one from black chipboard using Eileen Hull's Gift Card Folder & Label. I folded the mat board along the creases and glue the overlapping edges together. Again, I used a clothespin to hold it in place till they dried.

For the cards, I found some cool Halloween cobweb paper in my stash. When I die-cut the pocket from the black chipboard, I also die-cut cards out of it too. I covered the fronts of the cars with the cobweb paper and attached a small spider to the top of each along with bows made from black twine.

Then placed my cards in the inside pocket. 

My Inserts were nothing fancy just pieces of folded 110lb black cardstock die-cut using the Pocket Notebook Die that I stapled together with a long-reach stapler.

And here is my finished Notebook... 

I also decorated the spine by stringing this gorgeous beaded garland down the side. I attached charms more to the ends.

I also strung some nylon cording from the jumpring I attached to the tailbone and tied it to the top center hole in the book spine to use the skelly legs as a bookmark/ place keeper.

I absolutely LOVE how this turned out... It's so CREEPY COOL that it's AWESOME!!

I hope you enjoyed my project & tutorial!

CREEP IT REAL, GUYS & GHOULS!!

~Mitsyana

AND...

Don't forget to visit my amazingly talented crafty sisters for more amazing Pocket Notebook projects and leave a comment on each blog to be entered into the GIVEAWAY!!

**BLOG HOP LINEUP DESIGNERS**

Eileen Hull

Susie Bentz

Pam Bray

Julia Aston

Annette Green

Kathy Clement

Cheryl Waters

Ginger Ropp

Mitsyana Wright (YOU ARE HERE)

Debbie Bankston

Anita Houston

Maggi Harding

Anne Redfern

Jenny Marples

Betsy Skagen

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Tonya Trantham

Madeline Arendt

Lisa Hoel

Karen Bearse

Sue Eldred
Nicole Wright

Elizabeth Robinson

Pocket Art Journal

Hello, Crafty Friends...

I am so excited that you have visited today!! I, as well as my teamies at Xyron, are continuing this week with more awesome projects featuring Maya Road and Xyron products! 

And, the amazing people at Maya Road are having a HUGE GIVEAWAY going on over on their blog too!

They are choosing One Lucky person to win all this... 

an entire Follow Your Bliss Kit!!

For more details on how to enter this GIVEAWAY, click HERE!!

Now, for today's project...

I got the pleasure of indulging in a few yummies from Maya Road to create this

POCKET ART JOURNAL

Featured Products

Geometric Heart Die (Maya Road)         Tulle Mini Booms - Ballet Pink (Maya Road)

Medium Vintage Paper Flowers- Pink

Creative Station Lite (Xyron)                1.5" Sticker Maker (Xyron)

Other Supplies Used

Big Shot (Sizzix)

Eileen Hull Passport Book (Sizzix)

Black Chipboard (Grafix)

The Coral Couture Stack (DCWV Inc.)

Natural Cork Stack (DCWV Inc.)

150 lb. Illustration Paper (Canson)

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

VersaMagic Jumbo Java (Tsukineko/ Imagine Crafts)

Sweeper (Tsukineko/ Imagine Crafts)

Cutterbee Non-Stick Scissors (EK Success)

Sanding block

Hemp Twine

Embroidery Needle

Cheese Cloth 

I started by cutting my 12"x12" sheet of black cardstock in half to measure 6"x12". Because my die to make the album is 13" long my cardstock will not be long enough to cover the whole die. So, I just cover the outlines for the Album Cover and Book Spine. Then run it through my die-cut machine.

I do the while cutting my Book Pages using illustration paper. Covered just the double page outline and run though my die-cut machine again. This is a heavy duty die so I was able to cut multiple layers at a time*. I am able to cut through 2-3 layers of  this 150 lb. paper with ease.

* Just a side note: Do not cut too many at a time. Added pressure may cut through your crease lines. It's always best to test your dies to see what is the best amount for the type of materials you are cutting.

Before I started assembling my book I covered it with pretty paper. I ran my chipboard pieces through my Xyron Creative Staion (faced down). You can tell which side is up by the roundness of the cut edge. The edge of the back side will be more jagged.

Once my pieces were ran through my adhesive, I gave the them a quick rub down to make sure the adhesive was secured and then removed the protective film.

At this point, I examined my paper to see what particular part of the patterned paper I wanted to show up on my panel. Then I attached the pieces ,adhesive side down, to the back of my patterned paper. Then trimmed around each piece using a scissor.

After trimming them, I took a little sanding block and sanded down the edges. Then I used a liquid adhesive to assemble  cover pieces to the spine. I added more patterned paper to cover the spine. Then, distressed the edges of my pieces with brown chalk ink and sponged inking tool.

Then, I hand stitched each page insert into the album using an embossing needle and hemp twine.

I did this in three separate segments. Each segment consisted of  4 double pages (8 pages); for a total of 24 pages.

Each segment was tied off. Then all the loose twine was gathered and tied together to make one knot.

 To decorate the front of my Art Journal, I used the Maya Road Geometric to create a heart out of cork. 

First, I ran a 4"x 4" sheet of cork through my Creative Station Lite. This is the easiest way to add adhesive to your die-cuts. And these dies cut like butter!! It not only cut through the cork but also the protective adhesive backer as well. 

Each cut popped out clean and crisp with pretty much no effort. It practically fell out of my die during removal. 

For  more embellishments, I cut out tiny images from coordinating paper in the same paper stack I used to decorate the covers. Then ran them through my Xyron X Sticker Maker.

I used more liquid adhesive to attach my Maya Road Vintage Paper Flower and Tulle Blooms to the front and tiny piece of cheese cloth; peeled and adhered my Geometric heart; then attached my flag embellishment and butterflies.

And here is my finished project...

Now I have a cute little art journal I can take with me on the go!!

 This journal is so very "SWEET"!! I love making pretty things!

Lots of thick paper to draw, doodle, or even paint on. 

Hope you enjoyed my project for today!!

Don't forget to check out the rest of my DT Sisters on  the Facebook Xyron Page for more Xyron/Maya Road projects....

And just a reminder... Head on over to the Maya Road Blog to see all  the MR Design Team projects AND to enter in their fabulous GIVEAWAY!!

Hope you all have a wonderfully crafty day!!

~Mitsy