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

Creepy Crawly Skeleton Journal

Hello, Crafty Friends!! Happy Friday the 13th!!

I'm back with Team Xyron to bring you this creepy crawly mixed media project. And surprisingly, despite its appearance, this project was fairly mess-free! Say what?! I know what you're thinking... How can mixed media be mess-free, right?? Well, the secret is in the Creative Station! Let me show you!

Supplies Used

Big Shot (Sizzix)

Eileen Hull Journal Die (Sizzix)

Chipboard 

Burlap Sheets (DCWV)

Cheesecloth

Creative Station (Xyron)

Black Cardstock (Bazzill)

Chalkboard Paint (Prima)

Pebeo Gilding Wax-  (Crafter's Companion)

Plastic Halloween Skeleton and Bugs Toys/ Favors

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments- Wicked

Tim Holtz Ideology Word Bands- Halloween

Mixed Media Glue (Beacon)

Stapler

I started by cutting my chipboard and burlap materials into 6"x 9" (die-cuttable sized) pieces. I cut out 2 chipboard pieces and 4 burlap pieces.

Then ran the chipboard through my Xyron Creative Station. Once through I flipped it over and ran it back through again to get adhesive on both sides.

I peeled off the protective film then applied the burlap onto both sides of each chipboard.

Once my chipboard was covered on both sides, I used my Eileen Hull Journal Die and Big Shot machine to die-cut two journal covers.

Then I used mixed media glue to adhere the two spines together. Iused the pre-cut holes to line them up evenly and set them aside to dry.

This next step saved me a whole lot of mess and dry time. Usually when people add texture to their projects the "decoupage" it onto their project, slapping on a whole lot of wet glue with a paintbrush or squeegee, or spackle. That process is repeated for each layer. and the more layers you have the longer dry time takes.

To combat both the mess and drying time I found that quickly running my materials through the Creative Station to be an absolute dream!

With the cheesecloth, I didn't even have to completely unfold it. I simply left it double layered (Folded in half) and cranked it through.

I peeled it off like a fabric sticker and added it to my cover. I added creases and folds to the cloth while adhering to create even more texture.

SO SIMPLE, MESS FREE, and INSTANTLY DRY!!

Once I got my cheesecloth in place I worked on my embellishments.

I found these plastic skeletons and bugs and my local dollar stores. 

I deconstructed my skeleton. I snipped and separated the bones for easier posting and placement.

Next, I used more mixed media glue to piece together the skeleton into a desired position. And then I adhered the plastic bugs and set aside to dry again.

When the glue dried I painted the journal cover with Black Chalkboard Pain! I painted over all the plastic pieces and made sure to get between the creases.

I applied gilding wax over the raised areas and textured material using my fingertip.

Rubbing the guilding was over top really makes all the raised areas and textured material just pop off all that black!

Then I began the whole process again for the back cover.

I also added a word band that said "bone collector" to the front cover.  I painted it over with more chalkboard paint but rubbed it off so that the paint only remained in the recessed areas.

My cover is so creepy it's giving me goosebumps!

I didn't add texture to the inside but did paint it over with more chalkboard paint and rub over it with more guilding wax.

To fill my journal, I created black paged inserts.

I simply crease an 8.5"x 11" cardstock at the 5.5" and folded in half. I did this for 10 sheets.

Then stapled 5 of those sheets together down the center to create one insert.

Then threaded elastic card through the pre-cut holes and tied them off on the inside. Then simply slid my inserts under each cord to fasten the inserts into the book.

And here is the finished Journal...

FRONT

BACK

How cool is this?!! 

I. LOVE. IT!!

And I hope you do too!!

Thanks for joining me today!!

Hope you have a totally wicked Friday the 13th!!

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

~Mitsy

***Disclaimer***

This blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products.

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with each manufacturer, provider, or party in question.