Eileen Hull House Die Journal Tutorial

In preparation for my new Mini Album Makers Challenge blog launch I have been doing a lot of sketching and scheming of new book concepts.  I hope you will take a moment to hop on over and become a follower!

I had just drawn out my ideas for a house shaped mini album when I saw the latest #Sizzix Makers Challenge using #EileenHull House Pocket die.  I didn't even know this die existed!  I quickly purchased one and set out to execute my mini album concept, with the simplicity of perfectly die cut pages.  Win win!

I've created a tutorial for binding your die cut houses into a little book.  If you aren't keen on mixed media, you could easily follow along and skip out on the additional media.  

To begin, cut eight of the largest house dies from watercolor card.  You will need two houses for each page.  They will be sandwiched around the flaps on your spine.  Cut four houses from thin chipboard for your covers.  Gesso the front and back of each chipboard panel.  (Gessoing the back helps minimize warping.)  This results in six overall pages, including the covers.

From the scrap watercolor card, cut the sections for your nestled spine.  The height of your spine will be 3.25" with three varying widths: 1.25, 1.75 and 2.25".  This will leave a .25" gap between your pages for ephemera.

Score all three sections 1/2" from each side.

You will need two drying racks or boards to lay each panel onto for drying.  Working in assembly line style this way will help speed things along.  Apply texture paste with a palette knife through a stencil onto the front side of your four gessoed chipboard panels.  I used two different stencil designs.

Apply crackle paste with a palette knife in thin layers randomly on the open spaces of the stenciled chipboard.

Apply crackle paste to two entire watercolor houses randomly.  These will coordinate with the stenciled chipboard for the opening spread.  Set your first six panels on one board to dry.

Use a variety of Sizzix embossing folders to emboss the remainder of your houses.

Apply more crackle paste randomly on the edges, open spaces, and as a highlight on the embossed panels.  Set these aside to dry.

Die cut several hearts and windows from the House Pocket die set from thin chipboard.  Cover with texture paste or thick goopy gesso.  Allow to dry.

Apply red line tape to the backs of your spine sections.  Don't get too close to the score lines.

Apply red line tape to the flaps on the front of your panels.  Again, don't get too close to the score lines.

Adhere the largest spine section to designer paper, or fabric.  I used a Tim Holtz ephemera card.  It was a little too thick and the score marks cracked.

Apply more red line tape over the flaps on the patterned side.

Once your panels have dried sufficiently to form the cracks in the crackle paste, begin to color them.  Tap a variety of Distress Oxide inks onto your kraft mat to create a palette.  With a wet brush, pick up inks and paint your houses.  Spritz with water to allow the colors to flow and bleed into the texture paste and embossed patterns.

Liquitex texture paste soaks up the ink.  DecoArt crackle paste resists the ink.  This will achieve a lot of color variation.  After your panels are painted, you can also dip them into color to add more interest.  I found using the brush worked best for the base layer to work the color into the cracks and crevices.

Now begin to adhere your pages to the spine.  Because the corners of this die are rounded at the bottom, I used the top angle as a guide for placement.  I found it easiest to get things square if I attached these upside down, but I am right handed.

It is important to have both sides aligned this way.  When you adhere the reverse sides of your pages together, use the houses as your guide, not your spine.  I used Beacon 3 in 1 glue to adhere them together, but the red line tape is important at the spine.

Once you have carefully determined placement of your pages and attached all of your front and backs to your signatures, then remove the tape on the centers and line them up, this time using the bottoms of the pages as your guide for placement.

Now you have a made from scratch mixed media album, ready to decorate!

When you open your pages you will see a white gap, but you can easily use more Distress Oxide to paint these, blending in with the colors on those particular pages.

The theme of my album is words of wisdom for making a happy home.  I used paper doll images from TH and computer generated sentiment strips to share these words of wisdom...  

I'm curious if you have any words of wisdom to share today.  Is there a secret you can share that has kept your home happy along the way?  I'd love to hear from you!  Perhaps I can start a second book with your words of wisdom.  :)

I would love to see your projects if you follow this tutorial, so please add a link in the comments section.  Don't forget to pin!

I'm sharing with:

Sizzix: Eileen Hull Maker Challenge

Creative Artiste: Anything Mixed Media Goes

Dies R Us: Anything w/Dies Goes
Simon Says Stamp: Back to School (I'm playing teacher)
Lost Coast: Stenciled Backgrounds
Happy Little Stampers: Watercolor
Ooh la la: Flowers

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