17th Birthday - Eileen Hull Notebooks using Belagio Cork Fabric!

As a member of Eileen Hull's Inspiration team - today I'm sharing two Notebooks I made for my friends twins who turned 17 last week. They had a drive-by birthday party at their home and I handed these to them through the car window with our masks on!  

The team is using these beautiful Belagio cork fabrics for their projects this month as described in the next paragraph.

We have an exciting month ahead for all you Eileen Hull fans! The theme this month is June Journals and Eileen is collaborating with Belagio to use their unique, versatile cork fabric. This durable and user friendly fabric can be easily die cut, sewn by machine, combined with fabric, paper or pretty much any substrate you can think of. Thin sheets of real cork are laminated to a fabric backing so it is very flexible and durable. It is thinner than other cork sheets on the market but that is intentional to make it suitable for many different applications. It’s perfect for covering three dimensional projects like boxes, books, and home decor pieces. It can also be used to create 3D flowers and other embellishments. This fabric lives up to the Belagio motto: You are only limited by your imagination.

Where can you find Belagio cork fabric?

• Hobby Lobby carries packaged cork in 18″ x 15″ pieces in 9 different patterns in the notions department.

• There are two types – a natural and a natural with gold at Walmart stores that have fabric departments. It is sold by the yard.

• As for the entire collection, many quilt and craft shops around the country carry it by the yard and in packaged 18″ x 15″ pieces.

• Online the Belagio cork fabric is available on Walmart.com and Amazon.com.

So now that you have been introduced to this lovely new product  -  I have lots of photos to share with you, starting with how I put my Notebooks together and then how they look when finished!

Eileen sent the team all of these lovely pieces of cork fabric to work with.  So many beautiful patterns and there are a multitude more of them. You will be seeing many more projects from me using these! 

 I chose the tear drop circles one and the floral one for my Notebook covers.

 

 I adhered the cork to the matboard using double sided adhesive sheets. And then ran Eileen's Notebook Die through my machine cork side facing the die.

This cork fabric feels so soft as a cover - almost like a leather. I love the feel of it in my hand.
It adhered perfectly to the matboard and has not lifted off any of the edges or scorings.

 

My friend Elizabeth (the twins mother) said that Gwen would like the floral cork and her favorite color is green,  so I colored all the flowers and stems with a YG23 Copic.  I tried coloring on a scrap of this pattern first to see how bright it would be. I also tried a mix of greens, but felt it looked best using just this one green.
 

Paige's favorite color is pink/coral so for her cover I used two Copic colors - a light pink (R32) and a coral (R35).  Again, I tested the colors on a scrap of this cork fabric before starting on the cover.

This piece has little flecks of gold on it that you can see reflected here.  SO pretty!!

I colored only random circles - leaving many uncolored, just going with what was pleasing and balanced to my eye.  Here is the completed cover for Paige.


I used Color Blends2 inks to color the inside of the cover, spritzing the inks with water and then dabbing the colors on, one at a time with a sponge.
Gwen likes green, so I used Frog, Leaf, and Gold Blends for her cover.

Any inks or paints can be used with this technique.

Here is the Leaf green dabbed on

Then I dabbed on the Frog Ink and finally the Gold Ink

Paige likes coral/pink so I used Melon and Rose Gold Blends2 inks for her inside cover. 

I sponged the color around the outside edges and onto the scored edges of the binding.

I die cut their names and age out of Sizzix Sculpting Foam - a new product that is like fun foam but very much thinner.  I felt that it might be more durable than using cardstock for this application.
I adhered double sided adhesive sheets to the foam before die cutting so I didn't have to apply glue to each letter/number.

I laid a ruler along the cover to help me adhere the letters in a straight line.

 

 I had these cute notebooks from JoAnn and they just happened to be in a mix of pink and green, so I used the green for Gwen and Pink for Paige.

I also got out several charms and asked Elizabeth which one each girl might like -   the purse was chosen for Gwen and the squirrel was chosen for Paige.

 I added three paper note books to each notebook, laying a 12" black elastic cord across the inside center of each book, bringing the two ends around the outside binding, pulling them tightly and tying a double knot.  This allows the notebooks to be removed or added very easily.  I tied the charm in with the knot on the middle elastic.  I threaded a 20" piece of faux suede cord under the binding cords adhering it just on the binding with a piece of ScorTape to hold the cord onto the binding when the book was un-tied.  I stamped 2020, punched it out and adhered it to the bottom right corner.

I die cut a pocket out of coordinated DP using Eileen's Credit Card Sleeve and Tags die.  I adhered it to the cover and slipped $10 inside.  I stamped Happy Birthday on the sleeve and added Metallic Stickers/Quotations above and below the sleeve.

The notebooks have encouraging words printed on their covers.

I adhered more Metallic Stickers on the back cover.

Front and back, showing binding cords, charm and tie cord.

Tied in a bow.

From the back

And here's Gwen's - made in the same way with the purse charm on the binding.

And here are Gwen and Paige with their special notebooks at their drive-by birthday party!

I look forward to making more things with Eileen's dies and this creative new product, 
 Belagio Cork Fabric!
It gives a wonderful textured feel to whatever it is on and there are so many beautiful designs to choose from!

Be sure to check out Eileen's blog every Wednesday this month for more creative ideas using this cork fabric on Eleen's journals.

You can also join Eileen on her twice weekly Facebook Live shows at Eileen Hull Designs – Tuesdays at 6:00 pm EST and Thursdays at 4:00 pm EST. Become a member of the Eileen Hull Fan Club-  a friendly, talented and encouraging community of crafty folks that you will want to meet. Please join our group and don’t forget to answer the questions! You can also find Eileen on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Stamps:  Karen Fisher Number Snap Stamps (retired), Birthday Basics - PTI
Ink:  True Black - PTI, Gold, Frog, Leaf, Melon, Rose Gold - Blends 2 Inks/Color Box.
Paper:  Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, Marble Paper - JoAnn, Under the Tuscan Sun - Ciao Bella.
Accessories:  Notebook Die, Credit Card Sleeve and Tags Thinlit Dies - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Belagio Cork Fabric floral and circles, Sunset Garden Sizzix Sculpting Foam, Easy Cut Adhesive - ThermoWeb, Copics YG23, R35, R32, Alphabet and number dies - PTI, Metallic Stickers/Quotations - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Mini Notebooks - JoAnn, Word Window Punch - SU, Faux Suede Cord - DIY, black round elastic cord, craft mat, water mister, sponges.