Heidi Swapp Minc Christmas Village

I love Christmas time, its my favourite time of year! I love decorating my home and seeing the joy on my boys faces!

When the new Heidi Swapp Minc chipboard Village arrived recently I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it..... add GLITTER!!!  Now living in Australia and having a Summer Christmas I wanted to have a  splash of colour in my Christmas decor so what better way than brightly  coloured glittered houses!

 I also added in some of the Heidi Swapp Christmas trees and that cutest little ute to my vignette to make it appealing to my boys as well!

Let me show you some of my process before I share some close up details of the village houses.

I gathered some of my supplies- The Minc Chipboard village, My 6 inch mini Minc, teal and pink 6 inch foil and some of the new Heidi Swapp Snow!

Next I assembled my houses, which was quick and easy to do!

Then I grabbed 4 different colours of glitter and painted each home in the same colour. I mixed in some Matte Multi Medium with the paint which allowed me to sprinkle on the glitter and have it adhere as the paint dried. Once the paint was dry I just tapped each home to dust off the excess glitter.

Next I grabbed the roofs, windows and doors for the houses and ran them through my Mini Minc with coordinating foil colours!

A quick note to self, the doors and windows are self adhesive and after trail and error I discovered that the stickers did not stick to the glitter. Enter the American Crafts Sticky Thumb cordless hot glue gun. I simply used the hot glue to adhere all my windows and doors to my houses!

My final step was to use my hot glue gun again and add some of the Heidi Swapp snow to the windows and roofs of each house!

Here you can see a better view of the snow on the window sills!

I grabbed one of the Oh What Fun ephemera pieces to create a Next Stop sign , I simply hot glued it to a decorative pin and used some blue tac to stick it to the base of my vignette.

I wanted to share how my village looks at night. I placed some of the Marquee Love string lights behind each of the houses to light them up. 

I adore how the light shines though the windows and doors, I think it looks very festive!

My most favourite part of my village might be the ute with the Christmas tree tied on the back with some red and white twine...just quietly it might be my boys favourite part too!

Be on the look out for the Minc Village at your nearest JoAnn stores very soon! I had the most fun painting and glittering then putting together my village!

Who stole the cookies.....

Now before I start this post I have a disclaimer to share...I'm not a baker, I never have been and I probably never will be ...but recently my boys and I had  the best fun making some Christmas cookies using the Brand new Heidi Swapp Cookie Shoppe collection available at Jo-Ann.

I started by finding an easy cookie recipe  from the internet and made up the dough. I then had my boys (who were by this time totally excited) roll out and use the Snow Flake and NOEL cookie cutters.

My oldest also used the Heidi Swapp Christmas Tree rolling pin to create that fun pattern in the cookies.

He loved that the Snowflake cookie cutters came with the little shaped cutter to cut a hole in the centre of the cookie.

My youngest used the NOEL cookie cutters as well as the snowflake cutters!

I want to share a quick video of my boys working their magic with the cookie cutters!

 Now for a non baker I don't think my cookies turned out too bad, in fact the boys and I was very excited to see how they tasted!

I think these will look so pretty on our Christmas table on Christmas day!

My youngest son couldn't wait to to spell his  NOEL cookies in the correct order. 

I have plans to make more of these closer to the big day and give them as gifts , I think they would make the perfect homemade gift!

Be on the look out for these items as well as all the extra pieces to the Cookie Shoppe collection to wrap and gift your cookies this Christmas from Jo-Ann!

Instax photo display for my husband!

When I received the new Heidi Swapp Instax wood blocks recently I knew straight away what I wanted to do with them...create a display for my husband to take to his work. You see my husband works out of town and commutes Monday mornings interstate for his work. I wanted to create a special gift for him to put on his desk and think of us everytime he looks at it!
It was easy to start off my display, I grabbed my FujiFilm Instax Share Sp-1 printer, mobile phone and the Wood Photo blocks. Using the Instax share App on my phone I was able to printer photos directly from my phone to the printer!

I wanted to keep the photo display masculine, no frilly bows, sequins  or pink here so I let the photos and Wood blocks speak for themselves!

Let's take a look at each block. On the Hello Gorgeous Wood Block  I added one of the Puffy Stickers  from the Sticker collection. I then adhered some of the Glitter Stickers from the Instax Glitter sticker set to the photo. To complete I punched a heart from some Yellow pattern paper and slipped it into the slot next to my photo.

On the This Moment block I slipped in two Instax photos of my boys. On the left photo I added that sheer sticker from the Instax Sticker set and glitter star from the Glitter set. On the right photo I trimmed another sticker from Instax Sticker set and used that gold clip to add it to the top of the photo.

The You + Me block holds another single photo this time with the full Instax sticker that covers the front of the photo. I love the subtle pattern that gives a masculine feel to the photo. I used my tiny attacher to staple another sheer sticker to the side of the photo.

To the XOXO block I simply slipped in that White Acetate  breathe word from the Sticker collection available right now at Michaels. 

Hiding right at the back of the pack I stacked two of the blocks on top of each other and trimmed down that Decisions Determine Destiny 3x4 card from the Picturesque Core kit. I simply slipped it into the block and added in one of my son's Lego figures just as another reminder of home!

I've packed the pieces in a little box with a photo of how to set the blocks up on his desk. when he arrives at work on Monday and opens his bag there will be a special little surprise waiting for him!
I love that I can give him the Gift Of Memories so easily and simply with these Wood Blocks!

Supplies: Instax Share SP-1 printer; Heidi Swapp Instax Stickers Heidi Swapp Instax Wood Blocks, Heidi Swapp Instax Stickers, Project Life Picturesque Core kit, Puffy Number Stickers, Acetate Words Black and White

Halloween decor

Halloween is fast approaching and this past weekend I set  myself up  a little Halloween Vignette to celebrate the coming holiday.
The star of my show is definitely that Heidi Swapp Marquee Love skull hanging in the background. I kinda love him nestled in that feather Wreath I picked up at Spotlight recently.

I covered the inside of the skeleton with paper from the Halloween Marquee love paper pad then added in some orange bulbs.

Its a bit tricky to see but I added some of the 2 inch Halloween washi around the edge of my skeleton then hung him in the centre of the wreath with some orange ribbon from my stash.

On my table I began with a vintage frame that I created a banner with using photos I printed off my my fuji Film Instax printer, new Heidi Swapp Instax frames and Halloween ephemera from Crate Paper that I foiled in orange and Purple foil in my  Minc.

I hung them with some twine to my frame.

I added another piece of Ephemera to my little fluffy bird!

Here I added one of my Instax photos and that fun Acrylic word from the Heidi Swapp Fill In the Blank Value kit!

This Crate Paper Halloween Minc gallery Art piece was foiled with Purple foil in my Minc, I then added that cute black and  white fabric bow from the Sticker collection before popping it  into a white frame!

I shared my Marquee Love  ghost in a previous post. Be sure to check out how I created her with a simple step by step tutorial.

I love the way she sits proudly nestled amongst the other Halloween pieces.

Im all set now for the 31st, Bring on Halloween!

Hello Adventure Daydream Island mini album

Late last year my family and I spent 10 beautiful days on Daydream Island on the Great Barrier Reef! I am finally getting around to create my mini album for our trip and I couldn't go past using the
 Heidi Swapp Project Life 8x8 album as a starting base.

I simply added on of the new fabric bows from the Sticker collection to the front and tied around some gold sequins thread to hold it closed.

I started with an 8x8 photo that I popped into one of the 8x8 plastic sleeves that come in the collection. I added that clip and sticker from the Sticker collection too.

We were on our way... I added that ready set go 4x4  die cut card from the Project Life collection over our plane photo and my journaling on the 4x4 card on the left. I stapled on that Fuji Film Instax photo to the right of my 8x8 pocket page  for some fun.

I added in that postcard from the Island that I picked up and then one of the 8x8 pocket pages with the gold star insert as an introduction to my elf photo.

Another 8x8 photo, here I simply stitched on one of the gold labels from the Sticker collection that I stamped with one of the new Project Life stamps.

A sheer Project life Gold sticker.

This 4x6 card is from the Glitter Value kit, I thought it was a perfect introduction to the next part of  my album.

I added in one of the Clear Tabbed overlays in front of my very favourite 8x8 photo!

Here I stitched 2 (3x4 cards) from the Prismatic Core Kit to form my 4x4 journaling card. I then stapled on one of the Acrylic shapes from the Fill In the Blank Value Kit.

More 4x4 Prismatic cards for typed journaling.

I printed off an 8x3 photo and stitched a Wood veneer word to the side.

I popped that Lucky 3x4 card from the Prismatic core kit into the top right pocket then over laid it with one of the Project Life frames. I then added another Instax photo that I added some of the brand new Instax glitter stickers too!

Love the yummy layers.

That epic word comes from the 4x4 Overlays kit that i slid in behind the 4x4 wood card. On the right side is the back side of the large photo that I backed in pattern paper and added that 3x4 card with my journaling.

More typed journaling on the 4x6 card. I added that gold Adventure Foam Title from the Sticker collection to my photo for easy embellishing.

Another double photo , which really makes an impact! I stapled that Acrylic ampersand for interest.

I created this 8x8 collage in Picmonkey then added that Silver Foam title  from the Sticker Collection over the top of the plastic pocket.

Puffy stickers!

Wooden cards.

Instax photo with Instax Glitter stickers!

We made a special day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef.

I was very fortunate that one of the 4x6 cards had a map of Australia. I simply  trimmed the card to size and added that puffy arrow.

For my title- GBR( Great Barrier Reef) I used some of the new water color letters that I spritzed with Butter and Patina Colorshine for an ombre effect. I stapled the letters into the pockets with my tiny attacher.

That Smile Glitter chipboard shapes comes from the Sparkle Value Kit.

I added one of the Happy glitter wood veneer words directly on my large photo!

More journaling on the 3x4 card attached to my pattern paper with washi from the new Washi Teal set.

I typed my journaling on the Kraft tag from the Sticker collection and added the Gold sheer sticker and puffy sticker for fun embellishments!

More 4x4 Project Life cards!

An easy way to add information about events is to use the Fill In The Blank cards like this one here I used as a divider in my album.

Another  Die cut 4x4 Project Life card.

I love the Clear effect it creates.

 Here I added one of the new glitter tape clips from the Sticker collection to my photo.

Eopxy Stickers from the Project Life collection.

I stapled another two Instax photos to the top of the pocket page and added that fabric bow for a girly look.

I overlaid that Clear card from the Definition 4x4 set to enhance the bottom left photo!

...and to complete my album more die cut cards.

 I just adore the layers and memories that I have created in my album. It truly was a match made in heaven this Project Life 8x8 album and my tropical photos!
I know I am going to treasure this album for a long time to come.

supplies:
Project Life: Tab Dividers. Gold Phrase Stickers. Gold Stickers. 8x8 Page Protectors. Color Shine. Fill In The Blank Value Kit. Glitter Value Kit. 4x4 Word Cards. 4x4 Overlays and Page Protectors. Prismatic Core Kit. Washi Tape. Die Cut 4x4 cards, Clear Stamps
Sticker collection: Fabric bows, Clips, Gold and Silver Foam Titles, Kraft Glitter Tags, sheer stickers 
Instax Collection: Glitter Stickers