posts in category #HSatmichaels

1.05.2016

a darling little gift box...with Marquee Love!

Hey hey everyone!

I'm so excited to share this project with you today! My dear friend, Kim Jeffress inspired this little box and I'm so grateful for her creative genius...

Are you looking for a fun, unique gift for a loved one? Something that can be used long after a holiday or celebration? Well then, this little Heidi Swapp Marquee Love Heart gift box is just what you've been looking for...

Heidi's brand new collection of Marquee Love shapes and accessories have just been released and they wonderful! The new patterns and colors definitely scream spring...

Creating this little box is really not hard...but it is a bit time consuming.

You'll need the following: (all materials - except maybe the chocolates - can be found at Michaels Stores)

*A Marquee Love Heart

*Marquee Love Tape, both 2" and 1" sizes

*Marquee Love Patterned Paper

*Marquee Love Paper Flowers

*Marquee Love Faceted Bulb Caps

*Heidi Swapp Color Shine

*White cardstock

*Pencil

*Scissors

*Glue

*Makeup wedges

To create your box lid:

1. Start by tracing your shape onto a piece of white cardstock...twice. You will use one of these tracings now and one later.

2. Cut JUST ONE of your traced shapes out - staying just a smidge (maybe 1/8") outside your trace line. This will ensure that the lid will fit over your marquee shape.

3. Adhere your white cardstock heart to the back of a piece of patterned paper and cut around your shape. You know have a 2 layer heart that will act as the top of your lid.

See how the soon-to-be-lid stretches slightly over the marquee shape?

Now we're going to add the sides of the lid...

4. Cut several strips of white cardstock (length doesn't really matter) to 1.5" wide. My shape used 2 strips that were 12" x 1.5".

5. Using your 1" glitter tape, tape the long side of your strip, being careful to keep your edges straight.

6. Use a bone folder or stylus to score a line down the edge of your tape where it meets the cardstock. This will allow you to fold your cardstock more easily. Fold the cardstock away from the tape.

7. Starting at the bottom point of your heart, glue (I used plain old white glue) the cardstock to the underside of your lid, making sure to keep your taped edge flush against the top of the lid. This process takes a bit of time, but as you start working it will get easier.

8. In order for your tape to wrap around your lid correctly, you will need to little slits into the cardstock edge. This will allow them to bend easily. I cut the slits as I went, but you may find it easier to cut them first - before you start gluing.

9. Continue cutting, bending & gluing around your entire shape, making sure your glittered edge is right up against your lid edge, until you come to the end of your shape. I then cut a little "v" out of white cardstock to attach to the inside bottom point of my heart to keep the lid sides together.

10. Now here's where you will use your other traced heart. Cut this heart out just slightly inside your tracing, and adhere it to the inside of your lid. This will cover up your glued areas and will give the lid a more finished look.

And guess what?! Your lid is finished! Looks good, huh?

Moving on...

11. Decorate your marquee shape with the decorative tape - 2" tape on the outside edges, 1" tape on the inside edges. If you've never decorated a Marquee Love shape before here is a quick run-through...

12. Add your paper flowers. These little paper flowers are specially designed to fit into Marquee Love shapes and come ready with a hole in the middle. Simply place them over the bulb cap hole in the shape and push in your bulb cap. Easy peasy.

To add color to the tips of your paper flowers, spray the edge of a makeup wedge with Color Shine and rub over your flower edges.

13. String your lights according to the included instructions, add batteries and you are done with your shape!

14. To turn your shape into a box, trace the inside heart onto white cardstock and cut outside the edges of your tracing (just like we did in Step 2). Add a line of white glue to the edge of your inside heart and add your cardstock. Allow to dry. You may also choose to make this piece more sturdy by using cardboard or coverstock instead of cardstock for this little heart. I like to use cardstock because it is easier to remove after the candy is all gone...

15. Add your candy (or whatever!) and your lid and you are finished! Isn't that little box just so darling?!

What a fun gift for your honey, or kids' teachers or friends! Or maybe just for you...

SUPPLIES; Heidi Swapp Marquee Love Heart, HS Marquee Love Rose Gold Glitter Tape 2", HS Marquee Love Rose Gold Glitter Tape 1", HS Marquee Love Wood Grain Tape 2", HS Marquee Love Wood Grain Tape 1", HS Marquee Love Mint Faceted Bulb Caps, HS Marquee Love Paper Flowers, HS Marquee Love Spring Paper Pad, HS Color Shine - Mint, white cardstock, makeup sponge, chocolate candy (yum)

*All Heidi Swapp products can be found at Michaels Stores*

12.07.2015

have yourself a Merry Little Christmas...photobooth!

It's less than 3 weeks away!

Christmas is less than 3 weeks away!

Are you ready?

I am not.

I still have a bunch of shopping and decorating to do...and I still have to pull together our Christmas cards...but things are falling into place, thank goodness.

One of the things I'm trying to do this season, amidst everything else, is trying to take more photographs. Now is the perfect time to get out those "big" cameras and snap a few for the album. But taking the same photos over and over...everyone side by side smiling at the camera...can get pretty stale.

So we're spicing things up a bit over here. I've set up a little impromptu photo booth, complete with the new Heidi Swapp Instax Photo Props (available at Michaels stores with the rest of Heidi's Instax products), and we're getting in the spirit with some fun photos!

These little props are so fun and so dang easy to put together...and Heidi's thought of everything you could possibly want to cheer up those holiday photos!

The sheets of props come just like this...all you need to do is pop them out of their sheets and attach them to the included sticks with the adhesive dots (also included).

Super easy.

Some of the props come with glittered accents that you can add...

And there are a number of little embellishments you can add as well! So so cute!

I recently painted a wall in our kitchen with chalkboard paint...and this makes the perfect backdrop for our silly holiday photos...I just stashed the props in a little metal bucket and placed them in the corner. Now they're easily accessible for anyone who feels the need to take a few pics! Plus they look pretty cute sitting there...

The kids had a great time posing for a few shots for me...

This one is my favorite...

I'm pretty excited to have the kids' friends over for a hot chocolate party and some photobooth craziness! And who knows? Maybe these little gems will find their way onto our Christmas cards this year...

SUPPLIES; Heidi Swapp Instax Photo Props - Christmas

10.25.2015

A Fun Addition to Our Thanksgiving Table...with the Heidi Swapp Instax Collection

I love Thanksgiving...

I think it's my favorite holiday next to Christmas.

I especially love setting the table each year...I love to try something new each year...and I especially love to use non-traditional colors in my decor.

This year I'm using something a little different to create my place settings...here's what I'm starting with...

The brand new Heidi Swapp Instax Card Kit and a number of pieces from Heidi's new sticker collection (both available now at Michaels Stores).

And here's what I've created...

Personalized place settings for each of our Thanksgiving guests!

I started by asking each of our guests to send me photos of themselves...then I printed them out using the FANTASTIC Instax Printer (also available at Michaels) and placed them inside the little cards that come in the kit.

But instead of then folding the cards up and putting them into their adorable little envelopes, I folded the cards backwards and turned them into these little tented frames.

A small piece of washi tape helps the cards keep their shape...

I decorated each one with a few pieces from the Sticker Collection and added a little monogram so that each of our guests would know where to sit...

A piece or two of washi tape (also from the sticker collection) helps to keep the photos in place...

...and when the evening is over everyone has a little memento to bring home. They just simply have to fold their cards up and tuck them into their envelopes...

So easy...(really, soooo easy), but fun, right?

I love the idea of giving something a little personal to each of our guests...

And now I'm getting so excited to decorate for Thanksgiving!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

SUPPLIES - (all supplies shown here are available at Michaels Stores): Heidi Swapp Instax Card Kit, Heidi Swapp Sticker Collection - alpha stickers, washi tape, enamel dots, acetate words; American Crafts Mini Metal Stapler, American Crafts Precision Pen Black .01

10.08.2015

giving the gift of memories...with Instax and Heidi Swapp

Wouldn't it be awesome if we could give people the perfect gift? One that is beautiful and meaningful...one that they'll cherish?

Here's a little attempt at how I've tried to do just that...

So, my 12-year-old daughter recently decided it was time to start redecorating her room...making it a little more mature...a little more "her."

And while I'm happy to let her do most of the work herself (let's face it...our tastes aren't exactly the same...and I've been trying to pick my battles...grrrr...), I did want to have some input on what's going on the walls.

She's at the age now where her friends are becoming increasingly important to her...and taking photos of EVERYTHING (especially herself) is something she loves to do...

So I decided to surprise her with a fun little Instax wall...filled with her favorite photos. This is where it started...

This Light Banner Kit from Heidi Swapp was exactly what I needed to get started on giving Kinsley the gift of memories. Seriously...glitter, tassels, gold foil and lights? Yep. Perfect.

I grabbed a few other things I needed...some baker's twine & seambinding - to help mount photos, some extra clips, and some washi tape and stickers from a few of Heidi's other collections and some of the stickers from her other Instax collections.

Next, I used my Instax Printer (which I'm pretty sure I could no longer live without) to print off some of the photos I'd taken from her phone.

**Side note: honestly - if you're looking for a gift that will be used over and over and over, consider an Instax Printer. It prints photos from your smart-phone gallery (using a downloadable app that works with the printer)...so they can be fully edited and cropped...but it prints them on that amazing Instax polaroid film. There's just something about that little plastic card-size photo...OH! And you can even add text to the bottom of your photos before you print! It's so awesome...**

And then the fun part started. I took each of my photos...one at a time...and decorated them using the items from the Light Banner Kit and the other stickers and stuff I grabbed. This was so fun. Dressing up little tags like this is the best...it's like creating little mini-layouts...

You can see in the photo on the left above how I added the title "Beauty & the Beast 2015" to my photo before I printed (so awesome!). Then I added that little strip of washi - "THAT ONE TIME..." - from Heidi's washi packs at Michaels. And finally I covered the photo with one of the gold glitter frames from the Light Banner Kit. Easy peasy...and QUICK!

For the little tag on the right, I simply layered a few of the mini pennants (again from the Light Banner Kit) on the larger pennant and added a little mint-foiled paper bow (from Heidi's Color Story Sticker Collection at Michaels).

For the rest of the photos and pennants I did basically the same thing. I took a photo, added a sticker or strip of washi, layered on a pennant and DONE!

I headed up to Kinsley's room and got to work putting up the banner. She already has these great framed corkboards she's putting up...they made adding photos super easy. And I love the way they look.

**Another side note: the corkboards were really fun to put together. We built a few, but there are some we bought - like the one shown here - at Home Goods. I covered the cork with a window shade I found at Goodwill (it had been from IKEA and was basically a roll of this beautiful dark textured paper). I LOVE the dark background on her light walls...**

I started by hanging the light string/baker's twine/seambinding...and then I just grabbed my little decorated photos and tags and got to work adding them...

The light string that comes in the kit works on batteries and comes with a little strip of double-sided adhesive foam. I stuck mine to the side of the corkboard frame...it's easy to get to here, and it's out of the way.

Because I had so many photos I decided to fill up one of the corkboards as well. I strung some more baker's twine and added a few to that. And the rest went up with pushpins.

I even rested one of Heidi's new Instax Wood Blocks on top of a large picture frame and added a photo there.

I'm so happy with the way this turned out! I think what I love most is that nothing is permanent. The photos can all be changed out...and in most of the cases, I didn't adhere the embellishments to the actual photos (I used the bulldog & paper-clips to keep the pieces together), so they can be used again, too.

I think Kinsley loves it, too. When she walked into her room after school I heard her say "YES!!!" I'm so happy she's happy with it. It was the perfect gift from me to her.

And working on this kind of got me thinking...maybe I should start focusing on giving all the people I love gifts that are more meaningful. Maybe instead of impersonal, over-priced stuff I should work to give people the gift of memories...

That is going to be my personal challenge...and it's something I challenge you to think about doing as well. We can't forget that our memories, no matter how goofy, silly, fun, scary, sad or awesome, are vitally important.

I'd love to see how you're giving the perfect gift...tag your photos #givethegiftofmemories on social media so we can all see and be inspired...

SUPPLIES: (all supplies now available at Michaels Stores) Fuji Instax Wireless Printer and Film, Heidi Swapp Instax Light Banner Kit, Heidi Swapp Instax Planner Kit, Heidi Swapp Instax Flip Album Kit, Heidi Swapp Instax Wood Blocks, Heidi Swapp Instax Sticker Set, Heidi Swapp Sticker Collection (bows, washi tape, wooden words), Pink Paislee Cedar Lane (feather paperclips), striped paperclips, seambinding, baker's twine.