our maui story: as told by instagram.

i am SO proud of myself for completing this particular project!  it is no secret that i am a self professed instagram addict. i love it. plain and simple.  i love documenting anything and everything i am feeling, experiencing or captivated by at any particular moment.  these images are TRULY reflections of myself feeling present, grateful and wanting to celebrate the amazing things (both big and small) that i am surrounded by.

so needless to say when we vacationed to maui this past fall, i took over 100 instagram photos during our entire vacation.  i had my other camera with me too, but to be honest these are my FAVORITE images.  they are truly a reflection of all of the incredible blessings we experienced, our "in the moment" moments that i never want to forget.

so to print out all of my instagram photos i uploaded them to persnickety prints and had them print them out for me 4x4 size.  i ADORE how they turned out and will definitely be using their services again. a GREAT way to get your instagram images printed and super easy. I LOVE that they ship to Canada too...bonus!  Thank you persnickety, you ROCK!


because i had SO many photos to scrapbook i wanted a project that was super cute and creative, but that was also really easy to compile and not overwhelming.  i do not have tons of extra time so something that would be time friendly was also on my priority list!  what i came up with is this little (well not so little) album.  I cut a piece of black chipboard into 2 5x12 inch pieces for my cover. the back of the cover i left black, but the front of the cover i embellished using Heidi Swapp No Limits Schematic paper as my background.  I them used my Silhouette to cut out the word "instagram" billabong font out of No Limits Forever paper.  I also used my Silhouette to cut out the basic red heart shape using Bazzill card stock.  I embellished with a Heidi Swapp paper banner and Heidi Swapp acrylic stamps. I just ADORE those stars, I can never get enough of them.   Once I had everything adhered down on my cover I applied a thin layer of mod podge to seal it all.  


for my inside pages, i kept the design and layout super simple and very attainable.  all i did was cut a bunch of pages to 4x12 and adhered my instagram images side by side.  some pages have all photos, others have a 4x4 Heidi Swapp paper from the vintage chic collection, and some have flap pages that I made using an instagram image as the front and then the inside is hidden journaling.  for these flaps i simply cut a page 4x8 and folded it in half.



i also made cut little tabs using my Silhouette machine and Heidi Swapp Vintage Chic Just Dots paper. I simply stapled them to random pages and to the photos that I made into interactive hidden journaling pages.  I further embellished my album using Heidi Swapp's acrylic stamps, sentiment stickers, sentiment definitions and letter epoxy stickers




once i completed all of my pages, i punched 2 holes into the chipboard covers and each page and bound the album together with 2 jumbo sized key rings. this is definitely an album i will be reproducing again. it tells a beautiful photographic story and each image acts like it's own little work of art. i hope you are inspired to gather together your instagram collection, print out some photos and create an album of your own. have fun making pretty stuff!





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oh what FUN!

we are officially just days away from christmas. wow! has december flown by!  as these last few days before christmas approach us i will try to use this time to create some last minute handmade gifts for family and friends.  i always feel that is the BEST part of the holiday season. extending appreciation and thoughtfulness to those amazing people around us with special handmade gifts that do not cost a lot of money, just a bit of time.

of course this year, ALL of my handmade gifts have all been graced with a touch of "heidi flair"...her GORGEOUS freebies that have been on her blog since the beginning of december. i am SO in love with each and every one, it is truly hard to pick a favourite!  this week's freebie helped me to create a gift box of homemade cookies and it was the perfect added touch. oh what fun it is to create and play!



since extra time during the holiday season is often scarce, i decided to keep my project simple and completely "do-able".   i came across this super cute gift box from my local dollar store, filled it with a batch of homemade cookies and used today's GORGEOUS Heidi Swapp FREEBIE to add that perfect finishing touch!


i simply printed out the freebie on my home computer, adjusting the scale to 70% and 50% on each of my print outs (as i printed out two copies).  i then fussy cut them out, added the small tags as a banner and used the larger one for a tag.  i then added some pink paislee artisan ribbons to the top that i misted with sweet cherry, tinsel and mint green colorshine. once those were adhered I added some seam binding ribbon to the other corner customized with the same three colors as the pink paislee artisan ribbons.  of course nothing would be complete without some stars!  the pink paislee artisan chipboard stars are perfect and added just what i needed with some more help from sweet cherry, tinsel and mint green colorshine.

simple and SO fun to create. I am excited to deliver my gift box and I hope you are inspired to print out today's freebie to create yourself a little something special and have some FUN!  happiest of holidays to you. xoxo

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banner bliss.

i am so IN LOVE with the heidi swapp FREEBIES that have been so generously shared by heidi herself. seriously SO great and they have definitely helped to get me into the christmas creative spirit for sure.

to celebrate these amazing freebies, i created this cute little banner project that serves not only as a home decor piece, but also as a way to display some favourite holiday photos, especially those fabulous instagram holiday photos...yes, i am a self professed addict!


i created my banner using a variety of heidi swapp's collections.  i used the beautiful songs paper from vintage chic, chevron color magic paper, black velvet, sweet cherry and chartreuse colorshine AND an instaframe!  how cool is it that all of these collections combined together SO perfectly and they are not even specifically christmas related? now THAT i love! true versatility...so great!

the heidi swapp freebies are ALL available on her blog and make the most perfect additions to any holiday project you are creating.  definitely take advantage and grab yourself each fun and super cute design!  all you have to do is download, print and enjoy. easy peasy!


here's to making pretty (festive) stuff! xoxo
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