hey guys :o)  SP here with a super QUICK post to share our FREE november DESKTOP !  i had a lot of fun working on this one…it has a beautiful and rich fall theme :o)  pretty much everything is from the free PLENTIFUL kit (I added in a few items from Autumn Medley and Bountiful, too)!  I hope you guys enjoy it…

 CLICK HERE to download the 1024 x 768 version

CLICK HERE to download the 1280 x 800 version

 have a WONDERFUL weekend and a super HAPPY (and safe) Halloween!  We’ll see you back here on Monday with a new LOTW!

Shabby PrincessFree Desktops, Uncategorized 30 Comments

Hey everyone, it’s Lu today with a hearty chili recipe! I have to tell you, my family waits all year for this recipe, lol! We enjoy it so much, it’s delicious for so many different events: football games, cook-offs, and yes, right before trick or treating! In all the excitement of costumes & candy, the little ones (and even the adults) can easily forget about eating “real” food & just fill up on all that sugar. And that would be truly frightful, lol! My tactic is to fill those little tummies first on a decent meal, then maybe they won’t gorge too much on the candy. I can try anyway, lol! What I love so much about chili is that you can make it well in advance, freeze, then pull out to defrost & warm up before heading out for the fun. I’ve always found these saucy- type recipes even better the next day!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2lbs lean ground beef
• 1 lbs lean ground pork
•  lb ground sausage (regular flavor)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 can green chili peppers
• 4 cans (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can of each: pinto, light red kidney & red beans (rinsed & drained)
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chili powder
1 tsp salt
• Optional: add 1-2 tbsp. Cayenne pepper

(As a note with the spices, tweak these according to taste. Little ones may not appreciate the heat and you certainly wouldn’t want to give them a stomach ache before they even get to the candy) 

Directions:

• In large Dutch oven, brown the ground beef, pork & sausage. Drain off the fat.
• Add in the onions, bell pepper, oregano, sugar, spices. Combine the ingredients, simmer covered on medium low heat for 1 hour or until vegetables are reduced down into meat mixture. Stir often (I set a timer for every 5 minutes, lol). Add a bit of water as needed if mixture gets dry.
• Add diced tomatoes, green chilis, sauce & beans. Cook covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for another 30 minutes.

That’s it! Super easy… spoon it up, then layer on the shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream & chips (my family prefers Fritos, but I like corn tortillas). For me, the best part of this recipe is that you can turn it into another meal the next day: taco salad! Just chop up your salad & then spoon over the chili… YUM! This is actually my preferred way of eating this dish.

I’ve created a FREE recipe card to share (I worked with a template from the MADE FROM SCRATCH recipe card templates at the Shoppe), available for download HERE or just click the card graphic above.  Hope you enjoy the recipe! Have a FUN and SAFE Halloween, we’ll be looking for those layouts in the gallery!

SP will be back tomorrow with November’s FREE DESKTOP…and then, meet us back here on Monday for LOTW…

LuFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 7 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s Kylie and I’m very excited to bring you a special little treat – a scrapbooking recipe challenge!!

It’s a little bit tricky (but not in the way you might think) and overflowing with sweet treats! :o) Simply follow the “Trick and Treat” recipe below and create your very own layout. You can take this as an opportunity to scrap a Halloween themed layout but it’s not a challenge requirement. It really is open to any theme, any idea, any interpretation you want – just follow the recipe and scrap, scrap, scrap!!

For a little added inspiration – the ‘winner’ of this “Trick and Treat” recipe challenge will receive a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!  You have a couple of weeks to participate in the challenge and comment back. To be eligible to ‘win’ you must upload your layout to the Shabby Shoppe Blog Challenge Gallery AND post a comment here on this particular blog post with a link to your layout.  All challenge entries (gallery upload and your comment) must be received by MIDNIGHT (Eastern Time) on Thursday, November 11th.  The ‘winner’ will be chosen at random and will be announced Saturday, November 13th!  Please keep in mind that all layouts must contain at least 75% SP product (purchased or free) and remember to follow the “Trick and Treat” recipe! :o) (Also this is a totally separate challenge from the our current Blog Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge Six  - so please don’t be confused!)

(Recipe card made with Muffin Man recipe card template no.5, Goose bumps kit and font is LD Twylight)

~*~ Here is a little more explanation than what’s on the recipe card ~*~

Trick!

Choose one favorite digital scrapbooking trick to add to your page. For example – blending, extraction, creative text paths, brushwork, curled corners, clipping photo masks or anything you like!

Treats!

And to go with your trick a selection of sweet treats to fill your treat ‘bag’ – oh, ummm – I meant ‘page’! :o)

• Use the typical Halloween colors – black/gray, orange, red, green, purple.  Choose one, two, three… or why not use all of them – the choice is yours!
• A combination of 2 solid papers and 3 patterned papers
• 3 photos – big or small, it’s your choice! But, one needs to be framed!
• 2 alphas and 2 fonts to use for your title/s and/or journaling
• 2 ribbons (we’ll accept ric-rac and string here too!) – one repeated or two different
• 3 different elements of your choice – flowers, buttons, rub-ons, stickers, swirlies – what ever you want! You can repeat these over the page if you want to, too!
• A star or two, or maybe more!
• A little added sparkle – this could be something as simple as shiny button or a smattering of glitter,
• And last but not least, tie up your treat ‘bag’ with a little stitching!

If you have any questions about this recipe challenge, please post a comment here! And I’ll reply to you asap!!

Here is what I made with the “Trick and Treat” recipe challenge! For my trick I chose “Photo tinting” – that is where you leave a portion of a photo in color. There is a fabulous tutorial for both PS and PSE users on the Shabby Shoppe Tutorials page. For my sweet treats I used the “too cute to spook!” Goose bumps kit (along with a couple of other Shabby Princess items). Goose bumps is the newest digital kit by Shabby Princess – and I LOVE it for Halloween layouts and also the everyday! :o)

Can’t wait to see what you create! Happy Scrapping!! :o)

 Bye for now! And, we’ll see you all back here tomorrow for Food Friday with Lu! YUM!!

KylieInspiration, Other Challenges, Uncategorized 16 Comments

hey guys…SP again, lol – here today with our first ever GALLERY GIRLS feature :o)  So, this is something I have wanted to add to the blog for a while!  Since bringing back the Shoppe’s Inspiration Gallery…it has grown so much and we have sooooo many talented scrappers posting regularly!  I feel like I have gotten to ‘know’ some of these girls through their gorgeous layouts, and occasional emails!  Those that I see in the gallery on a regular basis – I always refer to as my ‘GALLERY GIRLS’, lol!  So, that’s how the name came about!  And, if you are active in the Shoppe’s gallery at all, you are sure to already be familiar with our first featured gallery girl – GEORGEINCI!

Georgeinci (aka Georgina, lol) has been inspiring us for a while now and I know that many of us look forward to ‘what she is going to do next’ :o)  She has an amazing style…one that I really do not even know how to describe, lol!  Maybe eclectic and hodgepodge-y would be appropriate?  Every layout is a treat for the eyes and is always full of such wonderful memories and moments (and details)!  Don’t even get me started on her precious little ones (Evie Mae and Archie) – they are truly some of the most adorable and most photogenic kids I have seen!  Their ‘mum’ has such a great sense of style – and it shows not only in her layouts…but in the outfits the kids wear and in her photography and everything else she does!  So, I’ll stop rambling now and let Georgina ‘speak’ for herself, lol!  I sent her a long list of interview questions…and she was so wonderful in answering all of them!  First though…let me show you a couple of BRAND NEW layouts that Georgina put together just for this post :o)

Tell us a little about yourself:

Hi, my name’s Georgina (aka ‘georgeinci’!). I’m a mummy to two children, Archie 4 and Evie 2 and have been married to my husband for just over 10 years. I am a crafty person – although these days my main creative delights are playdough and sticky pictures! My family are my ultimate scrapbooking critics (and fans!) and are, without a doubt, my biggest inspiration…

How long have you been scrapbooking digitally…and did you do any paper scrapping before giving it a try?

I started digital scrapbooking after up-grading my point and shoot camera to a Panasonic Lumix bridging camera in 2009 (half-way between a point and shoot and SLR!). I began to take lots and lots of photographs – which was great – but – there are only so many photo frames you can fill and display without them taking over your whole house! That’s when I turned to digital scrapbooking – a perfect outlet for my photographs. I no longer had to subject my photographs to a life-time, unseen, on my computer’s hard-drive. I mean, why go to all the trouble of taking photographs, if no-one’s ever going to appreciate them? The digital era is so amazing but I do worry that even though we take zillions more photographs than our parents did – we seldom print them off and I fear there’ll be a whole generation of ‘lost’ photographs all hidden away on dead hard-drives! Just another reason why digital scrapbooking is sooooo perfect!

I have dabbled in paper scrapping – which I love, but living in the UK, supplies are limited (and very expensive!) and I guess with two children, the whole thing is very messy and time consuming. Now, instead of having to put my stash away (or hide it from my husband –LOL!), I just turn off the computer. Perfect!

How would you define your scrapping style?

My scrapping style is certainly chaotic and busy! I like to include a lot on my pages. I’m much more comfortable with multi-photo LOs too and I just love adding lots of elements. I’m not afraid to say I have an irrational fear of ‘white-space’ and clean lines – although I always admire the work of others who are able to achieve a slick, graphic look!

My absolute favourite kits to work with are those from our very own Shabby Shoppe. I adore how well they are put together and how each kit co-ordinates with another. They are also just amazing value for money and I LOVE them all (o.k, Hopscotch is my favourite, no Sandbox, no Summer Cottage…….)

What is the first component of each page that you create – or does it vary from page to page?

I guess the first component of each new page is simply the photographs themselves. I try to match the papers and elements to the context, mood and colours within the pictures. I especially like to co-ordinate the colours (if I can’t, I use B&W or a muted photograph!).

I also like to have a starting point – a template or sketch or simply inspiration from a magazine or on-line gallery (Shabby inspiration is great!!).

I always leave the journaling right until the end – when it’s late and I’m tired and the threat of typo errors is extremely high! I am aiming to do a daily December book this year – a LO a day for each day in December (well until the 25^th – I think I will have had enough by then!). I’ve never done anything like this before and I am definitely going to concentrate on the journaling for this one!

Tell us about your favourite layouts!

I have found it very difficult to choose a favourite LO. I even asked friends and family – but we all share different views on what makes a great LO. For my husband – it’s all about the photographs – everyone facing the camera, taken from a range where we can see all of the subject’s body! (very traditional – none of this ‘creative nonsense’!). For Archie & Evie – it’s any LO which features them! For my sister – it’s all about the mood and colours. For me then, I guess, I just LOVE those pages which feature the here and now and the everyday. I once read a designer’s blog (Melanie Grimes) saying she HATED doing special occasion pages as there’s just too much pressure to make it perfect, and I soooo agree with that.

What tip/technique/idea do you wish you had known about when you first started scrapbooking?

Oooh, this is another tricky one but I think the main difference between my LOs 18 months ago and those I do today is the photographs. For a start I now have a SLR camera (Canon DSLR 500D) which enables me to have a go at the more creative shots, I could only have dreamed of a while ago. Although very expensive, it was such a worthwhile investment – I only wish I had had it when my 2 were babes-in-arms! (Maybe we should have another baby?…., or a kitten?…both highly photogenic!)

Also, I tended to use my photographs straight out of the camera. No adjusting, no sharpening, no nothing! And whilst that’s absolutely fine, I do look back on some really nice photos and think ‘Oooh, those could have been great with just a little tweaking!’

What (or who) inspires you in your scrapbooking?

Without a doubt, my family are my main inspiration to scrap. Without them I wouldn’t want to take millions of photographs and document our very existence! I just love to create LOs on everyday happenings and events –things that are just so ordinary and everyday right now but will, in time, become priceless, unforgotten memories.

I know I can always turn to the Shabby Shoppe gallery for inspiration. I adore all the teams LOs – mind-blowing!  

I follow Melanie Grime’s (Britgirl) blog ‘Sweet Nothings’ quite religiously too. She’s a very talented UK photographer and accomplished digi-scrapper. I love her creative take on things!

Tech stuff (tell us about your camera and your software)!

My wonderful hubby bought me my Canon DSLR 500D for Christmas – or my third child, as he calls it! What does he mean? I would happily let my mum look after my 2 kids but borrow my camera? I don’t think so! In fact, when my husband took Archie to a new toy shop opening in town he borrowed the camera and I am not joking, I had to keep ringing him up just to make sure he hadn’t put it down and left it somewhere, or forgot to put the lens cap on, or ….LOL!

 For editing I use Lightroom. I love Lightroom – although I so don’t use it to its’ full potential! And to create my pages I use PSE 7.

I now have 2 lenses to go along with my camera – the 55-200mm 3.5 – 5.5f and, my new favourite, the 50mm 1.8f. I used to use the zoom lens a lot initially (and my husband certainly prefers it) but I’m really enjoying taking control of my photographs with the1.8f. It can produce some great, artsy-style snaps and because of the large aperture is just fab for portraits. I’ve also taken the leap to come off auto and am busy trying to figure out how to use the AV and TV modes. I’m certainly no expert when it comes to photography and I’m learning ALL the time (SP and Beckie are such amazingly inspiring photographers) but I do take photographs, I document our lives and, for that reason alone, I LOVE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING!!! Xxx

:::FIVE FAST FACTS:::

• Fave color:  blues and lilacs
• Fave Food:  Chinese
• Fave Movie:  I prefer a good book, although I am a fan of the Twilight movies!
• Fave Song:  Cheesy ‘feel good’ music – Abba!
• Fave Memory:  1)  The births of my children  2)  My wedding day  3)  Passing my driving test (it took me a while!) xx

And, two more NEW layouts by Georgina…

 I truly hope you enjoyed our first GALLERY GIRLS post…and getting to know Georgina a little better!  Be sure to visit her GORGEOUS gallery at the Shabby Shoppe - you are sure to be inspired even more!  Thanks again, sweet Georgina – YOU ROCK - xoxo!

I’ll be bringing you another new GALLERY GIRLS feature next month!  Who knows…if you are an avid Shabby Shoppe gallery poster…you could even be next (ok…so not ‘next’ as I have already selected the ‘girl’ for November…but next, next, lolol)!  My hope is that it is a fun and inspiring opporunity for ALL of us!

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY…see ya back here tomorrow when Kylie ‘cooks up’ something inspiring for you :o)

Shabby PrincessGallery Girls, Inspiration, Uncategorized 17 Comments

Hi everyone, SP here :o)  Today, we are bringing you a special HALLOWEEN edition of our PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT!  We thought it would be fun to feature all three of our HALLOWEEN kits :o)  So, they are ALL THREE on SALE this week (25% off)!  My first Halloween themed kit was SMELL MY FEET (still adore that name, lolol)…then came BOO…followed this year by GOOSE BUMPS!  I really love all three kits and find that you can mix and match them together quite well (i think you’ll see that illustrated in some of the inspiration layouts below)!

When it comes to designing halloween kits – I always have one thing in mind….and that is FUN!  I like to keep the kits cute and whimsical and not creepy or scary, lol!  So, you’ll find that each kit has a little touch of whimsy and silly-ness!  I really try to keep any of our themed kits as versatile as possible, too!  I know I have said it many times, but when you purchase a kit…I like for you to be able to use it (or at least parts of it) for everyday pages, too – over and over!  NOT just one page and that’s it, know what I mean?  So, you’ll find that I add in lots of items that will work for any page :o)  This also helps you to be able to combine the kits together!

Alright…so, how about some BRAND NEW  inspiration!  The girls have been busy working with all three kits for a couple of weeks!  Please visit the SHABBY ARTIST GALLERY to find out more about each individual page.  Even though I ‘loosely’ grouped them by kits…keep in mind that many of the layouts combine more than one of our Halloween kits (just visit the gallery and you can find that information on the individual layout posts)!

 Wow, that’s a lot of layouts, lol!  LOOOOVE them all (thanks, girls)!  I hope we have either inspired you to scrap some of your halloween photos from years past…OR…gotten you excited about scrapping this year’s halloween pics soon!  Thanks a bunch for visiting the blog…I’ll be back here tomorrow with a new feature titled GALLERY GIRLS :o)

Shabby PrincessInspiration, Product Spotlight, Uncategorized 4 Comments