Happy Monday morning Shabby Shoppe blog readers!!! Anna here!  What a great week to choose the layout of the week! I have to say that there were so many incredible pages posted in the last seven days, but I wanted to give LOTW to someone who had never received the award before! I have admired her gallery since she first posted her April Bluebonnet’s layouts in early September! Her layout this week totally caught my eye. You may have noticed it, too!

It was  “Family Weekend” by Five17Creations.

This is a layout close to my heart because my family is the most important thing in my life! I loved the colors and the beautiful photos and her words just topped it all off because I totally agree that “being together is enough!”

 If you would like to see more of her beautiful layouts you can check out her gallery HERE. Congrats to Five17Creations, enjoy your gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our Product Spotlight!

AnnaLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 8 Comments

HAPPY WEEKEND, girls :o)  SP here…and i’m so happy that i get to announce the winner of our FIFTH template challenge here at the BLOG!  Stay tuned for TEMPLATE CHALLENGE SIX…coming to you this Thursday (it is gorgeous!) :o)

Even though i didn’t get to comment on many of the layout submissions (have been soooooo busy with calendars)…i have seen them all and been amazed by the talent and creativity that you girls all put forth!  For me…template challenges are kinda like great before/afters, know what I mean?  And, who doesn’t LOVE seeing befores and afters?  lol!  It is so fun to see how something so simple and ‘flat’ – can transform into something so real and dimensional :o)  Alright…i’m getting off course, lolol…back to our winner!

CONGRATS, lainie217…your adorable AUGUST PHOTO SHOOT layout (with precios Teagan) was selected!  You should find a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe in your email box (be sure to check your spam folder)!

Again, congratulations, and I hope you have fun SHOPPE-ing :o)

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While I will not go into too much detail about calendars here…I did want to mention that they are DONE (yay, lol)…and available in the Shoppe :o)  I designed a HUGE newsletter, just for our new calendar products (don’t forget they are on sale only until October 19th)…so that is the best place to learn more about them and see lots of photos, examples, ideas, etc. :o)  Just know that it takes a few minutes to download the PDF newsletter as it is about 7 megs!  I also have to mention that we have a wonderful CALENDAR INFO page…that we update often – so if you have questions about the calendars…that is a great place to start!  Finally, a huge thank you to Nicole for her amazing work on the calendars this year…and to Kylie and the rest of the girls who helped soooo much…xoxo :o)

I think that’s it for today :o)  thanks soooooo much for stopping by, girls!  i hope you all have a BEAUTIFUL weekend…we’ll see you back here on Monday with a new LOTW!

Shabby PrincessShoppe News, Template Challenges, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hey Everyone! Denise here with a cool door hanger project for the boys. My son has been wanting a sign for his room, he decided on a “Keep Out” sign for his little sister. I thought the theme would fun to combine with Halloween using a mix of the Boo and Goose Bumps kits.

I started with a Creative Imaginations Door Hanger as a base. The length and width were measured and a new canvas was created in Photoshop. The Boo papers and frame were placed, with the green paper masked behind the frame. The scrolls were added and duplicated to poke out behind the frame. The Goose Bumps orange swirl (at 70% opacity) and white paint splats were masked within the frame too. The purple paint was randomly placed along the top and a sawtooth mask from Scallops, Shapes and More was used to break up the two main papers. The two strips and mummy were sized and placed separately. Print the main panel, mummy and word strips to matte photo paper and trim the items out.

Paint the back of the CI hanger and edges with acrylic paint. Glue the main panel onto the hanger and place a heavy book on top while it dries. When dry, flip the hanger over and using an X-acto blade to trim away the paper of the upper arch and inner circle. Ink the edges of the hanger, mummy and word strips. To finish use pop dots to attach the mummy and word strips to the hanger.

I hope you like the “Keep Out” door hanger, appropriate for little sisters and brothers, lol.

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

DeniseHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi, Karen here with ‘what’s in my beauty bag’ :o)

When I’m buying beauty products, I have to look for two things…low cost and products that can be tolerated by my sensitive skin.  I mean super sensitive! I think at one point I tried every make-up base our local discount store carried.  So, I am more than happy to be able to share with you some of my favorite finds that are easy on your face and that won’t break your budget.

I always start my routine with a layer of moisturizer.  My favorite at the moment is Purpose Moisture Lotion available at Wal-Mart, Target or drug store chains.

For my foundation I use Everyday Minerals Original Glo Formula available on-line. There are four foundation choices available for every type of skin. After trying another brand of mineral make up in the past I was really skeptical that this would work for me.  But, I ordered a free sample ($5 for shipping) and was shocked when I ended up loving it.  If you have dry skin like me, be sure and put a moisturizer on first.  Also, the last thing I do is get my brush a tiny bit damp and brush lightly under my eyes to remove any powdery look.

For color on my face I use Everyday Minerals Cheek.

For my eyes I use Everyday Minerals eye color in Hot Chocolate,

 Covergirl Perfect Point Eye liner in Charcoal, and Volum’ Express Waterproof Mascara by Maybelline, that I tested thoroughly last June at my daughter’s wedding.

And lastly, if I’m dressing up, a light, natural feeling lip color,  Burt’s Bee’s Lip Shimmer.

I hope I’ve helped anyone else out there with super sensitive skin by giving you a little peak inside my make-up bag.  Check back tomorrow for a fun hybrid post by Denise!

KarenBeauty & Fashion, Uncategorized 9 Comments

Hi all! Trish here and today we’re going to talk scraplifts!

Now, I don’t often do lifts unless they’re for our Thursday Thievery blog posts or for a challenge, but I recently learned some tricks on how to make them a tad easier.  I was asked to convert some of my friends’ flattened pages into templates and as I was doing these I figured out a way to apply the same principle to lifts. Today… I’m going to share that secret with you!

BUT… (Yes there is always a but – lol!)

…before we begin lets talk about a few scraplifting manners.  I like to practice good ‘manners’ and crediting in digi scrapping. I know not everyone is as picky as I am about these things, but to me, they are more common courtesy than anything else.

Before you start your lift, it’s nice to send a message to the person whose page you are lifting. (Unless it’s for say, a challenge or something like that.) Let them know that you really loved their page. This can be done by simply leaving a comment on their page and telling them what you love and that you want to lift it. I’m always so pleased and honored when people tell me they want to lift something I have created or when they share a layout they have made off of one of my pages. Chances are the person you lift will feel just as pleased and honored. (Also, just something to be aware of; some scrappers prefer their pages not to be lifted, so it’s always nice to ask first, whenever possible.)

After doing a lift, credit that scrapper and their layout in your credits. Adding a link to the original layout is a nice idea too. That way others who admire your page can admire the page you got your inspiration from. And, why not send a message to the other scrapper with a link to your layout; they will really appreciate it.

Since that is out of the way, let me give you my tips to lifting a layout!

First, open the layout in your program. I am lifting fellow Shabby Artist Kylie’s beautiful layout “Good Company”. (You can find the kit used for this layout by clicking HERE – it’s the latest FREE kit – the Plentiful collection by Shabby Princess.) Once you’ve opened the layout simplify the layer (so that it’s no longer locked as a background) and create a new blank layer underneath it.

Next, select your shapes tool. I always start with picture placement. Depending on the picture shape, select the corresponding shape tool. (i.e. circular picture – select your circular shape tool, square/rectangle picture – select rectangle tool). Making sure your blank layer is selected, create that shape under the picture in the layout. Don’t worry about making it perfect just yet.

You should be able to see the outline of your shape you just created even though it is under the layout. If you look in the picture above you can see an arrow pointing to my shape. What we will do now is pull in/out the edges so that your shape matches the shape of the picture.

After you have created your picture shapes, move on to the paper pieces following the same steps as with the pictures. I always change my shape color for each different item I am creating, and then change the saturation amount if they overlap. Here is what I have (minus backgrounds) after creating the shapes of the paper pieces.

Now, mine doesn’t match up with Kylie’s 100% because her paper pieces have been warped. You might want your page to be exact that way so what you would do is, making sure the layer with the original layout is visible, warp the pieces under the layout pulling your areas in and out until the outline of your shape matches the corresponding piece in the layout. I don’t want mine to be exact so I am not warping mine right now.

Now create the background layers. Some pages may have just one paper in its background so you can skip this step. However, if the layout you are lifting is like mine, create the shape(s) of the background papers.

This part is where my pickiness comes in… I don’t do exact 100% lifts of pages.

BUT… that doesn’t mean you can’t – it’s up to the individual scrapper at the time. The same way that you did the papers and photos you can apply those steps to the elements of the layout, just get a corresponding shape or one as close as possible to the original shape. With elements especially, you are going to want to label your shape layers with what that element was, so you don’t become later confused.

You might have noticed that I did not simplify/rasterize my shape layers, it is very important that you do not either at this point or before. Currently (unless you changed the size of the layout you were lifting) you are working at web size NOT print. So once you are done adding your layers, change the size of your work area to the dimensions you print at. If you do your pages in a rectangle format I recommend first changing it to an 8.5×8.5 dimension and then going to your CANVAS (not image) size and adjusting it to the proper size.

See, by not rasterizing the layers before, we will have clear shapes that won’t become fuzzy when we change the size.

That’s it! Just build your page now as if you were using a template. :o) You can keep that layer with the original layout so you can just look at it for pointers while building your page while you work, or you could just delete it. That’s totally up to you. I hope this helps you when working on your lifts.

Here’s my finished lift using this week’s Product Spotlight kit “Rummage Chic“:

Well, I hope y’all enjoyed that and find the post helpful! Don’t miss tomorrow’s post with a little beauty inspiration!

TrishTips and Tricks, Uncategorized 8 Comments