Hi everyone – Happy Friday! It’s Kylie here with a few sweet hybrid treats just for you!!  :o)

It’s been a little while since I went all ‘crafty’ with my Valentine’s Day gift-giving – so, this year I was determined to bring the FUN back! …and FUN, I certainly had!!  First, I went straight to the Shabby Shoppe’s Confection Collection section (don’t say that too fast! LOL!) to help me out! I love them all, but decided on the quintessential, sweet-as-anything XOXO (it’s currently on SALE!)! I hadn’t had a chance or an occasion to use it until now and I was very excited to start. I chose three designs (easier said than done – they are all super-adorable!), printed, trimmed, folded and pasted – SIMPLE! Then in true Kylie-style I just had to add a few “embellishments” – if you’ve seen my scrapbook layouts in the gallery you know that I have trouble keeping things “nice and simple”. LOL!

With some assistance from the Sweetie Pie papers and a few craft odds and ends, here’s what I made:

Gift one: To the sweet little take-out box, I added a small paper rosette. I needed to make my rosette quite small and therefore used plain paper for easy folding. I began with 3 strips of paper – approx 5cm x 7cm (2” x 3”) each. Bottom and top were trimmed with scallop craft scissors – you can leave yours straight, whatever you prefer! Fold each piece in a concertina fashion, starting at the shorter side. Tip: the smaller the folds, the fuller the rosette. Next, fold one piece in half and adhere its ‘middle join’ with double sided tape – repeat with the other two concertina pieces so that you now have three fan shaped pieces. Use double-sided tape to stick all three together to form your full-circle rosette. To finish, I added a little Sweetie Pie flower, a button and some ribbon – these decorations are optional and you can be as elaborate as you wish! :o)

I also made another rosette up for a cute lollipop – thought that would look a little jazzy-er than all the branding! With this rosette I punched out a decorative border on the top and bottom before folding.

Gift two: For the purse I added a layered flower. I cut out some petals using my scallop scissors – 5 petals for each size. I chose just two sizes but you can add more or less – all depends on how full you want the flower and how large you can afford to go. Use your imagination with the petals – any size you like, any shape you like, trimmed however you like! For my two sets: large size – 4cm, small size – 3cm. For a little added sparkle, I gave each petal a coat of Mod Podge Sparkle. I put a little hole at the bottom of each petal and folded it in half to give it a “spine”. I then lined the petals one behind the other, with the smallest to the front. I put a fastener through the lined-up holes and then fanned out the petals. I added a little decorative flower to the front with a glue dot and a ribbon at the back and then secured the flower to the purse. Here is another flower I put together to illustrate my steps.

Gift three: With the crayon box, I added a cute little paper heart with a little 3D twist. I simply cut out four hearts I printed from Photoshop (clipped with Sweetie Pie papers). Heart size was approx. 4.5cm in length. Take three of the hearts and fold in half – this helps you trim evenly plus the folding helps the final look evolve. Trim each one slightly narrower than the last. Place each heart on top of each other – largest to the back. I stapled mine down the centre fold but you could also hand or machine stitch for a different look, or even just a thin line of glue on each heart to stick together. To hide my staple I wrapped some string around the heart. I then attached the heart to the box with a glue dot.

These are just three super-simple ideas to dress up your hybrid projects from time to time. Maybe you might even attempt one or more over the weekend for your sweet Valentine wishes! :o) I’m sure the kids will love to give these a go, too, as each project can be modified to suit any age level!

Wishing you all a lovely, lovely weekend! Be sure to check out our Layout of the Week winner on Monday!! It might just be YOU!! :o)

KylieHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 3 Comments

  Good Morning, Ladies (and any gentlemen visitors we might have) :o)  Anyone else TIRED of winter?  lol!  And, sadly – I know that my winter isn’t even 1/10th of what most experience…but man – bring on SPRING :o) k…sorry about that little ‘aside’ – it’s just one of those dreary days and I am longing for warmer temps and pretty sunshine!

I’m just here for a few minutes to let you know that we are having a VALENTINE’S SALE at the Shoppe :o)  I’ve said it for years now, lol…but Valentine’s is one of my fave holidays…it’s just so sweet and fun and all about happiness and LOVE!  Not to mention there is an explosion of PINK, lol!  And while I am sad (very sad) to say that I will NOT have a new Valentine’s kit complete in time for the holiday…I did want to make up for it a little by putting almost all of our Valentine-ish products on SALE  (sale ends February 15th) :o)  I WILL still be working on the kit and will release it when it is complete…but just wanted you guys to know that it will be AFTER the fourteenth (some time, lol)!  This year has just started off busier than most…and other things have had to take priority over SP and the Shoppe :o(  That’s not necessarily a BAD thing…just a little different this year!  WILL I HAVE NEW KITS THIS YEAR?  absolutely, lol…but a new one at this very moment is just not in the cards…I’m so sorry about that…as the last thing I ever want to do is disappoint anyone (truly).  Believe it or not…I am also STILL planning to release a new Christmas/holiday kit in the next couple of months, too – lol!  It’s still on my schedule…it’s just my schedule has been adjusted a bit!  I do hope you all understand…and can enjoy some of our ‘existing’ Valentine’s products (don’t miss the confection collections!)!  One of my favorite products of ALL time is the XOXO collection…here is a little example photo…

 It is FULL of so many fun options for dressing up your little treats and gifts!  I can’t tell you how many emails I have received from customers showing me how they worked with this collection (for everything from Valentine’s to birthdays, tea parties, and even Christmas)!  We have other Valentine’s confection collections as well…so be sure to check them out :o)

So, that’s it for today!  Thank you all SOOOOOO MUCH for your understanding and patience with my schedule so far this year…it is appreciated beyond words :o)  I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week…and that it is full of LOVE and HAPPINESS!  Join us back here on Friday as Kylie inspires all of us with a love-filled hybrid post :o)  xoxo – SP

Shabby PrincessShoppe News, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Good morning! Trish here to bring you the latest product spotlight, Sweetie Pie.

I am of the opinion that anything that uses the word “Pie” as part of a name, is awesome, but then I do call my daughter Pudding Pie, lol! Now, like my daughter, Sweetie Pie is filled with some awesome, cute, super adorableness with piles of hugs and kisses on top. That’s what makes Sweetie Pie the perfect kit to spotlight before Valentine’s Day.

Super cute filled adorableness, right? And for the next two weeks this kit is on SALE for only $5.95 (that’s a sweet 25% off!) at the Shabby Shoppe.

To show off the scrumptiousness some more, check out these sugary love-filled pages created by some of the our Shabby Artists.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to check back tomorrow for a post by SP…and on Friday for some sweet little hybrid ideas by Kylie.

TrishProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Happy Monday everyone!!  Beckie here bringing you this week’s Layout of the Week!

You hear us complain all the time about how hard it is to pick the LOTW.  And just two weeks ago Shabby Princess was a total cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater and she picked THREE winners.  She can do that because, well, she’s the Princess :)  It took me FOREVER to pick this week’s layout of the week.  I thoroughly enjoyed going through all the fabulous artwork in the gallery.   But finally it came to me.  I could cheat, too!  Well, sort of.  I did pick two layouts…they just both happen to be from the same scrapper!   I thought a snow themed layout would be fitting for the week of “snowpocalypse” 2011 here in the US, LOL!  Officially, this is the layout of the week – it’s “Snowday” (page 1) by momofcooper.

I just love the editing on her photos – so soft, almost vintage-y feeling.  Wonderful photo choices, too!  An “almost” snow angel shot (her journaling says it was too cold to finish, LOL!).  And how cute are the little action heroes stuck in the snow?  And finally – the snowman in the dumptruck.  Soooooo cute!  I love her shadowing on the whole page and I also love the light blue matting of the photos, a nice subtle detail that makes a big impact!  I should also add that the rubber rain boots made me laugh – we had snow also and my kids had nothing to wear but their rain boots, too!

Here is another awesome layout from momofcooper this week!

I love the simplicity of this design.  And again, such wonderful editing on her photo – and what a happy little face!!   I have a really hard time leaving white space on a layout, but when you have a photo this wonderful, it doesn’t need much else!  I just had to include this one because, well, it made me “happy”!!

momofcooper, please check your e-mail – you’ve won a $10 gift card to the Shoppe for being this week’s winner!

That’s all I have for you today!  Join us back here tomorrow when Trish brings you another Product Spotlight :)

BeckieLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi everyone! :o)  SP here with a brand new TEMPLATE CHALLENGE!  Can you guys believe that we are now starting our NINTH challenge?  Awesome :o)  Well, this template was fun to put together…I love taking straight lines and hard angles…and mixing them with little clusters and miscellaneous ‘stuff’ scattered throughout (did that make any sense?  lol)!  This template could easily just be a very clean, ad-style layout (just remove a bunch of the embellishments)…or, you could totally make it a very full and fun page!  I know it might look a little ‘messy’ or ‘busy’ at first glance, but when working with templates, remember that you have full control :o)  You can tweak and edit where necessary!  If you are not a fan of ‘clustering’ or ‘scattering’…simply remove/delete a few of those layers.  Of course, if you like more…by all means – ADD, lol :o)  Another way to really change the final outcome of this specific template, is by your paper selection.  Solid or tonal papers will give it a ‘cleaner’ and ‘calmer’ look…while adding lots of patterned papers and color will add a lot of interest and busy-ness (that’s what I did, lol…it was a little out of my comfort zone…but I really like the result)!   ALSO…you’ll notice that I did not identify a ‘dedicated’ journaling spot…because I feel there are quite a few places here where you can add it in if you choose.  If you go with solid papers…you can journal just about anywhere…or if you use a lot of patterns like I did…you can journal on the background paper (assuming you use a solid)!  Totally your choice!   No matter how you work with this template – just have fun and I’ll be excited to see what you guys come up with :o)

So, before I share the super duper awesome layouts that the blog team put together…let’s go through the ‘guidelines’ for the challenge!

The ‘deadline’ for this challenge is FEBRUARY 28th :o)  I will announce the template challenge winner on March 3rd, when we share Template Challenge TEN!  We have re-arranging the blog a bit…and from now on, the winner will always be announced on the same day we debut a new template challenge.  The ‘winner’ of the challenge will receive a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!  Please note that for our template challenges…we select the ‘winner’ randomly – so everyone has a chance to win…beginners and experienced scrappers!  It’s a great way to jump in and give digi scrapping (and templates) a try :o)

In order to be entered into the template challenge – you must post your layout in the Shabby Shoppe’s gallery (in the SHOPPE BLOG CHALLENGES gallery) and then post a comment HERE at our blog (on this post only) with a link to your layout in our gallery.  This will enter you into the challenge :o)  Please keep in mind that all layouts must contain at least 75% SP product (purchased or free).  To be eligible for the challenge – you must scrap with the easy-as-pie layered template!

We also have several fun ways for you to obtain ‘EXTRA’ entries to the challenge (please note that in order to qualify for any EXTRA entries – you must first complete a layout with our easy-as-pie template and submit that to our gallery and blog) :o)

• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have one of our blinkies (available by clicking on the blinkies link in the sidebar) either on your blog or in all of your forum signatures (be sure to include a link to your blog or signature in your post).
• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have facebooked or twittered about our template challenge (don’t forget to include the link in your post).
• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have blogged about our template challenge (again, be sure to add your blog link to your post).

So, that means that you have the possibility of entering the challenge up to 4 times! Just be sure each entry is a separate comment, as we will be using a random number generator to choose the winner.  Be sure to get your entries in by MIDNIGHT (eastern time) on FEBRUARY 28th, and again…the winner will be announced in early March (the 3rd to be exact)!

So…here’s your newest Easy-As-Pie Layered Template! <–click this to download OR click the preview image at the top of this post :o)

Your download includes:

–12×12 Layered psd template with drop shadows (you can opt to turn them off or use your own)
–12×12 Layered TIFF template with drop shadows

In the event this is your first time scrapping with a layered template – I created a quick and simple tutorial on how to use our Easy-As-Pie templates in PSE and PS. You can find it HERE. I tried to cover the basics, but if you have any questions, please let us know and one of the Shabby Team Members will do their best to answer it.

So, how about some more inspiration from the girls (visit the Shabby Artist Gallery for more information about each layout – we will be uploading throughout the day/night)…

Here’s one I did :o)  These pics are from late last year…and the timing was just PERFECT for scrapping them, lol!  Not to mention, the template worked so well with everything!  It’s a little busy…but remember that you can ‘subdue’ yours by using solid papers instead of patterns (or fewer embellishments)!  I will be adding another page to this one to create a two-page spread…it will have a large photo and a bunch of journaling!  Anyway – GO STEELERS :o)  lol

And check out the TWO layouts that Kylie created!  Seriously LOOOOOVE them both…and they are perfect examples of great ways to work with the template!

And how about this one from Trish?  Belly is just the CUTEST!  (too funny, too – we both used the measuring tape in almost the exact same way :o))!

Beckie’s layout is so ‘organic’ and just plain pretty – LOVE it :o)

And last (but far from least) – we have Anna’s page…I am so inspired by her modifications…super creative and just awesome!

That’s a lot of great inspiration (thanks girls!) :o)  So, now that you’ve seen our layouts…have fun scrapping your own!  We very much look forward to seeing your pages in the gallery and hope you enjoy working with this template!   HAPPY SCRAPPING :o)

{Remember to link up to this post only to enter template challenge NINE}

And, finally – let’s not forget about TEMPLATE CHALLENGE EIGHT’s winner!!!!!  Yay…this time, the ‘lucky’ number was TWENTY…and that means that Sugarbug’s ADORABLE ‘SNOW!’ layout was selected :o)  Congrats, Sugarbug…you should have received a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe in your email box (be sure to check spam folders) this morning…ENJOY and thanks for participating!  and, A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who joined in the fun…I believe that this was one of our busiest challenges yet…and that makes it all the more exciting and enjoyable to ‘host’ :o)

Alright, I think that’s it for today :o)  We’ll either see you back here tomorrow (I’m really trying to put a food post together, lol…but if it doesn’t work out in time – my apologies in advance)…OR…on Monday for LAYOUT OF THE WEEK!  Thanks for stopping by…and HAVE FUN SCRAPPING!  Also…I know the world is having severe weather all over the place…so stay warm (or cool) and safe!  XOXO — sp

Shabby PrincessFree (not desktops), Template Challenges, Uncategorized 84 Comments