We interrupt this Shabby Shoppe scrapbooking blog to bring you…a few of my *non scrapbooking related*  favorite things!  Yep, that’s right – we thought it would be a fun change of pace to have a little girl talk and just dish about the things we love right now.  Since I (Beckie) seem to be the one who has taken control of the blog for the day - I’ll start it off with a few things I love, but I hope you’ll use the comments to share with us some of the things YOU love, too!

First up we have my newest favorite thing…Aveeno positively nourishing whipped souffle body lotion.  It’s sooooo thick and creamy, more hydrating to the skin than the typical overly-perfumed lotions I’ve used in the past.  This one is just perfect:  the subtle fragrance of sweet vanilla and a thick and creamy texture that coats the skin with moisture.  It’s almost the best thing about my shower routine…but we’ll see more on that later!

It’s appropriate that next up on my list is a blusher…as it’s name alone can also evoke a slight blush to one’s cheeks :)  What you see here is the Nars Multiple in my favorite shade…*ahem*…Orgasm.  This wonderful little beauty stick has many purposes – on your cheeks it gives a wonderful peachy glow.  But you can also use it on your lips and your eye lids for a healthy subtle shimmer.  One stick will last forever (at least in my estimation – I haven’t finished one yet!).  I keep it in my purse at all times :)

The full heat of summer has fully descended upon us Northern Hemisphere girls – and in the Southern US where I live in particular, it is H-O-T!  I like to lighten up on my makeup during the summers.  I use a good tinted moisturizer (I LOVE the Aveda tinted moisturizer), the NARS multiple for a little color, and right now I’m loving this new Burt’s Bees Hibiscus tinted lip balm.  It’s creamy and smooth and perfect for that on-the-go summer lifestyle.  The moisturizers keep my lips soft and smooth and the subtle color is the perfect finishing touch to my light summer make-up.

And now it’s time for a confession…I have an addiction.  Well, I guess make that TWO addictions – since you already know about the digi-scrapping addiction I have, LOL. My second addiction is one to good old pens and paper.  I covet, collect, adore, and stockpile interesting and quality writing supplies.  Pictured above is a tried and true favorite of mine, a super high quality drafting pencil called the Alvin Draft Matic.  The metal grip is heavily textured to prevent slipping, and the quality metal fittings give this pencil wonderful weight in your hands.  I’ve been using this pencil (and previous versions of it) since I was in college!

One of my favorite sites for shopping for pretty little things to feed my addiction is Levenger.  *gush* I have several fountain pens, which if you’ve ever used them,you know they put out significantly more ink than a traditional pen.  Which is why I’m loving another new discovery, Rhodia heavy weight paper notebooks.  deee-lish!  :)  This one in particular is an absolute favorite of mine for work and has a really neat way to keep meeting notes and action items.  The paper is heavy weight – almost 4 times the thickness of some paper notebooks, which is essential to keep your ink from bleeding through the page.

ahh…something about smelling a new notebook and first writing with a beautiful new pen just makes me happy (someone please speak up and say you share my addiction??)  :)

Next up, I am loving the Repairing Shampoo by L’Occitane (pronounced Lox-E-tahn).  I innocently purchased a simple hand cream for my purse one evening when my hubby and I were browsing the nearby shopping area after dinner one night.  The sales girl slipped in a sample, to which I hardly paid any attention.  Darn it all if “that little sample” didn’t turn out to be THE BEST shampoo I’ve ever used!  My hair is not damaged, but it is thick and slightly wavy.  This shampoo and conditioner make my hair so incredibly soft and manageable and leave it with a wonderful smell that lasts throughout the day.  I’m hooked!  Ironically, when I went to purchase my shampoo, they gave me a sample of the Plum Blossom bath products, to which I’m also now addicted.  Better tell them to skip the samples if you don’t want to get sucked in, LOL :)

And finally, no post about things I love would be complete without mentioning my Kindle.  Ironically, I had no interest in getting one, even after my husband hinted that he was thinking of getting me one for Christmas.  I told him no, that I couldn’t see spending $10-$15 for a book often enough to make it worth having a $120 reading device.  So fast forward 5 months, when I learned that I would be doing a decent amount of business travel in the coming year or so, and I decided that a Kindle would be a great way to keep several books on hand in a light, portable format.  So I got one.

I love it!  There are thousands of “un-published” titles available, which are books not {yet} published in paper.  These books are cheap!  Many are just $.99 – $2.99.  Of course, all the popular books are available too.  I’ve probably read 20 books already on my Kindle, I find that if I keep it in my (admittedly large) purse I read when I have a few spare minutes.  And when I travel it’s just perfect!  I read fast so I need to have several books with me to keep me going.  (The kindle holds up to 3,500 books).

Just recently I downloaded a murder mystery that stars a scrapbooking heroine!  I generally read for fun (translated: mindless fiction), but I did get the classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries also.  They were free!  All books more than 75 years old are past copyright protection and are available for free.  The battery lasts forever (several weeks of heavy reading, longer with just light reading).

So if you do read a lot, or wish you could read more, definitely check out the Kindle.  And if you already have one – link me up to your fave books! I love mysteries and thrillers :)

~~**~~

Well, that does it for me!  I hope you enjoyed a peek into the things I love right now.  I can’t wait to see what you guys have to share!  And, be sure to visit again tomorrow as we share June’s project SCRAP templates!

BeckieBeauty & Fashion, Uncategorized 19 Comments

Hello to all you wonderful digiscrappers!!! Happy Monday! It’s Anna here with another fabulous Layout of the Week! I was so excited to look through your pages today and I just spent the last three fabulous hours getting caught up in all the beauty of our inspiration gallery! What wonderful layouts you post!  And, oh my, what a hard decision this was for me!

I finally chose jessg26 as the winner with her fabulous May Beach Day.

I loved the sweet photos of her daughter Leah on their day at Moonlight Beach. She took inspiration from Kylie’s embellishment techniques and I think jessg26 has done an incredible job with her element clusters. Her journaling is marvelous – I must use that font (Pea Zingy!)  I also love that she used the  new Shabby Shoppe’s easy-as-pie templates ::: garden party! with this week’s Product Spotlight:  Sandbox and the sandbox SUMMER additions …along with a touch of Blossom, Twirl, and HopScotch added to the mix.  JUST PERFECTION!

Congrats to jessg26! Watch your e-mail for your Shabby Shoppe $10  gift card and happy Shoppe-ing!

Check back on Wednesday when Beckie will share a “Things I Love (non-scrapping related!)” post. Thanks for stopping by!

AnnaLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 8 Comments

hey guys :o)  SP here…and, with some NEW stuff in the Shoppe - YAY!  I know (trust me, I know, lolol) it has been a while since you’ve seen anything new (well, in the Shoppe at least…we are ALWAYS sharing new and fun stuff here at the BLOG)…so, I’m thrilled to show you two new products today!  I know they are not kits (and I do know you guys keep asking for new kits, lol – i’m working on it)…but they are SO totally fun and GORGEOUS (and versatile and practical), just the same :o)  So, we have a new set of easy-as-pie layered templates (GARDEN PARTY) and a new collection of word whimsy (SUMMER FUN)!  I worked with Kylie and Lu on these products…and it was so much fun :o)  The Garden Party templates are my fave templates to date…and the Summer Fun word whimsy is just PERFECT and so timely!  Oh, and did I mention they are on SALE for 25% off through June 22nd?! :o) Here are some previews:

And, of course, this wouldn’t be much fun without a BUNCH of gorgeous inspiration from the girls, huh?  The following layouts are inspiration/examples for both of our new products :o)  Please visit the Shabby Artist’s Gallery to find out more specific information about the individual layouts!

Alrighty, that’s it for now :o)  I hope you all have a truly WONDERFUL weekend (and a happy Father’s Day to all of the guys in your life – don’t miss Kylie’s blog post below for free Father’s Day cards!)!  We’ll see you back here on Monday for a new LOTW with Anna!  Until then, XOXO — sp :o)

Shabby PrincessInspiration, Shoppe News, Uncategorized 9 Comments

Happy Father’s Day everyone!! :o) Kylie here and yes, I’m a little quick off the mark, but we wanted to share these Father’s Day goodies with you in time for the big day on Sunday! And anyway, as my very wise Father always says “everyday…is Father’s Day!” …yeah right, dad!! ;o)

Today we have, not one, but TWO piece-a-cake cards for you to DOWNLOAD FREE! Feel free to use just one of the cards or BOTH! …or why not print and/or email as many as you like… for all the special men in your life this Father’s Day. The cards are perfect for dads, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, sons, friends  – you name it! I had so much fun designing these two very cute and very different cards with SP. I hope that you enjoy using them just as much …and that the special person you give it to enjoys receiving it!

CLICK HERE for the download  (or you can simply click on the image above)!  The download includes both cards in PNG format in both 4×6 and 5×7 sizes. We’ve also included a coordinating background paper in both 4×6 and 5×7, in the event you wish to make a double-sided card (especially great if you wish to add a letter, quote, drawing, scripture or poem)!

Of course…these are high resolution and meant to be customized (add your own photos and text) and printed!  However, they are also wonderful for emailing!  The recipient will probably appreciate it if you resize first though (a great size is about 800 pixels wide at 72dpi for email)!

You can see various text, like… ‘Happy Father’s Day’, ‘Grandpa’, ‘kisses & hugs’, ‘for dad’ …plus my own photos, on the examples above. Well, that’s my way of personalizing the cards for the blog preview. Please know that we did NOT include the text on the cards in the download.  That way – you can use them for any occasion you wish (and, you can also customize in any language)!  While the cards are perfect for Father’s Day – they can work for just about any occasion!

If you need help figuring out how to add your photos and text (remember, you will need some kind of graphics program to work with these files) – please visit our TUTORIALS page for help!  We have tutorials (both video and screenshot versions) for our piece-a-cake pages/albums for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.  So, click around on the tutorials page and you should find all the answers you are looking for :o)  But, the good news is that it is SUPER SIMPLE!

Before I sign off, I wanted to let you know that for the two cards, we worked with the following Shabby Shoppe products: Barefoot, Happy Trails, Goose bumps, Wonderful, Modish Boy, Twirl and other bits and pieces from various Shabby Shoppe products, including the little car digital stickers from the Things that Go pack. For my own card examples I used the goose bumps alpha for the ‘for dad’ title. Other font credits include ld elegance, ld buttercream and ck becky.

Enjoy the cards… and enjoy your special weekend!! SP will be back tomorrow (or possibly Saturday, at the latest!) to announce a couple of ‘little’, but, NEW Shoppe products! YAY! :o)

KylieFree (not desktops), Uncategorized 18 Comments

Hi there, girls…SP here with yet another PROJECT SCRAP check-in post, lol :o) I recently completely my MAY layouts, and thought I’d share!  This will be a bit of an abbreviated post, simply because I am away from my computer (have been for a week or so)…and just can’t get into photoshop to re-size/share more inspiring layouts from the gallery with you!  HOWEVER, as always – it is super easy to find INSPIRATION for project SCRAP…anytime you want/need!  Just visit the PROJECT SCRAP 2011 gallery (we have one specifically for this purpose)…and take a look at all of the amazing layouts/spreads that have been uploaded!

So…here are mine!  As usual – it was difficult to narrow down the photo selection, lol…especially for May – it is a BIG month for us and our family :o)  But…alas, I made it work and will add in an extra two-page-spread (or two)!  P.S.  I will be sure to add these pages to the gallery as soon as I get back home!

 And, even though I can’t readily share the spreads here and now…I wanted to at least point you in the direction of a few of the MAY LAYOUTS posted in the gallery SO FAR :o)  Kylie…oh my sweet Kylie – her project SCRAP pages (and all others) always blow me away…and her May layouts are no excpetion!  You can see them HERE and HERE!  Also, you won’t want to miss corrin’s GORGEOUS pages for May as well…you can find them HERE and HERE!  Fabulous work :o)  Of course, there are many more to take a peek at, and draw inspiration from…so head over THERE whenever you have a moment!

And, while we’re at it, LOL…please check out sthruby’s amazing gallery :o)  She has worked with our project SCRAP templates to create an album about the remodel project of their home – LOVE IT!  What a great idea…and a wonderful subject to scrap!  THANKS!

Alright…that’s it for me today :o)  Be SURE to visit tomorrow as we share a special treat for Father’s Day!  And then…something NEW at the Shoppe on Friday (well, Saturday at the LATEST…but hopefully Friday)…YAY, lol!  Until then – have a BEAUTIFUL day/night!  xoxo — SP

Shabby Princessproject Scrap 2011, Uncategorized 3 Comments