Hello everyone!  Monday rolls around so quickly doesn’t it?! Jenelle here and I have the honour once again of choosing our layout of the week winner.  Yay!  So many of you have been busy posting to the gallery this week – my mind is racing with ideas and inspiration from all your layouts.

I am really loving seeing all the January Project Scrap pages so far and one in particular really caught my eye this past week.  It was called Blueberries and was created by the very talented staceyj.

Congratulations staceyj – you have been chosen as this week’s LOTW.  What a fabulous layout – I just love the colours you’ve chosen for this page, along with the beautiful photographs and goodies from the Barefoot Collection.  Such a great idea to have the strips of photos along the top and bottom of your page.  All round, you’ve created a really eye-catching layout – thank you so much for sharing with us.

You’ve been emailed a $10 gift voucher to spend at the Shoppe (please check your spam folder), so have fun ‘shoppe-ing’ and we look forward to seeing more of your layouts.  Thanks again to all who’ve posted in the gallery this week and please keep them coming.  So much talent here!

Please check in again tomorrow ~ Rosy has a fabulous inspiration post you won’t want to miss.  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 9 Comments

Hello everyone…Happy Friday! :o)  Kylie here with a sweet little Food Friday post.  An easy homemade treat that I think is just perfect for Valentine’s Day (or any day, really!!)…Rocky Road…YUM!

Chocolate, marshmallow, nuts and a few lollies thrown into the mix…what a yummy combo!!  Oh, and in Australia, yes, we say lolly…in the US you say candy, and I think in the UK you say sweet…am I right??  Any which way you say it, it’s delicious!!  This recipe is soooo simple to make (no baking required) and you can play around with the combination of ingredients too… always lots of fun!!

Ingredients

• 600g (approx 21oz) Milk Chocolate, melted
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 150g (5oz) marshmallows, chopped
• 1 cup of mixed soft lollies/candies/sweets (your choice)
• 1/4 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
• sprinkles (optional)

Directions

• Grease and line a brownie/slice pan or similar.  Have the baking paper overhang the pan edges so that you can lift out the rocky road after it has been refrigerated
• Combine all ingredients, except for sprinkles, in large bowl and stir well.  Enough to coat all the ingredients with the melted chocolate
• Press mixture into pan and tap, several times, on work area to help remove any air bubbles
• Scatter sprinkles over the top
•  Refrigerate until firm ~ approximately 3-4 hours
• Use a heart cookie cutter to carefully press out shapes or use a sharp knife to cut into square pieces or long strips
• Enjoy!

More information and tips

• Chocolate ~ I used 3 x 200g blocks of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate for my batch of rocky road…so any store bought eating chocolate is fine.  You can use baking or cooking chocolate instead – white, milk or dark…your preference.  And you can even mix the milk and dark chocolate 50/50 for a darker look that isn’t as strong in taste as straight dark.  Melt your chocolate by your preferred method…it just needs to be runny enough to coat all the other ingredients, but not too hot as to start melting the marshmallows.
• Marshmallow ~ I used some large marshmallows I had on hand and got my nieces to chop them into smaller pieces (an easy job for school-age kids) but you can also purchase mini marshmallows which don’t need any chopping and work perfectly, especially if you want an end result that isn’t too high in the pan.  Experiment with different flavours too!  I had the standard vanilla and raspberry but these days there are all sorts of marshmallow flavours/colours.
• Candy ~ chocolate, marshmallow, nuts are the general rocky road ingredients but you can pretty much throw in anything you want…and for Valentine’s Day it’s nice to add a little extra sweetness.  I chose some raspberry jellies/jubes and cut them into smaller pieces.  So any jube type candy, the softer the better – otherwise cutting your shapes becomes difficult, jelly beans, turkish delight or chocolate button candy like m&m’s; all work well.
• Nuts ~ I decided not to use nuts this time as my nieces aren’t big fans.  And if you are giving these treats as gifts it is important to know whether or not any of the recipients have a nut allergy (or any allergies, for that matter!).  If you want to add nuts, then chopped peanuts or slivered almonds are perfect…so are shelled/peeled pistachios – for a gorgeous hint of green…cashews or macadamia nuts work nicely in white chocolate rocky road too.
• Other ingredients ~ don’t be afraid to add other ingredients…just not too many all at once as the combination of flavours might get a little crazy ;o)  Some other ingredients you might like to try adding:  flaked or shredded coconut, dried cranberries, glace cherries, biscuit (not the US ‘scone’ biscuit)/cookie pieces, sultanas or raisins.
• Cutting out shapes ~ after refrigeration, take out of fridge and allow to sit for about 30 minutes, or so, to make it easier to cut through.  Using a sharp knife to cut squares is the easiest by far and you get a nice finish.  If you use a cookie cutter, like a heart, make sure it is a metal one with a sturdy handle and not a plastic cutter, as it takes a bit of effort to cut through…the marshmallow and jubes like to ‘stick’ to the sides.  I like my rocky road pieces nice and high (about 4 cm or 1 1/2 inches) but if you use a wider pan to start with you’ll end up with a flatter layer of rocky road and it will be easier to cut through…so just keep that in mind.  I also find it easier, when using a shaped cookie cutter to press through the mix and then to remove the rocky road from the cutter, press the rocky road piece from the bottom and up through the cutter…if that makes sense.  Pushing from the top down just cracks the chocolatey top and damages the sprinkles.
• Left-over pieces ~ after cutting out your heart shapes you’ll be left with all those little off-cuts.  So what can you do with those?…chop them up and add them to ice cream, or to a chocolate muffin, cupcake or cake mix, or just eat them!!

To give out my rocky road as gifts this Valentine’s Day I wandered over to the Shabby Shoppe and had a look around at all the inspiration.  Last Valentine’s I had fun with the gorgeous, gorgeous XOXO confection collection…a must have!!  But this year I wanted to do something a little different and actually decided to use the outside layers of the cute little bloom box albums (Clementine and Sprout).  They were so quick and easy to print out and assemble.  I wrapped the rocky road hearts in some cellophane and popped one in each box and tied it all up with some curling ribbon.

And finally…here is a little 4×6 recipe card I created as a FREE download.  I used a Shabby Shoppe French Toast recipe card template and the Sweetie Pie kit (see the TOU, in your download, for font details etc).

Just click on the image below to download (or click HERE)!

THANKS for joing me today!  We’ll see you back here on Monday with our LOTW… until then have a wonderfully “sweet” weekend! Enjoy!! :o)

KylieFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 8 Comments

Hello all… Kylie here! :o)  Hope your week, so far, has been full of smiles, laughs and sunshine moments!  The holiday season has come & gone and it’s finally time to share the next Shabby Shoppe Blog Template Challenge ~  the first one for 2012!  And can you believe that we are now up to number twenty?!!  That’s a whole lot of FREE templates to play with…and haven’t we had a ball along the way!  Joining in our monthly template challenges is super simple and so much FUN…we love bringing them to you!! :o)  This month’s template has a little added sparkle and is perfect if you’ve got any holiday happy-snaps or New Year’s Eve party pics to scrap.  We really hope you enjoy this latest challenge and have lots of fun scrapping with it…it’s all yours, so – to download…CLICK HERE (or simply click the preview image below)!

Now, before we get to all the gorgeous inspiration… let’s go over the GUIDELINES for our template challenges here at the Shoppe?!

The ‘deadline’ for this challenge is FEBRUARY 26th :o) We will announce the template challenge winner on March 1st, when we share Template Challenge TWENTY-ONE! As you probably know, we now announce the winner 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 26th, and again…the winner will be announced in early March (the 1st to be exact)!

So again…here is 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 – SP has created a quick and simple tutorial on how to use our Easy-As-Pie templates in PSE and PS. You can find it HERE. We’ve 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.

A little bit of inspiration goes a long way…so with that in mind, lets check out some gorgeousness from the team!  Please remember that you can always visit the Shabby Artist Gallery for more information about each layout – we will be uploading throughout the day/night.

First off…one of mine.  A couple of NYE photos and lots of sparkle!!!  I had a bit of fun with the colour scheme too…always good to try something a little different! ;o)

For my next layout…what can I say ~ Clementine and Gracie, ahhhh…pure scrap sweetness!  Oh and it sure helps that my niece is as sweet as pie too!

Next…we have an extra-cute and playful page by Kim!  What a happy layout…full of wonderful details and cool ideas!

Jenelle created a layout full of sunny summer goodness!  Her lil’ goggle boy is adorable…a day full of fun memories for sure.

The fun and adventures continue with Rosy and her precious page!  Cute, cute, cute!

And finally…a bright and colourful ‘girls just wanna have fun’ kinda page by Casharina. Love how Casharina tweaked the page too, an extra photo and the extra journaling down the side – love that!! :o)

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

And, finally – let’s not forget about TEMPLATE CHALLENGE 19’s winner!!  YAY!!  This time, the ‘lucky’ number was TWENTY-FIVE…and that means that krista824‘s lovely challenge entry was selected :o)  A great memory scrapped beautifully!  CONGRATULATIONS, krista824!! You will be receiving a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe in your email box (be sure to check spam folders) this morning…have fun shoppe-ing and thanks for joining in the template challenge fun!

And, as always…a huge THANKS to everyone who participated in the last template challenge. We are so thrilled that you did…and hope you are inspired to scrap some gorgeous pages with our newest template!

Thanks for stopping by today…I’ll be back tomorrow with a Food Friday treat!  See you then! :o)

KylieFree (not desktops), Template Challenges, Uncategorized 51 Comments

“There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for.  And questions are the breath of life for a conversation.” ~ James Nathan Miller.

Hello everyone!  Jenelle here again with a little bit of journalling inspiration for you today.  I’m hoping my post will inspire you to think about the words in your life – the dialogues, conversations, quotes and funny sayings that often surround our days but can so easily be forgotten, let alone documented.

I’ve been setting myself some scrapping goals with the turn of this new year – I’m trying to become more organized and have a clearer purpose for the layouts I create and the particular memories I want to document.  I’m not usually a ‘linear’ scrapper (ok, I’m all over the place really!) but I am hoping to be more structured this year.

One of my first goals is to set myself a little scrapping tradition and every January from now on, I am going to record an interview with my two sons and turn it into a layout.  I think a gift of memories is a wonderful gift for any family member or friend, so I am hoping one day my boys enjoy reading these question and answer sessions I had with them.  I’ve started a Project Life type folder and will slip these layouts into my January section.  I will also be inserting my Project Scrap layouts for each month in my folder, like a ‘review of our month’ at the start of each section.

For the layouts I created this year, I simply grabbed my pen and paper and sat with each of my boys and asked away, scribbling down their answers!  They both thought this was pretty exciting, like they were a “movie star being interviewed or something!”  Anna had a great idea a while back that has always stuck with me and that is using the voice recorder on her i-Phone/Smart Phone to record funny sayings or conversations that she doesn’t want to forget.  I have also started doing this to document the funny things my kids say or their cute little conversations and it is so quick and easy and can be tranformed into a layout any time.  Simple. Quick. Documented.  That’s my new goal this year!

So what to ask?  Obviously your questions would be age appropriate, but here are a few of the questions I asked my boys:-

• What is your favourite colour?
• What is your favourite food?
• Who are your friends?
• What are you looking forward to this year?
• What is something you’re good at?
• What do you love most about your family members? (list individually)
• If you could be any animal, what would it be?  Why?
• What is your best memory?

Adding a current photograph is obviously a must and the boys may even like to draw a self-portrait that I could scan in or add to my scrapbook album alongside the interview layout.  The questions I ask them will obviously change as they get older, but I would like to keep some of them the same, to see how their answers change over time.

Here are the layouts I came up with for this year’s interviews.  Nick at 6 and Corey nearly 4 – their likes/dislikes/hobbies etc – all documented in interview format.  Most years I create a layout for them around their birthday where I journal about their milestones/achievements/likes/dislikes etc, so the journalling on these is now the actual interview, verbatim.

I also asked our very creative Shabby Artists if they’d like to play along and scrap some of the words/conversations/quips from their daily lives and from their family members.  Amazing what they have all come up with!  Words, words everywhere!  I love that we have all gone in different directions here.  Fabulous inspiration.

Kylie interviewed her nieces over their summer school holidays and I just love their responses alongside those fun summery elements and photos!  I hope you continue the tradition next year Kylie!

Kim has come up with a wonderful idea.  She’s documented her Grandmother’s thoughts and memories on becoming a Mother, a Grandmother and then a Great-Grandmother.  I just loved reading this journalling Kim.  What a treasure – those photos and your grandmother’s memories are so special.  Finally, Rosy has documented some of the funny sayings her two little ones come out with – kind of like a ‘toddler dictionary’ really!  I love it – how funny for them to look back on!  Thanks so much for sharing these with us ladies.  Of course, you can see the full layouts and credits in our Shabby Artist Gallery.

I hope my post today will have you noticing more and more the role that quotations and conversations play in your life and that you then make them a regular part of your memory keeping.  Maybe you could set a little scrapping tradition for yourself and follow it through every year?  I am relying on you all to keep me on top of my once-a-year interview, now that I have made it official!

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check in tomorrow when Kylie shares our newest Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge with you.  Can you believe we’re up to number 20 already?!  Kylie will also be announcing the winner of Template Challenge 19, it might just be you!!  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleInspiration, Uncategorized 8 Comments