Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  It’s Jenelle here with our latest LOTW winner.

The gallery is just brimming with delightful layouts at the moment and I am particularly loving all these new layouts popping up that are using SP’s newest kit, Heartfelt.  It’s such a gorgeous kit and as you are all showing us through your pages, it is soooo versatile.

This week I was so happy to see one of our gorgeous gallery girls making a spectacular return to posting in our inspiration gallery.  The lovely Carrie (aka acmckelvey) has been working very long hours but found some time to weave her digi-magic with SP’s newest kit (and a couple of other kits too) in her layout called Easter 2012.  Just take a look.

Isn’t this just beautiful?  First of all, this photograph of acmckelvey’s daughters is just so sweet (and my they have grown up fast!)  I adore the way it has been framed here along with the gorgeous clusters and paper shapes scattered throughout the layout.  Such a stunning design and every element and paper has been selected and placed with true ‘Carrie’ style.

Congratulations Carrie (acmckelvey), you have been emailed a $10 Shabby Shoppe gift card (please check your Spam folder in case it is hiding in there).  We look forward to seeing more of your beautiful work here in the gallery and if you haven’t done so already, please go and check out some of Carrie’s beautiful pages here.

Thanks for stopping by today – I do hope you’ve been inspired by our latest LOTW post and that is has you creating and uploading to the gallery soon – we really do love seeing what you create week by week.

Please join me again on Wednesday when I’ll be sharing a team ‘make-over’ inspiration post with you all!!!  Oh it’s going to be fun!  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Happy Friday from the Shabby Shoppe!  It’s Beckie here with you again, and I’m ready to dish about some of my very favorite beauty products!  I’m kind of fickle and I love giving new things a try and I’m eager to share a few little gems here with you today :)

Starting off…we have my favorite cleansing and toning products!  I’m going to confess right now that I need a low maintenance cleansing routine – and the Olay 7-in-1 cleansing cloths perfectly fit the bill!  These cloths easily remove all my make-up and leave my skin cleansed and moisturized.  I follow it up with a few spritzes of the AMAZING botanical kinetics toning mist by Aveda.  It smells delightful and is very light and refreshing.  Together, these two items give me the quick and easy cleansing routine I need for my hectic schedule :)  And at just $8.99 for 30 cleansing cloths and $17 for the toning mist, I can come clean with a clear conscience over the cost :)

With the arrival of warmer weather, I made a  trip to Sephora with a girlfriend and we indulged in some new spring make-up!  I asked the associate to help me find a lightweight liquid foundation that would leave me looking fresh, healthy, and natural.  I also like having built-in SPF in my foundation, as I find myself outside in the harsh summer sun quite a bit with the kiddos.  I’ve been wearing my new makeup for about a month now – and I still love it!  First off, I got the Radiance primer by Laura Mercier.  I apply it to my cheeks, and it gives a subtle shimmer to my makeup finish.  (There’s a non-shimmer version available as well!).  And over the primer I apply LORAC Breakthrough Performance Foundation.  With SPF 15 and anti-aging ingredients, my skin feels fresh and healthy all day long.  Oh, and one really neat tip – the girl applied my foundation with a mineral powder brush.  The short, tight artificial bristles make it super easy to brush on consistent coverage.  You can use any artificial bristle kabuki/mineral powder brush, but I went with the Sephora brush.

The last time I talked make-up here on the blog, I mentioned the Nars Multiple…well, it’s still one of my favorites.  And I learned a new tip!  Not only can you apply the creamy color to your cheeks, you can apply it to your lips and cover it with clear gloss for a new look!

I recently had lunch with another girlfriend whom I hadn’t seen in several months.  I immediately noticed how youthful and healthy her skin looked and I asked her about it – although I was slightly dreading the answer because she has very expensive taste!   She started laughing and said “You’ll never guess…it’s Vaseline!”.  She said she puts it on her face before bedtime 2-3 times per week and had been doing so for several months.  She said it made a huge difference in the health of her skin – and from what I saw, I totally agree!  So out of curiosity, I googled Vasline and found several articles that also hailed the benefits of this quintessential beauty product.  Another great tip for Vaseline?  Mix your leftover lipstick with a little Vaseline to make your own lip gloss!  Best of all… you can pick up your very own tub of Vaseline for less than $2!

That’s all I have to share with you today!  I would LOVE it if you’d share some of your favorite products and beauty tips in the comments section!  If you’d like to take a peek into some of our other Shabby Artists’ Beauty Bags…CLICK HERE!  And I hope you all have a wonderful weekend…Jenelle will be with you on Monday for LOTW!

BeckieBeauty & Fashion, Uncategorized 2 Comments

 hey guys :o)  SP here today…for our MARCH project SCRAP check-in!  Of course it is now APRIL…but we will not be ‘scrapping’ April until the beginning of May :o)  I know – it gets confusing, LOL…but the best way to make sense of it…is that we can’t scrap a month until it is FINISHED, he he!  So – the April check-in will be sometime in May :o)  Clear as mud?  lol!

But, to confuse it even further – I have to FIRST share my FEBRUARY pages with you guys, LOLOL!  If you tuned in last month…you might remember that things were super busy for us and I just didn’t have time to scrap my pages before the scheduled ‘check-in’ post :o(  That was the first time I couldn’t squeeze it in…and I felt awful!  BUT, I am happy to say that I am again CAUGHT-UP and completely UP-TO-DATE (and even better…taking LOTS of pics – yay)!  It feels great to be ‘current’ again…and I hope this helps some of you to realize that you really CAN make up for lost time (as long as you do not let yourself get TOO far behind)!  So…without further ado, here are my ‘belated’ February pages :o)  For more February inspiration – you can check out THIS POST!  Anyhoo – I promised I’d share…

Now, onto the topic at hand today :o)  MARCH project SCRAP pages (if you missed the March templates – CLICK HERE)!  We’ll start with mine…I really loved these templates and the ‘spot’ for the large, landscape photo!  And, I had the perfect photo for it (love it when that happens)!  Our March was all over the place, lol…so there was a lot of journaling…and I really appreciated having all of the ‘space’ for it! 

 Next…we have Kim’s March pages!  OH MY GOODNESS…look at the main photo – the kids are adorable (and ALL smiling…how did she manage that?  lol)…and the flowers – LOVE :o)  I think Kim enjoyed all of the journaling space, too – and she did an amazing job of incorporating the fancy flourish stamps from the Heartfelt collection – SOOOO CLEVER and it creates great movement on the pages!  Always enjoy Kim’s project SCRAP pages soooooo much!

How about some gorgeous inspiration from Kylie?  I love the contrast from all of our spring pages…it’s Autumn for Kylie now – and just look at those trees – WOW :o)!  Looks like a fun month…lots of celebrating! 

Next…we have some PRECIOUS pages by Amber!  Oh my Goodness…look at the ‘big’ pic, lol!  just LOVE it :o)  and the little chickies…too cute!  Had to share these with ya – as always – thanks so much for posting, Amber (you really must check out her gallery)! :o)

 Finally, we have these adorable pages by lil_goldie!   The first thing that caught my eye…she rotated the templates!  It was the perfect choice, too – look how perfectly her photos work with the rotated pages :o)  GENIUS…so many adorable photos and I love the mix of patterned papers :o)  Thanks so much for sharing with us!

 Don’t forget that there is always plenty of inspiration in our special, project SCRAP 2012 gallery!  You’ll find lots more pages there – so be sure to check it out…and most importantly – UPLOAD YOUR LAYOUTS :o)  We would LOOOOOVE to see them!  We love that you guys are joining us for project SCRAP 2012 - THANKS!

So, that’s it for me today…but be sure to stop back by tomorrow for a lil’ beauty talk :o)  Have a beautiful AND blessed day/night!  XOXO — SP

Shabby Princessproject Scrap 2012, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Hello everyone, and happy WEDNESDAY!  It’s time for another Focus on Photos…point and shoot style!

I’ve had the pleasure of talking photography on here many times, but have never taken the time to explore ways to help every scrapper get the most from her everyday point and shoot camera.  With these simple tips, you can learn to get the very best results from your basic camera, and maybe even get some creative shots you never expected along the way :)  Ready??  let’s go!

(oh, and for reference, I have the Canon Powershot SD770 “Digital Elph”…about 2-3 yrs old)

1.  READ YOUR MANUAL

Boring, I know.  But there’s just no way around it.  You’ll never know what your camera is capable of unless you read the manual.  Nearly all point and shoots have many different shooting modes and creative settings and you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth!  If you’re like me and you’ve uh…mis-placed your actual manual… :) …never fear!  All the major camera makers have .pdf manuals available for free download in the “Support” area of their websites.

As you’re reading along, if you find an interesting feature – stop right then and try to access it on your camera.  Most point and shoot cameras use only a few basic buttons and you might be surprised at how easy it is to access these features!  You’ll also remember them better if you’ve practiced :)

For my camera, I realized – after finally reading the manual – that most of the options displayed on the screen have “sub menus” with additional settings available to scroll through with one simple click.  For example, I’d seen a little icon labeled “Kids and Pets” – but after I read the manual I realized it had A TON of special shooting settings:  Beach, Snow, Aquarium, Under Water, and even Fireworks!

2. Know how and when to access the special shooting modes

Learning to rock your point and shoot means that you don’t have to understand the “science” behind ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.  But if you want the best possible images, you really need to know how to access the special shooting modes.  This is your only way to tell the camera how to set the correct settings for you.  Foliage mode in my camera enhances colors!  Snow mode ensures your images don’t have the dreaded blue/gray color cast common in snow photos.  Kids and Pets is particularly good for moving subjects…like kids and pets :)  Knowing how to select the right “shooting mode” for your conditions will ensure that you get the best possible photos!

3.  Sometimes the instructions in the manual really stink

I was very intrigued to finally take the time to figure out what my camera’s “manual” mode is capable of.  What does my manual say?  “Allows you to select settings yourself, such as the exposure compensation, white balance, or my colors.”  Then it tells me how to set it to manual, and that’s it.  nothing else.

huh?

Well, turns out that in manual mode, I can specify a metering mode!  I can set the shutter speed, and even white balance!  The instructions are written to explain the mechanics of how it works, but they don’t begin to explain what the camera is capable of.  So be sure to get out and play, play, play!  (oh, and for what it’s worth…I’ve kind of decided that manual mode isn’t worth the effort on my camera.  Especially with so many special shooting modes available!  I did learn how to use many more features though after I got out and tried it.)

4.  Read about your camera’s focusing modes

You don’t want to leave this to chance.  Understanding how your camera grabs focus is critical to ensuring you get quality shots.  Most point and shoot cameras have a “face detect” focus option, that is a good choice for most all-purpose photo situations.  Be sure to understand how your face detect works if this is the mode you prefer.  My camera even allows me to toggle between numerous faces detected in the image to specify the one I’d like to have in focus.  You want the birthday boy in focus, not the random neighbor standing next to him :)

5.  Check out your macro mode

Hands down, the feature that I was most pleasantly surprised with was my macro mode (for getting very close-up shots).  I love doing macro with my dSLR and find that I’m very naturally drawn to beautiful flowers, interesting bugs, etc.  I rarely scrap them – but I have tons of them on my hard drive, LOL!  I first attempted macro shots with my camera in full “auto”, normal shooting mode and got this:

Then…by simply pressing a button twice to go into Macro mode, I got these!

I hope you all enjoyed learning a little bit about  how to “rock what you got” :)  Thanks for stopping by…SP will be ‘checking-in’ with you tomorrow!!

BeckiePhotography, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Hello everyone!  Kim here with a product spotlight that comes just in time for all those Spring and Easter photos that are all ready to be scrapped!  (And if you’re one of our friends that is in the middle of fall instead, I promise this kit is so versatile there are tons of possibilities!)  Let’s take a look at the Sprout kit and it’s Easter additions.

I remember the Sprout kit was one that I had to have as soon as I saw it.  It obviously is great for scrapping Spring and Easter (especially if you add in some of the great elements from the Easter additions).  Here is a layout I made to capture one of my kids’ favorite Easter traditions (I’m not sure if they like finding the eggs or eating the candy more!)

Beyond Spring and Easter, I come back to the Sprout kit again and again for other kinds of layouts.  And I have to say that one of my favorite elements from the kit is the stem of leaves.  For this layout, I mixed those leaves with the rub-on swirls from the Easter additions and love the effect!

I really could go on and on about all the papers and elements in this kit!  There is just no way to show them all in one or two layouts.  That’s why it is great to have the shabby team to give us all more inspiration.  Great job ladies!  These are all unique and lovely!

The team will be uploading these to the gallery, so look there to see all the details of these layouts.  And why not head over to the Shoppe to check out the SALE for both of these products?  Get the Sprout kit for only $5.96 and the Easter additions for only $2.96!  And don’t forget, as well as today’s spotlighted products, we have lots of other Spring and Easter shoppe favorites on SALE for a limited time!  (…and if you are on the look out for some beautiful Mother’s Day gift ideas…any of these would be perfect!)

Thanks for stopping by the blog!  Tomorrow Beckie will be sharing some photography tips, so don’t miss that!

KimProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 3 Comments