Happy Thursday everyone!  It’s Jenelle here and I have been really looking forward to hosting a Thursday Thievery post here on the Shabby Shoppe Blog and now is my big chance!!  Yipee!!

Today, the team and I are going to lift a stunning layout from the gallery of our very talented Shabby Artist, Rosy.  A gorgeous page, titled ‘This Memory’.  Here it is.

I have had this layout of Rosy’s in my favourites folder for a while now – there is so much to admire, but I especially love the way Rosy has framed this precious photo of her gorgeous children reading books together.  Placing the frame off-centre and weaving her photo though it really adds interest to the page and drew my eye right in.  Then there is the inked edge around the photo, the brushwork around the frame and the placement of the filmstrip diagonally across the page.  A visual masterpiece that we all had so much fun studying and then lifting!

I enjoyed experimenting with different frames, brushwork and layering behind my photo and came up with this lift of Rosy’s design – I pretty much kept to the same formula, I loved her page so much!!

Just look at the gorgeous colours in Casharina’s lift – so vibrant and I just LOVE that this layout combines dirt bikes and mud with flowers, hearts and glitter!!!

Kim has created fabulous depth here with the framing of her photo and layering of 12×12 papers.  What a sweet, sweet memory to scrap too – love this pic!

And Kylie’s lift is genius with all that beautiful brushwork and clustering flowing across the page.  I am in love with those little curls and cheeks!!!

So, as you can see, we have all drawn inspiration from Rosy’s wonderful layout and then tweaked it a little with our own style and memory keeping.  Scraplifting someone’s work is a great way to learn some new techniques and really gets you studying what makes their page visually appealing and trying to incorporate that into your own scrapping style.  I have learned so much from lifting other scrappers’ pages and I’d like to thank Rosy again for allowing us to lift her page today.

We’d love to see your take on Rosy’s design too – just upload it to our inspiration gallery so we can all see how you drew inspiration from Rosy’s layout.

Thanks for checking in today ~ be sure to visit tomorrow when Kylie announces the winners from Game One of our Blog Birthday Bash.  Yay!  I love competitions!!  Until then, happy scrapping everyone.

JenelleInspiration, Uncategorized 3 Comments

Hey all! :o)  Kylie here! …and, it’s FREE DESKTOP time!

After yesterday’s fun (and sun-shiny!!) product spotlight I was rather hoping to continue with that same bright & cheerful theme…and why not, I say?!!  Kind of reminds me of the quote that goes a little something like this: “wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine“! ;o)  Plus…bright, happy color schemes just make me SMILE…you too, I hope?!! :o)  Another thing that makes me smile is SP’s gallery …and that’s exactly where I found the inspiration needed to design our brand new JUNE DESKTOP.  Do you remember this super-special layout?

We truly hope you enjoy the latest desktop…a little something to brighten up your computer screen and your whole day!  You can find the download links below…but first, here is a little preview.  SP kindly filled the photo spots with some of her recent vacation happy snaps!  FUN, FUN!!!

CLICK HERE to download the 1024 x 768 versions

CLICK HERE to download the 1280 x 800 versions

If you are interested in our free desktops, but have no idea how to insert your own photos – please visit our TUTORIALS page and refer to the USING THE PIECE-A-CAKE .PNG FILES TO CREATE AN ALBUM titles :o)  We offer this tutorial in both screen shot and video format, for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.  And, while the tutorial is not specifically for the desktops – the concepts are very much the same…and should help out a lot!

As always, the extra text is only on the preview example – yours will be blank :o)  That way – you can customize your desktop as you wish by adding your own names, messages, photo dates etc.

And remember that you can always find our latest free desktop by clicking the FREE DESKTOPS category located on the right side of the blog!  While you are there, you’ll notice the SHOPPE POLL is up again…just for a short time!  If you are a fan of our FREE monthly desktops…please take a moment to vote for your size!  We want to make sure we are creating the sizes you guys want/need…and the two with the most votes ‘win’ :o)  And if you have no idea how to work out your resolution size…here is a website that can help!  THANKS a bunch for participating!

THANKS for visiting us today! :o)  Jenelle will be here tomorrow with some sneaky scrapping!!  …and I’ll see you again on Friday to announce our random Birthday Bash Link-a-Post winners! Yipee!!

KylieFree Desktops, Uncategorized 13 Comments

Hello everyone!!!  Kylie here with today’s Product Spotlight! :o)

It’s always a JOY to put together a Product Spotlight post for you all…and it was certainly no exception in the case of this charming lil’ kit…

The Country Charm Coordinated Kit is on SALE at the Shoppe for only $3.50 for a limited time!

Country Charm truly is a wonderful little collection…can’t you just feel the sunshine?!  Yep…let’s just take a moment, ladies, to bask in all that glorious vitamin D! LOL!! (Ya see, it’s getting a wee bit cold down here – in Australia - and scrapping with this kit is a perfect way to warm my soul as the winter weather sets in!)  Full of bright primary colors and darling little floral, paisley & gingham details, Country Charm is timeless and ever-sooo versatile.  LOVE the burlap and denim textured papers, the twill ribbons, the stitched alpha and sweet little wordart sentiments.  Scrapping for girls, boys, or both, really is a breeze.  Perfect for spring, summer, outdoors, school…or just because!  And why not mix and match with your other Shabby Princess kits for that extra pop of cheerfulness :o)

Now, a product spotlight isn’t a product spotlight without some scrapping INSPIRATION!!  So let’s get right to it…

Here is a “just because” page from me!!  I fell in love with all the papers, especially the sweet florals…layer after layer!

And the kit was a perfect backdrop to this fun lil’ beach iphone pic of my nephews!

Casharina used the perfect touch of Country Charm to scrap this darling photo of her sweet, sweet girls!

Speaking of sweet…Kim’s page is pure 100% sweetness!!  Just look at her youngest, Sammy - oh my what a sweet sunshine-y photo!  And stunning scrapping, Kim!

And last, but never ever least, Jenelle crafted a beautiful 3x4in card for her fabulous project life folder…how clever is she?!  A perfect little design using the stitched word art and charming bird stamp…LOVE IT!!  And wouldn’t it double as a wonderful greeting card or framed artwork for a little one’s nursery?!

I find it hard to believe that the super-sweet Country Charm kit was released back in 2005…7 years ago!!  This is the first time I’ve scrapped with it and to me it is still as bright and fresh as if it hit the Shoppe yesterday!  So if you’ve been lucky enough to own this cool little collection for a while now, we’d love to see how you scrap with it now!  And if it’s not part of your digi-scrap stash yet, please drop by the Shabby Shoppe and pick it up while it’s ON SALE…for only $3.50 (that’s 36% off)!!

Thanks for stopping by the BLOG today…we’re so happy you did! :o)  I’ll be back tomorrow with the JUNE free desktop!  See you then!

KylieProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized No Comments

Happy Monday, everyone!  And if you are in the U.S.A. with me, hope you are having a wonderful long holiday weekend!  This is Kim here today to share this week’s Layout of the Week.  As we always say (but it’s so true), it’s a fun job to get to look through the gallery and pick a special layout to honor.  This week I found this one by lili86, who just joined our gallery last month but already has posted many inspiring layouts.  So congratulations on being picked this week with your fun and colorful Meu primeiro pirulito!

Now, I don’t claim to be fluent in Portuguese, but what I have looked up is telling me “Meu primeiro pirulito” means “My first lollipop”.  I would bet that’s right looking at the sweet face in these pictures enjoying a bright red lollipop!  So what attracted me to this layout?  First of all, the bright colors – the whole thing just looks like fun!  Also, I always love seeing creative combinations of kits.  This one has some Sweetie Pie and Twirl plus a touch of a couple of other kits… I love it!

Thank you, lili86, for sharing so many great layouts with us the last several weeks.  You have been emailed a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe (be sure and check your spam folder if you don’t see it).  Hope you have fun shoppe-ing!

And to all our blog friends, don’t forget to upload your layouts to our gallery.  There is a Layout of the Week every Monday… could the next one be yours??  That’s all for today, but stop back by the blog tomorrow as Kylie will be here with the next Product Spotlight.  Which one do you think it will be??

KimLayout of the Week, Uncategorized No Comments

Hello Shabby Shoppe readers!  Happy Friday to everyone!  This is Rosy, here to bring you a food post all about birthday cakes!

I enjoy making birthday cakes and I think the shaped ones are especially fun.  You can get a great looking cake without needing any special cake decorating skills, and the kids love them!  Here are the few that I’ve done.

This airplane cake was made with one cake mix divided into a heart shaped pan and an oval casserole dish.  Yes, I believe in using what you have!  The oval cake was cut in half and then the top cut off of both halves.  These pieces were stuck together with buttercream icing to form the body and tail of the airplane.  The heart was also cut into four pieces to form the wings. Here is how the shapes looked.

Once the shape is formed I usually freeze the cake before frosting it.  This helps to minimize the crumbs.  For Isaac’s airplane cake I frosted it in yellow and then piped on blue for the windows.

The butterfly cake is very simple.  A double layered heart cake cut in half and then placed with the cut edges out.  (note: a round pan would work just fine for this as well)  After frosting it, I used a hoho cake (swiss roll) as the butterfly’s body and two pipe cleaners for the antennae.

For the fish cake I made one rectangle cake (a common 9X13 cake pan) and cut off all four corners.  These corners were placed as the fins and tail of the fish and frosted with a contrasting color.  The eye was made with a brown M&M.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these cake ideas.  (Please note that these ideas are not original with me.  I found photos online and then came up with my own version, using what I had on hand.)

Have a great weekend and we’ll be back on Monday with layout of the week.

RosyFood Stuff, Uncategorized 10 Comments