Hi everyone!  Kylie here :o)  Hope you all had a wonderful and happy scrappy weekend!  I’m back again to do Layout of the Week…which is always so much fun for me!!  Love it!!  So today…the honor of LOTW goes to…(drumroll, please!!)…

Sweet Sleeper by the very talented JoyontheJourney!

First off, the photos are pure SWEETNESS…and beautifully framed!  The colour scheme is a delight…so soft and lovely, and a little unique, for a baby page.  The little pops of peach really give the page a lift and a wonderful contrast.  The hanging hearts and the beautiful lullaby, well now, they just bring a smile to my heart!! :o)  And what I think is really great is that JoyontheJourney crafted her page using a little inspiration taken from our very own gallery…from this page & this page!  <big smiles!!> And ya know, isn’t that what it’s all about folks…inspiring eachother to create amazing pages!  For me (and I’m sure it’s the same for so many of you), ALL our fabulous Shabby Shoppe Gallery Members continue to inspire me, time and time again, with their scrapping talents and cool ideas…and if you are in need of even more inspiration, then you must check out JoyontheJourney‘s fabulous gallery…here!  She is building up a gorgeous collection of scrapbook pages and it’s a JOY to look through…over and over again! :o)

Congratulations, JoyontheJourney!  Watch your e-mail (and don’t forget to check your SPAM folders if you don’t see it!) for a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe …and enjoy your shoppe-ing!

Well, it’s goodbye from me today…thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to join us again on Wednesday, Rosy has a great inspiration post you won’t want to miss!

KylieLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Hi all!!  Kylie here today with a little Food Friday goodness!!

Sunny days are here my friends…well for most of you!! LOL!  Although, as I look out my window this winter morning the sun is shining happily (for a change)…but it’s cold, cold, cold!!  ugh…shiver!  But, let’s get back to sunny “SUMMER” days and all the good things that go with them…picnics, BBQ’s, street parties…outdoor FUN!!  Every summer I make these little gems up…my mini Asian Style Chicken Burgers!  A perfectly fresh and zingy alternative to all those grilled meaty (and kinda wickedly naughty in that oh-so greasy fashion, hey?!) burgers and hot dogs.

A number of years ago I was flipping through one of my (many, many) food mags and saw a recipe for something similar.  Months later, and as things generally go, when I went to make them I could not remember which magazine the recipe was in.  Typical!! ;o)  All I could remember was that they had a poached chicken, a mix of pickled vegetables and a zesty lime mayonnaise…so I made my own version up…and here it is:

~*~ Ingredients ~*~

• 24 mini bread rolls (dinner roll sized), halved.  Wholemeal or a grain style bread roll is best with this recipe but use whatever your preference is.  You could also use a standard size burger bun, if want a big serve…just halve the bread quantity to 12 or so.  And if you decide on a hot-dog-style bun then when you halve them don’t cut all the way through…you know the drill! ;o)
• 1 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 2 green onions (spring onions/shallots), finely sliced
• 2 red thai chillies, finely sliced – you can add more or less chilli or a hotter variety depending on your taste

Poached chicken:

• 250ml (1 cup) fish sauce
• 6cm (2in) piece of peeled fresh ginger, roughly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly sliced
• 100g (3oz) palm sugar – or you can use brown sugar as a substitute.
• 1 whole chicken (small to medium in size), boiling water

Pickled vegetables:

• 2 carrots, cut into julienne
• 8 snow peas (mangetout), cut into julienne
• 150ml (2/3 cup) white vinegar
• 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
• 150ml (2/3 cup) water
• 1 teaspoon salt

Lime mayonnaise:

• 250g (1 cup) good quality mayonnaise
• Juice & zest of 1 lime
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce

~*~ Directions ~*~

• Poached chicken: Add ingredients to large saucepan.  Add enough boiling water to cover the chicken.  Over medium to high heat, bring the poaching liquid to the boil and then cook for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and leave chicken to cool in liquid until it has reached room temperature.  Take chicken out and discard poaching liquid.  Remove and discard the skin.  Shred the meat off the bones (discard bones, of course LOL!) and place shredded meat into a large bowl.  Refrigerate until needed.
• Pickled vegetables: In a small saucepan add the vinegar, sugar, water and salt.  Simmer over a medium heat until sugar has dissolved.  Place the prepared carrot and snow peas into a heat-proof bowl and pour pickling liquid over the vegetables.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.
• Lime mayonnaise: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
• Assembly: Drain pickled vegetables well.  Add them to the shredded chicken, along with the fresh herbs (tear or roughly chop depending on how big the leaves are to start with), green onions and chilli.  Mix well.  Spread the bread rolls with some lime mayonnaise and then fill with the chicken salad mix.  Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and a little extra fresh red chilli (optional).

The best thing about this recipe is that you can make the three main components and store them in the fridge ahead of time.  So if you’ve got a big day planned you can prepare most it the day/night before and then just assemble on the day…too easy!

I also created two 4×6 recipe cards that you can download for free – one for the ingredients and one for the directions…yep it’s a long recipe, lol!  To jump-start my creativity I used a recipe card template from the Farm Fresh set ~ found HERE at the Shabby Shoppe!  And I loved using the GRACIE collection and a few extra pieces to scrap them…so many FUN papers!!

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

Hope you enjoy making (and eating!) these yummy mini chicken burgers!  Thanks for checking in with the Blog today…we’ll see you all on Monday for the Layout of the Week!  Bye for now! :o)

…and, P.S. Just a quick reminder that the Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge 25 deadline is SUNDAY night (12 midnight US EDT), for all those still wishing to join in the FUN and have the chance to win a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!  Don’t forget to add your comment/link to the original blog post after you upload your gorgeous layout to the Gallery! :o)

KylieFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 3 Comments

Good morning everyone! :o)  Kylie here to share the new (and free) desktop for the month of August! (Are we already at August?…how can that be?? LOL!)  This next desktop is bright and friendly and full of Shabby Shoppe sunshine!  Hope you enjoy it! – we certainly enjoyed putting it together for you…so have fun adding your photos and/or extra touches (plenty of space left on this one to add a poem, journaling, to-do-list, notes, etc.)!!!

CLICK HERE to download the 1920 x 1080 version

CLICK HERE to download the 1280 x 800 version

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!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! :o)  Have a lovely day and I’ll see you all back here tomorrow! :o)

KylieFree Desktops, Uncategorized 10 Comments

Hello everyone!  It’s Jenelle here today with our latest Product Spotlight.  As the majority of our Shabby Shoppe Blog readers are in the midst of their summer, I thought it would be a great idea to highlight one of our beachy kits today.  Mind you, Kylie and I are still shivering through winter down here in Australia,  so scrapping with this kit has really warmed us up and has us dreaming of the summer sunshine being back again here really soon!

Have you guessed which kit it is yet?  Of course you have!  It is our Splash Coordinated Kit and it is ON SALE for a limited time only in the Shoppe for just $4.25!

Splash is such a fun kit to scrap with – a real mix of shabby/ornate/casual – helping you create wonderful beach or pool layouts from your lazy summer days.  The textures in the papers are brilliant and they lend themselves really well to blending.  And I love all the little chrome beach elements – they really stand out against the blues and greens.  Oh and the labels – how cute are the labels?!  I reach for them a lot in my summery pages.

So, enough talk already!  On to the inspiration!!  First up is my layout using Splash (and a couple of other Shoppe goodies – I will outline them in my Shabby Artist gallery post).  I had lots of fun creating this and really loved the effect of the textured background paper.

Kim has wowed us yet again with her scrapping mastery.  Splash is showcased beautifully here in this layout of her youngest little man – what a cutie!  I love this photo!

I love how Casharina has ‘sprinkled’ some pink throughout her layout, perfectly complementing the blues and greens of Splash.  A gorgeous summertime page!

Rosy has highlighted perfectly how Splash can be used for non-beachy layouts.  What a beautiful baby boy page she has created here!  I also can’t help but notice that Rosy has used her trademark blending techniques here with the background paper.  You can check out Rosy’s blog post on soft light blending modes here if you missed it last week.

And to finish off, a delightful fun-in-the-pool layout from Kylie.  I just love that title!

I hope these layouts from the team have helped inspire you to get creative with your latest scrapping projects.  You can check out layout credits and more details in our Shabby Artist gallery as we upload them throughout the day/night.

Along with Splash, we also have the Splash Piece-a-Cake Album ON SALE for a limited time in the Shoppe for only $5.50 – such a quick and easy way to get all your summer photos scrapped.  Easy-peasy!

Well, that’s all for today folks!  Thanks so much for dropping by today.  Please check back again on Thursday, when Kylie will be sharing another of her gorgeous (and free) desktops!  We’ll see you all then!

JenelleProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a great weekend and are are now ready for another week.  This is Kim here to start it off with a fabulous Layout of the Week.  There were many fun layouts in the gallery as I was looking through.  You are all rocking the template challenge… I always love seeing the way each person comes up with their own unique layout even though they start with the same template.  So many great layouts, yet I have to pick one!  And this week’s honor goes to chocochoco with her “When I was 2” layout!

I have always been a fan of chocochoco‘s layouts and her unique shadowing style.  I also love that so many of her layouts focus on the importance of capturing family heritage.  She has amazed me again with this layout of her as a sweet toddler.  Not only is this inspiring me to go back and create some layouts from my own childhood, but I keep coming back to this layout again and again and noticing another great detail.  The layers of circles, the chevrons, the Clementine doodle frame peeking in from each side of the layout… I could go on and on!

Congratulation, chocochoco!  We hope you enjoy your $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!  (Please check your spam folder if you don’t find it in your inbox.)  And to all of you, I look forward to seeing your layouts in the gallery this week!

Bye for today, but be sure and stop by tomorrow as Jenelle has a Product Spotlight to share.

KimLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 1 Comment