Good Monday Morning!  It’s me, Casharina with the latest layout of the week!  I had one of the busiest weeks last week!  My oldest baby girl turned SEVEN on Wednesday, we partied on Friday, and then headed to Gatlinburg, TN to Dollywood with family on Saturday!  Although it was a BLAST I was wore out, even so, I found it VERY relaxing to browse through all the beautifully inspiring layouts in the gallery.  There really were SO many gorgeous layouts in the gallery but it was my job to choose only ONE.  So without further ado here is the layout I chose:

  I chose kkb42’s HenryJune layout for a number of reasons.  First of all this layout caught my eye in the gallery, the quilt-like look, the bright photos…it was just appealing to look at!  Once I clicked on it I found that I loved how she edited her photos; along with the patterned papers and title to all match the theme within her page.  Her play on the title is adorable too, “Son”shine ~ I love it!  The use of the stars from Sandbox, and flowers from Hopscotch used to create her flower clusters was a great idea.  I love that she was able to take inspiration from the Shabby Shoppe’s Gallery and create a page of her very own!

 Congratulations kkb42!  Thanks for sharing this inspiring layout with us, please check your email and spam folders for a $10 gift card to enjoy some shoppe’ing fun! 

 Thanks for stopping by…we’ll be back again on Wednesday! :o)

CasharinaLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hello everyone…Casharina here!  Today I’m bringing you our post for Focus on the Photos.  I honestly had a difficult time coming up with something that hadn’t already been shared by the one of our talented team members as they have shared some wonderful tips and tricks!  I decided to do a post showing how I fix under eye shadows, or shadows around the face for that matter!

•  To begin have your photo edited to the desired brightness.
• Then you will select the quick mask tool.  It’s the little icon that looks like a square with a circle in the middle, or a “camera.”

• Change your cursor to a brush by either clicking on the brush tool or hitting the B key on the keyboard.
• Ensure that your brush is a soft rounded brush and make the size appropriate to what you are working on.
• If I’m working on shadows under the eye I like my brush fairly small, however if I’m going to adjust shadows on the side of someone’s face I like it to be a little bigger for faster coverage.
• Paint over the area you are fixing.

Tip: it’s fine if you get outside the area that needs fixed, you can always adjust it if needed.

• When you are finished hit the quick mask icon again.
• It will select the OUTSIDE portions of the brushed area, so you will need to invert it, by selecting CTRL+I.
• Now you are ready to adjust that portion of the photo.
• I like to use the Curves adjustments.
• You can adjust the diagonal line to meet your needs.  Moving the line towards the middle makes the photo brighter, while moving it down will make it darker.

• Once your finished you can add merge the layers together and you are finished!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Focus on the Photos post today!

Check back tomorrow for for SP’s project SCRAP July check-in!

CasharinaPhotography, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Happy Monday everyone!  Casharina here with this week’s LOTW post!!  As usual, this was a terribly difficult choice because there are so many beautiful, creative, and inspiring layouts shared here in our gallery.  I always find lots of inspiration when looking at the many talented scrappers who share their work with us each day!  So without further ado here is my choice for this week, titled: “Last day of First Grade!” created by con01008.

There are so many parts of this layout that inspire me to get creative with my own scrapping style.  I believe my favorite elements of this page are the Hopscotch SCHOOL additions pencils and the way she has tied them together with the little ribbon to create the perfect little cluster…I love clusters and continue to try to improve my own!  I also adore how she was able to layer in the various papers from the Heartfelt collection to help give depth to her layout, topping them off with the perfect ribbon from Hopscotch.  I love how well these two kits complement one another.  Thank you con01008 for sharing this beautiful layout with us!

 Once again, congratulations con01008, for sharing your layout with us, please be sure to check your email along with your spam folder for a $10 gift card to enjoy some shoppe’ing fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  Join us on Wednesday for a tips & tricks post!

CasharinaLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hey y’all it’s Casharina bringing you another wonderful Product Spotlight!!  I just LOVE putting these together because it helps me focus on the various Shabby Shoppe kits I have in my stash.  I love pulling out kits I haven’t used in awhile, and most of all I love to see how others use the same kits to make beautiful layouts which inspire me to try new things in my scrap layouts!  Today is no different!  I’m focusing on the beautiful Summer Cottage kit and its lovely sidekick Summer Cottage Seasonal Additions.

Summer Cottage is ON SALE for only $4.95 and the Summer Cottage SEASONAL additions is ON SALE for only $2.95…both for a limited time…that’s great savings off the normal Shoppe prices!

These two when combined create some of my favorite layouts.  I have used the Summer Cottage Seasonal Additions to add elements to so many of my layouts it’s hard to count!  I love the ribbons, the tape, the stickers, the clothes pins and I especially love the glitter! ;)  Okay so I believe this is one of my favorite kits from the Shoppe!!  I love the earthy blue and tan tones in Summer Cottage; it makes for charming beach layouts, summer day layouts and even fun Fourth of July layouts.  There are so many ways to use this kit the results are endless, so to give a better idea, the shabby artists have created a few layouts to give you some inspiration.  For starters I created two layouts using this kit, and its sidekick ;)

  For my layouts I wanted to focus on the eye-catching papers. I love how the papers are so neutral yet so bold.  This kit works so wonderfully with a variety of other kits, as you can see in the second layout below, where I’ve added pieces from Hopscotch and a few others.

Rosy has given us yet another sweet piece of inspiration showing her skills at clustering. You can see here the rustic wooden frame from the kit has been used to bring focus to her beautiful little girl and I just adore how the paper pieces are pieced together to form a quilt like pattern.  And from Kylie, as usual, a BEAUTIFUL layout.  I love how she too has used the frames and mixed in the large circles…so pretty!

Jenelle has created two, unique 3×4 project life cards to include in her album.  I love the simplicity of these cards and the word art and stickers are just perfect!

Kim has also created two inspiring layouts showing just how versatile these kits can be.  I love the way that she has used the stars to “cut out” a ribbon from the blue paper, such a great idea.  Her second page shows how easily this kit can lend itself to pool photos and so much more.  Don’t you just love the waves made from the stitches, they’re just so cute, I would have never  thought to have done that.  That’s what I love so much about these kinds of post and our awesome gallery here at the Shabby Shoppe!!

I hope we’ve inspired you to see the many ways you can use Summer Cottage, along with its Seasonal Additions!

Thanks for reading, catch up with us again on Thursday when SP brings you her projectSCRAP check-in for June!   

CasharinaProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Food Friday!  It’s Casharina… here to bring you a Chocolate Dipped Frozen Banana Recipe!  Wow!  That’s a long title! ;)  But boy is it delicious and really it’s not even that bad for you!!  These little treats are EASY to make and are great for lazy summer days!

Let’s get started…grab the ingredients and ask the kiddos if they want to join in on the fun!  The sprinkles always make my girls happy!!  (Although for this post we didn’t end up doing sprinkles, itty bitty was gone to Mamaws by the time they were frozen and ready for dipping!)

 For this tasty treat you simply need a few ingredients!  (That’s ALWAYS nice!)  For each batch you will use:

• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable shortening
• Bananas
• Popsicle sticks
• Wax paper
• Sprinkles, nuts, etc. that you’d like to add!

 Directions:

• To get started you’ll need peel your bananas.  I like to get the girls to help me with this part; it makes them feel important when they’re helping and it’s GREAT quality time.  This time I only had the itty bitty with me so we especially loved the one on one time!
• After they’re peeled, you’ll cut them in half.  I’ve found that this size is best for dipping and storing.
• Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, and then begin carefully sticking your popsicle sticks into the bottom portion of your banana halves. Tip: Be careful so that you don’t accidently poke it through the side. I try to put them in at least half way through the banana to help ensure they won’t fall off during the dipping and eating stages!
• Now pop them in the freezer until they’re frozen I usually wait a few hours, and have even waited overnight. (Do not grab by the stick until they’re completely frozen!)

Dipping:

• For this portion you have to work pretty quickly.  The chocolate will start to dry very quickly, so if you’re planning on letting the kiddos “decorate” the goodies they need a ready work station.  I usually place a piece of wax paper over a cookie sheet and have the sprinkles handy for them to use immediately.
• Measure out the amount of chocolate chips you’ll need. I usually use a 2 cup glass measuring cup to do the mixing/melting/dipping in and it works pretty good.

• Melt the chocolate chips.  I have a wonderful button on my microwave that is specifically for melting butter, chocolate, or marshmallows, and it works GREAT for me!  If you don’t have this option simply melt your chocolate chips and vegetable shortening in a microwave safe bowl on high power for up to 1 minute.
• After this first cycle, take them out of the microwave and stir, if they’re easy to stir you’re ready…if they still a little on the stiff side put them back in for 10-15 seconds as needed to get that soft dipping consistency.
• Now, you’ll take your bananas out of the freezer, I only take a few out at a time, so that they don’t defrost while waiting their turns to dip into the chocolate. Once you dip, simply swirl them around in the container until the banana half is covered to your liking.
• Quickly hand it off to your child/helper to begin the sprinkling.  The chocolate will dry very quickly so you have to work fast to ensure the banana is covered before the chocolate dries.  Sometimes I will lay them on the cookie sheet for the girls and just let them decorate them on one side, they don’t seem to mind, it’s still fun for them.  We’ve tried all sorts of goodies on the bananas, from sprinkles, to sugar crystals, peanut pieces, and even white chocolate swirled on top of the dark chocolate.  These are so much fun and so tasty.
• Once they’ve dried place them back into the freezer, when they are totally frozen you can place them into a Ziploc bag to last for a few days??  Weeks??  Who knows, we always eat them within a few days! ;)

That’s it for today, I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you choose to make them I’d love to hear how they turn out and what kinds of toppings you placed on them!

Be sure to stop back by on Monday for the Layout of the Week!!  Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

CasharinaFood Stuff, Uncategorized 7 Comments