Hello everyone!  Casharina here, bringing you another hybrid project!  When I found a set of 4 burner covers from a little this and that store for a buck, I KNEW I could do something with them!  I decided to create a mini message board for a teacher.  This project is another simple project that could be created for your home, or as a little gift to give someone to brighten their day!  I think it’d make a CUTE door hanger as well!

 Gather your supplies:

• Mod Podge
• A set of burner covers (may be already decorated, colored, and used, we’re going to cover them!)
• E600 or another type of all purpose glue (be sure it’s STRONG)
• Paint
• Photo paper (I always use Office Depot brand Matte finish)
• Printer
• Digital supplies (I ended up using the beautiful Blossom collection)
• Ric rac or ribbon

Directions:

• Paint the covers – I only painted the outside edges of each cover but I wish I would’ve painted the whole thing.  Also, next time I do them I’ll probably either leave it all white or paint them in a color that matches my theme a little better.  When I did the painting I had a whole other “theme” in mind for the boards.  I was originally planning to use the Darling Paper Collection  by adding the black and white damask paper as a background and then adding a large monogrammed letter in the center for the Teachers name…however as you see, that is NOT how it ended up!  LOL!  Nope, I had to get too crafty and add more colors and take advantage of the fun embellishments that the Shabby Shoppe has to offer!  It was fun and I do LOVE the colors, but next time I think I’ll design the cover and then choose the paint!  SO ALL OF THAT TO SAY: if you KNOW what colors you’ll use, go ahead and paint up the covers, otherwise wait until you’ve designed them and then paint.
• Design your cover – first open a page as large as you need to create your project.  I chose to use an 8.5×11 sheet of paper, so I opened an 11×8.5 document.  I then chose the elliptical marquee tool and set the feathering to 0.  I created a circle as large as I could to cover the whole page, be sure to hold in the shift key while dragging the circle out to create an even circle. This is where I chose to design my layout, inside this circle.

  The paper will not be large enough to completely cover the cover.  You can either add an additional portion of paper to the top and bottom (that’s what I’ve done, and then I added ric rac to cover the seams), or you could paint the whole thing and create a smaller circle to paste in the center of the cover and then mod podge this.

• Design a layout – I chose to add in different embellishments and frames to add various papers using the gorgeous Blossom collection!  I just love the rainbow, flowers, and vibrant colors of the papers, beautiful!!  I also used a monogram stamp from the Carousel Monograms set, and created the ABC sheet from the font Traveling Typewriter - one of my favorite free fonts by far!

• After I was finished I printed the page.  I then printed a second sheet of ALL orange to use as filler for the top and bottom.  To ensure the whole burner cover was covered I cut the all orange sheet into two pieces and taped a portion of it on the top of the circle and one on the bottom of the circle and then traced the cover onto the back of the photo papers.
• Cut the outline and then you’re ready to mod podge the design to the burner cover.  Before adding the print, make sure you’ve got your covers painted in a color you love! ;)  I always apply a thin layer of mod podge onto the back of the photo paper and the cover, and then I apply another layer on top of the design to give it more of a finish.
• Add ric rac to cover the seams of the paper – optional

A little extra:  Add decorative magnets by placing small pieces of scrapbook paper on the back of glass decorative stones, and then adding a magnet.

• I chose to cover both a large burner cover and a smaller burner cover and attached them together using two pieces of ribbon glued to the back using E600 (an AWESOME glue for these types of projects.)
• As you can see I also attached a simple gift card which I designed using the Muffin Man recipe templates and an Affair to Remember kit!

Okay that’s it for today, if you choose to make a project like this we’d LOVE to see it in the hybrid gallery!!

Check back Monday for Layout of the Week!  Until then, I hope you all have a lovely weekend (and a Happy Father’s Day to all of the guys in your life – and if you missed Kylie’s free Father’s Day card simply CLICK HERE!)

CasharinaHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Hello everyone, it’s Casharina bringing you another Layout of the Week!  Although I love to browse through our gallery and see tons of beautiful layouts, gaining lots of inspiration along the way…doing these posts is so difficult.  You make us really work when it comes to choosing a LOTW…there are so many wonderful layouts!  However the rule for me is to choose only one - so I have done it – I have chosen lil_goldie’s layout Instagram 2.

I have to say I loved this layout from the moment I saw it (lil_goldie actually scrapped two pages full of these instagram photos)!  I love this idea!  Many times, I have the “real” photos on my phone, the everyday life photos, and they too need to be scrapped.  This page has really inspired me to do just that!  In addition, I love how she has created the frames for each image and placed a larger frame around her cutie pie driving.  The use of the Heartfelt collection is just perfect, right down to including the various paper pieces.  I also love how she modified the edges of the journaling paper.  It all looks perfect together!!

Congratulations lil_goldie for sharing your beautiful layout with us!  You should receive an email for a $10 gift card (via email – so be sure to check your spam/junk folders if you don’t see it in your inbox) to enjoy some shoppe’ing fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  Please join the lovely Kim on Wednesday for some photo fun and inspiration!

CasharinaLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi everyone!  It’s me, Casharina and today I have the honor of bringing you the Product Spotlight! YAY!!  So this week I get to spotlight one of my most favorite kits, the Bounce collection! ;)

The kit will be on SALE, for a limited time, at the wonderful price of only $4.75!!  That’s an extra saving from the special 25% off BIRTHDAY SALE currently running over at the Shabby Shoppe - YAY!

The Bounce collection is perfect for ALL sorts of projects.  I love the bright colors and fun stickers that the kit has to offer, as I said it’s one of my favorite kits from the Shabby Shoppe!  The bright colors are great for outside layouts, sunny day layouts and I especially love it for my art project layouts.  If I had to choose my favorite part of the kit I’d say it is the alphabet, I LOVE the crazy letters and they’re GREAT for re-coloring!  I also have to say that the stitched paper sun is probably my second favorite part of this kit, I think I’ve used it on just about every outside layout I have!  It’s so darn cute!  Just look how it adds the perfect touch of color to this page:

 I also chose to use this kit to create a goodbye present for the student teacher in my child’s classroom.  I made a custom name sign for her door that she can use when she gets a job!  This project would also be great to use for a baby shower gift!  To create this project I used the alpha from Bounce along with the Fun Flash Cards set. I actually extracted some of the clipart from the cards to use on the sign.  In addition, I used the cards for ideas on other embellishments I already had in other Shabby Shoppe kits…such as the watermelon from the summer cottage SEASONAL additions, the ladybug from the Twirl collection, and the key from Sprout.  Endless possibilities!  Now, back to Bounce!!

Need more inspiration on what you can do with the Bounce collection?  Well the Shabby Artists have designed some super cute layouts to share with you!

First up we have two from the wonderful Miss Kylie!  Aren’t these two pages just adorable. I LOVE the raindrops made from paper, and the little frog tucked in behind the photo, just perfect.  Her second layout shows how easily other kits such as the Blossom collection, coordinates with Bounce.

Here is an amazing vacation page by Shabby Princess!  100% pure FUN…and a perfect example of lots of space on a page to tell your story and preserve all those wonderful memories.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the talented Kim, who brings us another beautiful layout.  I love how her layout is pieced together…it really makes me think of how you stack legos together.  And Rosy shows how easily this kit can cordinate with others, even an Affair to Remember is being used here.  Beautiful layout Rosy!

To find out more about each layout shown here, and see them up close, check out our Gallery (we’ll be uploading them throughout the day/night)!

Don’t forget about the coordinating and super-cute Snips and Snails round label set…also on SALE!  They make a fun addition to any layout or hybrid project!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Tomorrow, Jenelle will share a cool little tip in her Tips & Tricks post.

CasharinaProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hello!  It’s Casharina here and I’m bringing you a new hybrid project and sticking true to myself, it’s another EASY peasy project that anyone can do, while still being beautiful and useful when finished!   Today I’m making a message board.  These can be done in a variety of ways and designs and can be used for all sorts of things:  I’m thinking a menu board, a dry erase calendar, simple personalized board to keep track of a schedule, or notes from a teacher!  I created this design to give to my husband’s host teacher as he just finished his student teaching (CONGRATS hubby!).  She was a wonderful mentor and very helpful to him.  I am also planning on making one of these for my little girl’s teacher as an end of the year gift!!  So let’s get started shall we…(that’s what my kiddo would say; in a deep but sophisticated voice!  Lol)

Items needed:

• Picture frame (WITH glass-to make it dry erase!)
• Photo paper & printer (or use a photo lab/professional printer)

 To make this you will need ANY picture frame…that’s right, this is your board you can make it as big or small as you’d like.  I have made up to an 11×14 design and sent it off to be printed, but you could make one to suit your needs and just have it printed at any photo lab.

 You will want to have your frame ready for a print…that means if you’re like me and you LOVE to find good deals at the Goodwill or junk store, you’ll want to clean, refinish, and paint your frame before creating the goodie to go in it!

 For this design, since I had put off creating a gift until the night before, yah I know BAD!!  But in my defense we went camping, and then had Easter stuff, and I just kinda forgot about it, please don’t tell me I’m the only one to do that, right!?  Anyway for this design I created mine as an 8×10 and placed it into a matted 11×14 frame.

 Here comes the EASY PEASY part!!  Just open a document to the size you need printed.  I opened an 8×10 document at 300 dpi. Create your design.  

For my teacher gift I used the Hopscotch kit.  The kit worked perfectly for what I wanted to accomplish.  SAVE your work and THEN highlight all layers.  I like to place all layers into a folder and then duplicate that folder and THEN merge the layers. I’m ALWAYS afraid that I’m going to merge the layers and then accidently press SAVE when I go to close it.  So this way even if I do, I will have only one group merged but still have the others open and adjustable for later use.

 After merging the all layers together, crop the outside of the layout, so that the image is exactly an 8×10.  I could have just printed from here, but you guys know me and I don’t like to cut anything that I don’t have to.  So, I decided to open a new page as an 8.5×11. I then duplicated the merged copy to the 8x5x11 layout.  I was then able to place the merged design at the top left hand corner, leaving me with only two sides that needed cut.

 Print your design.  Now, if you’re printing at home I recommend using your choice of photo paper.  I use Office Depot brand Standard Photo paper and have used their professional paper as well and highly recommend them.  They work GREAT for hybrid projects especially when using Mod Podge.  

 If your design is larger than your printer can print, you would need to follow each of the above steps and then save the design as a high quality JPEG and send/take it to your photo lab to be printed.

Once complete, place it in your preferred frame and voila, you’ve got a BEAUTIFUL personalized message board!!  I really don’t think it can get much easier than that!!

Make sure you place it under glass so that you can simply use dry erase markers on it! 

 In the past I’ve also made a calendar print for my BFF.  I used a BLANK calendar page from the Shoppes Two Page Calendar Vol. 4 July’s Bottom and had it printed…she can now use it all year long as a dry eraser calendar!

I hope you have all enjoyed this post and get some use out of it, be sure to share it in the gallery if you make your own DIY message board!! – We’d love to see it!!  Check back Monday for Layout of the Week!

CasharinaHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Hi y’all!  It’s Casharina bringing you another easy dish; can you tell those are my favorites?  Today I’m sharing a recipe that I got from my cousin/bff,  that my family ended up really liking, so I thought I’d share it today…and did I mention it was pretty easy too? Lol!  I even got my itty bitty to help me out with it!  Give it a try and let me know what you think! 

Ingredients:

• 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 large can of spaghetti sauce
• 1 box jumbo pasta shells
• 1-1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 package Frozen spinach
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 tsp salt

 Directions:

• Cook pasta shells according to directions on the box, drain and rinse in cold water.
• Thaw spinach and dry. (Tip: I used a dish towel to help soak up the excess water and it worked pretty well!)
• Brown your ground beef and let cool.
• Add the meat, half of the shredded cheese, and the remaining ingredients to a large dish.
•  Stir well.
• Stuff pasta shells with mixture and place into a 9x13in baking pan. (Get your kiddos to join in on this part if they are willing! ;) It gets a little messy but just think of the wonderful memories you’ll have.)
• Continue until your pan is full.
• Pour the remaining mixture (if any) on top and then add the rest of the shredded cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil.
• Bake at 350 F (180C) for 25 minutes, uncover and bake a few more minutes to brown the cheese.
• Eat and enjoy!!

Also check out this receipe card I made to share…I hope you like it.  Just CLICK HERE or on the below image to download!

I just love how the deep colors of the Gracie Kit worked so well to create to these images today!  And I used one of the new Baked with Love Recipe Card Templates too!

Thanks for dropping by the blog today!  Kylie will be back tomorrow with a little blog news :) 

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