Hello everyone.  Jenelle here with a super quick and simple shortcut that I have only recently discovered and can’t believe I ever scrapped not knowing this!!!

A little birdie recently told me, that when scrapping using PSE, you can click anywhere on your layout with your move tool and it will automatically highlight that layer in your layers palette.  Oh, not fair for me who uses Photoshop – this would save me so much time!!  I am forever getting lost in my layouts, scrolling up and down trying to find the right layer for an element I want to move/edit etc.  I am so bad at naming all my layers (I usually do the first few and then forget!!!) so this can be really frustrating.  I end up ticking/checking the auto-select box to find  the layer I want but then I forget to go back and uncheck it and I end up moving things I didn’t want moved!!!

But alas, this happens to me no longer.  I have discovered a neat little trick for all the Photoshop users out there, like myself.  All we have to do is select the move tool and then right click directly on the element in our layout we are trying to locate (command-click on a Mac I believe also works).  A little dialog box then comes up with the names of all the layers involved in the specific area we’ve clicked on.   From there, we can then left click on the name of the layer we want and it will highlight that layer in our palette.  Oh the time I have saved using this trick!!

Here is a screenshot to illustrate.

I hope this little trick has helped some of you Photoshop scrappers out there and saved you some time when creating your layouts.  I use it all the time now and, if anything,  it encourages me to name layers, even if it is just with abbreviations.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please check back tomorrow when the wonderful SP brings you the next instalment of our Project Scrap Check-In.  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleTips and Tricks, Uncategorized 11 Comments

Hello everyone.  It’s Jenelle here today with an inspiration post that is sure to get you reminiscing!!  I was recently browsing through some of my layouts on my computer’s hard drive and came across some of the very first digital layouts I had created. “Whoah” was my immediate response on opening them up to view full size…  Not a ‘whoah’ in a good sense either, it was actually more of an embarrassed ‘whoah’!!  I guess I had never realised how much I had grown as a digi-scrapper until I saw some of my very first creations.  Then I fully embraced my ‘whoah’ (LOL!) and thought to myself, isn’t it great that I can literally see how my skills, techniques and scrapping style have grown over these past few years.  And what a great journey it has been!  Have you ever looked back at some of your first attempts at digi-scrapping?  How has your style evolved?  What new techniques have you learned along the way?

I asked myself these very questions (and also our gorgeous team here at the Shabby Shoppe) and we then set about re-creating some of our very first digital layouts, just to prove how much we’d all grown as a digi-scrappers.  You’ll love seeing our ‘before’ and ‘after’ pages.  I guess you could call it a digi-makeover!!!

Ok, so here’s one of my first attempts back in 2008, using a freebie kit from Shabby Princess and Carrie Stephens called Spontaneous Delight.  I really liked the idea of blending photos on a layout, but I think I may have taken it a bit too far in one of my first attempts!!!

So after looking at this in more detail (basically I critiqued my whole layout) I’ve realised that I have now learned the following things:-

• That I’m not afraid to leave a bit of white space on a layout these days!!  Creating a border around a page also makes it more visually appealing (plus I don’t lose part of my design when it is cropped at the print shop!)
• To use drop shadows accordingly.  I think I just added the default drop shadow settings for every element (and font) on my page back then (that was if I actually remembered to use a drop shadow).
• To make sure the text/font is clear and readable.  Now I make my titles/headings bigger and try to make them stand out more on my pages.  Mixing up fonts adds more interest to a layout too.
• That a simple edit on my photos can make a big improvement (lighten images, get rid of shadows on faces, crop them, play around with levels/colour balance etc).  Running a photo treatment over my images can also make a big difference and produces a really pleasing effect.
• To not stick with the one bold colour on a layout.  I think I’ve used WAY too much green on this one and it is also probably the wrong shade of green for my photos.  In re-doing this layout, I’ve focused more on the browns and tried to make my colours a little softer.
• That mixing photographs up a little creates an interesting layout.  Instead of a whole page of blended photos, I’ve gone with a mix of  one blended image and a series of framed images on my digi-makeover below.  Having a mixture of colour and black and white photographs is another good effect I’ve learned.

So here is my new version of this layout.  And I have to say that I am much happier with this one!

JenelleInspiration, Uncategorized 13 Comments

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

It’s that time of the week again!  Hello everyone.  Jenelle here, with the great honour of choosing this week’s Layout of the Week winner.  And I have I got a winner for you!!  A stand-out layout from one of our stand-out scrappers…  The very talented Elisabeth (aka lego) with her wonderful layout titled ‘table manners‘.  Just take a look!

Just fabulous!  Well, maybe not so fabulous when you’re the darling Paulina’s parents and your heart is skipping a beat while she does her little standing dance in her highchair!  I just loved reading your journalling lego and can completely understand – my youngest used to do the very same thing!

I really love the monochromatic colour scheme lego has used here, but those circles would have to be my absolute favourite!  What a stunning design.  I have also played a little bit of ‘I Spy’ while studying this layout and tried to work out which pieces from which Shabby Shoppe kit lego has used to make this great page.  I believe Elisabeth had nearly every SP kit she owns opened while she created this layout!

Congratulations lego – you always inspire us with your amazing designs and creative flair.  You have been emailed a $10 Shabby Shoppe gift card, so we look forward to seeing what you create next with your new purchases!  (Please also check your SPAM folder if you can’t find your gift card in your inbox).

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  We’ll see you back here tomorrow ~ Casharina has a ‘royal’ product spotlight for you all you won’t want to miss.  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!  Jenelle here, with my first ever Food Friday post… a bit daunting really, given all the culinary talents of our wonderful team here at the Shabby Shoppe, but I will give it a whirl and see how we go!!  I do love to bake and my kids are always at hand to crack the eggs, mix the ingredients, lick the beaters and do a taste test.  Thus,  my end product always looks a bit ‘rustic’ shall we say, but I do believe the process is the best part and we always have fun together in the kitchen as we go.

So, with Easter fast approaching, I thought it would be a fun activity to bake and decorate some biscuits (a.k.a. cookies) with my kids.  We have a huge collection of plastic cookie cutters in our cupboards, so we sorted through them all and found some that would suit our Easter theme!  Here’s a photo of our finished biscuits, then I’ll talk you through how you can make some too.

One of my ‘golden rules’ when cooking in the kitchen with the kids, is to make sure I am all prepared before I even tell them we’re going to be cooking!  Otherwise they get far too excited and can’t wait to start while I am still running around trying to get everything out, find ingredients and more often than not I have my head stuck in the Tupperware cupboard and eggs starts cracking on the floor behind me!

So here’s what you’ll need to have out and ready to make these yummy Easter Biscuits.

• Mixing bowl
• Food processor
• Baking/Parchment paper
• Rolling pin
• Sieve
• Cookie cutters
• Piping bags
• Tea towels for sticky hands
• Baking trays lined with baking paper
• Wire cooling rack

Ingredients

• 175 grams (6oz) unsalted butter
• 200 grams (7oz) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 and a half teaspoons vanilla essence
• 375 grams (13oz) plain flour
• Royal Icing to decorate (or any store bought icing/frosting you can pipe onto your biscuits)
• A variety of confectionery/sweets for decoration

Hands are washed, equipment and ingredients are ready, so now it’s time to start baking!

1. Line 2 baking sheets/cookie trays with parchment/baking paper.
2. Blend the softened butter, sugar and vanilla essence in a food processor until smooth (I used the plastic blade on my food processor, but check the settings in your processor’s user guide if you are unsure).
3. Next, add the egg, egg yolk and sifted flour.
4. Process this until it forms into a smooth dough.  I needed to work the dough a little myself on a floured surface to bring it together nicely.
5. Then, wrap the dough in foil/parchment/baking paper and chill in the refrigerator for around 30  minutes.
6. Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Farenheit).
7. Take dough out of fridge and unwrap.  Roll it out onto a lightly floured surface to about a quarter of an inch thickness.  (This got a bit tricky with the kids, but we used our hands a bit  and got there in the end!)
8. Cut out your Easter/Spring shapes (eggs, chicks, bunnies, flowers, butterflies etc) and place them on the baking trays.  I found it easier to flour the cookie cutter each time so it didn’t stick to the dough.
9. Pop them into the oven for around 10-12 minutes, then cool them on a wire rack.

While they are cooling, you can make your icing.  I made a Royal Icing mix that I found here, which uses egg whites.  It came out pure white in colour and adding food colourings also worked well with this mix.  If, however, you would prefer not to use egg whites, I found another recipe mix for Royal Icing here.  I simply scooped the icing into small, plastic zip-lock bags, snipped the corner and piped the icing around the edges of our biscuits.  Before the icing set (royal icing sets hard once air dried), I placed a mixture of sweets on top to help decorate them!  You could use tiny marshmallows for the bunnies’ tails, rainbow choc-chips, sprinkles, cachous, chocolate chips… the list is endless!

Last of all, we had fun bagging up the decorated biscuits to give away as Easter treats.  The Shoppe’s Sprout Confection Collection has some gorgeous tags and neat gift boxes you could use to package up these sweet treats.

Thank you so much for ‘indulging’ me in my first ever Food Friday post!  As a little treat for reading along, I’ve made up a 4×6 recipe card you can grab as a free download.  I used a card from the Shabby Shoppe’s Made from Scratch recipe templates, along with papers from Sprout and some cute stickers from Sprout Easter Additions.  Just click HERE or on the image to download.

I do hope you have a wonderful weekend ~ we’ll see you back here on Monday with our latest Layout of the Week winner.  Have you uploaded to the gallery this past week?  It may just be you!  We are always on the lookout remember!  Until then, happy scrapping everyone!

JenelleFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 5 Comments