Hello everyone…Happy Friday! :o)  Kylie here with a sweet little Food Friday post.  An easy homemade treat that I think is just perfect for Valentine’s Day (or any day, really!!)…Rocky Road…YUM!

Chocolate, marshmallow, nuts and a few lollies thrown into the mix…what a yummy combo!!  Oh, and in Australia, yes, we say lolly…in the US you say candy, and I think in the UK you say sweet…am I right??  Any which way you say it, it’s delicious!!  This recipe is soooo simple to make (no baking required) and you can play around with the combination of ingredients too… always lots of fun!!

Ingredients

• 600g (approx 21oz) Milk Chocolate, melted
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 150g (5oz) marshmallows, chopped
• 1 cup of mixed soft lollies/candies/sweets (your choice)
• 1/4 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
• sprinkles (optional)

Directions

• Grease and line a brownie/slice pan or similar.  Have the baking paper overhang the pan edges so that you can lift out the rocky road after it has been refrigerated
• Combine all ingredients, except for sprinkles, in large bowl and stir well.  Enough to coat all the ingredients with the melted chocolate
• Press mixture into pan and tap, several times, on work area to help remove any air bubbles
• Scatter sprinkles over the top
•  Refrigerate until firm ~ approximately 3-4 hours
• Use a heart cookie cutter to carefully press out shapes or use a sharp knife to cut into square pieces or long strips
• Enjoy!

More information and tips

• Chocolate ~ I used 3 x 200g blocks of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate for my batch of rocky road…so any store bought eating chocolate is fine.  You can use baking or cooking chocolate instead – white, milk or dark…your preference.  And you can even mix the milk and dark chocolate 50/50 for a darker look that isn’t as strong in taste as straight dark.  Melt your chocolate by your preferred method…it just needs to be runny enough to coat all the other ingredients, but not too hot as to start melting the marshmallows.
• Marshmallow ~ I used some large marshmallows I had on hand and got my nieces to chop them into smaller pieces (an easy job for school-age kids) but you can also purchase mini marshmallows which don’t need any chopping and work perfectly, especially if you want an end result that isn’t too high in the pan.  Experiment with different flavours too!  I had the standard vanilla and raspberry but these days there are all sorts of marshmallow flavours/colours.
• Candy ~ chocolate, marshmallow, nuts are the general rocky road ingredients but you can pretty much throw in anything you want…and for Valentine’s Day it’s nice to add a little extra sweetness.  I chose some raspberry jellies/jubes and cut them into smaller pieces.  So any jube type candy, the softer the better – otherwise cutting your shapes becomes difficult, jelly beans, turkish delight or chocolate button candy like m&m’s; all work well.
• Nuts ~ I decided not to use nuts this time as my nieces aren’t big fans.  And if you are giving these treats as gifts it is important to know whether or not any of the recipients have a nut allergy (or any allergies, for that matter!).  If you want to add nuts, then chopped peanuts or slivered almonds are perfect…so are shelled/peeled pistachios – for a gorgeous hint of green…cashews or macadamia nuts work nicely in white chocolate rocky road too.
• Other ingredients ~ don’t be afraid to add other ingredients…just not too many all at once as the combination of flavours might get a little crazy ;o)  Some other ingredients you might like to try adding:  flaked or shredded coconut, dried cranberries, glace cherries, biscuit (not the US ’scone’ biscuit)/cookie pieces, sultanas or raisins.
• Cutting out shapes ~ after refrigeration, take out of fridge and allow to sit for about 30 minutes, or so, to make it easier to cut through.  Using a sharp knife to cut squares is the easiest by far and you get a nice finish.  If you use a cookie cutter, like a heart, make sure it is a metal one with a sturdy handle and not a plastic cutter, as it takes a bit of effort to cut through…the marshmallow and jubes like to ’stick’ to the sides.  I like my rocky road pieces nice and high (about 4 cm or 1 1/2 inches) but if you use a wider pan to start with you’ll end up with a flatter layer of rocky road and it will be easier to cut through…so just keep that in mind.  I also find it easier, when using a shaped cookie cutter to press through the mix and then to remove the rocky road from the cutter, press the rocky road piece from the bottom and up through the cutter…if that makes sense.  Pushing from the top down just cracks the chocolatey top and damages the sprinkles.
• Left-over pieces ~ after cutting out your heart shapes you’ll be left with all those little off-cuts.  So what can you do with those?…chop them up and add them to ice cream, or to a chocolate muffin, cupcake or cake mix, or just eat them!!

To give out my rocky road as gifts this Valentine’s Day I wandered over to the Shabby Shoppe and had a look around at all the inspiration.  Last Valentine’s I had fun with the gorgeous, gorgeous XOXO confection collection…a must have!!  But this year I wanted to do something a little different and actually decided to use the outside layers of the cute little bloom box albums (Clementine and Sprout).  They were so quick and easy to print out and assemble.  I wrapped the rocky road hearts in some cellophane and popped one in each box and tied it all up with some curling ribbon.

And finally…here is a little 4×6 recipe card I created as a FREE download.  I used a Shabby Shoppe French Toast recipe card template and the Sweetie Pie kit (see the TOU, in your download, for font details etc).

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

THANKS for joing me today!  We’ll see you back here on Monday with our LOTW… until then have a wonderfully “sweet” weekend! Enjoy!! :o)

KylieFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 6 Comments

Hello all… Kylie here! :o)  Hope your week, so far, has been full of smiles, laughs and sunshine moments!  The holiday season has come & gone and it’s finally time to share the next Shabby Shoppe Blog Template Challenge ~  the first one for 2012!  And can you believe that we are now up to number twenty?!!  That’s a whole lot of FREE templates to play with…and haven’t we had a ball along the way!  Joining in our monthly template challenges is super simple and so much FUN…we love bringing them to you!! :o)  This month’s template has a little added sparkle and is perfect if you’ve got any holiday happy-snaps or New Year’s Eve party pics to scrap.  We really hope you enjoy this latest challenge and have lots of fun scrapping with it…it’s all yours, so – to download…CLICK HERE (or simply click the preview image below)!

Now, before we get to all the gorgeous inspiration… let’s go over the GUIDELINES for our template challenges here at the Shoppe?!

The ‘deadline’ for this challenge is FEBRUARY 26th :o) We will announce the template challenge winner on March 1st, when we share Template Challenge TWENTY-ONE! As you probably know, we now announce the winner on the same day we debut a new template challenge. The ‘winner’ of the challenge will receive a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe! Please note that for our template challenges… we select the ‘winner’ randomly – so everyone has a chance to win… beginners and experienced scrappers! It’s a great way to jump in and give digi scrapping (and templates) a try :o)

In order to be entered into the template challenge – you must post your layout in the Shabby Shoppe’s gallery (in the SHOPPE BLOG CHALLENGES gallery) and then post a comment HERE at our blog (on this post only) with a link to your layout in our gallery. This will enter you into the challenge :o) Please keep in mind that all layouts must contain at least 75% SP product (purchased or free). To be eligible for the challenge – you must scrap with the easy-as-pie layered template!

We also have several fun ways for you to obtain ‘EXTRA’ entries to the challenge (please note that in order to qualify for any EXTRA entries – you must first complete a layout with our easy-as-pie template and submit that to our gallery and blog) :o)

• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have one of our blinkies (available by clicking on the blinkies link in the sidebar) either on your blog or in all of your forum signatures (be sure to include a link to your blog or signature in your post).
• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have facebooked or twittered about our template challenge (don’t forget to include the link in your post).
• For an extra entry, leave a SEPARATE comment letting us know that you have blogged about our template challenge (again, be sure to add your blog link to your post).

So, that means that you have the possibility of entering the challenge up to 4 times! Just be sure each entry is a separate comment, as we will be using a random number generator to choose the winner. Be sure to get your entries in by MIDNIGHT (eastern time) on FEBRUARY 26th, and again…the winner will be announced in early March (the 1st to be exact)!

So again…here is your newest Easy-As-Pie Layered Template! <–click this to download OR click the preview image at the top of this post :o)

Your download includes:

• 12×12 Layered psd template with drop shadows (you can opt to turn them off or use your own)
• 12×12 Layered TIFF template with drop shadows

In the event this is your first time scrapping with a layered template – SP has created a quick and simple tutorial on how to use our Easy-As-Pie templates in PSE and PS. You can find it HERE. We’ve tried to cover the basics, but if you have any questions, please let us know and one of the Shabby Team Members will do their best to answer it.

A little bit of inspiration goes a long way…so with that in mind, lets check out some gorgeousness from the team!  Please remember that you can always visit the Shabby Artist Gallery for more information about each layout – we will be uploading throughout the day/night.

First off…one of mine.  A couple of NYE photos and lots of sparkle!!!  I had a bit of fun with the colour scheme too…always good to try something a little different! ;o)

For my next layout…what can I say ~ Clementine and Gracie, ahhhh…pure scrap sweetness!  Oh and it sure helps that my niece is as sweet as pie too!

Next…we have an extra-cute and playful page by Kim!  What a happy layout…full of wonderful details and cool ideas!

Jenelle created a layout full of sunny summer goodness!  Her lil’ goggle boy is adorable…a day full of fun memories for sure.

The fun and adventures continue with Rosy and her precious page!  Cute, cute, cute!

And finally…a bright and colourful ‘girls just wanna have fun’ kinda page by Casharina. Love how Casharina tweaked the page too, an extra photo and the extra journaling down the side – love that!! :o)

{ Remember to link up to this post only to enter template challenge TWENTY }

And, finally – let’s not forget about TEMPLATE CHALLENGE 19’s winner!!  YAY!!  This time, the ‘lucky’ number was TWENTY-FIVE…and that means that krista824’s lovely challenge entry was selected :o)  A great memory scrapped beautifully!  CONGRATULATIONS, krista824!! You will be receiving a $25 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe in your email box (be sure to check spam folders) this morning…have fun shoppe-ing and thanks for joining in the template challenge fun!

And, as always…a huge THANKS to everyone who participated in the last template challenge. We are so thrilled that you did…and hope you are inspired to scrap some gorgeous pages with our newest template!

Thanks for stopping by today…I’ll be back tomorrow with a Food Friday treat!  See you then! :o)

KylieChallenges, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 4 Comments

Hello, hello! Kylie here! :o)  Just popping in on this lovely Friday to share the new FEBRUARY desktop with you all!  YES, only a few days away until February ~ a brand new month…full of smiles, laughs and a little extra LOVE…oh and an extra day too! :o)  I had fun designing this cute little “Valentine’s inspired” desktop with SP!  We hope you like it too…and enjoy having it as your desktop the whole month through! You can find the download links below…but first, here is a little preview!

CLICK HERE to download the 1024 x 768 version

CLICK HERE to download the 1280 x 800 version

NEW to desktops?? 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 a little reminder, the little purple heart on the tag and the cute (but definitely not recent) pics of my sweet little niece are on my example only – yours will be blank, of course :o)  That way – you can add your own photos and messages for a very personalized, and much loved, desktop.  Have fun working with this one!  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!

Thanks heaps for checking in today!  If you happened to miss SP’s little blog note yesterday…well, be sure to drop by over the weekend as SP will be launching project SCRAP 2012 and you’ll be able to collect your FREE January templates ~ the beginning of a very exciting new year of fantabulous scrapping!!  Can’t wait!

…and, P.S. Just a quick reminder that the Easy-As-Pie Template Challenge 19 deadline is SUNDAY night (12 midnight US EST), 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)

KylieFree Desktops, Uncategorized 12 Comments

Happy Monday everyone…Kylie here!  Hope you all had a happy scrappy weekend!  Now, the best way to start off the new week is with Layout of the Week, of course!  So here it is! :o)

6 months by lala777

ADORABLE, huh!!!  The sleeping baby pics are just too precious!  And I love the way lala777 has re-worked one of our challenge templates to suit both her photos and the her milestone journaling.  I’m a big fan of all the layered polka-dot papers too…oh and the paper pinwheel and folded hearts are the sweetest additions!  You must check out lala777’s gorgeous gallery and all the cute, cute month-by-month baby album pages…awesome scrapping!

Congratulations lala777!  Thanks so much for sharing your adorable layout and talents with us! You have been emailed a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe (be sure to check your spam folders)!  Have fun shoppe-ing!

A big THANKS to EVERYONE that posted to the Shabby Shoppe Inspiration Gallery last week (it was a true joy to look through them all!)…and thanks for stopping by the Blog today, we’re so happy you did!  Our sweet Rosy will be here with you tomorrow and spotlighting a lovely, lovely digital kit that I know you’ll LOVE!

KylieLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 12 Comments

Hi there!! :o)  Kylie here to announce the ‘winner’ of Kim’s awesome HERE WE GO A-CAROLING recipe challenge!  Thank you all SO MUCH for participating and joining in the musical fun!  

You guys definitely ‘rocked’ this latest challenge!!  We LOVED looking through all the entries (see more here!) and truly think every single one is a ‘winner’!  Each and every layout is so special and wonderful…plus there’s just something so joyful about adding music into the scrapping mix.  So, choosing our winners was NOT EASY, not at all!  (I know I went back and forth a million times before making the final decision for this very post…at the eleventh hour I might add!!)  We fell in love with ALL of them!  And, we really did not go by any specific criteria for choosing the ‘fave’ three layouts – it had to do with everything from design to journaling, etc.  Sooooo, HERE ARE OUR THREE WINNING LAYOUTS for our caroling challenge (in no particular order)…

First we have the gorgeous crysowens and her twinkling Oh (giant) Christmas Tree layout.  Full of fun and sparkles and merriment!!  This awesome layout sure does brighten our little Shabby Shoppe world with it’s ‘presents’…hee, hee!!

Next is O’ Holy Night (also shining ever-so brightly!) by the lovely jltanner.  The whole page is truly precious…especially the photo of the beautiful nativity set, complete with gorgeous bokeh!  Love the design, love the stars, love all the fonts…and love, love, love the carol!

And finally, the super-cute 2 Front Teeth by the sweet and very talented Amber.  Little Emily’s adorable photo is showcased wonderfully – all the perfect trimmings…and then some!  And on a personal note, I too have been singing this song to my youngest niece lately…but I’ve swapped the ‘two’ for just ‘one’! ;o)

CONGRATULATIONS, girls :o) You should have each received a $10 gift card to the Shabby Shoppe (be sure to check your SPAM folders) via email – have fun shoppe-ing :o)  AGAIN, thank you SO much, to everyone, for participating and joining in the challenge fun!  EVERYONE did an amazing job with our little ‘scrap’ recipe.

Tomorrow, Shabby Princess will be sharing her DECEMBER projectSCRAP check-in with you all!!  Very much looking forward to that one!! :o)

KylieChallenges, Shoppe News, Uncategorized 5 Comments