Hello everyone!  It’s Jenelle here today with the first of two hybrid projects we have for you all to try out – it’s very simple, very economical and a pretty way to present home-made or store-bought gifts this Christmas.

 I’m one of those people that can’t bear to throw away empty canisters, containers and boxes.  I have a stockpile of them mounting up in my house and I promise myself that one day I’ll decorate them all and use them in some way or another.  They usually end up as toy storage or I put craft supplies in them.  Boring!  No, not anymore…  Today I am going to jazz up some of these containers to hold some choc chip cookies - a sweet little Christmas gift for family and friends.

  Here’s a list of what you’ll need to make some yourself:-

• Empty canisters/containers and matching lids (I’ve used Pringles canisters and a small peanut tin – you could also use empty coffee tins, oatmeal containers, formula tins, Crystal Light containers etc…)
• Printed Scrapbook Paper
• Printed Labels
• Glue
• Scissors (also some decorative scissors or punches if you’d like a scalloped edge on your labels)
• Ribbon
• Treats to fill up the decorated containers

 Directions:-

• Rinse and wash the inside of your containers and dry completely (be sure not to throw away the lid).
•  Print out some co-ordinating papers from your favourite Shabby Shoppe kit.  I’ve used papers and elements from both the Sugarplum Dreams kit and Sugarplum Additions kit.  I printed them on A4 plain white printer paper and then trimmed the white edges. 
•  Make and print your labels.  I used labels from the Sugarplum Additions kit and added them to a new Photoshop document.  I used a text layer to type my message onto the labels, using Wendy Medium font, white, set at 30 pt.  I then added some snowflake stamps from the Seasonal Sampler ~ Winter FREE kit.  I dropped and dragged the snowflakes onto the labels, reduced them in size and changed the colour overlay (in the layer style icon) to white.  Then I printed the labels out on my home printer and cut them out.   

•  Measure and cut the pieces of your scrapbook paper to fit around the canister (I allowed for a slight overlap/seam, which was at the back of my canister).  I cut out 2 larger strips of co-ordinating patterned paper and then a thinner strip of solid paper to wrap around the centre.  Make sure all seams of paper line up.
•  Glue the paper to the canister, applying the middle strip of paper last.  I was originally going to seal the papers and then use a mixture of glue, kind of like a decoupage paste, to glue the paper on.  In the end, I actually found the trusty old glue stick to work just fine!  So you do what works for you!  Mod Podge would also be suitable.
•  Glue your label onto the canister (on the opposite side of the paper seams).  If you’d like to add a scalloped backing, you could do so by using a scalloped craft punch, decorative scissors or printing our Scallops, Shapes and More designs on co-ordinating paper.  Simply glue your plain-edged label on to the decorative one and then apply to your canister.
•   Finally, tie a co-ordinating ribbon around the top of the lid, pop it back on top of the canister and you’re done!

 Add any other decorative elements you like (gift tag, sparkles, glitter etc..) and fill up your container with either home-made or store-bought goodies.  (Cookies, fudge, brownies, wrapped sweets, nuts, chocolates… any other suggestions??  I’d love to hear some … just leave a comment below).  I was even thinking I could use the canisters to hold Christmas decorations (either for my own storage or to give as a gift.  Some decorations can be awkward in shape and size, so if I wrap them in a bit of tissue paper, this canister may hold them nicely!)

 A simple, yet effective way to present gifts this holiday season.  One other little note that I’ll add is ~ please be sure to check that your recipient is not allergic to any of the products that were stored in your original container.  Just in case!

 Well, that’s all from me today.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along and will have a go at making these yourself.  They really are very simple and there are so many gorgeous papers you can choose from over in the Shoppe to decorate your containers.  I’d love to see what you come up with, so be sure to post your creations in our Hybrid Gallery.

In the meantime, have a lovely weekend!  Happy Scrapping everyone!

…AND, please do not miss Casharina’s fabulous blog post (also published today) directly below this one…just keep scrolling!

JenelleHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 9 Comments

Howdy Folks, it’s Casharina here and I’m happy to be bringing you a little hybrid project.  As you know from my previous post I don’t do a lot of in-depth hybrid projects.  However, I love it any time I can use my Shabby Shoppe digital papers and elements on crafty projects in addition to those that I use for my digital layouts!  Today I’m going to show you a simple way to wrap up mini candy bars that make a big statement.  (I know it’s been done for a while now, but didn’t know how to do it myself until about 2 years ago and they’re such a hit I use them anytime I can!)  I like to use digital papers from various kits to create wrappers that flow with the theme of the parties I’m throwing.  I also LOVE to add a little image of my kiddos and it makes them feel so special.  I go to a Christmas party every year with seven of my dearest friends from high school, to celebrate and reunite.  This year I thought I’d wrap up some little candy bars (who doesn’t love chocolate right?!) in a cute little gift box, being saved from the garbage!  That’s right, I’m recycling a toilet paper roll…and I have to say, they’re pretty darn cute!  Okay, so let’s get started shall we?

First, let’s gather our materials!  For the candy bar wrappers you will need:-

• Mini candy bars (Hershey is what I normally use, be sure to get the “mini” bars not the nuggets – unless you want to edit the sizes to suit!)
• Digital papers of your choice (For this project I have used the ‘Twas the Night kit and the Sugarplum Dreams kit)
• Photo editing software of your choice.  I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 so some steps might be different.
• Scissors
• Tape
• Before we begin, you might need to taste test those little bars to make sure they’re up to standards! ;)

 Directions:-

• Open up your workspace: I usually use a template size of 1.5×3.25 inches for the wrappers.  This is a little bit wider than the wrapper already on the bars, so it ensures a total coverage.

• Next, simply bring your papers into the workspace and resize them to fit the way you’d like them on the template.  Then, you’ll want to crop the whole thing to the size you are working on, in this instance a 1.5×3.25 rectangle.  To do this grab your rectangle tool and draw a large rectangle over the WHOLE rectangle.  Then go to IMAGE and CROP, this will delete the access paper hanging over the edges of the template.
• You can then add any embellishments you choose to the wrapper, as if you were scrapbooking.  For my Christmas ones I chose to have them pretty simple and just alternated the colors of papers to place on the bars.  I did have a few bars that I added flowers to.  Just make sure to keep the embellishment small enough to fit on the center of the chocolate bar.  I normally make one and check it by printing it, placing it on the bar and then keeping it as a guide.  I just hide it each time so that it’s not included in the final design.

• While keeping open your wrapper design, open a new workspace, either: a full page (8.5×11 inches) or standard photo size (4×6 inches) depending on how you choose to print.

PRINTING TIP 1: When I’m only printing a few of these I like to use my photo tray and print on 4×6 paper (I have TONS of this size and it’s just as easy as printing on the other, but it allows me to save my larger paper.)  You may also choose to print on a large sheet of paper by filling it up with rectangle wrappers and then printing.  The third option would be to size them at a size your photo lab can print; this may be cheaper depending on how many wrappers you intend to create.

• You will then go back to the original design and merge all of the layers together. CTRL+E in photoshop, or layers -> merge.  Then you need to highlight the newly merged layer and right click on it to duplicate the layer.  When the dialog box comes up go to the drop down box and find the newly created workspace (the one where you will add each of the designs for printing). This is usually called Untitled #. (I have JUST recently learned this trick and I love it!)
•  Now go over to the new page (either the 4×6/8.5×11) and you’ll find your layer.  You can then move the layer around until it fits in a good spot.  I like to lay mine out edge to edge to save trimming time (I’m not a fan of cutting, and I can’t cut straight to save my life!).

• To create more designs, go back to the wrapper design workspace and start again.  Continue following each of the steps until you have created all of the designs for your wrappers that you wish.  For this project I have created 4 different designs, using various papers from the ‘Twas the Night kit .  You’ll want to add as many as you can to the printing page to save paper, or as few as you may need.  My printer needs to be told to print as “photo paper” so that it will print to the edge, check your printers manual to figure out if and how it works for you.

PRINTING TIP 2: When I do borderless printing, it is common for me to have to shrink my design just a TINY bit in order to prevent the edges from being cut off.  You may want to try that if you find that your designs are bleeding over the edge!

• Once the designs are finished you will then need to trim them. I personally use a paper cutter, which I LOVE and could not live without!!  Seriously I use is almost EVERYDAY for something!  If you don’t have a paper cutter, scissors will do.
• Take a candy bar, wrap it with a wrapper and tape the back shut.  I am picky and try to pull the wrapper VERY tight before I tape it shut to ensure a proper fit.

Are you loving this idea but simply don’t have the time to design your own?  Well, take a quick trip over to the Shoppe and take a peek at all the super-sweet Confection Collections.  Most include candy bar wrappers in varying sizes – just read through the product description to ensure the size/s meet your candy-wrapping requirements. :o)  If you are looking for holiday-themed wrappers you can’t go past the JOY collection (pictured below)!!  And don’t forget the Shabby Shoppe is having a store-wide SALE through to December 16…so that includes the gorgeous Confection Collections too!  After you make your purchase all you need to do then is personalize your choosen wrappers and print!

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As for the toilet paper roll gift boxes, I have to say I think these are so stinkin’ cute!  (And you can always use kitchen paper towel rolls instead – just cut to size)

For this project I chose to use the ‘Twas the Night kit again and I have made one box for each of my friends who will be at the party!  This is probably one of the easiest, fastest items I’ve ever made!

• Take an empty toilet paper roll.  If you measure it around and it’s width it should be RIGHT at 4×6, “YAY” is what thought when I figured this out because it takes all the cutting out of the project if I make 4×6 prints!
• Open a 4×6 template in your photo program and design away. I used various elements from the kit to create a name tag for each of my friends.
• Then simply print out the design and wrap the toilet paper roll.  You can either staple each end after stuffing it with goodies (I’m thinking, lip gloss, chocolate candies, dress up rings for little girls, earrings for adults, the possibilities are endless!!) or wrap cellophane paper around it leaving a little on each side to tie a bit of curling ribbon to, creating a candy like look.

 That’s it!  You’re finished!!  I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it puts you in the mood for some Christmas Cheer!!  Kylie and Rosy will be here tomorrow with two more festive posts!

CasharinaHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Hello everyone!  Kim here with a holiday hybrid project to share with you.  It’s great to be able to kick off the holiday fun here on the blog.  There are going to be a TON of great posts coming this week and next.  Stay tuned for all of them!!

The last few years I’ve been wanting to create a handmade advent calendar for my children.  But this time of the year always gets so busy that December 1st comes quickly and I never made it happen… until this year!  So although this post may be too late for you to use this year, maybe it will inspire you to have something ready for next year!!  (You could always work on it now so you’ll have it then!)

There are so many different kinds of advent calendars that I’ve seen, and I wanted to take some inspiration from others but also make this project my own.  I definitely encourage you to do the same with your project!  I will tell you how I put my advent calendar together, but there are many many directions you can go with this project.  Here’s what my finished project looks like…

These are the supplies I used:

• 2 foot by 3 foot dry erase board
• wrapping paper
• double sided adhesive
• clothespins
• red craft paint
• hot glue
• plastic badge holders
• design for numbers printed on cardstock
• candy or other goodies to put in each pocket
• dry erase marker and eraser

And here’s how I put the calendar together:

I had a very basic dry erase board as the base for my calendar.  I wanted to dress it up a little, so I used wrapping paper to “frame” it.  It was a little tricky to cut and wrap the paper evenly around the edges of the board, but I like the effect I ended up with.  I used double sided adhesive squares to attach the wrapping paper.

I used SP’s Believe kit to design the numbers and printed them on cardstock.

I painted my clothespins red and hot glued them onto the dry erase board.  It was nice that I was using a dry erase board because I could lay all the clothespins out and get them evenly spaced, then mark where they all needed to go and the marks would easily erase later.

I stuffed the badge holders with the cardstock numbers and the candy for each day, then hung them each on a clothespin.

To finish off the calendar, I used the “extra” space to write how many days are left until Christmas.  This is the reason I chose to use a dry erase board for my calendar.  I thought my kids would like to erase the number each day and see it get smaller as the month went on. 

This calendar has been a hit with my children. They are so excited each morning to take out their treats and talk about how many days are left until Christmas.  They can’t even wait until after breakfast!!

For a little more advent calendar inspiration from the Shabby Shoppe Blog…why not check out last year’s project – HERE, if you happened to miss it or you’ve only just started visiting!

Hope you all have a lovely day!

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Hi everyone – Kylie here!!  What an awesome advent calendar Kim!  Thanks for sharing this fun and very festive project with all of us!  I LOVE the plastic pockets and I’ve got some cute mini pegs/clothespins that are just waiting to be hot glued!  :o)  Well, why am I here, you ask?!…I’m just popping in with some exciting SHOPPE NEWS and also to make sure that you keep scrolling down to read Jenelle’s AMAZING Subway Art post that was also published today.  This week the team will be posting  all sorts of crafty holiday hybrids…so enjoy all the inspiration and ideas…and let’s get crafting together in preparation for the holidays!!

Now, over at the Shabby Shoppe…

…also, COMING SOON -> the brand new 2011 HOLIDAY CARD COLLECTION (volume 6)…they are ‘hot off the press’ and SP is stocking the Shoppe shelves as we speak! LOL!!  You’ll see them in store very, very soon…so keep an eye out for the latest Shoppe Newsletter to hit your inbox! (and if you haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet…CLICK HERE for help!)

Alrighty, that’s it from me!  I’ll now leave you in Jenelle’s more than capable hands….:o) (please just keep scrollin’!!)

KimHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 5 Comments

Hi everyone!  It’s Jenelle here with a fun inspiration post that will have you decorating your house all year round!  Subway Art is very popular right now and lots of fun to create!  You can make Subway Art based around any theme – seasons, holidays, family, special occasions.  Today though, I’m going to ‘deck the halls’ with some Christmas art.

Subway Art uses words, a variety of fonts and sometimes pictures to create a visually appealing art work – to either frame and display in your home/office or to transfer onto scrapbook layouts, cards, hybrid projects etc.  Using brushes, stamps, fonts, word art and other digital scrapbooking supplies, you too can create your very own Christmas artwork to frame for yourself or give as a gift.

 I’ll talk you through how I made mine, but first, here’s a close up of the actual document I created in Photoshop and then printed at home on my old printer (who says you need all the fancy gear!)

•  First up, I opened a new document in Photoshop (I use CS2 on a PC) and I set the dimensions to 10×13 inches, 300dpi and set the background to white (it’s better to start off large and reduce down, so if you change your mind later, you won’t lose image quality when trying to enlarge your document).  In the end, I printed mine at 8×10 inches as I had a spare frame at home that size!
•  Next, I opened up my stash of Shabby Shoppe goodies and browsed through all the Christmas-themed kits.  I then chose some stamps and word-art from both the Sugarplum Dreams, Sugar Plum Additions and Believe kits in the Shoppe.  Here’s some word art examples that got my creativity flowing:-

• Then it was a simple process of dragging the word art onto my document and playing around with size, colour and placement of the text. 
• Next, I came up with a list of words based around a Christmas theme, typed them in as separate text layers and changed the font style, size and colour of each of these words to fit in with the word art already placed on the document.

I think most of the fonts I’ve used are free fonts I’ve found on the net, some are even doodles/dingbats.  I’ll list them all over on my page in the Shabby Artist Gallery.  Basically, I just had fun playing around with some of my favourite fonts.  I changed their size, spacing, turned them to faux bold, faux italic, added a thin stroke line or even made some words all uppercase to come up with a design that was visually appealing to me.  You might even choose to use a coloured background with white writing, or even use a favourite paper as your background.  There really are no rules and no limits to where your creativity can take you!

Quick Tip:- I found it very handy to use Guides in Photoshop when I was initially positioning my word art and text.  They gave me a neat edge for the words to line up against, kind of like a floating border.  The guide lines don’t print so you don’t have to remember to erase them either.  For more info on guides and how to set them up click here.

Turning on the Smart Guides was another trick that helped me position words so they lined up neatly on the document.  Smart Guides are a very handy tool for quickly lining up objects on a page, without having to use rulers, grids or create ruler guides.  ( To turn Smart Guides on, go to View > Show > Smart Guides and check the box. Once they are turned on, they will automatically show when you are lining up layers on your Photoshop document. Smart Guides display as pink lines when the top, middle and bottom of objects align).

•  So, when you are done playing and you’re happy with your artwork, flatten your image and save it as a jpg then print it – either at home or with your preferred print shop. (I always keep my psd file too, just incase I want to make changes later or even re-do my artwork).
• Pop your print into a frame or even glue it to a canvas for display – then you’re done!  What a great gift for any time of the year. 

I’m even thinking about making one for my son’s teacher as a thank you gift at Christmas (our end of school year here in Australia).  I’ll possibly use her name along with the children’s names in her class and some other words about being a wonderful teacher (and of course an apple and other school elements for effect…hmm… thinking I’ll need the Hopscotch School Additions for this!!) Ok, my mind is racing here, back on topic now Jenelle!

Remember, you can always reduce your image size to print your artwork on cards or other hybrid projects (t-shirts, coasters, place mats, wall plaques) or even drop and drag it over onto one of your scrapbook layouts.  So many uses for your design and you can change them up with every season!

Well, that’s all from me today.  I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading my post and it inspires you to play around with some of your favourite fonts and Shabby Shoppe stamps, brushes and word art to create your very own piece of Subway Art.  We’d love to see your creations our gallery.

Be sure to join us here again tomorrow when Anna shares a very helpful tip or two in her Shoppe Tips & Tricks post.

Happy Scrapping everyone!

JenelleHybrid Projects, Inspiration, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Hello everyone!  Kim here to share with you a hybrid project that I love.  I have been making these for a couple of years now, and they have made perfect gifts for some special people in my life.  And hey, since it’s November and a lot of us are starting to think about gifts for the holidays, it’s perfect timing for sharing this idea with you!

First of all, let me show you where we’re going with this project.  Here is a set of photo coasters I made using elements from the Gracie kit. 

For me, these have been awesome grandparent gifts.  I have made these for all the grandparents and great-grandparents of my kids. There is even one great-grandmother who now has fifteen great-grandchildren and another on the way!  At the end of each year I’ve made her coasters of the babies that have been born that year… she has quite a collection!!

So what do you need to get started?  Here’s my list of supplies:

• 4×4 inch ceramic tiles – There are a ton of different styles available, and I’ve made these coasters with several different tiles.  Here I’m going to show you a basic white tile, which I’ve found for 16 cents each (please note that this is based on where I am in the USA).  These are actually made to be used to tile a bathroom, so you can find them at a hardware store in the bathroom section. 
• Felt to cover the bottom of the tiles - I buy sheets of white felt (a regular 8.5×11 inch sheet will cover 6 coasters) that can be found anywhere that sells craft supplies.  You can also find pre-cut pieces of felt or foam that are made to put on the bottom of coasters, which would also work well.  I prefer to cover the entire bottom on my tile (which you’ll see below), so that’s why I use the sheets of felt.
• Adhesive and Sealer for the photo – There are lots of options on this, but you want something waterproof.  My preference is mod podge.  You can use this to both adhere the photo to the tile and create a sealing layer over the photo.  I had been using the mod podge that you paint on, but I discovered they also make a spray version that I’m just now trying out.  Seems like it will make a smoother layer over the photo, but if you use this, you will need something else to adhere the photo to the tile before you seal it.
• Photos - will explain this more below
• Glue Gun
• Foam Paint Brush
• Scissors

Follow these steps to make the coasters:

1.  Create the photo design you want to put on the coaster.  There are endless options for what you can do here!!  I suggest creating your design as a 4×6 inch file so that it can be easily printed at a photo lab.  I have tried several times to print the photos on my home printer (a photo-quality inkjet printer) and use them on the coasters, but unfortunately this has not worked for me.  The ink runs or the paper bubbles when I put the sealer on top.  So what I have found is that it’s best to have them printed at a photo lab.  And that means I need a standard size file to print.  What I do is create a 4×6 inch file, then “block off” a 4×2 inch section of it.  Then I know my design needs to fit in the remaining 4×4 inch space.  When this file is printed, you can easily cut off the extra space and have a 4×4 photo to put on the coaster.  Am I making any sense??  Hopefully the screen shot below will help!

I’ve also included a screen shot of where to go in Photoshop to make a 2×4 inch rectangle to “block off” the space you will cut off.  If you haven’t used this function before, it’s great!  Once you’ve selected the rectangle shape tool, you can click on the little arrow beside the polygon button and it drops down a menu.  There you can select “fixed size” and set it to 2 inches wide by 4 inches tall.  Click anywhere in your layout, and a 2×4 rectangle appears!

2.  Once you have your photos printed and that extra space cut off, you are ready to adhere the photo to the coaster and seal it with whatever product you have chosen.  I am most familiar with mod podge, so I’ll give tips based on that.  I use a foam paint brush and put just a little bit of mod podge on the back of the photo, then get the photo lined up in the center of the tile.  This will hold it in place somewhat while you put the sealing coat on top.  When painting the mod podge on top of the photo, be sure to cover all the edges well so that all of the photo is well sealed.  I also suggest being careful not to put too thick of a coat on all at once.  It is better to apply 2 or 3 thinner layers, although this does take more drying time.  Be sure and follow the directions for whatever you use and let the coasters dry as long as needed.

3.  The last step is to attach a felt bottom to the tile.  This keeps the tile from scratching any surface you will set it on.  I measure a 4×4 inch square on the felt, cut it out, and hot glue it to the bottom of the tile. 

That’s it!!  Like I said, there are so many different uses for these coasters.  In talking to Kylie about this post, she even mentioned making coasters that would dress up a holiday table.  I couldn’t help but give it a try!  It was a great excuse to get out the nice dishes, which doesn’t always happen around here with 3 small kids, know what I mean?!  Here’s what a placesetting looks like with a coaster added.

Like that idea?  What about sending each of your guests home with their coaster as a small gift?  Or making the coasters with names on them to use like placecards at each place?  Like I said, so many things you can do!! 

I also want to mention another variation of this project.  You can create and print a 5×7 inch design and seal it onto a 6×8 inch tile.  You can find that size tile in the same place as the 4×4 inch tiles.  These larger tiles can be set up in a plateholder as a unique way to display a photo. 

Hope this inspires you as you think about gifts this holiday season… and at other times too!  There’s nothing better than a meaningful gift, and what’s more meaningful than something handmade with love?  And of course, don’t forget to join Beckie, SP and Kylie TOMORROW at 10:00am EST (US time) for our second Fast and Fabulous Speed Scrap!  Can’t wait for that!!!

KimHybrid Projects, Uncategorized 20 Comments