…that’s right, it’s the very first digital release of 2010 and it’s here just in time for the last two months of summer!

We think Candy Shop screams bright, sunny days and long, breezy nights, with its sweet-as-sugar images and vividly peppy summer colors.

Our digital creative team has outdone itself yet again with some striking creations featuring happy warm weather memories but it’s also easy to see how simple it is to produce minimalist layouts featuring a single photo and a few simple elements.

To show you how it’s done, we’ve selected some of the cutest Candy Shop layouts we’ve ever seen for you to drool over, just like we did!

Firstly, we have ‘Sickly Sweet’ by Katharyn, which showcases her daughter, Dana, receiving her first tiara for Christmas.

Katharyn made her own whimsical frames by “cutting” circles out of blue paper (press for three seconds on the marquee tool to change it from rectangle to circle shape cutter) and placing the circle-cut photos at different positions within the frame.

She then added  shadows to the frame and photo layers to make them look like they’ve been slipped in behind, as well as erasing the edges of the transparency behind the photo cluster using a “fuzzy” eraser brush.

We can’t get enough of that soft tangerine paper and we think the subtle elements below the circle photos look understated but adorable…not to mention the licorice striped strip of paper down the left side and the little candy brush at the top the layout – good enough to eat!

Note the use of the same candy brush in Chrissy’s layout, ‘Soft Play’, which uses a combination of very bright colours in the photo with some muted hues in the background. She says Candy Shop immediately made her think of the ball pool at her daughter Amy’s favourite soft play centre.

Chrissy used a custom shape in Photoshop Elements to create the arrow and clipped some patterned paper to it; she also clipped paper to the word ‘soft’ in the title.

The standout yellows and reds in the photo were the first things that caught our eye but we soon started appreciating the cool mix of colours (who would’ve thought such strong shades of blue, green and pink would work so well together??), the different sized buttons (so cute!) and the little journalled words along the top and bottom. Chrissy, we’re giving it a 10 out of 10 and love how you used the kit. Kudos!

And it seems there’s no shortage of CT members who think the candy brush is the standout from this collection – it also features heavily in Carole’s ‘I Love Summer Time’ layout, which includes mud brown tones to provide some contrast.

Carole used colors from the collection to co-ordinate the ‘I Love Summer Time’ brush with the rest of the layout, and added some texture to really make the title pop against the flat background.

And finally we have Kerryn’s layered ’3′ layout, which shows her daughter Piper in the midst of a shy moment.

Kerryn says she backed the circle element with plain paper to use as a journalling tag, then cut the patterned ribbon and positioned below the circle to resemble a rosette.

She then layered the ruched ribbon over the white space, and voila! A vibrant, creative and very cute layout that uses all the Candy Shop mega kit has to offer.

Candy Shop is undoubtedly fun, bright and easy to mix and match so now we want to know – what can you create with this vivacious collection??