Laura Vegas

i have two more projects to share from my october guest designer gig, for my mind's eye. these were both created for the MME november newsletter.

i was given this sketch, by MME designer jana eubank, and was asked to create a two page layout from it. i use sketches quite often, but this was the first time i have turned a one page sketch into a two page sketch. turns out, it's pretty easy to do.

do these photos look familiar? i think only one of these photos appeared on my layout from yesterday. but they were all taken at the same time. do the colors of my papers look familiar? a bit different from my layout i shared yesterday, and yet the layouts have the same feel to me.

when i sat down with the sketch, and my big stack of MME papers, i had the idea to scrap these photos. the other layout had photos of all four of the girls. but i wanted to do a layout, with just my girls. i had TONS of pics from that day, and i wanted to get more of them in the scrapbook. once i printed my pics, and went to pick out papers, i kept finding myself drawn to certain papers. the ones that i used on the layout from yesterday. lol! it was hard to get that layout out of my head, i guess, and imagine the photos with other papers. 

i started my two page layout, by stretching the outside border across the two pages. that way, i had the brown woodgrain paper going around the outside edge of both pages. i also added the verticle strip of pink glitter paper to the first page, and layered a strip of aqua paper that i punched using a large scalloped border punch.

want to know a quick way to add a border around your layout? while a lot of my layouts look like i have matted a large paper to the center of my background paper, i have a few ways to get this look, while saving paper. for this layout, i simply cut six 1×12 inch strips of the brown woodgrain paper. i snipped off the ends of some of the strips, at an angle, to give it a mitered look. then i just adhered all the strips against the outside edge of my background cardstock. i basically "framed" my entire spread.

i have my large pattern paper circle, just like the sketch. except i adhered my circle, so that it goes onto both pages of the spread. i added my title to the circle, which i had machine stitched before adhering to my layout.

the sketch called for two photos, along with a block of journaling. i decided to move my journaling, and shifted the photos down a bit. to stretch the sketch across two pages, i just kept going with the photos. i managed to get six photos across my layout.

i love white cardstock. one problem i have had in the past, is that if i have too much white space on white cardstock (confusing?!?!), then i don't love it. it feels empty. this is one reason i'm loving using the mists. i simply spritzed on some green mist. obviously, this takes a little planning ahead. knowing what area you want to mist, and where your photos and embellisments are going to go. i did mist the white cardstock, before i adhered down the brown strips of pattern paper.

i had a few of these die cut journaling tags, that had the little flag ends on them. they're larger tags, that had some text at the top. i cut them both down a bit, so that they would fit well on my layout. some simple hand journaling, and brads to embellish, and i was finished.

i was also asked to create a card, off this sketch.

i created a mini version of the sketch, on this tiny 4×4 inch card. same idea, with the brown strips of pattern paper, added to the edges of the white cardstock card base. then i added a small square of pink pattern paper to the center, and machine stitched around the edges.

i have the verticle aqua strip of pattern paper, along with a small scalloped edged piece of cardstock. i figured if i kept the basic design and paper placement like the sketch, i could take some liberties with the rest of the sketch. like my sentiment.

check out the MME november newsletter, where you can find full detailed instructions, on how to create both the layout and the card.