Laura Vegas

happy new year's, everyone! i was such a bad blogger last week. and then i had every intention of blogging before the year ended. i sat here on new year's eve, with a blank post pulled up, just waiting for me to write something. i was at a loss for words. i didn't have any photos or layouts to share. nothing. plus, i was sick all of new year's, with a terrible head cold. so i just decided to let it go, and come back in the new year. to hopefully do better at blogging, taking more photos, and scrapping more layouts. 

As seen in the January/February 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this layout for an article about using calendar products on our scrapbook layouts. when these diecut calendar papers came out, from ki memories, i stocked up a bunch of them. but i hadn't gotten around to using any of them. so i knew right away that i would use a few of these for my assignment. i took on the task of creating title pages/divider pages for our albums.

i organize our albums chronologically. the girls each have albums, with any pages about just them. and then i have family albums, which hold all the layouts that feature both the girls, or our family as a whole. i have large envelope protectors inbetween each year, so that i can keep them easily seperated. and so that i can slip in any memorabilia from the year, until i figure out what to do with it. but i like the idea of creating an intro page for each year. i have done something a little similiar in the past (see HERE), but this is a simpler version of the idea.

i choose this month border shape, and cut it out with my silhouette. since this is an into page to the entire year's worth of layouts, i liked the idea of having the months go all the way down the side of the layout. i added a wide ribbon next to the border, and embellished with a few buttons. i searched through my photos for the year, and choose a favorite photo of each of us. four simple photos.

when it came time to add the year, i knew i wanted to use something cut with my silhouette. i couldn't find the year i wanted, so i emailed the fabulous kerri bradford, who so kindly whipped up this "twenty eight" for me. she also created the "two thousand nine" that is seen on the following page. i cut these shapes twice, from two different colors of cardstock, and offset them just a bit when adhering them to the page. then i typed up some of the high-lights from the year, and added the journaling strips to the intro page.

i had created two layouts, to show another take on the same general idea. but they only ended up using one of the layouts in the magazine.

i'm really hoping to get some new layouts to share soon. but it's also CHA time, so i'll be creating up a storm for that, and won't be able to share my projects until the end of the month. i am swamped with work for bella blvd right now, and getting the design team all set up with assignments for booth projects, using the adorable new products that will be debuting at winter CHA. i think you're all going to love them!