Laura Vegas

A strange thing happened this past weekend. I created three new layouts. Just because. Well, actually one of those was for an assignment. But it was also created a full week ahead of the due date, which for me is quite unusual, as I'm more of a last minute person. That was actually the third layout I created this weekend, after creating two new ones just for the heck of it. Being truly inspired to create, just for me, is something that doesn't happen that often around here. 

I mentioned in THIS post last week that I've been using the FreePrints app on my phone to order photos taken on my phone. I mentioned that I tend to take square photos when using my phone, intentionally, for whatever reason. Not exactly sure why I do it, but it's just what I do. And I like that this app keeps those photos square when ordering them (they still print on a 4×6", but you just trim off the sides that are blank), as opposed to forcing them into a 4×6" image. There are times when I'm ordering all of those square photos, which leave me with 4×4" pics, that I wonder what exactly I'll do with them. 

Well, I did do something with them. I used five of them on this layout, all photos I took with my phone. I'm a big line-them-up scrapper, so I love to arrange my photos in linear ways, lining them up side by side, or working them into a collage. So I did know that the four inch square photos would work, even if I end up with designs that have a similar look to them. That's not something that bothers me anyways.

For the first semester of Sarah's junior year of high school, she took a floral class, aka Art/History Floriculture. I know I gave her a bad time, as she had several electives that semester, and I was like "floral, really?". But as it turns out, it was a really hard class and the hardest one she had that semester. She aced it with an A+, but she always let me know that it was a lot of work. 

Since this layout was about that floral class, I decided to use a floral die cut background, in white on white of course. I used a cut file from Kerri Bradford's Background Basics #3 kit, cut from textured white cardstock, and spritzed with just a smidge of both black and green mists before adhering to my white cardstock background paper.

My title came from the award they received for being a part of the class, which was their "FFA Greenhand Degree" award. I cut the word "green" from green patterned paper (all papers from Simply Stories) using a cut file from Kerri Bradford's Bloom kit. And whenever I need a good chunky font for a word, I turn to Kerri's Weathered Door Alpha [All] kit. I cut the word "hand" from yellow patterned paper and the outline of the word from black cardstock.

I have really been bad about taking photos at school activities, sports, etc for several years now. I do find it so much easier to take a few pics here and there, now that I have a good phone. I never lug my huge camera around, but whipping out a cell phone is so easy and convenient. We were at this little awards ceremony night, and all of the new students earning their FFA Greenhand Degree went outside to stamp their handprint in green paint on a banner.

I was sitting at the table inside and quickly thought to snap a photo of them all posing for a photo, while holding up their paint covered hand. It would have been so much better if I had been outside to get a good shot, but at least I got a shot of some sort, right? I also stopped on the way out to take a picture of her handprint, next to which she had signed her name. Add in the photo I had taken of her award while sitting inside, and a few photos of floral arrangements she's brought home, and I have a fun layout documenting a piece of her junior year.