Laura Vegas

Happy Friday everyone! I'm back to share another new layout that I created last weekend. This is another example of a layout "in the works" that I have had sitting around for ages. I originally had larger photos – I had an extra photo which was 4×6", and the two photos shown here were both 4×4" in size. And I could just never figure out what to do with them on the page. I'm glad I finally got smart and just printed them as 3×4" pics, since I knew I had the fun envelope to work onto the page as well. 

Alyssa's sorority has an annual Mom & Daughter Tea every year, and these photos were from the one in 2015. Sadly, we didn't get to attend the one this past fall, as Alyssa had a wind ensemble event that day. One of the things we did at the tea was to play this "Mother Daugher Jeopardy" game. Where we both answered questions about the other person, and then went thru them to see how well we knew each other. 

I kept our sheets, knowing that I wanted to save them to look back on. And I knew exactly how to incorporate them onto my layout.

I have some of these fun envelopes left over from a super old Creating Keepsakes kit-of-the-month thing. I have used these numerous times on layouts, and they're just a really cute way to tuck something out of sight – but still include it on your project. I went thru the envelopes I have left, and picked one with the best word at the top and the best color that would work with the photos. I don't think I would have went with orange, just based off the photos, but I knew I could make it work. 

Once I had the envelope picked out, I grabbed my photos, and set out to find some coordinating patterned papers. That's pretty much how I start all of my layouts. Patterned paper choices come first. I knew I needed some orange and yellow, to tie in with the flap on the envelope. I also came across this cool brown chevron woodgrain patterned paper, from Pink Paislee, and it looked really good with the photos and the orange and yellows.

I also wanted some sort of light blue to tie in with my cardigan – and the couches in the sorority house, that were pretty visible in the photo of Alyssa and I. I still can't decide if the heart and polka dot patterned papers (from Lawn Fawn) are grey or blue, if I'm being honest. But they work. 

Since I had to work the envelope into the page design, I figured the easiest way was to arrange the envelope and the photos across the center of the page. I matted the envelope on the polka dot patterned paper, and adhered that to the side of the page to start with. And then I randomly cut the rest of my patterned papers to varying sizes, and layered them across the page, adhering the photos on top. 

I feel like nine times out of ten, I die cut my titles. And I really did try looking for some cut files to use for my title. But in the end, I decided to just use some alpha stickers to create my title on the envelope front. I love these tall and skinny alphas from Jillibean Soup, but was short one lowercase letter to spell out my title. So instead of only having one uppercase letter, I just made sure to use a few uppercase as I was creating my title.

Once again, I kept my embellishments super simple. I added a few enamel dots to the envelope. I was going to sprinkle some more on other areas of the page, but again, didn't want to force them on, since I was also fine with it just as it was. I did end up adding the two fun arrow clips, as they matched the page and added a little something, something to the side of the envelope.

I'm so glad I finally got around to documenting this fun afternoon with my girl. It may have taken me over a year to get around too, but feels good to have it done and in the albums!