Laura Vegas

Hey everyone! We're eight days into the new year, so I figured it was about time for a new blog post. I had good intentions of typing up another post like I did last year – my What Will My Focus Be post. But truthfully, all those projects that I talked about are still projects that I want to focus on throughout this coming year. Did I work on all of those last year? No. Did I think about all of those last year? For sure.

That's the nice thing about scrapbooking, is that there really isn't a deadline as to when these projects get done. Sure, some of those are ones that I would love to finish sooner rather than later. Some are just on-going projects, that get added to over the years. And some are projects that will take a lot more time than others, which is why I haven't quite gotten to them yet. 

One project that I am totally loving, and will definitely keep doing, is Project Life. I will be keeping with the same format, and using 9×12 albums. I am using the older Seven Paper albums that I found on a deals website at the beginning of last year, and I was smart enough to buy a large amount of them, along with all of the 9×12 pocket pages (I got them super, duper cheap). I was thinking ahead, and wanting my albums to match, and I also had this gut feeling that Project Life (and the 9×12 size) was something that I would continue with over the next few years.

I already have my album set up for the first half of the year. Meaning I have my pocket pages all set up inside the album, and my weekly title cards printed out and inserted into each week. While I'm still catching up with my 2017 album, and have tons to share from that, I hope to stay current with my 2018 album. So once I have my January photos, I'll get working on those weeks, and will share what my plan is for my 2018 album (including the weekly title cards I decided to go with) next month. 

I'm still designing for Kerri Bradford Studio, and LOVE it. I sat down this weekend to work on my January project for her, and it got me doing a lot of thinking. I started out wanting to create a layout. An actual 12×12 layout. I feel like I haven't made a layout in a while. I've made a digital layout, and a few 6×8 size layouts, along with pocket page layouts. But not a traditional layout. Then my mind went to Travelers Notebooks, and I thought maybe I'd make something in one of those. I've mentioned that for me, I feel like a Travelers Notebook needs to have a theme, or a purpose. I can't just use one to randomly make "layouts" in. I do have an idea for a notebook, and it's food related. But I couldn't quite figure out how to do what I had in mind. 

In the end, I decided to do a 6×8 pocket page spread. Well, one side is a pocket page and one side is a full page "layout" I guess. I have come to really, really love the pocket pages. And I'm also really, really loving the smaller size albums – specifically 6×8 and 6×12. I have "all about me" type albums set up in both of those sizes for myself, and have been enjoying adding to those albums over the last year. So my mind tends to turns to the pocket pages, and these smaller sizes pages, whenever I have a project in mind. 

I'm not saying that I'll never make full 12×12 layouts again. In fact, I was sorting out some printed photos from the last two years this morning, and several layout ideas came to mind. Including some two page layout ideas. I've jotted those ideas down, so that I can work them into my creative time at some point. But in the grand scheme of things, I just don't have as many layouts that are on my to-do, or want-to-do, list anymore.

The girls are older now, and I just don't have the photos like I did when they were younger. I rarely have any photos of Sarah. And while Alyssa shares TONS of photos with me, I do kind of look at it as those being her stories to tell. I don't feel the need to scrapbook all of her photos now that she's an adult. Kwim? Although I'm totally going to start a project for her, with all of her college photos (to which she'll add her stories too when she's ready) ;) 

And while I can certainly go back and scrap all the photos that I never got around to from their younger years, I'm not always inspired to scrap with old photos. Not just for the sake of making a layout anyways. I've been scrapbooking for almost 24 years. Which is crazy, right? I spent years and years making nothing but layouts. Tons of layouts. So much of our lives are already in the albums, and so many of our stories have already been told on those pages. 

So it makes sense to me that maybe "scrapbooking" for me has changed, in what it looks like. Maybe it's not as many layouts. Maybe it's more pocket pages and smaller sized pages. Maybe it's less about the girls, and more more about me (or Joe). We're in a different season of life, so I also find myself in a different season of my scrapbooking and what I want this hobby to be. 

Anyways. I ramble. Hopefully some of that made sense.

Totally unrelated to scrapbooking. I've been thinking about adding a few other topics to my blog. I've gotten in the habit of only blogging when I have a project to share. Unlike years ago, when I would blog about a good mix of scrapbooking, everyday stuff, family stuff, etc. I'm really not sure who all reads this little blog of mine, or what you're hoping to see from me (feel free to let me know in the comments if you have ideas). But I was thinking about how while some people share only scrapbook related photos on their Instagram pages, I have always shared a good mix of photos. There's really no rhyme or reason to what I share on my Instagram, and I like that it's a mix of every part of my life. I'd kind of like my blog to get back to that fun mix. 

One thing that I've been sharing more of on Instagram is food related photos, and people seem to enjoy it. I've gotten a little more into cooking and meal prep, and it's something that I've been enjoying. I decided to make a goal for myself this coming year, which is to cook with at least 2-3 new recipes a week. I've got a ton of yummy recipes pinned on my Pinterest food boards, and while I love to pin more and more to my boards, I rarely take the time to make any of them. I want to change that. Last week, I tried out four new recipes, three of which were successful. We won't talk about the fourth one. Lol.

I thought maybe I would start sharing a food related blog post once a week. Maybe it would be sharing the new recipes from the week before that we loved. Maybe it would be a little about how I meal plan, or food prep. Maybe it would be some other random cooking tips I've picked up, or storage ideas, etc. I haven't thought it all out yet, but it's something I'd like to add to the blog. 

Maybe I'll start a once a week post, where I share a few things that I'm loving that week. I'll brainstorm that idea, since it just popped into my head while I was typing this up 😉

Just know that my intention this year is to blog more. I know blogs aren't what they used to be, and they're not read as much as they used to be read. But I still enjoy blogging and sharing. And I don't want to feel like I have to have a new scrapbook project to share, in order to blog. So that means I add a little more variety here in my little corner of the internet. 

Anyways. I've rambled again. Just tossing some thoughts out there, so they're not all stuck up in my head by themselves. Feel free to chime in on any of the things I rambled about, ideas you'd like to see (not saying I'll do them, but I'm always open to ideas if they fit what I'm already doing), things that you're excited to work on this year, etc.