Laura Vegas

Scrapbooking And A Little Bit Of Everyday Life

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  • U R mine – a jillibean soup layout

    this layout was actually on the jillibean soup blog last week. just didn't get around to sharing it. i really love this layout! it's got my cute girl on it. it's got all my favorite colors. it's a fun take on the collage style i love to do. it's got fun embellishments. and i even tried out some new techniques.

    Publication 

    this page design was a long time in the making. a few years ago, i had sketched out this page that i wanted to do. it had random blocks of paper, all different sizes, with two photos mixed in. i had where the title should be, and which papers would have embellishments on them. and i saved that piece of paper, which has been tucked in to a basket on my magnetic board on my wall. when i pulled out these papers and product, i knew i finally wanted to use that sketch.

    and check me out. i machine stitched on my papers. i LOVE the look of machine stitching. i even bought a nice sewing machine about 5 years ago. i had used my profits from one of my classes i taught at the lss to purchase it. and then i used it once, and that was it. lol! but we now have an empty desk upstairs in the loft, and i figured it was good spot to set it up. i'm thinking if it's out, i'm more likely to use it. ignore the wonky stitching on these blocks of paper. first time on a machine in years, but i'm learning.

    for the flowers, i used some of the jillibean soup canvas flowers and the corrugated flowers. i used studio calico mister huey's color mists on the canvas flowers, and then used a coordinating acrylic paint from making memories on the corrugated flowers. used a few tiny white flower brad to secure them all together.

    and i didn't forget the giveaway winners! thanks to everyone for participating. i turned to the random number generator, to pick two numbers.

    first up, is for the tips & tricks: the stamp issue. i have #64 , which is:
    Very cool give-away! Please pick me I need all the help I can get Ü. Posted by: Cindee

    secondly, we have the scrapbooking everyday memories. i have #57, which is:
    I love gifting magazines to my crafty friends, as the issues are always full of great inspiration, and who among us really needs more supplies?! Posted by: Sandy-IL

    congrats girls! email me your mailing addresses, and i will have CK mail those out to you! 

  • peeks at what’s been on my desk

    you would think that, with all the creating i've been doing these last few weeks, that i would have things to share with you. but i don't. which kills me, since i'm always anxious to share when i make something cute. with this business, sometimes i just have to wait and hold onto stuff. but i can share some peeks, just to prove that i've been scrapping up a storm around here.

    Peeks_2 

    Peeks_1 

    i'll share more when i can. i still have a few projects to finish up today, in between taking care of little ones and day-to-day life. so, i'm keeping this short and sweet today. just a reminder, you have until this evening to enter yourself in this giveaway. i'll be announcing the winners tomorrow morning 🙂

  • cocoa gift set – a pebbles project

    this week is all about gift giving on the pebbles blog. using our scrapbook supplies to make handmade gifts for our friends and family. here is what i came up with.

    Cocoa_gift_set 

    i used the new arrival boy collection, to create this cocoa gift set. i've made a few cocoa gift sets in my past. in a tin. in a big jar. but i thought these clear buckets would be fun to use, for a new twist on the idea. i love these buckets, and it's nice that they come in so many great sizes now. i bought 3 different ones, to fit each of my cocoa ingredients.

    Cocoa_gift_set2 

    i went with the new arrival boy collection, for the blues and the browns in the pattern papers. i originally had some green and red pattern papers out. but i just wasn't feeling it. i think it's because the blues and browns just go so well with the ingredients. when i think of cocoa (which btw, i do not drink), i think of winter (which btw, we don't have winter here). and blues, browns, and whites just seem wintery to me.

    Cocoa_gift_set_cocoa 

    to decorate the clear buckets, i added a strip of  pattern paper and some ribbon. i used THIS punch along the strip. it's one of my favorite punches right now. the little letter stickers are from pink paislee.

    Cocoa_gift_set_marshmallows 

    for the tops of the buckets, i cut circles of pattern paper to fit the lid. they are adhered using pop dots, of course. you know me. i have to work pop dots into every project i do. lol! then i added a star embellishment to finish it off. one is chipboard, one is felt, and one is a 3D sticker.

    Cocoa_gift_set_cinnamon 

    all i need to do, is toss these buckets into a gift bag or a basket, and they're ready for gift giving. make sure and check out the pebbles blog this week, to see what some of the other design team members have come up with.

  • things we do together – a creating keepsakes layout

    first up, the lucky winner of the bella blvd giveaway goodies. the random number generator chose #35, which means debbie tope is our lucky girl! congrats debbie! email me your mailing address, and i'll get that mailed out to you in the next few days.

    Things_we_do_together 
    as seen in 101+ Creative Ways To Use Your Scrapbook Supplies, by Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

    figured that since we're talking bella blvd, it would be a good time to share this layout with you, since it has some of their great pattern papers on it. that brown circle paper is one of my absolute favorites, from the man of the house collection. and the flower paper is from the all inclusive collection.

    Things_we_do_together_page1 

    my layout was featured, to show how to use faux metal accents on your pages. those chipboard circles have foil butterflies printed on them. and it does make it look like i added metal butterflies. i love premade embellishments that look this cute and are so easy to use.

    Things_we_do_together_page2 

    but here's a little secret for you. i actually created this layout to show how to use a multiple amount of frames on your page, and how to use them for your journaling. that was what my assignment was, but they must have switched the focus of it up a bit for the final issue.

    Things_we_do_together_page1_detail 

    i used a fun mix of chipboard frames, clear acrylic frames (backed with cardstock), and glitter sticker frames.

    Things_we_do_together_page2_detail 

    to work the journaling into the frame, i simply measured how big the opening was. i created a text box on my document, that was the size of the opening. then i typed up my text so that what i wanted to journal would fit in the box. 

    i'll be back tomorrow with a gift giving project share. and don't forget to leave a comment on my other giveaway, if  you havn't already. you have until thursday night.

  • creating keepsakes new issues + giveaways

    how about we just make this an entire weekend of giveaways! creating keepsakes magazine has two new issues out right now. and i just happen to have a copy of each of these to give away.

    S cover 

    first up is scrapbooking tips & tricks: the stamp issue. this is the forth issue of the new tips & tricks magazine for 2010, and it's a good one.

    S page 64 

    here's a peek at one of my layouts in the book. or should i say two of my layouts? lol! it's a "before" and "after", showing a fun technique using stamps and chalk.

    E cover 

    and then we have scrapbooking everyday memories. this is a fabulous issue, and is completely filled with more layout ideas than you could imagine.

    http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=101104225142-42573bfc086144f988a9f3d24f8a82c5&docName=everyday_memories_sneak_peek&username=CKEditorial&loadingInfoText=Scrapbooking%20Everyday%20Memories&et=1291228798243&er=21

    and a sneek peek inside this issue.

    to be entered in the drawing, just leave me a comment. i will be closing comments next thursday night, and will announce the winners on friday morning.

    and i also have a special coupon code to pass along. just use CKDT15, and you will receive 15% off all items in the store, thru december 20th, 2010.

  • bella blvd *giveaway*

    i wanted to spring a last minute giveaway on you, before the weekend starts 🙂

    Bella_blvd_giveaway 

    bella blvd has been so generous to me over the last year, as a part of the CK dream team and as one of their latest guest artistas. i love having their products to work with, and turn to them all the time. and i wanted to pass some of that along to one lucky blog reader. i've got close to 70 sheets of pattern paper from about 10 of their collections, 3 packs of their blooms-a-bella flowers, and 3 packages of their clear stamps. this is one big giveaway, that you'll be sure to love.

    just leave me a comment, telling me which of their collections is your very favorite. i know, i know. it's hard to pick. they have so many great ones to choose from. but humor me, and pick a favorite anyways. i will leave the comment open until monday night, and will anounce a winner on tuesday morning. have a great weekend 🙂

    edited to add: making a slight change, and closing comments tonight at 11:00pm, my time (california time). what that would be in your time, you'll have to figure out on your own. i stink at time zones. lol! had a change of plans on my blogging schedule this week, and want to announce the winner first thing in the morning 🙂

  • decorations – a creating keepsakes layout

    please tell me we're not the last family to put up our christmas decorations? lol! we havn't even gotten our boxes out of the attic yet. this weekend. that's my plan, and hopefully i will stick to it. but i can give you a peek at what my decorations will look like, with this layout that was featured in the december issue of creating keepsakes.

    Christmas_decorations_redo 
    as seen in the December 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

    i created this layout for an article on how to bring "light" onto our layouts. and i choose to highlight glitter. which is sort of funny, since i live in fear of glitter. i mean, i LOVE the look of glitter. but it's messy. it ends up everywhere. i find it on my family members, even when they weren't involved in my layout making process. lol!

    Christmas_decorations_detail 

    a great way to incorporate glitter into our projects, is to use pre-made products that are already glittered. no messing with glue and loose glitter. the work is done for you. sure, you're still going to have glitter falling off of some products. it happens. but i can deal with a small amount of glitter, for the sake of a cute layout. i used some silver glitter chipboard letters for my title. my buttons have glitter in them. i have green glittered foam tree stickers. my brads are glittered.  and this pattern paper you see here, has red glitter dots on it.

    Christmas_decorations_detail2 

    how cute are those strung lights? i had to use them. they just called my name. the journaling is true. we don't put a lot of decorations up around the house. we have the tree of course. a 7 foot slim artificial one that we've had for years, and i love. perfect slim size, for our house. and we decorate the mantel above the fireplace. and the entry table by the front door. that's usually about it. of course, i start seeing other people post photos of their homes, decorated from top to bottom. and it makes me wish that i did a little more. someday. 

    Christmas_decorations 

    and if you noticed that the detail shots above looked a tad bit different than my layout up top, there's a reason. here is my original layout, which had a different dotted pattern paper and the photos were also right next to each other. they asked me to change out the paper to a small dot print, and mat the photos to seperate them a bit. i like the one that is featured in the magazine. but i really did like this one here too. it felt a little different for me, but i thought it was quite fun.

    and speaking of creating keepsakes, have you seen THIS POST on their blog this week? they're doing the "12 days of scrapbooking giveaways". and today is the third day. you'll have to check it out, and see what is being featured each day. some days, it's free stuff for everyone. some days, there are winners selected from the comments. but lots of good stuff going on there. so make sure and stop by today, check it out, and then stop back by the next 9 days as well 🙂

  • 12th birthday party – a jillibean soup layout

    wanted to share a new jillibean soup layout with you today. have you seen their monster stew collection? it's a super cute halloween collection. but there's no reason it can't be used for something other than halloween, right 😉

    Alyssa_12thBirthdayParty 

    i LOVE the fun, bright colors in this collection. the turquoise star paper is one of my favorites. the star paper has some googley eyes here and there on some of the stars. but if you cut it just right, you can't tell.

    Alyssa_12thBirthdayParty_detail2 

    the photos are from alyssa's 12th birthday party. two years ago. she invited a bunch of her closest friends over, for a sleepover. it was loud and crazy. and my photos of the party? not great. the coloring on these photos was pretty bad. so i created this photo collage, arranging all the photos how i wanted them. and then i changed the entire collage to black and white, with the click of one button. so much easier then doing each photo on it's own.

    Alyssa_12thBirthdayParty_detail1 

    love the printed journaling sprouts that go with each of the newest collections. i added how old alyssa turned to one of the largest journaling sprouts, using the green corrugated numbers. and i adhered that to my layout, using pop dots, for some extra dimension. then i used a few more journaling sprouts, for the party details and the date.

    Alyssa_12thBirthdayParty_detail3 

    and i know that i've told you how much i LOVE the corrugated alphas. so glad they come in 5 great colors. and of course, you can paint them or alter them to be any color that you want. but these green alphas were perfect. and some of my favorite doodlebug loopy lou alphabet stickers, to finish off my title. i have been using these on everything lately. love them, and glad i have TONS of them 🙂

  • bella blvd guest artista: tutorial challenge

    i have a tutorial that went up on the bella blvd blog today. looks like that brings my guest artista month to an end. kind of sad. but no worries. i've been using their gorgeous products on other projects, so you'll still see bella blvd eye candy from me here and there 😉

    BellaBlvd_tutorial_step3

    to see the tutorial, you'll need to go and check out THIS POST. there, you can see what i did with these punched circles and chipboard pieces.

    BellaBlvd_tutorial_step7 

    and you'll also see what i did with these die cut leaves. just a fun, simple technique that adds a subtle but interesting touch to your projects. sometimes, simple is just what we need to get more done.

    i want to thank bella blvd for having me along this month. i have truely enjoyed working on these projects, and playing with their amazing collections! 

  • jillibean soup christmas cards

    i didn't realize until halfway through my day, that my cards were up on the jillibean soup blog today. it's only 11:00pm here. so technically, i'm still sharing them on the same day 😉

    Happy_25th_card 

    thought i'd throw a few christmas cards into my projects for the month, since it's almost december. seriously? where did november go? to be honest, i think i'm stuck back in august still. lol!

    Happy_25th_card_detail 

    Star_christmas_card 

    Star_christmas_card_detail 

    and i know i said i would have a tutorial up tomorrow. just have to find out when exactly it goes up. i seem to remember something about the afternoon. as soon as it does, i'll be sure to post peeks and link it up 🙂