Laura Vegas

this is in my head

November 28, 2010

making this a quick post. been a busy weekend, and i'm playing catch up on assignments and life.

i love this show. i love music, and i love random singing and performing. and it never fails, that after each episode i have a new favorite song or two that i go download from itunes. this one was actually from two weeks ago, but it's been permanently stuck in my head ever since i heard it.

who knew that gwyneth paltrow could sing like that? actually, i did know. but only because i had just heard on sign on the country music awards a few nights before this. lol!

i'll be back tomorrow with a fun tutorial share for the bella blvd blog.
bella blvd guest artista: scrapspace share

November 27, 2010

you want to know what my favorite thing about the weekend is? or maybe i should say my favorite thing about the weekends when we DON'T have soccer going on? being able to sleep in until 10:00am, if i want too. lol! which is what i did today. granted, i stayed up until 2:30am last night. or would that be 2:30am this morning?!?! anyways, my sleeping in, is why i'm getting a late start posting today 🙂

i know i get asked quite a bit to share my scraproom. today, you can get a look into my room over on the bella blvd blog. if you're a long time reader of my blog, the photos might look familiar to you. they're actually the photos that i took over a year ago, when i first moved my room. everything pretty much looked the same when i wrote up my room for the bella blvd blog, so i just used the same photos. but right after that, i got this itch to change things around a bit. so things are looking a tad bit different, and some things have been re-organized to work better for me. so, i will be sharing those things, once i'm done with it all. but it's still a good overall look at my space.

edited to add: i think i'll add any Q&A's right here for now, in case it might answer someone else's question 🙂

where is my computer and printers? my laptop goes wherever i go, and my printers are now out in a cabinet in the playroom. i'll show pics on that one day next week.

where did i get my desk? it's from target, and you can find it HERE. except i got it for a crazy good deal, with free shipping 😉
bella blvd guest artista: beyond the page

November 26, 2010

today is "beyond the page" day on the bella blvd blog. where we take our scrapbook supplies and products, and use them for things other than layouts or cards. here's what i decided to create for my take on this idea.

i have a ton of frames in my kitchen, above the cabinets, that i have been meaning to do something with for months now. they're all propped up there, without photos or anything inside of them. so when i saw that one of my guest artista projects would be to make an altered project, the first thing i thought of was my frames. i choose one of the black frames, in the 11×14 size.

i had just picked up a bunch of the tim holtz distress ink pads, and thought it would be fun to use them for this project. and the colors matched perfectly with the man of the house collection, which matches my kitchen colors perfectly. i used the letter stickers and some white tags, to do a fun masking technique.

check out the bella blvd blog, to see how i created this fun framed project. i decided that it was too cute to put back on top of the kitchen cabinets. so it's now front and center, on the kitchen counter by the stove. i just love how it turned out!
thankful album update

November 24, 2010

exactly a year ago, i shared this post on my blog. it was the day before thanksgiving, and it was a last minute share. i even talked about how last minute i am. and guess what? nothing much has changed since then. lol! here it is, the day before thanksgiving again. and here i am, sharing the same project. and it's still looking about the same as it did last year. i'm sort of recycling this project idea, to share again today. because i love the idea of it. and maybe you will too, and want to make one of your own.

you can read more details about what i was doing and planning, over on THIS POST. but the main idea was to make an album, that featured every family member and what they were thankful for. i mentioned last year that i was going to take a photo of everyone on thanksgiving day. and i did. i pulled each person aside, and took a great shot of them. i also mentioned that i was going to have everyone fill out a journaling page, listing what they were thankful for. and i did that too. some famil members were a little hesitant on the idea, and didn't know what to write. i gave free reign. they could be serious, funny, sentimental. whatever they were thankful for, i wanted them to write. and they all did.

and this was my plan for what i would do with the photo and journaling page for each family member, when i got back home. 9×9 page. white cardstock page base. a pattern paper strip, and some coordinating colored cardstock. some ribbon, or maybe a few simple embellishments. and their name, which would be die cut with my slice. easy peasy.

i had the photos all printed, right after thanksgiving. i had planned on doing them all in black and white, to keep the album cohesive. but i had some photos that were perfect in color. some family members just had the right color clothes on. lol! so i have a mix of black and white, and color photos. so, one would think that this album would be done. and complete. and ready to set out tomorrow, on the thanksgiving table.

well, it's not. lol! story of my life. for every one thing i DO accomplished, i have 5 things that did NOT get accomplished. i did remember to pull these out yesterday though. so i have all the photos matched up with the journaling page for each family member. i have papers cut. it's all ready to assemble. so hopefully, i can get this done tonight.

just wanted to give you a peek at a few of the family's pages. this is alyssa's. i like all the little drawings she added to her journaling page.

this is sarah's. i love that she wrote "thankful" down the side of her paper, and then listed things that started with that same letter.

and my grandma. we can't read a lot of what she wrote. but it's her handwriting, and her words. and it's special, because she passed away about 6 months after this. i am so happy that i made everyone take a photo. because this photo of my grandma captured her, right before she got sick. i'm thankful we have this smiling photo to remember her by.

i want to tell you that i'll come back on friday, and post some of the other pages of the album. the finished project. but if i promise that, i most likely will NOT come back and share. lol! it's the twisted way my creative mind works. so no promises from me today. maybe you'll see the finished project, maybe you won't. just have to wait and see 🙂

update at 2:30pm. just had to come back and show you that i AM making progress. in between life, work, and all that other stuff 😉
bella blvd guest artista: sketch challenge

November 22, 2010

speaking of sketches, i have another one to share today. as part of my guest artista gig over on the bella blvd blog this month, one of our challenges was to scrap a layout using the following sketch.

and here is what i did with it, using the one fall day collection.

i definately put my own spin on this sketch. usually, i follow sketches really closely. but i really wanted to do a fall layout, and i wanted to use the leaf paper and the fun scarecrow. i don't have a lot of fall photos. the only real taste of fall we seem to have out our way, is the pumpkin patch each year. lol! and i had to dig deep for some pumpkin patch photos that i havn't scrapped yet. i had these two photos printed, so i just altered the sketch a bit to work with them.

make sure and check out today's bella blvd blog post, for more photos and info about my layout, and to see the other two designers take on the same sketch.
pencil lines – guest designer

November 21, 2010

i was asked a few weeks ago if i would be interested in guest designing for pencil lines, an international sketch challenge blog.

anna asked if i wanted to provide a sketch of my own, for this week's challenge. so this is the sketch i came up with. i drew it out by hand with pencil and paper, and they turned it into this nice and pretty one. i really enjoy working off of a sketch. it gives you a starting point, for your page design, so you're not so overwhelmed. if you have a plan for the photo sizes and placement, and the papers, it makes starting a page so much less work. and then you just add all the fun stuff as you go.

and here is my take on my sketch. i took these photos of sarah a few months ago. we were all downstairs, watching tv, and i had taken over the remote at one point. sarah disappeared upstairs for a while. and when she came back down, she was dressed up in joe's clothes. she had on his work pants, one of his shirts, his dodger hat, and she had some of my big clunky boots on. she actually does this sort of thing ALL the time. the clothes were huge on her, it was the funniest thing. she had made herself a paper badge, that said "cool police" on it, and pinned it to her shirt. then she pulled out a pad of paper, and wrote me a ticket. for stealing the remote. lol! i tell you, she's funny 🙂

i was actually stumped on my title for a few days. i was trying to think of something funny, and was just drawing a blank on it. i'm so glad i noticed the "cool police" badge, since it made the perfect title. and see that black paper with the numbers on it? i cut that off a tag. sort of an inside joke around here. having to do with "the plate". like when you get arrested and you have to have your mugshot taken, and you hold up a plate with a number on it. there's a whole story behind why that became a joke to us. but when i saw that number strip, i had to use it.

a closer look at the journaling. i pulled out these really old dyed tags, and adhered them down so that they overlapped a little bit. part of me wanted to handwrite my journaling. but i never really like the look of it. so i typed up my journaling on the computer, and just adhered the strips over the tags.

when i was looking for some journaling tags, i came across some old 7 gypsies tags from years ago. i cut a few pieces from 2 of the tags, just using the parts that i thought went with the layout. i liked the "trouble with a capital "T"" part, and added my name with some tiny alpha stickers.

i want to thank pencil lines for inviting me to play along with them this week, on this challenge. make sure and visit their blog HERE, so that you can see what all their talented designers did with the sketch. and if this sketch inspires you to create something, you can play along with the challenge as well. there's a spot at the end of their post on their blog, where you can link your layout up to participate. and they choose a winner to receive a special RAK , from those that played along 🙂

supplies:
cardstock – american crafts
embossed cardstock – core'dinations
pattern paper – studio calico
ribbon – maya road, pebbles, making memories
letter stickers – making memories, doodlebug
tags – rusty pickle, 7 gypsies
brad – making memories
punch – fiskars
friday night video share

November 19, 2010

i know. two posts in one day. amazing. this morning, i went out into the world. i don't get to do this often. but i didn't have any daycare kids today, so i took advantage of it. after an hour of running a few errands, i just had to come home and talk about my morning out. so here is my first ever "my funny happenings" video 🙂

things to note:

i need to learn some better lighting techniques, for video making. my scraproom, my clothes, and even me? we're not that drab looking and poorly lit in real life.

remember how i said i use like 5 rulers at once, when i scrapbook? it's true. you can see at least 4 of them sticking up in the lower right corner of the video 😉

apparently, i don't like to look directly at the camera when talking. when i look to my right, i'm looking at the door to make sure joe didn't happen to wake up and is listening to me. and when i look to my left, i'm actually just looking out the window to the street.

i srunch my nose ALL the time, when i talk.

that stack of pattern paper on my desk has nothing to do with anything. it was just there, because i've been cleaning out my pattern paper stash. and i didn't move it. and it made a nice armrest. you can see the stack of empty paper trays behind me. don't worry. they'll be filled up soon.

yes, these things really do happen to me ALL the time. i could make a video like this almost every day.

i'm a rambler. which is why my simple story, ended up being almost 11 minutes long. this is me. you can't shut me up sometimes 😉
random tidbits: facebook style #5

November 18, 2010

sadly, it's been over a month since my last random tidbits post. i'm certainly not going to bore you to death, with an entire month's worth of facebook status updates. lol! but i do think they're a fast and easy way to give you a taste of my everyday doing's and going-on's. so here's a taste of my last month. with a simple share of a layout that i never got around to blogging about.

as seen in the July/August 2010 issue of PaperCrafts magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

how many things do i need to take out to create these 10 projects? apparently, i need 492 things out on my scrap island at once. you'd think i was performing major surgery, with this set-up.

i've come to the conclusion that we're a "dark family". meaning, i do at least 3 loads of dark laundry a week. but only about 1/4 of a load of whites.

zachary says that he wants to go for a car ride, to go get me some starbucks. he says that i'm way too tired today, and need to wake up. yep. i'm pretty sure that's what all his baby talk means 😉

luckily, i have super hearing powers when it comes to the fedex truck and the UPS truck. caught him before he rang the doorbell. i don't care what he was bringing me … if had woken up these 2 little ones, i would have been very upset with him. lol!

i bought a new pair of jeans, that have nicely placed rips and tears for a casual distressed look. unfortunately, these rips and tears are located right at the same spot that the boy yanks onto when he's trying to pull himself up so i will hold him. so the perfect rips and tears are now getting bigger and less perfect.

got home late from the football game tonight. and then got late dinners scrounged up, late bedtime, and a midnight shower/hair straightening for me. then a super late blog post written up. now it's 2:10AM, and i have to be up in 5 hours for the girls soccer games. peace out, people 🙂

now i remember why i havn't been wearing browns lately. because my brown flip flops broke. how can i wear jeans, a brown shirt, a mustard yellow cardigan, and black flip flops? definately a fashion don't.

finally bought a new purse tonight. actually, i used my kohl's cash, so i didn't pay anything for it. i'm NOT a purse person at all. i carry the exact same purse, every single day. and only switch twice a year. spring/summer and fall/winter.

every single time i go to the dentist, i'm told i have a "tiny little mouth", by numerous assistants. i'm not quite sure how i'm supposed to take that. is that good or bad? all i know is that xrays on a tiny little mouth are never fun. lol!

girls are all home. half day at school. it went from peaceful and quiet, to loud and crazy, just like that 🙂

picked up a few of those white storage cubes from michaels, for my scraproom. each one has seriously taken me a full hour to put together. i have two left. which means i can watch 3 shows on the DVR while i make them.

attended the high school band's concert tonight. they played all of the songs that they've been playing at the football games. i love listening to such a talented group of kids!

i'm purging and organizing pattern paper. if you don't hear from me in the next 2 hours, send help 😉

apparently, the box of spaghetti was open. i went to put it in the pot, and it all dumped on the floor. it was kind of like playing pick-up-sticks, that old childhood game. and yes, it all went in the pot. don't judge me. lol!

alyssa asked me the other night "is facebook your venting spot?". since i spend my day with kids and no adults, i guess i do turn to facebook when i have something i need to say. the boy and the girl just don't understand. lol!

you can tell i had a very hectic night, by the toys that are still scattered around the house. i NEVER leave toys out after the daycare kids leave. but they're all over my family room right now. and here's a real shocker …. i'm thinking about just leaving them there, for the littles that will be back at 7:30am 🙂

i'm watching jimmy kimmel, and am just now hearing about the new holiday that he's started. "national unfriend day", started november 17th. where we clean out "friends" from our social networks, that we actually don't know. kind of funny. i missed the holiday by 37 minutes, so i will not be unfriending anyone 😉

be warned. if you call me EVERY SINGLE DAY, trying to sell me stuff in spanish, and i tell you to STOP CALLING ME because i speak english, which is the american language … i cannot be held responsible for any screaming i do in your ear. don't tell me you don't "comprende" the word STOP, because i'm thinking it's a pretty univeral word.

and now we're caught up on my random little life, as of tonight. i did leave out all the soccer stuff, since i have some posts planned about that. i don't often post on the weekend, but i have something going up on saturday. a layout and a sketch. so come back by and check it out 🙂
a fun pebbles card + project + giveaway

November 18, 2010

i have a fun little project up on the pebbles blog today. today is all about felt.

i designed this card around these cute felt flower embellishments, from the new arrival girl collection. i love premade embellishments, because you can take them right out of the package and stick them on your project. easy peasy. but they are also fun to alter, and add a little something extra to them, to make them more unique. these felt flowers are so thick, with 3 layers of felt, secured together with a tiny threaded button. cute as can be.

but i wanted to make them into larger flowers. all i needed was two 12 inch pieces of brown dot ribbon, a scrap piece of felt, and a needle with thread. i hand stitched a running stitch along the bottom length of the ribbon. once i got to the end, i pushed the ribbon down the thread, so that it bunched up, and tied off the thread. then i glued the gathered up ribbon, into a circle, on a small piece of scrap felt. i adhered the felt flower embellishment right in the center of the ribbon.

what i thought made this a fun card, is that it's like getting a gift right on the card. i turned the ribbon and felt flowers, into hairclips. perfect for a little girl. i simply adhered the flowers to a metal hairclip, using a glue gun. on the card, i adhered those bottom two pieces of tan grid pattern paper, using pop dots. so it gave them a raised effect. to add the hairclips to the card, all i had to do was clip them onto the pattern paper. no extra adhesive needed. they just slip on and off of the card. cute, right 🙂

and make your way over to the pebbles blog, to see a few more projects from the design team. they are also doing a fun giveaway on their blog. leave a comment over there, and you'll have a chance to win all of the new felt embellishments.
all girl mini golf – a creating keepsakes layout

November 16, 2010

after another weekend on the soccer field, i'm still trying to catch up on life. that was our last weekend. for now, at least. lol! i need to do some soccer posts, about the girls seasons. it's on my mental list of "things to do". we'll see how long it takes me to actually do it 😉

as seen in the Paper Palooza issue of Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

somehow, i missed sharing this layout from months ago. these were some photos of the girls from last summer, mini golfing with two of their friends. i thought the pattern papers, by crate paper, were a perfect match. and i love the texture on their papers. if i could change one thing on this layout, it would be the title. i've mentioned that the title is usually one of the last things i add to a layout, next to the journaling. well, this was definately a last minute addition. and i didn't love it. but it's done, and that's all that matters, right? and i do believe that i added a few more butterflies to the pocket, before sending it to the magazine. must not have taken a new photo, after making my changes.

the idea here, was to make pockets with the layers of pattern paper, so that you could tuck things inside. i cut strips of pattern paper all the same length, but in varying heights. i started at the top, and worked my way down, only putting adhesive on the bottom and the sides of each strip of paper. then i added lots of rhinestone brads to the ends, to secure them. since i don't have adhesive on the top of each strip, it forms small pockets. this is where i slipped in the tags, with each of the girls names. i'll be honest with you. i don't have anything written on them. lol! if they had kept score for their mini golf game, i would have written that on there. but they didn't, so i just left them blank.

supplies: pattern paper (Crate Paper), chipboard title (Making Memories), rhinestone brads (Making Memories), butterfly embellishments (Making Memories), glitter letter stickers & tiny alpha stickers (Making Memories)

recent posts

about