Laura Vegas

favorites challenge time

April 14, 2010

i had this idea a week or so ago for a layout about the girls favorite TV shows. i was emailing my good friend erin clarkson at the time, and we were chatting about our girls, and all that tween and teen stuff that goes with them. so we decided to put the two together, and make a fun challenge out of it. creating a layout or project, that would document what the kids are into these days or what their favorite things are.

when i got the idea to document the girls favorite shows, i started looking for some pictures online to use. i just used google images, and typed in the show name + cast. so if i was looking for wizards of waverly place, i typed in "wizards of waverly place cast". it pulled up pages and pages of photos, and i just dug around to find ones i liked. i also tried to find photos that had the same general size. a lot of photos online have really low resolutions, and don't print well. so i was able to find most of these photos in a 1280 x 1024 size, which printed just great (they're all printed 2.5 x 3 inches). i loved how all the disney channel shows all had such similiar group shots, with the name of the show printed across it. those are the ones i looked for. the nickelodeon shows were harder to find. and "make it or break it" is an ABC family show (about gymnastics), and i had to add my own title to that photo.

i used the free spirit collection from little yellow bicycle for this layout. everything on here is from that collection, with the exception of the black rubon letters and numbers (those are doodlebug). it is such a fun and colorful collection, and just perfect for teens and tweens. for my title, i mixed in a clear cut shape, canvas stickers, fabric stickers, and epoxy shapes. so much to choose from, that i had to use a little of everything 🙂

see that circle, with the "our" on it? i didn't plan on this. but when i went to rub on the purple letters, i spelled "our" wrong. i always start at the end of the word, and go backwards. and i really should learn to write the word down on scratch paper first. because i usually spell something wrong. lol! i just punched a circle out of an extra journaling tag, and added it on top of my mistake. easy fix.

i went ahead of punched another circle out from the journaling tag. it had the word "date" on the tag, and i fit it into my circle and then added the rubon numbers for the year. i added a little strip of rubon peace signs, and a few epoxy shapes on top of the flowers on the pattern paper. and a few staples, since no layout is complete without staples. i was going to add some hand written journaling to this layout, on the ruled lines. but i started to worry that if i did, it would be way too much and too busy. there's a lot going on here, with the fun doodleing on the pattern paper. i think the layout itself is pretty self explanitory, so i don't think i neccesarily need any extra journaling to explain it.

head over to erin's blog to check out her take on the challenge. and then we would love it if you played along with us. you could do this same idea for a child's favorite shows, favorite music, you name it. if you do create something, please come back and share it with us. we'd love to see your take on this challenge 🙂
making some more blog books

April 13, 2010

i have no idea why i suddenly decided to start working on this project again. i had about 42 different projects going this weekend. but why not add starting a blog book to the list, right? because that's an easy enough thing to do. NOT.

the blog book. it's a think of beauty, once it's done and sitting on my bookshelf. but the process of making one of these books? it can be frustrating and time consuming. i'm sure it can be easy and simple for some people. just never for me. i decided to start with 2009, and then i will do 2008 afterwards. my blog is HUGE now, so i only pull up about 3 months at a time. once i work on that, and finetune it, it usually cuts the number of pages way down. by at least a third, if not more. then i pull up another few months. i had 154 pages for just the first 3 months, and after working on it, it's down to 92 pages already.

but this time, when blurb went to slurp my blog, it slurped it all up wonky. slurping is the term blurb uses for it sucking up your blog info and spitting it into the book program. cute, right? well, this time it added in a bunch of symbols and numbers all throughout my posts. EVERYWHERE. i was so bugged, i can't even tell you. i put in a message to their customer service helpers. and i was told that they really didn't know why it was doing that, but that i could "find and replace" what shouldn't be there. so i sat down and really studied the wonky parts, and determined what it was. just like everywhere that i saw "&#quot;" there should have been a quotation mark. meaning of course, that that wonky code was on both sides of whatever i was quoting. lol! there was also a 6 digit mix of symbols and numbers wherever a comma was. and a 5 digit mix of symbols and numbers where a lot of the spaces should be. luckily, the "find and replace" feature works easily. and it will take care and fix the entire book at once. for 3 months, it fixed over 2100 wonky codes in a matter of seconds. but still a pain.

anyways, i have 3 months of my blog book all edited and fixed to my liking. not bad, considering that was just a day and a half of working on it here and there. i'll share more once it's done. but in the meantime, you can check out THIS POST, ANOTHER POST, and THAT POST for more info on how i made the books and some Q&A's about the process.
designer challenge – making memories blog

April 12, 2010

it's my turn again for a designer challenge on the making memories blog. this time it's all about altering your slice die cuts. go read all about it over HERE on the blog. and you can see my process of taking this:

and turning it into this:
bake me a cake – a layout

April 9, 2010

i forgot i had a layout go up on the jillibean soup blog yesterday.

i don't know why, but i always seem to be digging out older photos when it's time to do my jillibean soup layouts each month. these are from almost 8 years ago. some pictures of the girls backing some cakes and brownies in their easy bake oven. and i'm 99% sure that we still have that oven up in the attic. lol! and i meant for the title to read "bake me a cake". forgot to put the "a" in there. "bake me cake" sounds so bossy. lol!
tour of my desktop carousel

April 8, 2010

yesterday, i was working on some projects out in another room. and after i was done, i was putting my tools and adhesives back in my scraproom. and as i put them in their spots in my making memories carousel, i thought about how much i love that thing.

so i thought it might be fun to show you what i keep in mine and how i use it. i've heard from some people, that they think it takes up so much space on the desktop. but i have a pretty small desk now. and i have two of these up there. i measured this, and it requires about 13 inches of space to spin around without knocking anything. i love having my most used stuff within arms reach. i just spin until i get what i need. shall we take a spin and see what's in there 😉

glitter glue, diamond glaze, glue lines, ki gloo. basically, my wet adhesives that i use all the time. not sure about that blue tube of adhesive. i'm thinking that might be dried out by now.

three of these top compartments, actually have 2 seperate spots in them. which is nice, since things don't get lost as easily or mixed together. these are my main scissors. the blue ones are creative memories ones, that i've had forever. then a scalloped scissor. some staples, and more adhesive.

glue dots, glue dots, and more glue dots. i'm completely addicted to glue dots and i fully admit that 🙂

some more scissors and a few exacto knives. sandpaper and paintbrushes. my most used pens for journaling and a pencil for tracing. i hate writing in pencil and only do it when needed.

more adhesives. i'm a serious adhesive junkie, and am always using about 13 different ones at a time. i actually have a bowl on my table that also holds more.

my favorite side. the tools. all kinds of them. my most often used from this area, are my paper piercers (for brads), my tweezers (for stickers), kraft knife (for opening things, not really for cutting), and the emery board (for sanding).

the middle of the carousel is deep, and can hold larger items. i keep my tag maker in there, and my tag curler. and a few of my rulers. i have a lot of rulers. just can't scrap without a few by my side.

onto the drawers. they're small, but make for nice little compartments. you can pull each one all the way out and move them around if you want. there's a little magnet on the back of each drawer, that helps hold it in place when it's all the way in. this one holds my needles, and some white thread. it's one color that i use a lot, so i have some close by for threading buttons. also a few extra trimmer blades. i have an older one that is marked with an "C", that i use for cutting chipboard, so that i don't wear down my good blade.

some tiny pencils. these are some that alyssa brought home from her grandma's house. they were from a beauty supply store that she works at. i like them because they have a very small, sharp tip. great for tracing templates or shapes, that i'm going to cut out. check out my high class eraser. i even taped it together at one point, because i loved it that much. it is awesome for removing pencil marks.

i use my creative memories circle cutter ALL the time. constantly. my three blades fit perfectly in this drawer. and i already have the caps off and popped onto the back. so they're ready to go, instead of fiddling with them all the time.

this drawer holds all the tips for my eyelet setters, my notch tool, and instant setter. and also my edge distresser. i have another one of those too, the MM one. i've been using those constantly lately.

binder clips. i do use these quite often. maybe not enough to have their own drawer. now that i have my embellishment shelf up (which i'll share next week), i might put those in a little jar. and find something else to go in here.

a drawer of safety pins. regular metal ones, and lots of cute colored ones. just like the clips, i'm not sure i use these enough to keep them in a drawer. those might get put in a jar too.

that's all of it. and this is going to sound totally crazy, but i'm going to say it anyways. when i scrap in the other room, i grab a few things at a time from the carousel and take them to where i'm working. i always forget a tool, or realize i need another adhesive. this happens about 9 times on every project i'm working on. then when i'm done, i go and carry everything back in and put it back in it's appropiate spot. i honestly never thought about this before, until i started typing this post. but i could just pick up the entire carousel and carry it out to where i'm working. and i'd have everything i could possibly need. hello laura! think a little, would you 😉

and just a quick peek at the carousel at the other end of my desk. i'm not walking you through this one though. it's mainly just random embellishments that i don't want to forget to use. or that i havn't put away yet. it also holds my tags, gems, mini rubons, etc.
jewelry making fun

April 6, 2010

have you seen the new vintage groove jewelry, by designer jill schwartz? she has teamed up with making memories to bring us some gorgeous jewelry supplies to create with. i first heard about this on my trip to the MM offices, last november. jill was actually there with all the pieces spread out on this huge table, and they were deciding on how they were going to group everything and package it. was neat to see a glimpse of the process. now, i'm the first to admit that i'm not actually a big jewelry person. meaning, the only jewelry i wear is my wedding rings. but i was totally up for the challenge of creating with this new collection.

i decided to invite my good friend, sierra, over to create with me. she's an artsy fartsy girl, like me. but with a different style. and while i was drawn to a ton of the pieces of this collection, i knew that some of it wasn't quite my style. it's gorgeous. just not "me". but i could see it being "sierra", and knew she'd have fun with it. she dug right in there, and started creating. pulling pieces out, taking chains apart, cutting pieces, and putting together fun mixtures. me? i sat there and debated, hemmed and hawwed, over analyzed, and maybe even got a little anxious and overwhelmed at one point. lol! i'm such a clean and linear person, matchy matchy, and everything measured to precise and perfect spacing. so this was a creative push for me.

but the nice thing about doing something with a friend, is that you always start chatting and talking about stuff. and at some point, i just started making stuff. we were both totally into what we were making, not really looking at each other much, but chatting away. sierra even said at one point, "i've never talked to you like this". which was kind of funny, since i've known her about 8 years. lol! anyways. the point of this, is that i made a few necklaces. all on my own. and i loved it. they're nothing too fancy or elaborate. but for my first time jewelry-ing it up (i might have made that term up), i'm really happy with them.

tell me that's a great shot. because i took these all one-handed. holding the necklace in one hand at arms length, getting the pieces to dangle the right way, and hold my heavy camera in the other hand and snap away, all while trying to keep my focus point. i even had my external flash on there, which made it heavier. i like to do things the hard way 😉

i was determined to use this super cute teal flower. it was the first thing that caught my eye. i think i had something else dangling on there, with the two flowers. and then i thought about the "L" monograms. when i got my package, jenny had tossed a ton of L's in there. i'm assuming it was for "laura", although it could be because she "loves" me so much 😉 so, i was joking that i should add an "L" to everything i make. like a signature touch. i kind of liked that idea.

i should have changed into something that actually matched better. but i don't have access to my room during the day, since joe sleeps after working all night. and this was taken one handed, outstetched arm. not sure i would have looked better if someone else took the photo, but in my mind, i would have. lol! and i did mean for this to be slightly off to the side (i didn't just put it on crooked), and not hanging right in the middle.

another cool one handed shot. better than some of my two handed shots, to be honest 😉

this large chunky piece was another one that i was drawn to right away. i was joking that in my simple nature, i would normally just attach this to the chain and be done with it. lol! but i picked out another piece to dangle on there, along with my signature "L" 😉

this would probably look cooler with a different shirt. yeah, i think so.

an hour or so spend with a good friend, creative goodness, and six creations to show for it. not bad at all. although i only made two necklaces, and sierra made 3 necklaces and a bracelet. she wins. but i have plans for more, so i'll share more next week. edited to add: sierra has her creations up on her blog this morning, and she's be thrilled if you would stop by and see what she made HERE.

right now, the collection is being released at select target and ac moore stores, across the country. if you go to the vintage groove jewelry site, you can see a list of all the stores that are carrying it. and if you're local to me, you're in luck. the modesto target store is one of the select california stores, and it's all in stock and on the shelves 😉
this tuesday morning

April 6, 2010

i think i'm back on track with life. back to having some control over what all is going on around here. getting back on a normal schedule. whatever "normal" really means 😉

the girls went back to school today, after a week and a day off for spring break. photo includes alyssa's friend cassidy, who walks with them every day.

between yesterday and today, i've mailed out ten projects. and paperwork for most of them, which takes longer than making the actual project. lol!

speaking of paperwork. i did a ton of it last night, and have everything put away and taken care of. this pile had about 30 papers in it before. now it has just 2 assignment emails. that's it.

my famous pile on the kitchen island is gone. it's usually a big stack of papers, notes, receipts, bills, and random stuff that needs attention. now i have one paint chip, some tacks from something i was going to pin up, a hair clip, lip stuff, and the cell phone.

photos are printed for layouts that i want to do, and product i want to use.

here's a peek at some of that product that i really want to use. i already have 3 pages in mind for this collection :)
spring jillibean cards

April 5, 2010

hope everyone had a great easter weekend. we had a nice day with family and a super yummy dinner. the girls got lots of chocolate and candy. good day. except for the rain. that's not normal for us in CA, so we could have done without that part. lol! the girls are enjoying their last day of spring break today, and will be back to school tomorrow. and i think we're all ready to be back on a normal schedule. i know i am 😉

i had a few cards go up on the jillibean soup blog today. i'm just loving these new canvas flowers. love the texture and thickness of them. for the flower stems, i cut a jillibean soup border sticker in half and stuck them down. the "grass" on my cardstock was just cut by hand. just made little notches all the way across the length.

i'm hoping this card is right. with the amount of rain we had yesterday, i'm hoping it brings some flowers around the yard. lol! i cut the umbrellas from the pattern paper, and adhered them with pop dots to the card. added a few simple flowers and buttons, and a cute sticker phrase to the middle one.

make sure and check out the jillibean soup blog for lots more spring cards from the other designers 😉
peek into my favorite colors

April 1, 2010

i spend some time tonight driving the girls back and forth across town to soccer practices, my purse beside me. and i also spend some time doing laundry, hanging up clean shirts and sweaters. and i noticed something that i thought was kind of interesting.

this is my favorite purse right now. i love a touch of plaid, and these colors make me happy. and i got it for only $6, which you can't beat. and it's big and roomy. not that i really need all that room. i carry such a small amount of stuff in my purse. wallet, checkbook, lipglosses and chapstick, cell phone and hands-free earpiece (CA law), a pen, some aspirin, loose change, and a TON of tokens from all the indoor soccer games that i've been collecting each weekend 😉

and these are my favorite sweaters. i'm a sucker for little cardigan sweaters. i wear them almost every day. my favorite jeans, a cute cardigan, tank top, and flip flops. standard outfit. and these are my most worn colors. just add in a deep purple and a black one (which didn't quite go with my story, so they got left out of the photo), and i'm good to go. although i was just browsing the old navy site, and there's the most gorgeous orange cardigan and colbalt blue cardigan. sadly, those colors weren't on sale. those would have completed me. lol! the two polka dot sweaters in this photo? i got them for only $4 each. yes, i like to point out my happy bargains 🙂

now to the part that i thought was interesting. these are totally the colors i have going on in the house these days. which i will share photos of next week. still finishing a few things. but today, i accidently found the most perfect kitchen rug. wasn't looking for one, since i already had one. but it found me. and it was on sale, and i had an extra percent off coupon, and i had some store cash to use. i had no choice but to get it. lol! and it ties together everything i've been doing with the colors. with the paint and other decor. i slapped it on the kitchen floor and smiled. and at some point, i realized that it totally matched my purse and clothes. no wonder i love it so much.
easter 2003 – a layout

April 1, 2010

i had a layout go up on the jillibean soup blog today, just in time for easter.

dug out some easter photos from 7 years ago. i had scrapped these before. but they were on 4 pages. in both the girls albums, meaning 8 pages total. now i have just 2 pages for the family album. perfect. i know some people think that re-scrapping some photos seems silly, and that they would rather work on other things. but i'm all for it, from time to time. especially, when i get some really cute product like the egg drop soup collection.

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