Laura Vegas

photo sharing

March 13, 2010

every once in a while, i do actually take photos for other people. i'm always willing and ready to capture some great shots for family and friends. and sometimes, they take me up on it. i thought i'd pull a few from the last year, and share them. just to get some fresh faces on the blog 😉

my good friend, sierra (and mom to a few cute kids that i've watched and scrapped over the years). she wanted a headshot, for when i finally talked her into starting a blog 😉

this is sierra's cousin, bailey. she does a lot of rodeo/pagent stuff (in fact, i believe she's a rodeo queen now), and needed some headshots for that. this photo was from last year.

and this is one of the photos for this year, taken just a few weeks ago. really hard to believe it was pouring rain about an hour before this shot.

and to my excitement, her horse was involved a little bit this time. one of my biggest dreams in life is to ride a horse. she said i could ride it, so i might have to go back and take her up on the offer. although do you have any idea how hard it is to get a horse to stand where you want, and face the good light? not easy.

then there was this little birthday girl, peyton. i was at her birthday party, to capture some photos of her and also of the birthday cake part of the party. this was an accidental shot, and it actually ended up being one of my favorites.

and i've taken photos of this little dude twice. one month old pics, and two month old pics. this is zachery, the new baby in the family. the proud parents are my cousin brad, and his wife issa. this photo just cracks me up every time i look at it. we were trying to get a shot of him with the teddy bear, which actually was brad's growing up. of course, little dude was one month old and kept tipping over. i just happen to luck out and get this shot. and i think it's so cute, that they look like total twins. i'll share more pics of zach and his parents in another post.
photo swap layout

March 12, 2010

last week on the making memories blog, wendy bretz and i did a photo swap challenge. you can read that post HERE. i figured today was a good day to share it. since it's dark and dreary here today, and i could use something bright and fun to look at.

this is wendy's daughter hannah. isn't she cute! and she's funny too. i've actually talked to her on the phone. about mario cart, and how badly i stink at it. and she seemed truely baffled by the fact that i come in last, every time i play. lol! anyways. wendy and i have totally different styles from each other. but i know that we also appreciate and admire each other's style at the same time. i love how wendy uses minimal amounts of product on her layouts, and how she embraces the white space on a layout. but i tend to go the other direction. so i knew i wanted to see hannah's photo, on a totally girly layout. with lots of products and embellishments.

we both used the MM flutter collection and the slice for our layouts. the ladybug was cut from the big kids design card. i should tell you the disaster that this little ladybug caused me. lets just say that it started out looking just like you see here. and then i thought it needed something. so i added something, and then that smeared stuff onto another part, and then i tried to clean it up and made something else worse. it got really ugly, really fast. so i managed to salvage the ladybug, and just re-did my cardstock circles and left it at that.

the title word "silly" was cut from the just chillin design card. i cut it once from blue cardstock, and once from white cardstock. and then i adhered them, just slightly overlapping each other.

you can see what wendy did with one of my photos over on the making memories blog post from last week, right HERE.
big smile – a layout

March 11, 2010

wanted to quickly share a layout i did a while ago, that went up on the jillibean soup blog today.

i wanted to use the new pattern papers from the old world cabbage stew collection, and dug around looking for photos to go with it. i came across these ones of sarah, from almost 8 years ago. i always loved these photos. she saw them, and asked why her hair was so big. lol! she had the thickest, waviest, touch of curly hair. it's still thick, but now just long and straight. i also used the home tweet home clear stamp set to make the tree and the little birdie. and the stitching? that's just drawn on with a pen 😉

keeping this short and sweet today. girls are on half days at school all week, so it's been a little crazier than usual around here.
i visited the digi side of the world

March 10, 2010

i have always been very quick to say that i am NOT or ever will be a digital scrapbooker. i understand so little of photoshop. just enough to edit my photos and print some photo collages. i ignore any tutorials on digital scrapbooking i see. i admire the layouts, sure. but i don't pay attention to how they're done. i have a stack of digital scrapbooking idea books also. about five or six of them. but i just look at the layouts. i've never read all the great instructions and tips that are written inside.

that being said, i have managed to start a small collection of digital kits and elements. and i never use them. but this weekend, i got around to doing some browsing on the scrapgirls site. they were super generous in sending the CK dream team some gift certificates, and i figured it was time i use mine. i loaded up on paper kits. since i always start with paper when i scrap. figured i would do the same with digital scrapping, once i got around to trying it. luckily, getting new kits all downloaded and organized on my computer got me inspired to try and use them.

and here is what i came up with. my very first all digital layout. i actually started out with the idea to just do the paper and photos digital. and then print it out, and add real "stuff" to it. like embellishments, ribbons, title letters. since that is something that i don't have much of. i have just a tiny handful of digital embellishments, and am not patient enough to learn how to make my own. but in the end, i just used what i did have and and made it work.

i created my layout in the 8×8 inch size. my photo printer only prints 8.5×11, and that way i could print at home. or i could order them from costco, and pick them up for $1.49 each. then i can mat that 8×8, onto a 9×9 sheet of cardstock. since i do scrap the 9×9 size, and since i always love a good matted look around my layouts. and another thought that just came to mind. this could very easily be reprinted for haley's mom and dad, and they could have their own copy.

i certainly have no plans of becoming a digital scrapper. or switching over to "the other side". lol! but this was fun to play around with. i created this and printed it all within an hour. i didn't make a mess, i didn't have to cut paper, i didn't have to dig out title letters, i didn't have to go upstairs to print my journaling and then cut it into strips, i didn't have to take photos of my layout and then find my card reader to upload them to the computer, i didn't have to crop and resize that photo of my layout to share on my blog. i literally sat in my chair and scrapped, just by clicking some buttons. kind of a nice change of pace. but i'll be back with my paper and real "stuff" today 🙂

supplies:
birthday wishes solids paper mini, by sarah batdorf (turquoise paper)
young at heart paper biggie, by angie briggs (orange circles paper)
typesets hello ness brushes and stamps, by cathy zielske (title)
artist in me, by karla dudley designs (stitches)
whoo’s my best friend – a layout

March 8, 2010

this layout was in the february issue of scrapbook trends magazine. a magazine that has been so good to me over the last 4-5 years. the majority of my published work has been through them, along with cards magazine. this was the last layout that i had picked up by them, before joining the creating keepsakes family.

i had originally created this for one of my jillibean soup blog projects. but then it got picked up for the magazine right after i created it. so this was one that i never got to share. the photo is of alyssa and one of her BFF's, cassie. the main starting point for this layout was the owl pattern paper, and the super old ki memories acrylic letters. i wanted to use those letters, and loved the orangeness of them. of course, the photo didn't match. so black and white, it became.

i took an extra piece of the owl pattern paper, and cut out a few of the owls. then i simply pop dotted them, on top of the same sized owls. nothing super inventive, but a simple way to add some texture and interest to your layout. and the title? i know, i'm a genious with the play on words. lol! "whoo's my best friend". tell me that's not brilliant 😉
blog crawl winners

March 8, 2010

first, a quick photo share of my girls. how can i not share this one 😉

so, did everyone enjoy the blog crawl over the weekend? i want to thank all of you that stopped by to participate, and make it a huge success. all the manufacturers and designers are announcing their winners today, and here are the winners from my blog.

Way too cute cards! Love them!

Posted by: Judy T | March 05, 2010 at 12:34 PM

these are wonderful

Posted by: Tabitha Jones| March 05, 2010 at 06:05 PM

congrats girls! email me your mailing addresses, and i'll get your cards out in the mail to you. thanks again to everyone, for playing along.
blog crawl day is here

March 5, 2010

the big day is here. jillibean soup has teamed up with bella blvd and nikki sivils for a huge blog crawl! and it lasts all weekend. so you have plenty of time to check it all out. i think it's so cool to see manufacturers work together, and support each other. i got to meet everyone from all three manufacturers at CHA back in january, and they're all so talented and sweet. so i was really excited to hear about this fun event, to bring us all together. so what's this about, you ask?

first off, all three manufactures are doing product giveaways on their blogs. but they want to make it more fun, and get you crawling from blog to blog. so you're going to have to visit one manufacturer's blog and leave a comment, to be eligible to win a different manufacturer's product package. make sense? i know, probably not. i have a way of making things sound complicated. go check out the jillibean soup blog, and they'll have it all mapped out for you 😉

in addition to the manufacturers product giveaways, the design team members are getting involved too. and we've all put some thought into what we're giving away. we got crafty and made stuff. stuff that we think you might want for yourself. that's right. they're all handmade craft giveaways.

here is my giveaway, that i put a lot of hard work into. they seem so simple, and they are. and yet they took me forever. lol! a set of six handmade cards, for all occasions. and i don't just have one set of cards. i have TWO sets of cards to giveaway.

i wanted to show you how fun it can be to mix these great manufacturers products together. i focused on the papers for these cards. i started with my jillibean soup "soup staples" papers. they really are staples, because you can match them with anything. for these three cards, i used some fun bella blvd pattern papers from their newest collections. make sure to check out their blog, to get a list of their participating designers that are doing giveaways.

for these three cards, i used some fun new nikki sivils pattern papers. aren't those little bees adorable? and the "buzz" stands out more in person, but i might have to outline those letter stickers now that i'm looking at it more. make sure and check out their blog, to get a list of their participating designers that are doing giveaways.

want to check out more handmade craft giveaways? here are the girls from jillibean soup that are participating. so make sure to crawl to each blog and check out their craftiness. and then leave a comment for your chance at their giveaway.

jill yegerlehner
ingrid danvers
Kim Moreno
kimber mcgray
shannon zickel
summer fullerton
karen nuce (karen's will be on the jillibean blog)
jennifer harkin (jen's will also be on the jillibean blog)

so, just make sure and leave me a comment for your chance to win. i'll even accept international readers, since this isn't anything heavy to mail. the blog crawl is lasting all weekend. so take your time and enjoy it all. and then on monday morning, i will randomly draw 2 winners to receive my handmade cards. good luck and happy crawling :)

comments now closed. will post the winners in the morning.
i’m sorry – a layout

March 3, 2010

wanted to share another layout for creating keepsakes a while back.

as seen in the january 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative craft groups. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

this was done at the same time as my "text messaging" layout. one of the other ideas they were looking for, was to incorporate a letter from your child onto your scrapbook page. just as quickly as i jumped on the teen slang part of the assignment, i also jumped on this idea. and i knew right away what i was going to do it about. sarah and her "i'm sorry" letters. i've mentioned these before. we tend to butt heads a lot, since we're both so much alike. and she isn't a big talker in those moments. but she will write me letters afterwards, saying how sorry she is. and there is usually some other funny stuff in those letters. i have saved most of them from over the years. i even made a folder to keep them in last year, which you can see HERE.

before i start, i have to let you know that sarah is totally fine with the fact that i made this layout, and that it was in a magazine, and that i blog about it. trust me. she's cool with it. i wanted to find some photos that went with the story behind her letters. now, i do actually have photos of her crying her head off and hiding out under tables. i'm the mean mom that takes photos like that of my kids. lol! but those were from when she was little. instead, i went with some of her pouty photos. sarah can pout like no other. she's good at it. 2 of these were from my film days, so they're not the best. but i thought they all went together nicely.

the journaling was really hard to read in the magazine. i know that i love to read people's journaling. i'm nosey like that. lol!

this is one of her actual letters. it was hard to just pick one. but this was the one i picked for the layout. i adhered it to white cardstock, since the notebook paper is so thin. i know sometimes it's hard to read kids writing, unless they're your own kids 😉

"dear mom. you are a really great mom and i love you alot. i am really sorry if i was just sitting there doing nothing. i know that you are mad. but i am really sorry again. but sorry doesn't work for you. i know. so i wanted to say i love you. you are the best mom i could ever have in the whole wide world. and that i am still really sorry that i made you mad. apparently this letter is really special to me and it is making me cry because of what i am saying. i hope you aren't still mad at me. love you. your daughter, sarah"

how cute is that? i so wish i had put the date on these letters. but i know this was from about 3 years ago. she still writes me letters. and i still save them. but now she's fully aware that i save them, so sometimes she'll write me letters just to be funny. lol!
school projects

March 2, 2010

"mom, i have a project due". to me, those are the 6 most dreaded words that can come out of my girls mouths. lol! seriously, i just dread school projects with every ounce of my being. i consider myself a pretty crafty person. i know stuff, about a lot of crafts. but school projects? they're a whole other set of "crafts". usually involving a shoebox or a posterboard, and a whole lot of creativity. the kind that i'm not good at. i started to realize just how many of these school projects we have done over the last 12 months. let's check them out, shall we?

a diorama project for sarah on a wild animal. the leopard, to be exact. we had a shoebox, but i thought it was too big. so i went to target, and picked out a shoebox from some toddler shoes and asked if i could take it home for a project. smaller box, less space to fill. smart thinking, right? we actually bought a little kit to help with this. we would spray glue on areas we wanted, and then sprinkle on the grass and stuff. i took a few rocks from the backyard, and stuck those in. the deer was a last minute addition that sarah added, taken from the dollhouse box.

alyssa's science fair project. pretend there's a photo here. i didn't get any photos of it. but it was an experiment about watering plants with different kinds of water. and there was a posterboard involved. it never came home though.

castle structure project for alyssa. this was for her country report, i think. she had 2 other classmates to work with on this. building a structure? i didn't even know where to start. one of her friends bought all the styrofoam, and they convinced another mom to cut some of the pieces. i have a massive disgust for styrofoam, i can't even stand the touch of it. sadly, i was sort of left to still do a lot of the cutting. the girls painted all the pieces. and then figuring out how to glue this all together. i even went to my facebook friends, to figure out what to use to hold it all together. toothpicks came in really handy. we had a lot of this done. but then alyssa went to bed, and i felt the need to spiffy it up a bit. so i started cutting the notched top pieces, painting them, and glueing them all on. this was at midnight, the night before it was due. then i used some leftover spray on grass and foliage from sarah's diorama.

mission poster board project for sarah. i'm actually thankful for this project. since most 4th graders have to actually build a mission. lol! i remember saying something about this to an online friend, and they didn't know what it was about. guess it's a california thing. one of the standard 4th grade projects is to do a mission report, including constructing a mission. which we did with alyssa. somehow, sarah got out of it and only had to make a tri-fold posterboard. notice the smaller sized posterboard? genious idea, thought of by me. are you picking up on my thinking here. smaller shoebox, smaller space to fill. smaller tri-fold posterboard, smaller area to cover.

country map project for alyssa. i think this was acually part of the country report, along with the castle. they had to make a big country map. apparently, AAA doesn't carry maps of other countries. so we printed one off the internet. and then i free hand drew this larger version of it. i would look at the map on my 8.5×11 paper, and then i'd freehand it on my huge posterboard. slowly, but surely. i was actually quite impressed with how good it turned out. so were the girls. then alyssa and her classmates printed the photos, and typed the text.

alyssa's newspaper project. once again, pretend there's a photo here. i didn't get any photos of it. but it was a huge newspaper project. they had to find over 40 different parts of the newspaper and cut them out and glue them to different papers. like a headline, a photo with credit, a birth announcement, a photo advertisment. and on and on. we had cut up newspaper all over this house for a few weeks. i could not wait to toss it all in the recylcing bin. then she had to write a ton of paragraphs about different things. it was huge. it has yet to come home though.

revolutionary war diorama project for sarah. another diorama. i tried to get a little more creative with this. even though it's still not great. lol! i took out leftover styrofoam, and painted it and made a door. even stuck a brad in there, for the doorhandle. the story of this girl, was that she was a secret spy. the soldiers held their meetings at her house, and they would force her to go and hide with her family. but this time, she listened in and overheard the plans. and then she went and reported it and put a stop to something huge. so this is her (she's actually a christmas caroler that was from sarah's friend's project), listening at the door. apparently, she had a really HUGE door. lol!

sarah's poster board for the revolutionary war report. this was in addition to the diorama. two projects at once? are you kidding me? it was supposed to be a newspaper, in the form of a posterboard. sarah did all the drawings and wording. with a LOT of direction from me. lol! i do think my newspaper title looks really cool. i asked her what she would say when her teacher asked her where she got the cool letters. and sarah went into the "my mom uses the slice, by making memories". it was pretty funny. lol!

alyssa's science fair project, again. this was done with 2 classmates again, and they did their experiment on the diet coke and mentos thing. experiment done at a friends house, since we all know i can't stand a mess of any kind. and diet coke and mentos exploding all over kind of sounded like a mess. posterboard done here. which the girls did just about the entire thing. even drawing the coke bottle, which turned out great. it ended up taking 2nd place in the junior high science fair.

a suitcase for sarah's state report. the latest project, just turned in last week. the project part of sarah's state report. there was a whole 2 page typed report also, along with drawings on all the state symbols. inside this suitcase, they were to "pack" places you would go and what you would do if you visited your state. which was florida, if you didn't catch that. sarah wanted to make the suitcase from cardboard, so i tore up a box and made it look all worn by tearing off some of the layers. inside, i glued down some travel pattern paper. and then we printed photos of 5 places to go, and sarah wrote the descriptions for each place. we had some creative differences on the outside of the suitcase. which was actually really funny, looking back. and i added the ribbon handle that night after she'd gone to bed. and in the morning she told me that she was going to use brown ribbon. guess she didn't like my striped stuff. lol!

and since we know that most of these projects are hugely done by the parents, i thought this series of comic strips was pretty funny. my mom had cut these out and saved them for me, back when we were doing the revolutionary war diorama, back in december. click on them to see them a bit bigger.

so there you go. 12 months of school projects. yes, that was all in the last 12 months. we have more coming. boohoo for us. but i have to say, there is nothing better than having one of those projects walk back through your door and finding out we got an "A+" on it. yay us! i think the animal diorama got a "B", but all the others have gotten "A+'s" on them. then there's the issue of what to do with all these projects 😉
no time to blog today

March 1, 2010

i have stuff to blog about, and things to share. but no time to do it. just too much going on these last few days. hope to be back tomorrow, with something fun. so for now, i leave you with a cute card that went up on the jillibean soup blog today.

a "just because" card. it's little, just 4×4 inches. i used my old quickutz die for the flowers, which i cut out of several pattern papers. then some buttons for the centers, and wrapped twine all around the card. simple and pretty.

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