Laura Vegas

not just for the holidays

January 7, 2010

the one thing i miss about NOT having christmas decorations up anymore, is the glowing lights from the tree. and the ones i had on the greenery above my fireplace. i miss them. a lot. in fact, my mantle looks so incredibly boring right now. partially, because i can't remember what i had up there before christmas. so it's pretty bare. lol! but i do have a few things that have been created for christmas decor, that are sticking around all year.

my yarn balls. i was at michaels one day, and came across the yarn section. i felt this need to buy some. which is just weird, since i don't knit or anything. it was cheap, so i picked up a few things of it. i've been reading jennifer's blog for the past year or so. or should i say, i've been stalking her blog. lol! just love seeing and reading about her home decor projects. she has me adding touches of turquoise to my decor lately. lol! so she had this post, showing some christmas decorations she had made. and it made me remember some styrofoam balls i had, from a project that never happened. so i came up with the idea to just wrap the yarn around the balls. i'm sure this isn't anything new or genious. but i thought i was pretty cool! the buttons balls seemed fun. but they weren't. i can make 6 large yarn balls while watching a 30 minute show on the DVR. and yet 1 tiny button ball took me just as long. which is why there are only 2 of them. lol! i just tossed these into a large iron bowl i picked up at walmart for like $10 (although i really dispise that store with all of my being). this now sits on my kitchen island. so cute.

my button tree it all it's glory! now, this tree took me FOREVER to make. lol! these were all the rage about two years ago, right around christmas. i had decided to do mine in more autumn colors, since it would match my house better. browns, reds, greens, yellows, pinks, and oranges. gorgeous! ok, i actually don't have any orange or pink in my house. maybe i should. i have had this displayed for 2 years now, upstairs. i decided to bring it down to the kitchen, where we could enjoy it more. i wish i had the patience to do more of these. since we all know i own about a trillion buttons 😉
my scrapbook island timeline

January 5, 2010

i had a thought today. what if i took a photo of my scrapbook island once a week. no cleaning it up. just a photo of it as-is, with whatever i happen to have on it. i've seen people do this idea with their desks. taking a photo of their computer area and desk every day for a week. i think it would be really fun to see it over the course of a year.

the last time it was totally clean. which was the weekend that we moved it downstairs. september 2009. when we moved the island down to the playroom, i had no intention of using it for my actual scrap stuff anymore. i wasn't planning on putting anything up there. none of the shelves hold any scrap stuff at all. i knew we'd still use it. but it would be more on an as-needed basis. if the girls were working on school projects, or i had some big assignments to work on, things like that. but this island has not been cleaned off since the move downstairs. lol!

filled with scrap goodies. october-november 2009. i had it filled up with scrap goodies from all the boxes i got from the generous manufacturers for the CK dream team. that sat there for at least a month, before i could get it all put away.

in the middle of the christmas madness. december 2009. i had piles of frames, and collages i was creating for gifts. yarn for the yarn balls i made, my one new christmas decor that i made this year. other random things for gifts. and the island made for an awesome present wrapping station, since it's so roomy.

and here was my island today. january 2010. you can see my project 365 album for last year, with a stack of photos on top that i'm working into the album. and you can see that i'm already assembling my project life album for this year. the first thing i do, is put all the date cards and journaling cards into the page protectors. i like having it all assembled and ready to go. i also have new organizers and planners, since it's the start of a new year. a flat rate priority box, that i need to pack up and ship to a good friend (hi danni!). some more goodies that came in the mail, that i still have to put away. lots of randomness.

it really is a great place to spread out. big and roomy. and i can leave stuff there, and not worry about picking it up. the little ones can't reach up there. and even if they climb on the shelves, they know not to touch. the only thing, is that i worry people just see that island when they walk in my front door. and that they think i actually spend my whole day working on stuff up there. which is the furthest thing from the truth. i very rarely ever touch anything up there. it will literally sit there for days on end. sometimes weeks. i shuffle it around. and i think about working on the stuff. but i really don't ever get around to actually doing anything with the stuff. lol! so rest assured, if you see piles up there, you can bet they've been there for quite a while 😉

and this is totally random. but how many of you are watching the newest installment of "the bachelor"? it's ok to admit it. i stopped watching for a few years. but i got back into it the last 3 seasons. or should i say the last 2 bachelorettes, and the last bachelor. it's one of those quilty pleasure type shows. it's all so crazy, and i cringe at half the girls there, and i feel so embarrased for the other half. but i still watch. and i still pick my favorite from the first episode, and root for her. and most of the time, my pick makes it pretty far. maybe jake should be asking me for MY opinion. lol! anyways, back to my main point. did you know that the host, chris harrison, has a blog? he blogs after each episode, and gives an insider's view of what went on. it's quite interesting to read. another quilty pleasure to add to my list. check it out HERE :)
random shots around the house

January 4, 2010

figured i would post a few random shots of us around the house. will tide this blog over for a day, until i come up with something else to post.

alyssa and me tonight. do we look alike? i don't see it, but sometimes people tell me we do. other than the glasses. lol! excuse the flash, which makes me look even whiter and paler then in real life. or maybe i do look that white and pale? if i was patient enough, i would photoshop those wrinkles off my forehead. lol! not a bad self portrait of the two of us though. although i feel bad that alyssa is the blurry one in the shot. lol!

do you think sarah has too many webkinz? i think she has 40 of them, or maybe more. the girls both got their first webinz for christmas, 2 years ago. they've popped up on birthdays, easter, christmas, and have been purchased with gift money. and sarah wanted me to add that she got another 3 of them this weekend. so imagine them in there.

the girls are getting the band back together! lol! amanda came over for a while to hang out, and they migrated to play rock band after dinner. this is all up in the loft, where my scrap studio was. and it is so much louder when they play up there, than it was downstairs. you should have heard them playing outdoor adventure yesterday. i thought they were going to bring the house down. a few things i want to point out. doesn't alyssa look cute in the hat? can you see how serious sarah takes her guitar playing? how cute does amanda's new short haircut look? do you notice how empty and lonely my red embellishment shelf now looks? and do you know how much i still LOVE my ikea shelves?
year in review 2009

January 2, 2010

this here is one of my all time favorite layouts. i created this last new year's eve, and posted it on new year's day.

i posted about this HERE. this was a lift of the amazingly talented sarah klemish. and my theory is "why mess with a good thing". it's a great design, and perfect for a year in review. so why re-think it? i lifted my lift of sarah's layout for this past year. i created the collaage on new years eve, and was going to post this yesterday (new years day). but i finished it a little later than planned, and i lost the sun for my good lighting. geez, it's january 2nd, and i'm already behind. lol! i still don't have good lighting, but i'm not about to sit around all day and wait for the sun to come out.

this time, i added some photos of myself and joe in there. this collage took me about 30 minutes to put together and print. the photos are all 1 x 1.5 inches, and the entire collage is 8 x 7.5 inches. i typed the journaling in the same format, in the same font, and on the same pattern paper. used the same chipboard numbers. i did use a flourish sticker, instead of a rubon this time. and i went with different colors. i might have used something other than yellow, now that i'm looking at this. but i picked stuff out, while talking on the phone. so it was impulse scrapping.

i was emailing my good friend carla, as i was creating this collage. and she said that she really wanted to do one, but that the photos would take her forever. i mentioned the crop tool, and carla had never known about this little trick. after i showed her, she said it was genious and such a time saver. and i felt the same way when i discovered it. i'm not sure how i used to crop my photos, before i learned about this. and trust me, i didn't learn about this until about 2 years ago. simply pull up your photo, and then select "image" across the top toolbar. then select "crop".

now check for these little boxes, marked "width", "height", and "resolution". i took these screenshots in elements, since i figure that's what a lot of you are using. i personally, do all my collages in CS2. this is where you can enter the exact dimensions that you want your printed photo to be. i typed in 1 inch x 1.5 inch, at 300 dpi (always print at 300 dpi). then you just select the part of the photo that you want, and it will keep that size. so if you were cropping to a 3 x 3 size, it will keep the cropping in a square shape. this is such an easy way to zoom in, crop out the stuff you don't want, and focus on the main subject of the photo.

supplies:
swiss dot cardstock – bazzill
chipboard numbers – basic grey
flourish sticker – adornit
label sticker and phrase sticker - creative cafe
font – old remington, by autumn leaves
happy new year’s

December 31, 2009

just wanted to stop in and with everyone a very happy new year's! and to also thank all of you. for coming here and visiting my little blog. for all your comments and sweet emails. i have made some amazing friends through the world of blogging, and i appreciate each one of you. so thanks.

this is what i'm working on tonight. catching up my project 365 album, for 2009. this photo is from last february. so it's much fuller than that. and i'm actually surprised that i don't have as much to finish as i thought i did. other than that, just a quiet day and quiet night. alyssa is at her dad's house still. joe has been working all week, and is on his way to work again tonight. he'll be ringing in the new year at the store (in 1 hour, and 40 minutes). so it's me and sarah, hanging out and watching the disney channel countdown celebrations.

also got my project life kit today. perfect timing. i already have it out and am starting to assemble it. still deciding what i'm going to do with it. lots of options with this new kit.

so long 2009. it's been a crazy and good year. but we're ready for a new one. so bring it on 2010 🙂
blogging and scrapping by the numbers

December 29, 2009

i'm not going to lie. numbers make me feel good. it's proof of what i have done, and what i have accomplished. and sometimes, proof of what i havn't done enough of. lol! i make guesses all the time. not necessarily educated guesses. just pulling random numbers that sound about right, out of my head. so it's nice sometimes to actually go and check the numbers.

when i check in on my blog each day, i check my stats page. i can see how many views i have on a daily basis, and where they're coming from. it even has a graph line. when that line dips low (usually on the weekends), i wonder why no one is reading my blog that day. when that line goes up high, i wonder what i've done that is making people read my blog that day (and hope that it was something good, and not some drama. lol!). it shouldn't matter to me how many people check my blog. i know that. but i like to know that people like what i'm sharing, enough to keep coming back. therefore, making me want to blog more. makes sense, right?

so of course, i had to check how many times i've blogged this year. and i was impressed with myself. this is my 235th post of the year. out of 365 days, that's not bad at all. and here is my goal for the next few months, or at least next year. is to get the last two years of my blog printed through blurb into my little 7×7 hardcover books. i love that set of books shown above, that equal 2.5 years of blogging. but i've slacked on doing them since then. so i have 2008 and 2009 to get done.

i don't use these post bound albums anymore. but i still like the photo (taken of all the daycare kids albums as of 2 years ago), and it represents all the layouts i do, just for this story-telling post. i remember at the end of last year, i was looking at what i had scrapped that year. and i realized that i had scrapped more layouts of the daycare kids and friends, than i had scrapped my girls and our own family. that didn't seem right to me. i love the daycare kids more than anything, and also love to scrap friends of the family. it gives me variety, and lots of cute faces to choose from when i'm scrapping. from looking through my blog and my laptop, i counted 29 daycare/friends layouts for this year. and another 2 that i can't share yet. so 31 layouts is still pretty good.

but when you get right down to it, i should be focusing on my own family more and getting our memories down. so that's exactly what i set out to do this year. i still scrapped the other kids and friends of ours. but i made a big effort to put more focus on my girls and my family. i made a big point to scrap a lot of random things, that maybe i wouldn't have scrapped before. i always looked for family photos to use first and foremost, when it came time to work on projects and assignments. and it shows. from looking through my blog and my laptop, i counted 82 family layouts, and another 19 that i can't share yet. HELLO. that's 101 layouts in the last year!!! just for my own family. that's huge.

on top of all that, i had a ton of projects i did for assignments. oddles of cards, altered items, smaller sample layouts, and even pillowcases and tshirts. i'm not going to count those. i know they're all there. and i know it was a lot. but there are some big personal projects that i feel are worth mentioning and patting myself on the back for.

i took on project 365 this past year, from becky higgins. the concept of taking a photo a day, and putting it into one meaningful album that really shows a look at your year. i LOVE the concept more than anything. to me, i wanted it to be a way to get all the little things captured. things around the house, places we go, things we do. just random little tidbits that make up our life. i have 5 months of this album completely and totally done. i shared most of those pages during the first few months of the year. then i got a little behind. i have a lot of photos in there for the other months. just a matter of filling in the empty spots and catching up my journaling cards. but it's still do-able, and i'm determined to finish it. becky has another kit for this coming year, called project life. i ordered one and it's on it's way to me. not totally sure how i'm going to use it, but i'll keep you informed on what i do.

another big project that i did this year, was putting together the girls school albums. i had the school KOTM's from becky higgins, that i had stashed away for quite a while. finally took them out and spend about two weeks organzing and assembling my albums. this photo shows 4 albums (2 for alyssa, 2 for sarah), but i ended up with 6 albums total (3 for alyssa, and 3 for sarah). you can see more of my albums HERE. i'm so glad i took the time to get these put together. i still have some work to do within the albums, for each year. but they hold all the papers, projects, report cards, class photos, id cards, awards, etc. and everytime i get one of these things, it goes directly into the album. so it's already making my life easier, just having the system set up.

another project i worked on this year, was my "things we do" albums. i hesitate to call these "vacation albums", since we don't really go on actual vacations. lol! but there are some trips in there, and a lot of day trip type stuff. this took me a few weeks, and i have most of our trips from the last 5 years in three albums total. you can see more about these HERE. and i even re-did an entire 40+ page disney album, into just 7 pages, that i added to my "things we do" album. you can see that HERE.

and this photo isn't really related to this post. but i'm not about to go take a photo at this hour. i came across this one while digging out all the other photos, and i thought i looked so happy here. and knowing that i accomplished so much scrapping this past year makes me feel this happy. i also look pretty much just like this right now. i'm wearing the same hoodie, the same glasses, sitting in the same chair, with the same hairstyle. so that's convenient. i also just happen to have been listening to the soundtrack of this same movie, the entire time i was typing up this post. you all know it's my favorite and at the top of my ipod list! no lie there. you want proof that i'm the biggest "high school musical" fan?

i created that layout over a year ago. love it! not sure how this worked it's way into my post. rofl! the randomness that is my mind. it's a funny thing somtimes 😉
my cousins and their weddings

December 28, 2009

i'm switching from christmas mode for this post. i havn't even looked through the handful of photos i took this weekend. but i was going through my blog tonight and all the layouts i've created this past year, putting together a blog post that i'll share tomorrow. in the process, i realized i've never shared these layouts. just so happens, that i've had two of my cousins get married in the last few years. which comes in handy, when i needed to create wedding layouts with the making memories wedding collection ;)

this layout was featured in the june issue of scrapbook trends magazine. the white cardstock is the background of this layout (i just took the photo of it on a black bookshelf). i took this photo of my cousin brad, and his wife, raiza, on their wedding day. i took a small amount of photos that day, as they were posing for the professional photographers. i didn't want to get in anyone's way, so i took this from way off on the side, using my zoom lens. it just so happened that they loved this shot, and have it enlarged in their house. love that. after this layout was published, i gave it to them and they have it framed. and i'm sending out a huge "congrats" to them both. they just delivered their first baby on christmas eve, an adorable boy named zachery john. finally, someone else has a kid in this family. lol!

these next two layouts are of my cousin rachael, and her husband, ryan on their wedding day. we weren't able to make it to the wedding, but she had these photos to share with me. gorgeous photos of them, and they're such a cute couple.

these two layouts were created using the wedding page kit. and they just happen to be on the back of the packaging, that is hanging on the shelves right now at target. so cool! although i just now, at this very second, realized i spelled rachael's name wrong. lol! she was telling me yesterday, at our family get-together, that they go check it out every time they're in target. i'm glad i'm not the only one. i go down that aisle and look at it every time. which for me is about 2-3 times a week, because i can't remember to get what we need in just one trip. lol!
love this christmas moment

December 25, 2009

hope everyone is having a very merry christmas with their families and friends! i keep meaning to post on the ole' blog, but it's just been a busy week. we did a little christmas today here with the four of us. then alyssa went to do christmas with her dad and his family. we're doing christmas here tomorrow with joe's family. and then christmas here with my family on sunday. but i had to stop and share this moment from today.

we opened gifts here this morning, after joe got home from work (be extra grateful for the hard workers that keep your grocery stores stocked and running on the holidays, because joe and alyssa's dad are two of those great guys that are in charge of that!). so there were two gifts that i said we had to wait on opening. they were half of a gift. and the other half was at alyssa's dad's house. they knew it had to be something good. so we finish up, get ready, and make the drive over to alyssa's dad's house. they both sat down with the first half of the gift. but sarah's a quick opener, and alyssa is super slow at opening gifts. so sarah goes first.

what? could it really be what i've been begging for, and pleading for, and writing letters to santa for?!?!

this look cracks me up. lol! that "i cannot believe i actually got it" look.

dude! and ipod touch! she has been wanting one of these for months. has had it on every list she could make. birthday list, christmas list, and every random list she made up along the way. she was so excited to finally have one! here's the thing. alyssa didn't have anything on her list. NOTHING, except a booklight. all she has asked for is a booklight. lol! she would never ask for something like this. it's just not her nature. so she finally goes to open her gift.

she opens her gift, to find this box inside (her dad's a real joker). for a "twilight" jewlery box. which would be a cool gift, since she's a huge twilight fan. i found it ammusing that she acted totally surprised and excited about this gift. since she already owns this jewlery box. lol! but i can see it on her face (maybe because i know her all too well). the "i cannot believe sarah got an ipod touch, and all i got was this jewlery box that i already have" look. lol! but she would never say anything outloud.

then she took out the jewlery box and opened it up. guess what was inside?

yep, one for her too! she was so suprised. she just had this look of shock on her face. and was mouthing to me "WOW". even tonight, when she called me, she was still saying "i can't believe you got those for us". too cute.

gotta have a docking station to complete it, right ;) the cd boom boxes in their rooms seem so ancient now. it's all about the hi-tech stuff these days. even if that means there are less amount of gifts under the tree, since they're more moolah. lol!

and i really didn't know anything about the ipod touch. but after doing a few things with their's, i want one for myself now. lol! will be spending some time this next week, getting all their music loaded up for them. and some apps. that was all sarah was saying tonight. "get me some apps. i need apps. look, i have apps.". although that paper flinging one is pretty fun. and i have the high score on the bubble wrap one 😉

more when i have time. i have a decent sized group coming to the house tomorrow, and i'm in charge of most of the cooking. i'm thinking maybe i should go and plan that part of the day, and make sure i have everything i need ;)
nikolas’s framed collage

December 22, 2009

stopping by super quick to share nikolas's finished photo collage. the colors look a little wonky in this shot i took. but i have way too much glaring sunlight to get a decent picture right now. will retake it tomorrow if i have time.

everyone at once. awwwwwww! seriously, how cute are these photos of nikolas? i was digging around for some of my favorites over the last 2 years or so. and they were all so cute. he had such a massive amount of hair when he was little, and it was the cutest thing. i was constantly smiling and laughing as i pulled up these photos :)

just added a strip of ribbon (making memories), a "N" foam letter sticker (american crafts), and a few cute stickers (imaginisce).

and here's a shot of the photoshopped collage that i had printed. gives a better feel for the colors. i have 3 collages left to frame downstairs. all the rest are done and ready to hand out. i even have one displayed in my kitchen right now, and it looks so cool!

and i always love when to see when other's are inspired to try one of my ideas. a blog reader shared her take on the photo collage idea, and i it made me smile to see it. check it out HERE. and let me know if you give it a try too 🙂
three time champions

December 21, 2009

a full 5 months ago, the new soccer season started up. we knew from the start that sarah's team was great. they had a great coach, who knew that he had a ton of talented girls. and he gave everything he had (along with a great assistant coach) to make these girls even better, and to mesh them into an excellent team. they were the under-12 arsenal's.

they had a great season. they won all but one game. tournament weekend, they played 4 games and won them all. took the first place championship for under-12 girls. they all got huge trophies, that are a good 2.5 feet tall. a week later, they played in the inter-city tournament with a neighboring city. the top 2 teams from each city played, and we won all 3 games. took the inter-city championship. they all got medals, and their coach got a huge trophy.

next up was the founders cup tournament. their coach knew he had a great team, that had a good shot at this tournament. so he had signed them up at the start of the season. for the past 2 weekends, we have been all about soccer. including an hour and a half drive there and back, and a 2 night stay in a hotel. 2 full days last weekend, playing 3 games and winning all 3 of them in shut-outs. moved on to this weekend, where it was single game eliminations. won the first game yesterday, with a shut-out. the second game was a tough one, and probably the most intense game i had watched at that point. ended up tied, and went to overtime, where we won. then came today for the championship of all championships.

getting all checked out by the referee's.

the last two teams standing, taking the field. i thought this was really cool. to see the referee's, with the game balls, leading the teams onto the field and over to stand before us. just a really cool moment.

getting their pep talk from coach charlie and coach carlos, before starting the game. and just an FYI. our team color is black. black jerseys, with the red flames on the sleeves. but the other team was a dark blue/black color, and it was too close of a match. so our team had to wear the orange penny's. wish it hadn't been like that, so they could show their team colors with pride and to see their jersey numbers. but it's all good.

only took a few photos of sarah playing. i was just too busy watching the game. it was intense and nerve wracking to watch. you just can't really watch it through a lens 😉

the other team scored first, even though we were definately dominating the field. it got our girls reved up though. and it wasn't long before we scored. one of the girls scored off a header. was such an awesome goal! later, in the second half, we scored our second goal off a penalty kick. a girl from the other team had a hand ball right in their box. never good. we were up 2-1, and the girls did such a great job holding on for the rest of the game. the other team put up a good fight, and had a few scary breakaways at the very end of the game. our fans were going crazy, because the clock was up, but the referee's just kept going a few extra minutes. it was so nerve wracking on all of us to watch.

and this was taken just seconds after they won the game!

i love this shot of them all linking arms, and running out to us to take their bow 🙂

they were so happy and so proud. and rightfully so.

sarah with her two soccer BFF's. emily and emily.

this was after receiving their medals, and the huge trophy that their coach gets to keep.

each of the girls took a photo with the trophy and the game ball.

and a last shot in the net, on the turf. where they made the magic happen. our city hasn't won this tournament in 10 years, in any age group (boys or girls). so this was a big moment. and they're the youngest team from our city to ever win. they represented well! i know we're all so proud of them, and all the hard work they put in for the last 5 months together. it paid off. city champions, inter-city champions, and now state champions! congratulations team arsenal!!!

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