Laura Vegas

here's another one of my half finished layouts that i found this weekend. i had made this photo collage with a free template from BHG. and since it was my first time using it … i had a lot of problems figuring it out. the photos on here are really warped and stretched out. but i printed it anyways. i have since figured the templates out … but was too lazy to re-do this one. i debated on scrapping it … but had the papers and everything cut and ready .. so i just went for it.

 

nothing super creative … but it's done and in the album. i used all products from the passport collection from making memories. love those canvas letters. and i've been working on something cool with this album … trying to get it ready enough to actually show you. 

and speaking of traveling (meaning the passport travel collection) … make sure and travel on over to the MM blog. they're having a birthday blog celebration party all week long … with lots of new ideas, giveaways, and even some video's (wink, wink).  just saw that they put up maggie'svideo a few minutes ago … so make sure and check it out.

you also might want to check out the jillibean soup blog … they're doing a giveaway and looking for ideas on what you'd like to see on their blog. i'm patiently awaiting my box of product … and can't wait to start creating with it!

this weekend i had every intention of cleaning and organizing my studio a bit. figured since i hadn't really scrapped much the past 2 weeks … i might as well do some useful that might get me inspired. turns out … one of the first spots i was organizing led me to some layouts that were tucked away. half finished layouts … ones that just never quite got done. and i had a few from at least 2 years ago. how sad is that? anyways … i ended up working on a ton of them, trying to actually finish them. and i even started 5 new layouts in the process. so glad to be scrappin again. figured i would share a few of them tonight … and a few later this week.

this was actually a totally complete layout … with a different kid's photo on it and a different title. i had just never shared it. i think i never shared it … because i really wanted to take the other kid off and put my own kid on there. lol! so i did. just picked one of my recent photos of alyssa that matched … and plopped it on. then gently pulled off the title letters … and replaced it with some new ones.

supplies:
glitter paper, acetate papers – making memories
puffy alpha stickers – making memories
quote sticker – creative cafe
buttons – autumn leaves
rubon stitches – can't remember
scallop punch – stampin up
other – string

 

this was another layout that had a different kids photo on it … but one i had wanted to change out to my own kid. i had this photo of sarah from over a year ago that i've never scrapped … and it matched. this layout is a lift of a layout by keisha … found a photo of her's HERE. i had the paper part totally done … the lace paper under the cardstock with all the circles cut out. and i had a title on there … and the green paper. i actually couldn't remember what the rest of her layout looked like (i just dug up that link a few minutes ago and got to see it again) … so i just made do with some stuff i had laying around. nothing spectacular … but it's done.  

 

supplies:
lace paper – ki memories
pattern paper – scenic route
tags – rusty pickle
rhinestone circles – heidi swapp
stamp - hero arts
felt flowers – american crafts
chipboard letters – heidi swapp
rhinestone brads – making memories

still loving this project more than anything … still excited to work on it each weekend. and since i had gotten my original order of the project 365 KOTM last week … i was able to mail them out to some friends that were patiently waiting (i did one large order to save a bit on shipping and help some people out). so it's been so fun hearing from everyone as they have gotten their kits. so glad i could help them out. the only thing that is frustrating me a bit is my photos … the quality and look of them. i always struggle with indoor shots … and the light in our house stinks. and now i'm going to have to learn to work with a new wall color. lol! anyways … on to week twelve photos.

 

day 74 … march 15th. i've wanted to repaint part of the house for ages now. and last weekend, on a total whim … i started. i have a few green walls in the playroom (otherwise known as the living room and dining room area) … and some red accent walls. but all the other main walls downstairs are this beige. it's a great neutral color … but it's been feeling really drab. we still have so much oak wood and neutral colors going on that we can't change … but the walls are something that are pretty easy to change up. i'm going with a yellow color. we're admittely not 100% sure about it … but i do think it's going to work out once it's all done.  

 

day 75 … march 16th. this is joe's area of the house … for his sports stuff. originally, he had stuff in the garage. then i let it all in the house when i moved my scrapbook stuff to the loft upstairs … gave him the downstairs bedroom. but no one did anything in that room … so we redid that to a hangout room for the girls. and he got moved once again. but i was willing to give up this large built-in shelf area upstairs in the loft … next to the hall closet and our bedroom. the shelves aren't that deep … so it works out good since his stuff is all smaller stuff. although it'd be nice to have some extra shelves … so much space between each of them. it's a mixture of steelers football, dodgers baseball, and random golf and sports things. and for whatever reason … there are a few jars of buttons that i don't want on the bottom shelf. lol!

 

day 76 … march 17th. how cute is this … my girls as a cartoon! i found this through one of my blog readers … i saw her do this on a photo and thought it was so cute. the site is be funky … and you can do lots of different looks with your photos. i have a great idea using this … and had to find a good series of photos to work with. i came across some photos of the girls when we were coloring easter eggs … from 3 years ago. can you see sarah's missing teeth?!?! so cute! i'll share when i'm done with my plan.

 

day 77 … march 18th. i will openly admit that i am NOT a shoe person … at all. it's quite simple. in the cold months … i wear big clunky boots. and in the warmer months … i wear flipflops. i own one pair of tennis shoes that aren't cute and are super old. i never wear tennies. and look at these boots … these are what i wear constantly. i have them in brown and black. and i kid you not … i paid about $25 for these and have been wearing them for about 3 years straight. they may not look great … but they serve their purpose. jeans are always too long on me … and these make me just the right height so that my jeans aren't dragging on the ground. and with my boot cut jeans … these really do look good. and the funniest part of these boots? when i wear them … i'm about 3 inches taller than joe. i walk right up next to him … and look down at him. and it makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME! seriously … i can do it 4 times in a row … and i laugh every time!

 

day 78 … march 19th. how cute are these pompoms? i had used some on that layout of sarah last week … they were just some old ones that i have had forever. but i was at the fabric store the other day … and saw these in every color imaginable. i had to get some. not expensive at all … and will look adorable on my projects. although i should have gotten the bright purple one too … this bowl is missing the purple!

 

day 79 … march 20th. the jr high had their awards ceremony on friday. first off … i still can't believe i have a jr higher. lol! the kids get notices when they're getting awards … so that the parents can make sure and be there to watch. so i knew she was getting 5 of these awards. one of them also being honor roll … perfect 4.0 again. she had already picked up her award for history and had sat back down. then her teacher started talking about how he had a special award to give out. he said that they had a true "legend" in their presence … and how this is the first one he's had reach that status in years. i had posted about this in a previous 365 post. i knew he was talking about her … and was so proud. hearing everyone "whoohoo" for her was so cool … she's known for how smart she is, that's for sure. the funniest part was when the teacher said that he had talked to alyssa … and that "she said that there will be no need for you to bow down to her when she walks by. but she will accept money". lol! it was hilarious. and as she walked back to her seat and went by the other teachers … they all bowed down to her. so funny. but i was one proud momma … i admit my eyes were a little teared up.  

 

day 80 … march 21st. yay … my stamp shelf arrived today! straight from my mom's house around the corner. lol! i was going for something simple, just like my paint shelf she had built me ages ago. it's just deep enough to hold 2 stamps deep if i need to. i knew how much wall space i had above this cabinet in my studio … this hangs above my large ribbon jars. so i just pulled out a few of my stamps to give her … showing the main sizes of stamps that i have. and then we figured out how many rows we could fit on the shelf to work within the space i have. then she took the stamps … and worked her magic with the wood. she ended up putting a backing on it … because it was wide enough that the shelves might buckle with too much weight. just easier to assemble i think. she came and hung it up for me today … and within about 20 minutes, i had this filled up. some of these are 2 stamps deep … but i can still tell what i have. i have all my holiday stamps and acrylic stamps stored elsewhere. so this is really just my wooden stamps. and i had some extra space … so i stuck my embossing powders up there for now.

and i thought this was pretty funny. my aunt was out visiting this week and stopped by to see us this morning. i was showing her around the house … what we've done with it lately. and there were some things she'd see … and then comment about how she saw it on my blog. like the sock/hanger bucket sitting up on my dresser. she said something about how "oh, that really does exist" … and i said "yep, i can't make this stuff up!". lol! when i was walking her out … i saw my slippers sitting by the front door and slipped them on without even thinking. and she said "oh, those are you slippers … they really do look worse than in the photo". thought that was so funny.

what is NOT funny … is that this post just took me an hour and a half to type up. lol! every week i say that i'm not going to write that much … but they seem to be getting longer and longer!

we missed getting this challenge up last week … did anyone notice that? mary was on her way back home from the states … and wendy was off in disneyland. me? i was here … sick and working. but this week we're all back to normal … as normal as any of use can be i think. mary and i asked wendy to play along with us again for this challenge.

this week's challenge included the following:
1. the colors green and teal … how fun are those colors together!
2. embossed paper … i was thinking dry embossing. but i just saw that mary went with heat embossing. either way, embossing is fun to do!
3. paint … i have mucho paint that i just love, but havn't used it much. alyssa even asked me about my paints the other nigh … saying that i never use them.
4. string … you all know i love string. but i have noticed on my recent layouts … that i havn't really used much string. nice to have it back out again!

 

i decided to go with a no-photo layout … mainly because i was too lazy to dig around for photos to match. i actually really enjoy doing these sorts of layouts about myself … i like to work some layouts about me into my scrapbooking every now and then. and the no-photo thing is perfect for that … since i don't have many photos of myself. i created this layout without even knowing what it would be about. and came up with the title after seeing how much room i had to work with. and then based my journaling around the title. this is definately "me today" … since i wrote the journaling this afternoon!

 

took me forever to pick my shades of green and teal … but these are the ones i came up with. nice and bright shades! since we were doing embossing … i wanted to do just cardstock. i'm usually quite a pattern paper girl … but i love the clean and simple look of embossed cardstock. i used 2 different cuttlebug folders … the swiss dot folder and the spots/dots folder. and for my title … i used an idea from a previous challenge with heather. i layer some letter stickers over my plastic letters … love it.

 

for the paint … i brushed some black paint around the edges of my cardstock, using my finger. and each of those cardstock pieces is adhered using pop-dots to give it lots of extra dimension. i also tied lots of string around a few cardstock pieces. then just added a few plastic flower stickers, with some large silver brads in the middles.

make sure and check out mary's layout HERE … and wendy's layout HERE. and let us know if you decide to play along … we'd love to see your take on our challenge!

supplies:
embossing folders – cuttlebug
plastic letters - heidi swapp
letter stickers – doodlebug
plastic flowers – making memories
brads – making memories
paint – making memories
other – string

promised i would share photos of my last 4 weeks worth of project 365 layouts in the album. forced myself to journal all 28 days this morning. i have a few cards i want to re-do … too many spelling mistakes and mess ups. and i think i forgot to round a few corners on the date cards. will do that too. and when i pulled up these photos a few minutes ago, i realized that i had my camera settings off … so they look a little funky. and the sun is just about down … so can't retake them. you get the idea though.

 

 

 

 

i feel like i'm slacking this week. but i've also accepted the fact that i will not get much done this week too. it's conference week .. so the girls have half days at school all week. daycare kids are still sick … so i seem to spend most of my day wiping one nose or the other … and giving them lots of extra attention. joe is sick now … i swear, we just keep passing this around and around and around. over 3 weeks straight on the sick front now. softball games going … along with practice still.

 

and very sporatically and randomly … i've been painting. you should see this place … just random walls or parts of walls painted. no edges, baseboards, lightswitch cover or anything have been done … anything that involves taping off will be done later. today i painted just the middle third of a wall … as far down as the daycare kids couldn't reach … and as high up as i could reach without a ladder. and i do this all using a 4inch little roller. the large rollers are messy … and just more to fuss with. i can whip out the 4inch roller and paint for 10 minutes … and then stick it in the baggie. so i seriously do this … paint for just 10 or 20 minutes sporatically throughout my day. lol! and the new color is the one on the right … the hard-to-make-out-the-correct-shade of yellow. i'm not totally convinced on it … i think mainly because i have only sections done and am still seeing the old color mixed in. but it's definately brighter in here now … which is what i wanted. and the red will be staying .. and the green in the playroom. i think it's going to be good!

i have raved about miss sarah klemish before … and i'll do it again. she's extremely talented … and i just LOVE her style! i think in a lot of ways … her style is so much like mine. and yet it's different … simpler. i love simple … i really, really do. so we had chatted before about maybe trading photos and scrapping for each other … since she has boys and i have girls. we finally did … and here are two of the gorgeous layouts that she made for me already. 

 

i just love this one. i love the text paper … one of sarah's favorites to use lately. she has me convinced that i need some … but it was out of stock when i went to order it. maybe because she bought it all! lol! i love the colors on here … and how it fits with the nature/natural theme and look. so simple … so perfect.

 

i really love this layout. the title is just perfect … it totally fits the vibe of the photo. and it's something i would never think of. i tend to take the easy way out with my titles … and they're always the same it seems. i love all the white space on here … really letting the photo take center stage. and the pastels with the woodgrain paper are so delicate … and then love the punch of red with the buttons. love it!

you can check them out more HERE and HERE … you can leave her some praise there. and for more inspiration … check out her galleries HERE and HERE.  yep, she's cool enough to have 2 galleries! lol! i have her photos she sent me all printed out and matched up to papers and cardstock. just have to get working on them now. i hope i can come up with something as cool as she did for me!

i was asked last week to be a part of the first jillibean soup design team! i am so excited … and totally honored to be a part of this talented team! lots of fabulous names on this list and i can't wait to work with them all! the products are so fun and colorful … and i can't wait to get my hands on them and play!

so be sure to check out the jillibean soup blog … looks like they'll have lots of fun things going on over there!

this week was not a good picture taking week for me … at all. i had some assignments that had me going crazy for a few days. and then i got sick … for 3 days. i felt like death. it wasn't even funny how sick i felt. so i will openly tell you that with the exception of the last photo (from today) … all these photos were taken in about a 10 minute time period on friday. lol! but i don't stress over it … it all means the same in the end. so here we go for week eleven.

 

day 67 … march 8th. this bulletin board hangs up in my studio. i had this huge wooden frame … and i spray painted it ages ago with this red paint. and then i glued some rolled cork down .. and used it as a bulletin board. it actually hung up there empty for the longest time. then one day i decided to hang up the cards that friends have sent me. looks sort of tacky that i put a big silver tack in the middle of each card .. but that's all i had. i'm sure a few of you will recognize your cards up there … know that i loved each one of them! sadly, this is going to come down soon. this is where my new stamp shelf will be going … my mom is already working on it for me!

 

day 68 … march 9th. my slippers. my ratty, old, pink slippers … that are too big for my feet. they really don't look that bad here … but trust me, they're pretty bad. and no, this is NOT my carpet … this is our bathroom rug. not that there's anything wrong with brown carpet … just reminds me of when i was growing up in the 70's. but on a small rug … it's all good. anyways, i wear these slippers ALL the time. my feet are always freezing … my toes will actually get totally numb on any normal day. so i'm always shuffeling around in these. i tried to get some new ones last year … but they just weren't as comfy.

 

day 69 … march 10th. a little peek of green … letting us know that spring is on it's way. actually, we have lots of green. but these are the ones that start coming up at a certain time each year … and it sort of marks the official start of spring. not that i really know when spring officially starts … but i'm assuming it's coming up soon. lol! although this would look so much better with some brand new bark scattered around it … and maybe a freshly stained fence. oh well … it is what it is!

 

day 70 … march 11th. i'm not sure how this came to be. but this is our official "hanger and sock" bucket. lol! the bucket was just laying around upstairs. and you know how you always have extra socks with no match after doing laundry? but only with the whites, right? well, i usually just put all the mismatched socks to the side each week. and then every now and then, you clean out the pile … and usually you can find some matches again. and i'm always grabbing empty hangers out of the girls closet … so that i don't have to search for them all when i have clean clothes to hang up. so i just throw hangers and socks in this bucket. and it sits very beautifully on my dresser. lol!

 

day 71 … march 12th. just a photo of the expedit shelf in the downstairs bedroom. how i love those shelves! we painted this room a fun turqouise color last summer. and i love all the red, green, and brown touches. this is the girls hang out room. where they have the Wii set up. this shelf holds all my completed scrapbook albums and mini albums. and i have baskets and bins with CD's, DVD's, and all our nintendo and gameboy stuff. there's another row at the bottom … i just couldn't get the whole thing in the photo … i was already INSIDE the closet taking this.

 

day 72 … march 13th. after being sick for 3 days straight and not really eating anything … i was starving by friday night. of course, i still wasn't feeling great … and wasn't up to cooking. and joe was umpiring for the 5th day straight. so we did our favorite … in-n-out! actually, it's my favorite. seriously, the best french fries. and the only ones i eat with ketchup. joe opted for tacos instead from a taco stand somewhere. 

 

day 73 … march 14th. today was opening day for softball season. sarah is on the under-10's again this year … and playing for the panthers. we're purple again … just like last year. lol! we started out with opening ceremonies at 9:00am this morning … and that was an hour long. then had to be back at the field at 11:30 for the first game. sarah's team did great .. and ended up winning 2-1 in the last few minutes of the game. sarah only got up to bat one time … but hit a great line drive to get to first base. after the game, we had another hour break. and had to be back at 3:30 for team photos. so it was a long day. and can you believe that in the 3 trips we made across town to the fields .. i forgot my camera each time?!?! i can believe it. lol! so i ended up taking these pics really quick this evening.

i have to catch up on my journaling for the last 2 weeks. all the pictures are in the album … all the way up until yesterdays. had all this week's (except today's photo) printed this morning. and i love that when i walked into costco to pick up my photos … the photo lady said "hey laura, how are you today?" … and got my photos for me. they know me now … i'm a regular. i'm really tempted to bring my album in and show them … in case they ever wonder why i'm taking pictures of hangers, slippers, and other random things. lol! anyways … will get my journaling all caught up and then i'll share my last few weeks IN the albums. i'm sure you can imagine them … they're pretty much like the previous ones. but it always looks cooler when everything is side by side in the album.

this is the layout i started about 2 weeks ago. i had taken the photos on a saturday, printed them sunday morning, and this layout by sunday night. just had to figure out if i wanted any journaling … and where i would actually fit it. as you can see … i still havn't added any journaling. i might … but later. figured i would share it as is for now.

i am seriously in love with the just chillin collection from making memories! it's one of the funnest collections i've seen in a long time. love the bright colors and fun patterns. this is actually the first look i had at it … and the first time i got to use it. and let's just say … you'll be seeing lots more of this from me. i don't have all the embellishments yet … so the trims on here are from rusty pickle. but the paper and canvas tag are from the collection. and i happen to see some of this out at my local target store last weekend … so it looks like it's starting to hit the stores.  just a note: the white cardstock is actually the base of my layout … just took the photo on my black shelf.

supplies:
pattern paper – making memories
canvas tag – making memories
trims – rusty pickle
buttons – making memories
other – staples

that has got to be the longest i've gone without posting in a long time … 3 days. i don't know what happened. actually, i do know what happened … just a busy couple of days and not enough downtime to even think about writing anything meaningful. so i guess i'll spit out some randomness for you today.

i havn't made a layout in a while now. i miss it. and i have a new stack of paper that is screaming to me to be used. i did make a few cards. and a project … with something to go with it that had me totally and completely out of my comfort zone. and out of my studio. you'll see in a couple of weeks.

had a couple of great opportunities come up these past few days. excited about each one. and a few of them require me to sit down and do some writing. that part always has me blocked.

been super busy with softball kicking into gear. joe's umpiring for the high school baseball teams again … and just this week has 5 games. so he works all night, sleeps for a few hours, and then umpires … then comes home for a quick nap and back to work. which leaves me to get sarah to softball practices … taking whatever kids are with me at the time. opening day is this weekend .. and then we'll be busy with games a few weeknights too.

alyssa and sarah are fighting constantly … all the time. it drives me crazy. someone is always making some little comment under their breath … or getting a little jab in here and there when they think  i'm not looking. just always instigating trouble … when there doesn't need to be any to begin with. some nights i don't even know what to say. no matter how many times i say it … i get the "i know, i know" response. yet they still keep doing the same thing over and over.

i had my neighbor over the last two days … she's 5 years old. and boy, can she talk. i'm used to the littler ones now. and i forgot how much the older ones can talk and talk and talk and talk. but she's pretty funny … and we had some great conversations. not to say that haley and nikolas don't talk to me though. haley talks all the time .. just a differnet sort of conversation with a 2 year old. and nikolas is talking so much … it's crazy how much i understand.

i have a great idea for a stamp shelf … and the perfect spot in my studio for it. very basic idea … just like my paint shelf. have to remember to ask my personal carpenter about that … otherwise known as my mom. lol!

have you heard of crop chocolate? some great deals. the catch is that there's only one deal a day … so you have to get them right away. otherwise, they'll be gone the next day … and another deal in it's place. check it out!

i want to paint parts of the house. we have a good neutral color. but it's got this dull, drap kind of look to it. we get very little good light in this house … and just the way it hits, the house always looks so dull. i know my mom is totally rollling her eyes just reading this … because she thinks it's a good color. but i need something with a little more warmth to it. i want to do a really nice shade of yellow … nothing too bold though.

guess that's it for now. i very randomly typed that between the kids running in and out, stopping to take one potty and change the other, watching the lawn dudes mow the lawn, and eat breakfast. and now i'm drawing a blank on anything else. working on finishing up a layout .. so hopefully, i can share that tomorrow.