Laura Vegas

Scrapbooking And A Little Bit Of Everyday Life

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Updated Look: 2016 / 2017 Shows

April 5, 2019

Hey all. I recently shared a new digital project with you, documenting my 2017 / 2018 TV shows (post HERE) in a 6×8" album. I had mentioned that I was already planning on adding my 2016 / 2017 collages to this album as well. I had documented my shows from that year in a travelers notebook (post HERE).

I had already re-printed my 2016 / 2017 collages last year, as I was going to switch them into a new travelers notebook (the one that I originally used was a cheap one I got off Amazon). I realized that I could easily work them onto 6×8" pages, and fit them into the same album along with my 2017 / 2018 pages. I love the idea of keeping these pages all together and adding to it each year.

All of my collages for this project were created using templates from both the Travelers Templates and Travelers Templates #2 kits from Kerri Bradford Studio.

I started by cutting sheets of white cardstock to build my pages on. I adhered the photo collages along the right side of each page, and then added a piece of patterned paper along the left side. I was able to dig up the same papers that I had used in the original project, which gave me one less thing to spend my time debating on.

I also used the same 3×4" ruled Project Life cards to add the day of the week, using Kerri Bradford's A Big Day stamp set. I trimmed down each card and adhered them along the side of the page, tucking the bottom edge under the photo collages.

This was such an easy project to finish up, and I love that these pages are all together in one album. I can't wait to work on my 2018 / 2019 shows!
Jillibean Soup: Wooden Spoon Survivor

April 1, 2019

Happy Monday! It's been so fun designing for Jillibean Soup this past year, and today I'm sharing my last official design team layout that I created for them. I do still have one more Jillibean card to share, and will share that later this week.

When I first joined the Jillibean design team, I was browsing their Silhouette store and came across this fun cut file – "Wooden Spoon Survivor" – and I just knew that I had to use it on a layout. After all, I am totally a wooden spoon survivor, having grown up in the 70's, when that sort of thing was super common.

I even went so far as to plan out the page in the Silhouette software. That was almost a year ago, and I just never got around to actually making the layout. So I made sure to fit it into my last set of layouts for them.

I actually didn't have a specific photo in mind for this story until I finally sat down to make it. I was originally going to do a photo-less layout in fact. But since the main part of the story that I wanted to tell had to do with something that happened at school, when I was in the first grade – I thought my first grade school photo would be a great choice.

Shhhhhh. This is actually my second grade school photo. I didn't have an extra copy of my first grade photo, but I did have one of my second grade photo. Close enough, right 😉

I went thru my Jillibean patterned papers and picked out a handful that coordinated with the colors in my photo. I was wearing a Holly Hobby dress that my mom had made me, and I thought it would be fun to mimic the patchwork design on my dress in the design of the page. So I used small pieces of each patterned paper and arranged them around the border of the page.

I adhered a piece of white cardstock in the center of the page, large enough to hold my photo and title, with room to add my journaling across the bottom.

"My name is Laura and I’m a wooden spoon survivor. I’m also a wooden paddle survivor. Yep, you read that right. Here’s the thing. I grew up in the 70’s, and I’m pretty sure that having your parents take a wooden spoon to your behind every now and then was pretty normal. I’d like to think I was a fairly good kid, but I still had my fair share of “swats” with the wooden spoon from the kitchen. Once, the spoon even broke on my tush! Lol. But I’m not sure how normal it was to receive a swat at school. I went to a private, Christian school, for all thirteen years of my education. And it just so happens that this school allowed for “paddling”, when deemed necessary by the school. Now, I was an extremely shy child growing up. I didn’t talk to anyone, with the exception of my friends. I was quiet as a mouse, didn’t talk in class, and sometimes, I wouldn’t even talk when spoken to by my teachers.

When I was in the first grade, my class was going on a field trip, but I forgot my permission slip. So I was sent to the office, where they asked me for my parent’s phone number. Except I didn’t talk to people, so I wasn’t about to speak up and tell them my phone number. I’d like to think, that in my mind, they had to know my phone number, since it had to be in my file. Why did they need to hear it from me? Next thing I knew, I was being sent to the principal’s office, where I also refused to give out my phone number. That’s when he decided that I deserved a swat, with the wooden paddle that hung on his wall. I can still remember having to tell my parents about it that night, and having them sign the paper I brought home saying I had received a swat. I mean, look at my sweet, innocent little first grade face. I guess it was different times that I grew up in, that they thought they needed to punish a little child for simply not talking."

And with that, I finally have my first grade, swat with a paddle story in the books. Lol. It's one of the few school memories that has stuck with me all these years, so it was nice to get it down on paper.
Digital Project Share: 2017 / 2018 Shows

March 27, 2019

Hey everyone! I'm back to share a project that has been on my mental to-do list for well over a year. About two years ago, I created a travelers notebook projects, documenting my favorite TV shows from the 2016 / 2017 season (seen HERE). And about four years ago, I created a 6×8" pocket page spread documenting a handful of my favorite TV shows from the 2014 / 2015 season (seen HERE).

Being a self-proclaimed TV junkie, I love the idea of documenting my favorite shows every year. While I loved the two previous projects that I've made, I really wanted to settle on a format that I could easily add to each year going forward. I tossed several ideas around. Did I want to keep going with the travelers notebook, knowing that I would be able to fit two years into each notebook? And just have a stack of notebooks that I could keep together in a basket or box? Or did I want to go with a 6×8" album, or maybe a 6×12" album?

After much back and forth with myself (tell me I'm not the only one that talks things out with herself?), I finally settled on a 6×8" album. I knew that I wanted to create my pages digitally, so the first thing I had to decide on was what templates I would be using. I have a pretty big collection of digital templates, in a variety of sizes. I narrowed down my search to the 6×8" kits I had, and finally settled on a few template kits from Cathy Zielske – specifically her Six By Eight kits.

Her Six By Eights No. 06 kit was what really made up my mind, since the templates had the days of the week, which fit this project perfectly. I loved the format I used when I broke down my shows by what days they were on. So my plan was to use the template with the day of the week on the left side of the spread, and then to use a second template for the right side of the spread. Between all of the Six By Eight kits that I have, there were plenty of options, depending on how many photos I needed to include.

I started this project the same way I started it the last time. By making a list of my shows, and which day they usually air. Now, this is documenting my 2017 / 2018 shows. Luckily, I made my list last year, as I knew this was a project I would get to at some point. But I will say it is SO much easier to make this list during the year, while your shows are on – as opposed to waiting and trying to go back and figure out what shows you watched (as we all know shows have a way of disappearing).

I even went into my DVR at one point, to check out my massive list of shows I record, to make sure I didn't miss any. When I did this project the last time, using the travelers notebook, I was limited in how many images/shows I could include for each day. So I had actually left out quite a few of my regular shows. This time around, I managed to include every single show that was on my regular "must see tv" schedule.

On a few of the collages, I actually combined a few spaces in the templates to fit my photo needs. Like on the right page of my Tuesday spread. It had 12 squares, but I only needed 10 spaces. So I combined two squares to make a longer photo and then repeated it on another row as well.

Once I had my list in front of me, I went looking for my images. Just as I did two years ago, I found all of my images using Google photos. For the most part, I just searched the name of the show, along with "cast", "logo", or "poster". I actually still had all of the images that I had used two years ago, so I added those into my folders as well. But I made an effort to find updated images, and at some point, I realized that adding in the year (for this, I added 2017) would often give me options that actually fit the show's season better.

I downloaded several images for every show on my list, knowing that some images might be too small to use or may not be the right orientation once I started creating my collages. While I knew that the majority of my images would be squares, I also had some horizontal and vertical spots within the templates. It was easier to just download a ton of options while I was doing my search, than to have to go back and do a second search if the choices I had didn't work.

I created a folder on my computer for each day of the week. Excluding Saturday, because that's the one day of the week when I don't have any set shows on. Once I had images for every show on my list, I counted how many shows I had to work with for each day, and then picked the templates to fit the number of shows. Then I would open up my two templates for the day I wanted to work on, and start plugging images in, moving them around as needed until I liked the way they were laid out.

8

Thursday is a BIG night for shows. I feel like it always has been. Lol. I have a TON of shows on Thursdays. Since I didn't want to leave any shows out, I decided to add two 3×8" collages as well, adding a 3×8" page protector in between the two sides of the spread.

To create these smaller collages, I used the 3×8 Everyday Layered Photo Templates kit by In A Creative Bubble. I was able to include 3 additional photos on each collage, which meant I included 6 additional shows by adding in the 3×8" insert.

The final step was to add some digital patterned papers to the leftover spaces within the templates. The larger area on the left page, under the day of the week, was meant for journaling. I could have easily used that space for an additional photo/show, but I didn't even think about that until I was done adding in all of my images. But I loved the idea of adding in a touch of patterned paper. I also had a few days where I had an empty space on the right page of the spread (like on the Friday page above), so I added some digital patterned paper there as well.

I printed all of my collages on my photo printer, trimmed them, and slipped them into a 6×8" album. And I love the end result! I'm actually going to be adding my 2016 / 2017 collages to this album as well. I had already re-printed my collages last year, as I was going to switch them into a new travelers notebook (the one that I originally used was a cheap one I got off Amazon). I realized that I could easily work them onto 6×8" pages, and fit them into this same album. Since I really want to keep these all together and add to it each year.

And I already have my list of shows written out for the 2018 / 2019 season. I'm not quite ready to start that just yet, as there are still some of my regular shows that haven't even started yet this season (why do some start so late now?), and there are new ones just coming on that I know I'm going to love as well. But having the list handy, and being able to add to it as needed, gives me a great head start for when I am ready to complete my pages for this awesome TV season 😉
Project Life 2018: Week Thirty One

March 21, 2019

Hey all. I'm back to share one more week in my 2018 Project Life album. This is week thirty one, or the last week of July/first week of August. This ended up being a much more colorful week than I thought it would be. And that's because I came across that pink and yellow camera card, on the second page, and just felt like I had to use it.

I went back and forth between several pink and yellow filler cards, to use in other pockets, and while this "happy vibes" card isn't quite the shade of pink I was going for, it worked for me.

I would have normally included another journaling card on this page (I have a pretty set system), all three of the photos on this page go together, so I didn't need the extra journaling card. So I worked in an extra filler card.

Such a good photo of Alyssa and a few of her co-workers, taken at the Moonlight Gala event.

Isn't that camera filler card gorgeous? I just had to use it.

I love that I managed to finish up 5 weekly spreads in my PL album so quickly. I just had to print up a few pages of journaling cards, and pick out some filler cards. So do-able, and it's why I have complete faith that I'll get my album finished up in no time.

And yes, I do need to start my 2019 album, as it's now the middle of March. Workin on it 😉
Project Life 2018: Week Thirty

March 20, 2019

Hey everyone. I know, I know. These weekly Project Life spreads all start to look the same, don't they? Lol. Feel free to skip over them if they're not your thing 😉 If you're into them at all, here's a look at week thirty.

When I'm ready to work on typing up my digital journaling cards, the first thing I like to do is open up my Instagram feed on the laptop. It's so easy to find the photos on there, and then simply copy and paste whatever I had to say about the photo onto a journaling card. I will re-word things if needed – taking bits out to make it shorter if it's too long, or adding some extra bits if I have more room to fill.

Picking out the filler cards for this week's spread took me longer than most weeks. I have no clue why. Some weeks are easier than others, for sure.

This lined journaling card is the one card that I can have fun with each week, personalizing it to fit my photo. To add a little something to the top of the card, I usually use a digital stamps (the one above is from Cathy Z) or the PNG files from Kerri Bradford Studio's cut files. Those are my go-to choices.

I like to add the info for my weekly title cards every now and then, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit – switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week.

One thing that I've been doing in my 2018 album is using the Pocket Maps by Sara Gleason. I almost always work three into each weekly spread, and they're just perfect for those photos that don't have big stories. A quick sentence or two is all I need.

I've got one more weekly spread to share with you tomorrow. Guess that means I need to get to working on my album some more.
Jillibean Soup: Love Me Some Cookbooks

March 19, 2019

Hey everyone! I had a new layout go up at Jillibean Soup a week or so ago, and wanted to share it with you all here today. I had taken photos of two new cookbooks recently, thinking I would share them on Instagram at some point or something. When I was brainstorming ideas for my layouts last month, I realized I could do a layout about my latest favorite cookbooks.

I had actually started designing a layout idea within my Silhouette software a while back, using a Jillibean Soup poloroid cut file (Typepad is telling me I'm spelling "poloriod" wrong, but that's how it's spelled on their cut file ;)). I had sized six poloriods, in two rows of three, so that I could frame six photos. I never did create the layout that the original idea was for, but knew that it would work great for this layout.

I printed my photos so that they would fit behind the cut out window in the die cut poloriod. However, I had the photos laying on top of the die cut frames as I was figuring things out and moving things around, and at some point, I realized I like how the photos looked with the white borders showing. So I ended up adhering them on top of the opening. So it actually just looks like I adhered the photos to pieces of patterned paper, which wouldn't have involved my Silhouette at all. Lol.

For my title, I used one of Jillibean's alphabet cut files to die cut the word "cookbooks" from a navy blue patterned paper. I also die cut the fun "love" cut file from a reddish patterned paper, and used it, along with some tiny alpha stickers, to complete my title.

I used a mix of patterned papers from several different collections, as I was coordinating my colors with the colors in the photos.

Since I had five photos, I used the sixth frame to hold my journaling. Which is super short and sweet. Lol. I thought the book die cut went nicely with the theme of the layout, so I added that as well.

I wanted to keep the majority of my background white, but didn't want it solid white cardstock. So I went with my favorite white-on-white technique, by die cutting a heart background from white cardstock and adhering it to my white cardstock background.

To embellish my page, I added some coordinating flower die cuts, stickers, die cut words, and enamel dots to the individual frames. Definitely on the simpler side, but totally my kind of embellishing.
Project Life 2018: Week Twenty Nine

March 18, 2019

Hey all. I've got three more weeks from my 2018 Project Life album to share with you this week, starting with week twenty nine.

I'm still using filler cards that I printed using the Project Life app. I love how it's simplified the process, and I've been able to make it work using only the cards that I've had printed and on hand.

I will often look for a busier card to start out with, if I can find one that works with my photos for the week. Like this floral card. From there, I will pick the rest of my filler cards to coordinate, color wise, with that card. I had several outdoor, summer photos on the second page of the spread, and this floral card just felt like it belonged with them.

I went back and forth between several different yellow filler cards, with simpler patterns. But I finally decided to use this "I'm not going to freak out" card, as it just seemed to go so well with Alyssa's Snapchat photo to the left of it.

We had a family BBQ at my brother's this week, and I had quite a few photos to choose from. I'm very aware that I only need to include 1-2 photos in my PL album, and if I want to include more photos, then they would go on a layout. But it still took me a while to pick just a few photos.

In the end, I used three photos from the day – one of Alyssa, one of Joe and I, and one of Sarah, her boyfriend Dom, and my brother. I mainly used three photos because I had space for them. If I had more regular photos from the week, I would have just used one or two photos.

I'll be back tomorrow with another weekly spread 🙂
Project Life 2018: Week Twenty Eight

March 15, 2019

Hey everyone. I'm back with another weekly spread in my 2018 Project Life album. Here's a quick look at week twenty eight.

I love using one of these J-Card Weekdays digital journaling cards from Cathy Zielske each week. I like these cards, because they format your text as you type and they're just so easy to use. Also, they have plenty of room for journaling. I love to pick a photo each week that I know has a bigger story to go along with this card. And often times, I can pull that story straight off my Instagram, and just copy and paste it in.

The "This Story" digital journaling cards are also by Cathy Zielske (offered as a part of her Scrapbook Your Year class) and I love to use one per week. They're set up with four on a page, so it's really easy to knock out 4 at a time, with very little effort.

I thought the "go see do" filler card would go nicely with the photo that Sarah took while on a little day trip. This is a photo that I would prefer had a little info to go with it. Like that fact that Sarah took it, where it was (Knights Ferry, obviously), or who she was with. But it just didn't end up with a journaling card, and that's still ok.

I know I've mentioned this before, but please excuse the glare I often end up with on these PL spreads. I don't spent too much time taking these photos. If it were a pocket page layout, other than my PL pages, I would actually take the time to pull everything out of the pockets to photograph them. But I just don't care to spend that much time on these spreads 😉

I used a digital image from Kerri Bradford Studio on the journaling card above. If it looks familiar, I actually printed it out on a larger cardstock circle on a recent layout.

Alyssa gets some of the best photos at concerts. She just sent me photos from a Justin Timberlake concert she went too, and she had a similar shot like the one above, from a Harry Styles concert.

I'll be back next week with several new projects to share, including a few more PL spreads, but also a new layout and maybe a card or two 😉
Project Life 2018: Week Twenty Seven

March 14, 2019

Hey all. I'm back with quite a few weekly spreads in my 2018 Project Life album to share, starting with week twenty seven. Which was the first week of July, in case you don't want to do the math 😉

I like to add the info for my weekly title cards every now and then, since I get asked about them a lot. I used the Pocket Guide No.4 kit from Paislee Press. I created each week's card in Photoshop, using the template from the kit – switching out the week number and adding the dates for each week.

Alyssa always jokes with me that she doesn't need to send me so many photos, since she knows that I screenshot all of her Snapchat photos. Which I do, because they're fun – and because I never know if I'll be short on photos and want to include them for certain weeks. I think they're fun little glimpses into her everyday life.

Of course, she always comes thru with so many great photos from work and stuff too. I can always count on her to give me good 4×6" photos, since a lot of mine aren't really worthy of a 4×6" photo. Lol.

I find that I have some sort of journaling – whether it's a full journaling card, a Snapchat caption on the photo itself, or one of the Pocket Maps (the half photo, with a sentence or two on the bottom) – so it bothers me a tad bit when I end up with a photo that doesn't have any journaling at all to go along with it. Like the photo of Sarah and the daycare kiddos above.

But in the grand scheme of the album, I know that I have a huge amount of story telling and little everyday facts going on. So having a few photos without journaling is ok, since not every photo has a specific story to go with it.

I'll be back tomorrow to share another weekly spread with you 🙂
Jillibean Soup: Happy Freaking Birthday Card

March 13, 2019

Hey everyone! I've got a quick card share today, with a birthday card that I created for Jillibean Soup. This card came together without much effort at all, which is totally my kind of card!

I had just finished creating a layout, and I had several squares of patterned paper that were left over from some frames I had die cut with my Silhouette machine. I would normally just toss them back in with my patterned papers, since I save decent sized scraps. But since they were out, I figured I would build a card around them.

I picked three of the squares to use and added some machine stitching around the edges. I adhered a neutral patterned paper onto my card base, and then layered the squares across the center of the card, trimming off the excess from the two sides.

I adhered the "happy" die cut, which came from one of the Pea Pod Parts die cut packs, and completed my sentiment using some tiny alpha stickers. A few die cut stars and some enamel dots were all that was needed to finish this card.

And the timing was perfect, since Sarah's boyfriend just celebrated his birthday last week 🙂