Laura Vegas

i promised i would share my pages so far in my project 365 album. i already had all my photos printed … and the corners rounded (to match the journaling cards). so it was easy enough to slip them all in the page protectors for each week. of course, i had to have the journaling cards in "perfect" order … meaning they all had to be spaced equally out, so that the same design would not be next to each other. lol! so i already put all the journaling cards in the album for the entire year. filling out the journaling cards for the first 31 days of the year took me the longest time. i have good hand-writing days … and days where i don't like my own writing at all. with each day that i was filling out … i was making more mistakes and getting a bit more sloppy in my writing. but i guess that just makes it more real, right? lol!

 

week one. i choose to start my album on january 1st … so there are only 3 days to this first week. i'm starting on the front side of the first page protector … which is perfect for the three days. and then i'll add a regular sized page protector to the front of the album later … and make my own title page.

 

week two. these were really hard to get a picture of. those white things on the bottom of the picture … those are my toes. i had the album laying on one of the stairs. and i was balancing on another stair … and on my tippy-toes trying to get the whole album in the shot. yes, i'm on the short side. click on any of these to see them a bit bigger.

 

week three. as you might have noticed … i did add a few brads to the first week or two. not sure if i'm going to do that to the other pages. for now, probably not. i don't want to get halfway in and have the album bulk up too much. i think it's going to be good just with the 52 weeks of photos. but i might go back and add a few things … never know.

 

week four. i also decided to use the black "day" stickers on the photos … and the clear circle stickers on the journaling cards. i punched small circles from the extra pattern paper sheets that came in the kit … using my 5/8" punch that i had. the stickers are a tad bit larger than that … but it's the only punch i had. then i just drew a rough circle around those stickers.

 

week five. feel like i should make a few more comments … but i think it's all pretty self-explanitory. lol!

this weekend, i created some layouts for the "year of you" class that robyn is teaching over at 2peas. i've been taking lots more photos this year than i did last year … so i loved the idea of taking a handful of those photos from january and creating a layout. i loved robyn's layout for the class … great colors and design. so i pretty much scraplifted her's from top to bottom.

 

ok, i guess mine is a little simpler. i didn't add all the little touches of stamping, stitching, etc. i love all that on her layouts … but i'm more of a lazy scrapper when you get right down to it. lol! found these old metal mailbox letters from making memories that i used for my title … my original idea was chipboad. and i cut the "09" with my slice.

 

supplies:
pattern paper – bo bunny
ribbon – making memories
mailbox letters – making memories
epoxy star button – making memories
brads – making memories
rubon – making memories
scallop punch – stampin up
embossing – cuttlebug
die cut machine – slice by making memories

when i was printing these photos (along with one from my last layout) … i didn't have enough room on my sheet to fit the large 5×5 photo. so i had to start a new sheet. you know how that goes … then i had to add more photos to print because i didn't want to waste any photo paper … or end up with a half sheet or anything. so i figured i might as well print some photos of the daycare kids and do a "year of you" layout about them too. this layout is 9×9 in size.

 

supplies:
pattern paper – n/a
ribbon – american crafts
brads – making memories
felt letters – making memories
glitter stickers - making memories 
embossing – cuttlebug

didn't seem right when i typed "week 5" up there on my post title. that first week of the month was only 3 days though. so this IS technically the 5th week of my project 365 … and completes the month of january. i feel great about this … i did an entire month already and am having no problems keeping up. i will admit that 4 of the photos for this week were all taken on the same day … but it's all good and still has the same meaning. so here we go … photos for week 5.

 

day 25 … january 25th. joe was not happy about me taking this picture. and i actually tried to make him do a re-take later in the day … once he was more up and dressed … but he wasn't up for it. this is him working on his test for umpiring. this will be his 4th year umpiring for the high school baseball teams in the area. and every year, they have to take this 100 question test … that has a lot of trick questions. they get to use their rulebook and a few of them call each other to compare answers. lol!

 

day 26 … january 26th. do you see that tooth on the bottom? click on the photo to see it bigger … i dare you! sarah has had this loose tooth for a while now … it even squeaked when she wiggled it. i'm not a fan of loose teeth … they give me the heebie-jeebies. and she was bending this one all the way back with her tongue all night. it was sick. she worked on that thing for hours though … and finally got it out.

 

day 27 … january 27th. i got this card in the mail from a good friend. and i laughed so hard when i saw the tag that was inside. we were chatting one day about how we call our hubbies "dorks" and "wingnuts". for good reason most of the time. lol! and she remembered seeing my "wingnut" layout from a few weeks ago.  so i thought it was so sweet of her to think of me when she saw this old, worn tag … totally put a smile on my face when i opened it.

 

day 28 … january 28th. ribbon … gorgeous ribbon! and thread … yummy thread. these 4 jars are my largest jars … and are up on my red cabinet that holds albums and things i don't use all the time. this is a small percentage of my ribbon. in fact, the 2 jars on the left hold all making memories ribbons. and the jar on the right holds all the american crafts ribbons i got for a steal while in utah. these jars are big … 13 inches high and 9 inches wide.

 

day 29 … january 29th. this is my pile on the kitchen island. there is ALWAYS a pile here … of totally random papers and stuff. not sure where the wicker placemat came from … but i guess i feel like it makes it look a little neater. sort of contains the mess to one little area. as long as the stuff is ON the wicker placemat … it's all good. i have some immunization cards for the girls, my daycare licensing renewal form to mail, a gift card to mail out to someone, a pre-paid lunch envelope to fill out for alyssa, my ipod and glasses, a few random coupons, the lock to sarah's diary, a piece to the "trouble" game, lipstick/lipgloss/carmex (yes, i use all 3), and a very tiny baby. i find the very tiny baby the most interesting thing there … must have been some random toy i picked up and havn't put away yet. lol!

 

day 30 … january 30th. the girls backpacks … laying at the end of the kitchen island after school. i wish we had a better spot for them … they stick out right into the family room. but this is always where they dump them. on this day, we had amanda's backpack there too ... since she was there. the one with the flowers is amanda's. the peace bag is alyssa's. and the polka dot one is sarah's. we have a gazillion other cute backpacks … with skulls, hearts, more polka dots, etc. but these are the ones they're using right now.

 

day 31 … january 31st. check out alyssa's dinner theater schedule for this past week and next week. she's going to be busy! this is a huge performance and fundraiser put on by the youth group at the church … jr high and high school. they've been meeting on sundays for quite a while now. but the performances are next weekend … they do it 4 times total. so rehearsals have kicked into full gear. i admit, i'm not crazy about that part. 2 nights last week, she was there until 9:30 … she's in the last group and it ran late. they're trying to fix that for this week … since most of the kids in her group are on the younger side and really shouldn't be out that late on school nights. plus, THIS mom isn't big on sitting out in the car waiting for 30 extra minutes … when i should be at home all warm and cozy. lol!

 

and i thought i would share how i'm organizing my photos on my laptop. i have all these photos in my regular "january" folder, within my 2009 folder. but i have also put together a "project 365" folder on my computer. and within that is a folder for each month … so this shows my "january 365" folder. i copied the photos i was going to use into this folder … and then renamed these by the date. i also have each one resized for posting on my blog (i just add "_resize" to my file name). this will allow me to access all my project 365 photos in one spot … but they'll still be within my regular photo files too.

and i have to thank my good friend deneen. she was lucky enough to get a kit for this project already … from her golden ticket grand prize. and i'm still waiting for my order to come …. along with the 6 other people that i ordered for (one big order to save on shipping). it's a long story. let's just say that there was a mistake made … and now i've been moved down the list and will be waiting a few extra weeks now. so deneen generously offered me her kit to work with until the others come. and that meant a lot to me … and i totally appreciate her doing that for me. all my photos up until today are printed and in the album. just have to add my journaling for 31 days … and i'll be ready to share it! so look for it probably on monday.

it's finally time for another challenge. mary and i had this one picked out about a month ago … then we got busy. then we planned it again … and we both totally forgot. i think we even planned it again … and forgot again. lol! finally, we decided to ask heather to play along … figured we'd be more likely to finish if someone else was there to hold us accountable. lol!

so for this challenge, we decided on these 4 things:
1. scenic route pattern papers … one of my favorite manufacturers
2. buttons … i love buttons
3. brads … i love brads just as much as i love buttons
4. heidi swapp plastic alphabet letters … don't use them as much as i should

   

here is what i came up with. i had this larger photo of alyssa printed out … so figured i'd use it for my layout. my thought when i started was to print out some of the other photos from that day in small sizes … and add them to the layout. but once i got the page going … i only had room for one extra photo. i never plan my layouts … they just sort of happen.  

 

i love buttons all lined up in a pretty row of colors! the buttons are all autumn leaves … but i was having problems finding the perfect shade of turquoise. i came across these large, bulky brads from bazzill … and they worked out perfect. and i added little silver mini brads to the clear buttons. 

like i said, i love the plastic letters from heidi swapp. for the longest time, i would just collect them … deeming them "too good to actually use". but that is something that i've gotten so much better about … realizing it makes no sense to hold on to something and not use it. these letters for my title all came from the same package … it was a mix of fonts and sizes … which i love the look of. 

do you ever get to the journaling part of your layout … and not know what to do or how to add it? i do that all the time. the journaling for me is the very last thing i do … and usually it's never planned ahead. usually, whatever i journal about comes from whatever title i ended up with … and the title is something i never plan either. i was THIS close to adding the journaling in my own handwriting … since there were lines on the grid paper to quide me. but i was worried that it wouldn't look right … and i didn't want to take that chance. lol! so printed journaling strips, it was!

supplies:
pattern paper – scenic route
buttons - autumn leaves
brads – making memories (silver), bazzill (turqouise)
plastic letters – heidi swapp
font – old remington

make sure and check out the other girls layouts they came up with for our fun challenge … heather even did 2 layouts! you can see mary's HERE … and heather's HERE. and if you play along, be sure and share with us … we'd love to see what you come up with!

have i ever mentioned how much i love nichol's work? well, i do. and when i saw THIS album cover she made over a year ago … i really wanted to make one of my own. but i didn't … because honestly, it seemed like a lot of work. but then last friday, she posted THIS how-to-video on her blog … re-creating the same idea on a new album cover. one of the things that i love about watching video's like this … is that i realize that the ideas are not always as hard as i think they are. lol! and by sunday night … i had this totally done.

 

it really wasn't hard at all. i totally went with her same basic design … because i loved it. and i had the same 8.5×11 album that she used. i actually use it for all my design team paperwork and receipts. that's why i have "MM stuff" … as in my "making memories stuff".  i did decide to go with the red. i had the exact same color paints that she used on hers … so it was a tough call. i liked them both … but after much thought, the red won.

 

and this was way less messy than i thought it would be. it really is as simple as she made it out to be. adhered the chipboard letters down and let them dry. painted on 2 coats of the red paint. and those makeup sponges worked like magic … each coat went on in about 2 minutes. so easy. then i put 2 coats of the glitter glaze. i didn't have the clear glaze that she added on the top … but i think it still looks great.

supplies:
album – making memories
chipboard – making memories, KOTM, heidi swapp, basic grey
paint – making memories (wagon red), lil davis (strawberry glitter glaze)
flowers – making memories
glitter brads – making memories
ribbon – making memories

so thank you nichol. i've loved this idea for over a year … and within 48 hours of seeing your video … i have this gorgeous album on my shelf! makes doing paperwork so much more enjoyable. lol! and what was even funner … is that carla was doing this same album at the same time. she mentioned she had the album and was going to do it. and i emailed her back saying i already had my chipboard on and the first coat of paint. so then it became a race to see who could finish first. we were emailing back and forth … telling each other what step we were on. even though i had a little head start … we finished at exactly the same time. kind of cool!

i have this basket on one of the shelves in my studio … that is sort of a catch-all basket. inside you'll find cards the girls have made me, projects they bring home from school, award certificates from church and soccer, disneyland souveniers, random photos, programs from concerts and choir performances, locks of hair that i've cut off the girls, and on and on. like i said … a catch-all of stuff. i was chatting with my friend mary the other night … and asking her for an idea of how to store a few of these things. and she brilliantly mentioned the envelopes that came with the april KOTM last year … the "details" kit (that is no longer available, sorry). she's a genious i tell you! i pulled out some of the larger envelopes with the cut out circles … and totally random older product … and went to town.

 

the first one i did was for sarah's "i'm sorry" letters. we tend to butt heads a lot … mainly because we are so much alike. but one thing that she has been doing for ages … it writing me letters after our fights. they're so cute. and funny. one of them mentioned that i could put her on the corner if i wanted. another one said that she was sorry … and then asked when dinner was, because she was hungry. she's a funny one, that sarah! supplies: chipboard tree (mix it up KOTM), chipboard letters (scenic route), gem, string, and clips.

 

next up, i have one for all the awards and certificates the girls get from awana … the kids group at church. both of the girls have been "clubber of the month" quite a few times … and they have awards from the end of each year for completing their books. and also a few random photos that they have brought home .. of them holding their awards. and this picture didn't show the colors too well … the envelope is yellow and the blues all match much better in real life. supplies: plastic letters (heidi swapp), magic mesh, and clips.

 

how cute is this one? this one holds all the programs from the girls choir performances at the church (another part of awana). they've done quite a few musicals and performances. and for each one, they have a program … and they also send them a card with photos from the performance. i wanted to save them all … because in most of them, the girls have had either solos or drama parts. and because the programs have so many bright colors going on … i stuck a piece of white cardstock in the envelope to show through the holes. supplies: foam letters (american crafts), chipboard music notes (mix it up KOTM, american crafts), cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder, tags, ribbon, clips.

and this one holds some of the cards that joe has given me over the years … or that i've given him. i'm sure there are more cards somewhere around the house … but these were the ones i found in the basket. supplies: chipboard heart (rusty pickle), chipboard letters (heidi swapp), flower (heidi swapp), chipboard clock (heidi swapp), brad (heidi swapp), clips.

just putting these few envelopes together … i cut down the amount of stuff in that basket to half the size. that felt good! and also feels good knowing that these types of papers all have a home now. and the next time i get another one … i can just add it to the right envelope. and these envelopes are propped right up on a shelf with my completed scrapbooks. only problem … i have about 6 of these envelopes left. so i find myself walking around the house … searching for things i can shove in a pretty envelope!

still lots going on over on the making memories blog. i'm glued to the site just as much as everyone else. seeing lots of stuff that i knew was coming up … and lots of stuff that i didn't know was coming. lol! i seriously can't wait to get my creative hands on some of this product!  but for today, i wanted to share just a few of my projects using their gorgeous new wedding collection … called "i do".

 

 

funny sidenote: i tend to draw total blanks when coming up with "made-up" invitation information. no clue why … i just have a hard time making stuff up. i took this info right off my cousins wedding invite that was up on my fridge. she really DID get married this past weekend … so sorry we weren't able to go.

 

make sure and check out the making memories blog for more peeks at this collection .. and lots of other great samples and projects using this collection.

disclaimer: i'm hoping it's ok to share these. i've seen some of these samples pop up over on the making memories blog … so i'm thinking it's ok. but if this disappears later … then that means i was wrong. lol!

so yesterday CHA started down in anaheim … where all the manufacturers debut their new products and collections. making memories has come out with lots of great stuff this time around. a new travel collection, a teen collection (that i must get!), a wedding collection, and tons of new design card for the slice. i got to work with the wedding collection and the travel collection for my assignments … creating sample pages and lots of projects. i know all of the designers put a lot of time and effort into these projects … and it's always nice when they finally debut and we can share what we've been working on all these months. i'm not good at keeping secrets … so this is always hard to do. today, i want to share a few of my projects using the travel collection, called "great escapes".

 

 

 

 

the sample layouts are 6×6 in size. and the altered box was made using the box from the older distressing kit. it's a good size … and can hold photos and momentums from a vacation.

check out wendy sue's blog for more great samples using this collection. and make sure and check out the making memories blog today … and for the next two days. they're doing lots of fun stuff and giveaways … and you can see more products and ideas.

taking care of some random things this morning. first up … a layout i did just for fun the other night. these pictures were all photos-of-the-day at one point this month … and i decided to pair them up for a quick layout.

 

 

used some much older product on here … which was kind of fun. this was one of those layouts that i wasn't stressing over … or trying to make perfect … or have it live up to any expectations. just a layout for fun … and to be creative.

i almost forgot that today is the day to announce the winner of the express the moments january kit. i got really scientific with this one … i had my 9 year old daughter read through them and pick a winner. and she choose deanna! congrats deanna … get me your info and i'll forward it to kim for your prize!

and some Q&A's for you … a few things that i know several have asked about … and maybe more of you are wondering too.

• a few people asked about the project 365 kit. i do NOT have my kit yet. i have been told for 2 weeks now that my order is all good … that they were in the warehouse … and that they have indeed shipped. but still no kits. and i ordered for several people at once … so they're left waiting too. i'm crossing my fingers that everything is going to work out … and that they do show up this week. i'll believe it when they're in my hands. lol! in the meantime, i have had my photos printed every sunday … so they're all ready to go once the kit arrives.
• if you were not able to get a kit … there are still options. becky higgins made a free download for some of the project 365 kit elements … you can find info on it HERE. i downloaded the entire thing .. and them all printed at costco just to see how they turn out. and they come out perfectly. she also has lots of other ideas that can be adapted for making your own kit. another idea is to do a digital kit … kind of like the one HERE . 
• few of you have asked about my camera and lenses. i did a post almost a year ago on this .. and i think the info is all still good and what i'm still doing. you can find it HERE.  

that's it for now. looking forward to all the excitement of CHA today. and i think i said the other day that it started on saturday … i thought yesterday was the 25th. lol! so it's today my friend! also been working on lots of fun little projects .. so i'll be sharing those too.

how good am i … still keeping up with my project 365! i admit that this week, i didn't do quite so well taking all the extra photos that i've been doing in previous weeks. lots of photos of "things" … but not so many of the girls, joe, or i. but i still have photos for every day. and i did take lots of photos of the daycare kids this week. the girls wanted me to use a photo of nikolas for my photo-of-the-day for one of the days … and i had to explain that i wasn't planning on using any photos of the daycare kids for this project. they're a huge part of my life … and my daily life. and they'll end up in albums and layouts. but i want this album to be more about our family life. anyways … here's my photos for week four.

 

day 18 … january 18th. after the girls soccer game … they headed over to the church, along with amanda. btw … amanda was technically a daycare kid … but she's also just like a sister and daughter to us after all these years. that's why i'm including her! alyssa had her youth meeting … they're working on a huge dinner theatre performance coming up in a few weeks. and sarah and amanda wanted to do tryouts for the drama and solo parts for the choir performance they just started working on. and then afterwards … they were back at the house and spend the rest of the day hanging out together.

 

day 19 … january 19th. sarah's favorite thing to do … play on the computer. i think she would spend all day on there, if given the chance. wonder where she gets that from?!?! lol! one reason that they have their own laptop … because i don't like to share that much. and that is not anything bad on her screen … since i'm sure you're seeing a half-naked girl. lol! she loves to play stardoll … a site where they dress up dolls and different celebrities.

 

day 20 … january 20th. inauguration day. i admit that i'm not the most politically up-to-date person … i don't normally watch the news or read the newspaper. but i did have the inauguration on … and i watched the entire thing. i even recorded part of it so that the girls could watch after school. and i also admit that i found this picture online. i really wanted a picture of this on my tv … but i just couldn't figure it out. i took about 50 pictures trying to get it. but too many windows opposite the tv … and it's the hardest room in the house to get a decent photo in (ironic, since it HAS all the windows. lol!). so i finally gave up … this will be my photo.

 

day 21 … january 21st.  this is me … blogging. i've been using the little one's naptime for blogging a lot lately. i set up on the island in the kitchen. i've got typepad pulled up and you can see the post i'm working on. next to the computer is the layout i'm blogging about … so i can remember what i did on it. wireless mouse, glasses, and ipod … standard computer material. and starbucks to keep my energy going!

 

day 22 … january 22nd. i've been doing lots of organizing lately. and this was the day that i decided to completely re-do my 9×9 albums. i had quite a few layouts that never got put away. and i realized that i had been just shoving layouts in the albums in no order. so i pulled every single one out … and organized them by kids. this is just my 9×9 layouts of the daycare kids and family friends. my family ones are seperate. and my 12×12's are seperate. even took the albums apart to add larger posts, so that the albums hold more pages.

 

day 23 … january 23rd. i got a box of these candies for christmas … and they are soooo good. i used to be a big candy eater. but i really don't eat chocolate at all anymore … can't even remember the last time i had a candy bar. but these are good … and you're forced to suck on them … because they're too hard to bite. and i was out and about yesterday … and remembered that there was a see's candies store that had opened up. so i stopped and got a few more boxes. they make me happy … and were only $3.50 a box.

 

day 24 … january 24th. my camera is always out and handy. but you know i mean business when the camera bag comes out. i wish i could have had my actual camera in the bag too … but then, how would i take the picture?!?! lol! i actually did a photo shoot today … something i haven't done in quite a while. just have been busy … and havn't pursued it too much. but i was contacted by someone that had heard about me and needed some  headshots. it was so nice to get back out there and take photos. the young girl was just beautiful and did a great job … can't wait to edit them tonight.