Laura Vegas

have been wanting to share these few things … so i figured i'd better do it now before i get sidetracked.

i have to share THIS … because it was such a nice surprise when i found out about it. i actually didn't know anything about it. i had a few people email me after seeing it … otherwise, i'm not sure when i would have seen it. lol! i was so flattered to read all the super sweet comments from kelli about my work. 

2 great classes going on at 2peas from 2 of my favorite designers … and they're both free. THIS one here by robyn werlich. and THIS one here by nichol magouirk. love the idea of doing a layout each month … and then having a completed album at the end of the year. need to work on these since the month is almost over.

CHA starts sunday! i can't wait for some of the new stuff to be shared over on the making memories blog and site. i know they'll posting stuff all day … so check it out. it's hard to keep it all a secret for this long … always exciting to see it all out there!

that's all i can think of now. if i remember anything else later, i'll add it in.

since i did such a long post yesterday … i never did "out-take wednesday". i know, my inbox has been flooded with people asking for it. lol! totally kidding … no one even noticed! so i thought i'd do these 2 little ones today … all photos from yesterday.

 

little miss haley. with a blanket … but not HER blanket. she was not happy with the fact that she forgot to bring her blanket yesterday … but she had to deal with it. by the time i noticed it wasn't there … mom was already well on her way to work. i found this one and tried to convince her it was just as good. she didn't buy it!

 

at one point, she migrated from the couch to the floor. see that toy there in her left hand … more on that in a minute.

 

i was trying to get a picture of  "happy" … her stuffed doggie that she is totally attached to. this was the best i could get from her. she'd hold him up in the air for me. and she was totally smushed between the couch and the table here … i kept telling her to sit up straight. see that toy in her left hand … more on that in a minute.

 

such a cutie!

 

excuse the overload of color … it was the best i could do.  my family room does NOT photograph well. anways. i turned on the tv for a bit … something i don't do very much around here. and the newer "winnie the pooh" was on. nikolas was going crazy over it. laughing his head off … and smiling the entire time. this was him totally caught up in the show. see those toys clutched in his hands … more on that in a minute.

 

ok … the toys. funny that both of them are clinging to these cards for dear life in every photo. they actually go to a super old winnie the pooh telephone toy. it is the loudest thing you'll ever hear … and you stick these cards in to get the different characters talking. no one cares about the phone. but the cards … they're all these 2 kids care about these days. they're forced to share on the days they're here together. i make sure each of them has 4 of the cards. and they'll fight and grab from each other all day. there is a little container thing that you can put them in … and they fight over that too. and they carry them around all day long. i think haley just likes them because she knows how much nikolas likes them … she never really plays with them. but nikolas … he will sit for hours and play with them. put them in and out of the container … shuffle them around … hide them in his pockets. just this morning, he sat on the couch with them for 40 minutes straight. no joking!

 

yes, he's a cutie too!

 

and i was debating posting this … because it's not a very flattering picture. of me anyways … the kids are fine. lol! the color one was terrible. taking pics at arms length … with a super heavy lens and external flash … not the easiest thing to do. and of course … i'm having a terrible hair week (no, not day … week), and i never finished my makeup. nice.  but i still think it's a super cute photo!

i get a lot of comments and emails about how i print my photos into smaller sizes … and i do answer everyone. lol! but since i usually respond just to the person that commented … i suppose there are some of you out there that might still be wondering if i'm ever going to answer. guess it would help to start answering some of the commonly asked questions here on the blog itself. first up, let me show you the layout … then i'll explain how i resize and print.

  

just love these photos of sarah that i took for our christmas cards. i have the ones of alyssa printed out to scrap next. i decided to use the same type of photo placement that i used on the layout of haley the other day (see a few posts down). except i only had 3 small photos … so i added pattern paper and my title to one of those spots. all the product on here is from the new making memories "chloe's closet" collection, which is exclusive to michaels stores … you can find it in stores now.  

now on to the photo resizing and printing … using the photos on this layout as my example. keep in mind that my way isn't necessarily the right way … or the only way. just happens to be what i personally do … and what has worked for me for over 2 years now! and make sure to click on any of these samples to see them bigger … they should appear larger for you.

 

so the first thing i do is pull up the photos that i'm wanting to print. i mainly use photoshop CS2 for this … but occasionally i use elements too. they both work! for this layout, i had 4 photos total. i like to pull them all up … and then minimize all but the one i'm working with. that way i can have the photo i'm working on … but all the others are right down in the photo tray. i go back and forth a lot.

 

for these 3 photos, i knew that i wanted to print them smaller. one of my favorite sizes to print is the 2×3 inch. but for this layout, i knew i was using a 5×7 of my focal photo … so i wanted the smaller ones to be 7 inches tall also (when stacked 2 high). i choose a 2×3.5 size for each of these photos. i simply clicked on the crop button … and put in my size dimensions that i wanted, making sure the DPI was set at 300. then i can drag the cursor over what part of the photo i want to crop … and it will keep that 2×3.5 dimension with whatever part of the photo i want (whether i'm cropping in close or not). so each of these photos here are cropped down to the size i want. now to get them onto a canvas to print.

 

this is my usual way of printing. i create a new canvas at 8.5×11, making sure the DPI is at 300. my photo printer works with standard paper size … although a wide format printer would be so nice for larger prints! then i simply copy and paste my photos onto the canvas … arranging them where i want. each photo you add on becomes a new "layer" … and you can move each one around seperately. see that little bottom box on the right side of the screen? that shows my layers … just click on the layer you want to adjust … and you can work with just that layer. because i'm going to print this out and then trim all the photos apart … i just arrange them however i need to to make them fit on the page. so here are the 3 smaller photos … and the larger photo that i also added that is 5×7 in size. you can also rotate photos to make them fit … don't forget that. it's not going to matter once you print them, because you will trim them out. i do like to leave some space in between the photos … because sometimes i like to trim them with white borders. once the photos are arranged, you'll want to flatten all your layers … very important. then you can print!

 

this is the other way i print. if i know that i'm going to put my photos side by side or in a collage … then i'll arrange them that way on the blank canvas. that way, i only have to trim out one large photo … as opposed to trimming the smaller photos and then adhering them side by side. so this example here shows the 5×7 photo … and then my 3 smaller photos arranged just like i have them on my layout. i could just print this, and trim the collage … and then adhere my pattern paper right over the blank spot. make sense? i didn't happen to do that for this layout … but if i knew my plan, this would be a great option. sometimes i like to have borders between my photos. so if i wanted that … i would just arrange my photos leaving that small gap … and then trim right around it. kind of like in this layout HERE. once again … just make sure and flatten your layers before printing.

 

and just one more idea. this is great for if you don't print at home … or if you just want to order your photos through an online site or local printer. i do this a lot actually. i have an awesome photo printer (although i paid less than half of that price it shows now) and just love it. but i'm also loving costco lately. this example shows how i used the same 3 smaller photos. but this time, i copy and pasted them onto a 5×7 blank canvas, at 300 DPI. the photos are 3.5 tall … so that adds up to the 7 inches tall. and the combined width is only 4 inches … so that just means you'll have an extra inch to trim away. but once you have the pics on there … just flatten the layers and then save it as a seperate file. then simply upload this to your favorite site and you can order prints. this is a 5×7 … so i would just order a 5×7. if you wanted to do 4×6's … you would just resize whatever photos you wanted to fit a 4×6 canvas and do the same steps. when you can order prints for 15-40 cents each (depending on the size) … sometimes it's easier to just do this and not have to mess with the printing yourself.

ok … hope that made some sense? and hope i didn't make it sound to complicated … i have a tendancy to do that. lol! it's really not that hard … and once you get the hang of it, it's super easy to do. please feel free to ask any questions that i havn't answered on this. i'll do my best to answer any i can!

are you going to CHA? no, i'm not going … but would love the opportunity someday. i think it would be an amazing experience. but i have lots of projects that will be there … so does that count?!?!

more info on flattening the layers? i'm no digital smartie. but the way i see it, is that every time you copy and paste a new photo onto your canvas … it creates a new layer. this way, you have control over each one individually … and can change up or remove each one individually … and not have to start all over if you mess up. i had 4 photos on here … so i had 4 layers. but once they're all arranged and how you want them … you have to flatten them to make one solid canvas. if you go to the toolbar across the top and find "layers" … a drop screen will come down and you'll click on "flatten layers". if you don't flatten … you can't print. and if you ARE in the middle of working on a canvas and want to stop … you can save it. it will save as a photoshop file … and next time you open it, all your layers will still be there and you can continue where you left off.

printing as a 4×6? don't know that anyone specifically asked about this … but i feel like chatting about it. totally same idea as the 5×7 i mentioned. and btw … the 5×7 could totally be printed as 4 photos at 2.5×3.5, and they would fit perfectly. mine just happen to be 2 inches wide. like i said … i love the 2×3 size. basically a wallet size. so you can crop 4 photos to 2×3 … and fit all of them on one 4×6 print.

i got an email from kim rose from express the moment kit club back in december, asking me if i'd want to guest design for one of their upcoming kits. finally got it worked out timing wise … and she sent me the january kit.

i admit that i was a little worried when i opened it … the snow stuff threw me off. i don't think i've seen snow in over 15 years now! lol! but luckily, my good friend wendy sue let me borrow some photos of her kids to make a few layouts. lots of fun stuff in this kit … the browns and blues are so pretty together.

   

 

and a couple of cards.

 

 

 

and express the moment is sponsoring a giveaway here on my blog … for a free kit. all you have to do is leave a comment here to be entered … and we'll pick a winner on sunday. and if you want to double your chances … hop over to kim's blog … where she is doing a seperate giveaway. and they're also offering a few specials right now. if you're a new subscriber to their kit, you will get a free tote bag from fancy pants designs. and if you're a new subscriber … and you mention my blog … you'll also get a pack of fancy pants designs pattern paper with your first months kit. so check it out!

and i know i mentioned a post on resizing and printing photos … i'll share that tomorrow. promise!

i did some major cleaning and purging of my scrap stuff this past weekend. and one of the big things was going through all my pattern paper … and being realistic about the papers i still like and want to actually use. i came across this fish paper from pebbles inc … this is some old paper. but it was perfect timing … since i had these photos of sarah from last week.

   

not the best photo … i may re-take it tomorrow. i was losing sunlight, but wanted to get this done. and the photos look so dark here. whatever. and the 3 photos stacked up … one of my all time favorite photo placement designs. so easy. kept this one super simple … but i like it. and the buttons … i was thrilled that the family actually figured out that they were supposed to be like bubbles. so proud of them … they're learning to notice these things. lol!

supplies –
pattern paper – pebbles inc (fish), ki memories (word search)
chipboard – heidi swapp
rubons – doodelbug
scallop punch – stampin up
buttons – autumn leaves

i have been wanting to scrap for the last week. i've done tons of projects this past month … but nothing just for fun or just for me. and i was also in desperate need for color … lots of color. you'll see what i mean next week … come CHA time, when i can show some peeks. but for now … just know that all this color was a welcome sight on my desk today!

  

when i thought of color and what pics to use … i immediately thought about these photos of haley i took a while back. plus, they were printed already … always a plus! the large photo is a 5×7 … and the smaller ones are all 2×3.5 and arranged together. if i had known my plan for the photos … i would have printed the smaller ones all together as one piece. but i must have had something else in mind when i printed these … because they were all seperate. no problem, just adhered them side by side. and stay tuned the next few days … because i have 2 more layouts using the same photo sizes and placement. love doing different takes on the same page design. 

ahhh, the american crafts flair … i'm just in love with them! and the metal rim cut in half … the other half will go on a coordinating card later tonight.  the swiss dotted kraft circle was in my scrap drawer … saved me some time. 

i have had these chipboard letters forever … always loved the fun font. although no "l" to be found … so i had to cut a "k" to make my letter. and the flowers are mostly making memories … with a few american crafts tossed in. i have a mix of clear plastic flowers, fabric flowers, felt flowers, and paper flowers … such fun to layer them. the brads are all making memories too.   

supplies –
pattern paper – creative cafe
chipboard letters – pressed petals
flowers, brads, metal rim - making memories
flair, ribbon, and flowers – american crafts
rubon – autumn leaves
embossing – cuttlebug (swiss dot folder)
stamp – hero arts
other – string

week three of project 365 and still doing good. anxiously awaiting my kit too … i was told it shipped out on friday, so it should be here next week. it's been hard hearing everyone else say they had gotten theirs already … i'm not a patient person with stuff like this. lol! here are my shots for this past week.

 

day 11 … january 11th. the girls after their soccer game. this was the first time that they've done the indoor leaque … a new thing we have here. i think they have really enjoyed it … such a different game when played indoors. it's really just for fun and to keep them playing after the regular season. so there aren't any practices … and it's just a short game each sunday. and nice to have them on the same team. the team is actually the team that alyssa played on this past season … but they needed a few more players. so two of the sisters joined in. i love to see them out on the field together!

 

day 12 … january 12th. my pile of ideas books and magazines that sits on the end table in the family room. i usually keep just the current 1-2 issues of each scrapbook magazine at a time … then i clean out the previous ones and tear out any ideas that i like. and i also keep the newest idea books here. and you might find a random rachael ray magazine or us weekly in there. i can tell when it's time to go through and clean some more issues out … because the pile starts getting super tall like this! and for the record … 4 of those idea books are my copies that i got with my returned layouts and cards just last week.

 

day 13 … january 13th. i snapped this picture as joe was coming up the walkway from work. he usually gets home around 8:00-8:30am. and even after working all night … he is nice enough to stop on the way home and pick me up a starbucks to start my day. and yes, that IS my breakfast … and lunch combined. lol!

 

day 14 … january 14th. i thought this was funny. i was looking at the top 25 most played songs on the ipod … and this picture shows the "top 5" from that list. and yes … this is MY ipod. lol! "love song" is one of my favorites … and it shows twice on here because for some reason i have two copies of it on itunes. i guess i must play them in a row for it to show up here. i'm big on playing a favorite song over and over and over and over … i will play it 20 times in a row sometimes. and yes, the remaining 3 "top 5" songs are from "high school musical 3" … i really do love these songs and have them on all the time.

 

day 15 … january 15th. sarah and one of her homework papers. there is really no significance to this paper … something about america's first people … and all sorts of reading comprehension questions on the back. i'm terrible at this when i have to help her. i have to read it several times and hunt down the answers … which means i probably don't comprehend much. lol! and anytime that homework is finished and completed is a good thing … and calls for a picture, right?

 

day 16 … january 16th. friday night i realized i hadn't taken a photo yet … and the girls were out with my brother and sister-in-law. so i was looking for something to take a photo of. this is their bathroom counter. not the greatest picture. bright bathroom lights … and the walls are a light green … gives photos this strange tint to them. i was standing in the bathtub taking this. the far side of the sink is alyssa's territory … and the right side is sarah's territory. why they feel the need to put this many lotions and potions on the counter, i have no idea. i don't even know how many of these they use. and notice they each have a few toothbrushes and a seperate toothbrush holder? no idea why … no idea how. all i know is that it's a pain to clean that counter when you have to take that much stuff off. lol!

day 17 … january 17th. alyssa has been asking for a haircut this past week. which is unusual … because usually i have to beg her to get one. lol! i knew her hair was getting long and in need of a trim. so this morning, while joe and sarah were at softball tryouts … i took her over to get a haircut. it's not a huge difference … but she likes it. she got about 2 inches taken off the length … and some longer side bangs cut. and when we went in, the lady asked if she was under 10 years old … and alyssa actually looked at me before answering. she could probably pass for 10 years old …. she's a tiny thing. and it would have saved us $3 if she was … but since she's 12, we had to pay the adult amount. lol!

i know you don't want any chit-chatting … just get to the good stuff, right?!?! lol!

   

i'm sick … have been all week. i was just having a bummer of a day on tuesday … miserable and not feeling good. even took a nap while the little ones took their naps. so when the UPS dude pulled up about 4:00 … it made the day just a little better. 

 

this is my goodies for winning the golden ticket back in october. all sort of idea books, album kits, and older KOTM's. i've been waiting patiently for these … for the most part anyways. lol! deneen got her golden ticket a few weeks after mine … and has had her goodies since the end of november. so i was kind of bummed that mine was taking so much longer. i have to thank vivian over at CK (and my good friend wendy at CK also) for looking into this and making sure they finally made their way to me.

 

 

and you know i'm not trying to just show off my goodies, right? there is something in this for 2 of you. i had pretty much picked out what i wanted … but still had some credit left. so i ordered 2 of my favorite ideas books (that i already have) … and decided i would do a giveaway on my blog. i'm giving away the two books shown above … ali edwards "a designers eye for scrapbooking" and cathy zielske "clean and simple, the sequel".

just leave me a comment … any comment. and i'll pick 2 names friday evening. i'm mailing stuff on saturday morning … so would love to get these out to 2 of you lucky winners at the same time. good luck! edited to add: i usually don't do this, but for this giveaway i'm only going to ship to the US. so sorry to all my international readers. just can't do the extra shipping and forms right now.

comments closed. back in a bit with the winners!

last night i was commenting to the family that i had to get my pictures picked out for "out-take wednesday" … and they thought i was a little crazy. maybe because i make it sound like some big, important event. lol! but i told them that people would be swarming to the blog for this week's round … so make me feel good and tell me that is why you came to visit me today!

 

sarah and her newest webkinz … the fish (not sure of his official name). she had somehow bought an underwater room on her webkinz account … and she was dying to get an underwater animal so that she could actually use the room. lol! so she took some of her christmas money and got this. love the face … they're eyes look the same!

 

another crazy face … shows you a good taste of her spunk and attitude. alyssa is turning 13 later this year … can you tell?!?!

 

not a lovely picture … but i took this when i was taking pics of sarah in our bed last week. i was actually standing on the bed leaning over her … and holding the camera up high enough in the air to fit her in the frame. so of course, i wasn't looking through the lens for any of them. so it took me a LOT of trys. and then you know at some point, the camera had to turn on me. i'm not a very good self-portrait taker … this is the look i tend to get while holding out my camera with the external flash as far as i can … and balancing it and trying to press the button. and this was about 10:00pm … so hence the worn out makeup and no lip color. but the hair looks good, right?!?!

 

i find this picture ammusing … because do you see what sarah is doing all sneakily in the background? she's digging through my purse. why does every kid go to my purse?!?! haley once took all the change out of my purse and hid it in her bag. and nikolas has been taking my credit cards and coupons. you'd think they would all realize that i don't really have any money in there. lol! and alyssa? she's taking over my laptop to check on some homework stuff … but texting at the same time. multi-tasker at heart!

 

and this photo. look at her … do you not feel her pain?!?! can you tell how tramatized she is?!?! i got this jacket at old navy a while ago … and she LOVES it. wears it almost every single day. but i washed it over the weekend. and when it came out of the dryer … the fur stuff on the hood was all matted up. it used to be all furry and perfect. but now it resembles a sheep or something. she is NOT happy about this … and has not worn it since. she told me i had to take a picture of it … and then tell everyone on my blog what i did. so i am. sarah … i'm sorry!