Laura Vegas

had to share these pictures i took of nikolas today. he is one funny boy … keeps us laughing all day long. he started doing this smile a while ago … and i'm not sure why i haven't taken any pictures of it yet. if you tell him to give you a "big smile" … this is what you'll get.

 

it's the cutest thing. he scrunches up his entire face and gives these huge grins. makes me laugh every single time. he's a year and a half now … and is getting quite the little personality. he talks non-stop … and parts of it are even starting to make sense. he has been able to hum the song "twinkle, twinkle, little star" since before he was even a year old … but now he sings parts of it too, and it's so cute. he's a busy boy … but also loves to just sit with me and read his books. loves his animal books the most and will point to every single animal (and that book has a TON) and ask me what it is. one of these days, i just know he's going to rattle off each one on his own! he's a typical boy that loves to climb on stuff … but also listens when i ask him to get down. he has been digging in my purse lately … goes straight for the wallet. lol! he does like to be held … gets his "laura-fix" and then runs off to play … then comes back and does it all over again. he almost never cries … and is always happy.

and i have to apologize for his messy face in these next pictures. he was having an afternoon snack of doritos … and i didn't even realize it was all over his face. if i could take a wipe to these pictures, i totally would. lol! but, i'm too lazy to photoshop them … and it's real life anyways. i couldn't pick just one … so i'm posting a few that make me laugh.

 

 

his "big smile"!

 

his "kissy face"!

 

and his full-fledged laugh … i get to enjoy this all day, 5 days a week. i know … i'm lucky!

 

and i didn't want to leave haley out. she was here too … just didn't get any great pictures of her today. she's got a cold coming on and wasn't quite herself today. which makes sense. nikolas had a little cold last week. and sarah and alyssa both have colds that started over the weekend. and i came down with something today. lovely how we all share around here, right?!?! lol!

i'm still on track and doing good with my project 365 photos. i've taken the camera out every day. want to know what i'm most excited about? when i look through my photos from last year … i realize that i took 2-3 times more photos of the daycare kids than of my own family. as much as i love the daycare kids … i think that's kind of sad that i don't have that many photos of my girls. maybe because they're older … and don't do all the little things that the ittie-bitties do. but most of my photos of them last year were the posed shots. which are great and i love them. but i was sorely lacking on the everyday photos. and this past week .. i've well made up for it. on to my photos for week two.

 

day 4 … january 4th. sunday is grocery shopping day. i try and only do the big shopping every other week … and just pick up the fill-in stuff the other week. this week i happen to have some excellent coupons … limitless coupons, in fact. the big one? pop-tarts for 99 cents. my girls love pop-tarts for breakfast … so i seriously stocked up on those! i had to take a photo of my receipt. the total was $64.09 … and yet my savings was $61.31. impressive, right?!?!

day 5 … january 5th. this was monday, the girls last day of the holiday break before going back to school. this was right after they took a shower in the morning (explains sarah's wet hair). and they were both curled up on the couch … under blankets … playing their nintendo's. and sarah was eating waffles … the one day she didn't have a pop-tart. and no, i do NOT let them eat on the couch normally. lol!

day 6 … january 6th. so this was tuesday … but it could have been taken on tuesday, wednesday, or thursday to be honest. this is my kitchen island … and this is how it looked for 3 straight days. actually, i had stuff on the other counters too … just can't see that part. 11 projects were created on this island this past week. my studio is upstairs. but when i'm working my regular job … i'm downstairs. of course, i'm a multi-tasker … so i work my regular job and my side job at the same time. gotta love nap time … it's when i get the most work done. but for some reason, i can't scrap upstairs while the little ones are napping. so i bring everything downstairs … and then end up making another 38 trips up and down for things i forget. lol!

 

day 7 … january 7th. this is what we wake up to most days … tons of fog. it was one of the first things i thought of when i woke up … was to take a photo of it. this was taken from the side of the house … right outside the laundry room door. we're on a corner … so our front door is around on that left side. you could only see about 2 houses down … the fog was so thick.

 

day 8 … january 8th. this is alyssa doing her homework after school. the girls are both good about doing their homework right away … usually at the kitchen table. although sometimes alyssa goes up to her room to do it at her desk. i thing she's doing her reading log here … she has to read half hour a day and then fill out all sorts of stuff about what she read. and right now she's reading "the sisterhood of the traveling pants". and just a funny sidenote … never stand on a swivel barstool, and lean over your child to try and get a good shot. well, you CAN do this … but be warned that accidents can and will happen! lol!

 

day 9 … january 9th. sarah woke up on friday morning with a sore throat and a runny nose. by the time she got home from school, she had a slight fever going. so we got some medicine in her and she relaxed most of the night. about 9:00 that night … i found her climbed in our bed … curled up playing her nintendo. joe came in not too long after that to go to bed too. the faces she makes while playing her nintendo are so funny … if only i showed you all the pics i got. lol!

 

day 10 … january 10th. i know to some of you … this stack isn't that huge. but to me it is. these are layouts that i put away in albums today. i just got a bunch of layouts and cards back from one of the magazines a few days ago … so it made my pile a little too big for my liking. i do like them all stacked up … you can see the bent corners and bulkiness of them. but i like them even more when they're all neatly in their correct albums!

so these past few weeks have been busy … been working on a ton of making memories assignments for CHA, coming up later this month. i can't show you any of it … but i can promise you that they have some super cool product coming out. you won't want to miss it. since i can't show you any of the new stuff … how about some projects with the older stuff? these were all projects that i created for one reason or another … some of them i'm not totally sure what they were for. lol! 

 

some animal crackers … using photos of my friend erika's adorable boy, drew.

 

i have no idea who this little girl is .. but she's a cutie and was fun to scrap! this was actually on the back of a target page kit … fun to see in the store.

 

 

 

and a layout using the noteworthy collection. this was actually a really fun layout to make. i had a package filled with tons of different products … all the way down to metal rims and staples. and i was supposed to use some of every single thing in the package. i'm a big product junkie … and sometimes i have a hard time deciding which items to actually use on my projects. i hate to leave any out. so this was right up my alley!

stay tuned … i have even more!

isn't this a cool idea. to have "out-take wednesday" each week … and show you some of the other funny photos i captured during the past week. love that i can make it sounds so official and important. lol! so far, i'm still on track with my project 365 … and have taken photos every day. the added bonus … is that i'm taking more everyday photos than i used to … just because i have the camera out already. and one thing up front … as much as i love a technically perfect photo … i'm not necessarily expecting or trying for that on all these photos. i like to think of these as snapshots … and i don't always have the time to try and get them perfect. but i still love that i'm capturing something from our everyday life. these are NOT my photos for my project 365 (still posting those on saturdays) … just extras from the week.

   

i actually took my camera in the car … my big, bulky camera. makes me wish i had a point and shoot. lol! we were running all over the place sunday. after the girls indoor soccer game … we had to run back home and get alyssa ready for her youth meeting. then went and dropped her off … and sarah and i ran to the grocery store and costco … and took everything back home to put away. then way back over to pick up alyssa after her meeting. this was us in the car … patiently waiting for alyssa to come out. i'll have to work on this taking-a-photo-in-the-car thing. hard to hold that heavy camera up and not be able to see … and just hope for the best. lol!

 

and this photo cracks me up. it was right after alyssa came out and got in the car. we were on our way home and stopped at a red light (i think that's the pizza spot behind us). so i casually reached over and turned on the camera … and then lifted it up and pointed it back at her and snapped the picture. you see her holding her hand out? you see her mouth forming the word "you"? i can totally tell you exactly what she's doing here. she's saying "what the heck are YOU doing?!?!?". but imagine it being said in a totally "omg, what is my mother doing?!?!" kind of way.

   

speaking of alyssa … she's totally obsessed with twilight. can you tell?!?! she is a total saver … never wants to buy anything or spend money. she has all her birthday money and christmas money put away. so NOT like sarah. lol! but we were at the store the other day dropping off a fedex package … and she spotted this magazine. i was really surprised when she jumped at the change to get it … and for once, didn't mind spending a few dollars.

 

and speaking of magazines … the girls have them all over the house. lol! they love to go through and tear out all the posters of their favorite actors and singers. lots of disney channel and nikelodeon stars hanging all over their rooms. which is cool … i remember doing it when i was younger. actually, i'm not sure i ever hung up posters … but i do know that i collected them.

i have some other blog posts tossing around in my head right now … and just waiting for their chance to be typed up. random stuff, a few older layout shares, maybe even a daycare kid or two. so stay tuned … i'll be back with more tomorrow!

"wingnut" … something i call anyone and everyone. second only to "dude". i've wanted to do a "wingnut" layout for ages now … and last night i finally took a few minutes to make this. and how is the new layout-photo-taking location? it's so dark and gloomy in this house … had to find a new spot!

 

i really wasn't sure what photos i was going to use when making this layout. my actual intent was to do a layout with NO photos. but i was digging around on my external hard drive for photos for a different project … and came across these older photos of the girls. they seemed to fit. because usually when i call someone "wingnut" … it's because they're being goofy or doing something crazy. then again … i'll just call people "wingnut" for the heck of it too. lol!

 

for the center of this layout … i wanted to use the designblock stencil stamp from hero arts. i tried to actually stamp it directly on my cardstock background … and i admit that i tried it 3 times … and failed 3 times. lol! i finally just stamped in on a scrap piece of cardstock and then stuck it in the middle of the page. and note to self: get a wider variety of ink pads soon! then i just added some brads and rivets to the centers of some of the flowers.

 

and for my title … i used the large plastic letters from heidi swapp. the ones i've been hoarding for years now … and have deemed "too cute" to actually use for some reason. lol! i had to finagle an extra "n" … cut up one of the "m's" for it. then just added some ribbon strips across the top and bottom.

supplies:
cardstock – bazzill
plastic letters – heidi swapp
ribbon – making memories (red dot), american crafts (green dash)
stamp – hero arts
brads – making memories
rivets – chatterbox
other – staples

how good am i? it's the third day of the new year … and i'm caught up on my project 365 photos. i know that sounds a little crazy … being so excited about the first 3 days. lol! but for me, it's a great start. and yes, i was lucky enough to get my kit ordered. i know it was crazy that day … and i really feel bad for those of you that weren't able to get a kit. hopefully, they'll be able to come up with more kits and straighten all of this out. so here we go … my photos for week one!

 

day 1 … january 1st. i knew this would be my shot for the day. my computer screen as i was trying to order my kit. i was up bright and early so that i'd be ready as soon as it went up for sale. and i'm glad i was. i had screens open left and right … and spent 40 minutes trying, before i actually got my order placed. a bit stressful … but so worth it. and i'm grateful that i was able to get my order through.

 

day 2 … january 2nd. a shot of my scrap island right now … actually, just a quarter of it. i have so many projects going on right now … it's a bit crazy. working on lots of CHA stuff right now … think i have it pretty well hidden in this picture. sorry … no peeks yet!

 

day 3 … january 3rd. a typical saturday around here … lots of cleaning and laundry. today we did even more cleaning than usual … entire house top to bottom. not the funnest way to spend our saturday … but it has to be done.

i think saturday is going to be perfect for sharing these. i usually have a bit more time on saturday to catch up on things. so i can edit and post the pics … and place a small order all at once … and then pick up the photos sunday morning. and the great thing is that by taking my camera out to take these pics … i ended up taking even more everyday shots around the house. that's something i'm not always good at … so i think this is going to be good in so many ways!

just wanted to share a layout i did last week for hero arts … it went up on the hero arts blog today. along with tons of other super cute cards by other designers … so make sure and check them out too.

 

this is a photo of alyssa from 4 years ago. i actually scrapped this photo on a layout about whether or not she still believed in the magic of christmas. i loved that layout … and it was actually published 4 years ago. i thought it would be fun to scrap that same photo and same idea now … 4 years later. what i thought was happening 4 years ago … didn't happen until this year. i'm glad she believed longer than i thought she would.

 

used lots of christmas stamps on here. on the blue and pink papers, i used the design block holly flourish stamp … which i heat embossed with white. i also used the large christmas circles stamps on white cardstock … and then pop-dotted them onto kraft circles that i embossed in the cuttlebug … and added a few gems on for a little sparkle.

 

i just love the tree stamps … the pocketful o' holiday trees small stamps and the three trees large stamps. i stamped them with black ink onto colored cardstock and then cut them out. i adhered them with pop-dots and added little gems at the top of each tree. the title letters are puffy stickers from making memories … along with the star brad that is dotting the "i".

supplies:
cardstock – bazzill
pattern paper – making memories (green), bobunny (blue)
stamps, gems - hero arts
puffy letters, star brad – making memories
swiss dot embossing folder – cuttlebug
scallop punch – stampin up
buttons – autumn leaves
other – embossing powder, string

when i got the january issue of scrapbooks etc … i came across a layout by my friend, sarah klemish (on page 38). it was in an article about gathering your favorite photos from an entire year onto a single page layout. sarah's layout was gorgeous … she had 40 photos done up in a collage for her page. i knew right away that i had to make my own. last night was the perfect night … since it was the end of the year!

 

this is a total scraplift … and i'm not afraid to admit that. i love a good scraplift. when something is this good … why mess with it. lol! loved the colors. green, red, turgouise, black, and white … my favorites. i did switch the green and turgouise around. and i used a rubon flourish … where she used an overlay flourish. and i didn't do any machine stitching … but added in some penwork. but really … it's the same design. even the font is the same. 

 

40 photos on one page … how genious! this actually wasn't that hard. partly because i had already picked out my favorite photos from the past year while making those gift albums a few weeks ago. so i had them narrowed down pretty good. another thing that helped speed this up was the "see the sketch" tear-out sheet in the magazine (link isn't to the exact sketch, but some online sketches that are just as good). i love this … i tear them all out and keep them all together. it highlights some of the pages in the magazine that month … and gives you a sketch of the design, including photo sizes. so i didn't have to do any math on this … or try and figure out how big sarah made the photos. it told me right there … that each photo was 1 x 1.5 inches. took me all of 10 minutes to pull up 40 photos, resize them to 1 x 1.5 inches, and arrange them in a collage. then i simply printed this out on my photo printer … and scrapped it.

 

the journaling actually took me the longest. lol! i liked how sarah just highlighted some of the big events of the year in short sentences. but then my mind went blank … you'd think we didn't do anything all year. lol! the girls thought it was funny that i put "high school musical 3 came out" on there … but it was a big event of the year. lol! and i give my printer some mad props for actually printing straight for once (my regular printer, not my photo printer). it always pulls the paper in crooked … and then i have to try and cut the journaling into straight pieces. and it would have bugged me to no end if the journaling on here didn't match up to the grid pattern. lol!

so once again … a big "thank you" to sarah for inspiring me once again with her creative genious! and for letting me "borrow" another one of her designs! i love this layout … and i think i'm going to frame it and put it up on the wall somewhere in the house. so much cooler than tucking this away in an album somewhere.

supplies:
cardstock – bazzill (turgouise, red, white, black), american crafts (green)
pattern paper – scenic route
chipboard – basic grey
die cut label – creative cafe
rubon – basic grey
font – "old remington" by autumn leaves

this kit goes up for sale in the morning … project 365 KOTM … designed by becky higgins. and you can bet that i will wake up bright and early for this (my time will be 8:00am) … even on my day off. check out the new KOTM blog too, if you havn't seen it already.

 

this was the kit that deneen and i got to see in person on our trip to utah. and i immediately knew that i had to have it. there has been lots of buzz about this. i've been reading all the message board posts about it … and comments all over the blogs about it. and i think a lot of people are over thinking this project. so here's my thoughts on this.

i'm getting the kit. because honestly … i love the design and love the colors. i could totally use my own supplies from my own stash to do something very similar. but let's face it … i wouldn't. it would end up being one of those things that i would just push to the side and never get around to actually doing. i like the idea of having everything done for me … and all i have to do is assemble it. then simply add my photos and journal a few lines … and slip everything in. easy peasy!

and the photo a day? i'm ok with the fact that i may not take a photo EVERY single day. i'll try … but i know some days it won't happen. but that's ok. because i know i can take 7 photos a week. seriously … you won't get in trouble if the photo you put for thursday was really taken on saturday. and it won't make your album less real. and my plan for organizing and printing photos? once i pick my photo for each day … i'll copy it to a folder on my laptop called "project 365". inside that folder, i'll have a folder for each month. i can even rename the photo to the actual date … so i'll have "jan1, jan2, jan3" and so on. then i'll have them printed at the end of each week. costco is right down the street … so that's easy enough.

my goal for this album … is to capture everyday life and all the little things that go on around here. all the things that i would never find the time to create entire layouts about … nor would i want to create entire layouts for. lol! i want my photos to be anything and everything. could be the girls … or could be joe or me. something we did that day … or somewhere we went. could be my pile of laundry … or the pile of junk mail. could be a photo of what we had for dinner … or the dishes on the counter. could be the soccer bags all ready for practice … or the stinky socks from after practice. could be the grocery store that we go to several times a week … or the drive thru at starbucks. could be something around the house … or something in my studio. i just want this to be very random. there are so many different ways you can go about this … becky had a great list on her blog a few days ago. but for me … i just want random shots of whatever i think is interesting that day. no overthinking … just a photo.

i have plans to re-focus some of my scrapping this year. and this is going to be a big part of that. i'll still have tons of layouts … i promise that. not like this will take the place of my regular scrapping for the year … although it could. lol! but this will take some of the pressure off … and i can worry less about all the little things and little moments that i never seem to get around to documenting. and that will give me more time to focus on some of the other projects that i have planned for the next few months. i'll be posting more about some of these soon. school albums, soccer albums, travel album, baby albums … i have plans for all of those! and i'm super motivated to make this a year where i get all these ideas done.

so anyways … there you have it. my official commitment to project 365! knowing that i put it out there for all the world to see (or at least, my own little world that you all are a part of!) … i'm more likely to follow through. because i know you'll all check up on me … and give me a good lecture if i fall behind. lol! and just to go one step further … i'm going to declare saturdays my official "project 365 share day" on my blog. every saturday, i'll be sharing my 7 photos for that week. wish me luck … and let me know if you're planning on getting this kit too. would love to follow along with you as you work on it this coming year too!

about a month ago, i was asked to design a few bags for daily window. you can see the first one up today on the daily window blog.

 

for this bag, i choose the eight days a week bag. i have to tell you … i have done some of these types of bags before. but these bags are gorgeous! the quality of the bags just blew me away when they arrived on my doorstep. they are super sturdy … and made of great materials … have lots of pockets inside … and the lining inside is lime green! i love lime green with black … totally my style!

i thought this bag would be perfect for taking some of my personal stuff with me when i go places. like going to soccer practices, or places where i have to wait with the girls. i carry a pretty small purse … so i never have room for much and end up carrying everything seperately. but this is a great size … not too big, but not too small. i could see putting some scrap stuff in there … or ideas books and magazines. maybe my camera.

 

i think i had the lime green color stuck in my head when i made this. lol! i stumbled across these epoxy stickers from autumn leaves and loved the bright colors against the black bag. i simply cut a piece of white bazzill cardstock to fit inside the pocket … and then adhered the epoxy stickers. i added a rubon sentiment to the bottom … and accented the flowers with some making memories rhinestone brads.

   

and the great thing is that you switch out the designs whenever you want. so if i come across some other fun product that i love … i can make a new card to fit in the pocket. so easy to change up the look of your bag! i have a few other designs … and i'll share those in the next couple of days. and make sure and check out the daily window blog for more fun designs. including some from a few of my fellow making memories design team designers … wendy bretz and wendy sue anderson.