Laura Vegas

Christmas Movies: A Pocket Page Spread

March 12, 2019

Hey everyone. I don't know about you all, but I'm a huge fan of Christmas movies. Specifically, Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. They're a tradition of mine, and I watch them non-stop during the holidays.

This past holiday season, Hallmark Channel came out with 22 brand new Christmas movies. They even came out with an app to keep track of them, and check them off as you watched them. Since this made it much easier to remember what movies I was watching (since admittedly, they do all sort of run together after a while), I thought it would be fun to document the movies that I watched for the 2018 holiday season.

This 6×8 spread is specifically about the Hallmark Channel movies. I also watched a ton of new Christmas movies on Lifetime Channel, and I am planning on doing a second spread about those 😉

I turned to Google to search for images for all of the movies that I watched. I printed them all as 2×2" photos, and I also found some fun little quotes to go along with them, since I knew I would have a few empty pockets to fill.

I have images for 19 of the movies, but I watched 20 out of the 22 new movies. There was one movie that, no matter how much searching I did, I could not find an image for. It actually looked like it was an older movie, that was being promoted as a new movie. I finally just gave up on that one. And there was one movie I totally missed – and one that just didn't look interesting to me, so I skipped it.

I created a 6×8 page, to go alongside the pocket page. I used a few cut files from Kerri Bradford Studio for my title, as well as a circle background for the top of the page.

I added in some incredibly old patterned papers from Making Memories that I had in my "Christmas" box of supplies, and added my typed journaling as well.

I had saved the Countdown to Christmas movie schedule that the Hallmark Channel had put out, and printed it as a 6×8 photo to include as well. I guess I should go back and actually check off the movies that I watched, shouldn't I?

It only slightly bothers me that some of these photos aren't a true 2×2" square. I had put 6 2×2" onto a 4×6" to have printed with my photo order, and of course, the pics don't always come back a true 4×6". So on some of these, you can see where the photo behind it is slightly larger.

This layout should come in handy next year, when all of the Christmas movies start up. I can't tell you how many times I will sit and watch a movie, thinking that I have probably seen it – but I'll watch it anyways, just to be sure. Now I can just pull this out and cross reference what I've seen 😉
Jillibean Soup: Hello Job Hunt

March 11, 2019

Hey all. I've got a new layout to share that was up on the Jillibean Soup blog earlier this month, using the Garden Harvest collection. I was feeling the need to do a photo collage. I'm not sure if I've used many collages lately (I'd have to go back and check), but with as much as I love them, I should use them more often. So I started by coming up with something to create a collage about.

I wanted to document my recent job search in some way, so I pulled together some photos that I had taken during the process that I thought could help tell a little bit of the story. Job hunting was harder than I thought it would be – and yet at the same time, I knew it wouldn't be all that easy, having been self employed for 17 years.

A few of the photos were simple Snapchat photos that I had sent to the girls. And while there are two Starbucks related photos on there, there are actually job hunting stories that go with them. So they are relevant 😉 I used a Storyboard template from Kerri Bradford to create my collage, and started building my layout around it.

For my title, I used one of Jillibean Soup's alphabet cut files to die cut my "job hunt" from patterned paper, and then added a black foam sticker "hello" above it. I also used one of their background cut files on the top part of my layout, to create my favorite white-on-white look.

I really wanted to use the purple patterned paper in the Garden Harvest collection, and paired it with the navy blue based floral patterned paper along the sides of the page.

I fussy cut a ton of flowers from one of the floral patterned papers (that I've also been sharing on a few cards), and arranged several flowers in the upper left corner and bottom right corner of the page.

I have more than I'd love to document about my job search at some point. More of the details that didn't quite make it into this smaller amount of journaling. Lol. But it feels good to get a little bit of the story down and in my album.
Kerri Bradford Studio: Currently Fixing and Building All The Things

March 8, 2019

Hey everyone! I have a new pocket page spread up at Kerri Bradford Studio this week. This is a 6×12" pocket page spread that will go in my personal album, and I added in a 4×11" insert as well.

With our recent move a few months ago came lots and lots of projects that needed doing once we were in the new-to-us house. Little projects and big projects. I had lots of help on many of the projects from my very handy family – my mom can fix/build just about anything, my brother is the same, and my dad is a pro at the outdoor/yard stuff. But I'm also proud to say that I took on a ton of the projects myself, as I'm the handy one in our little family.

I realized I had quite a few photos I had taken while working on these projects, and thought it would be fun to create a pocket page spread about some of the projects that I both tackled AND accomplished.

I printed my photos as 3×3's and 3×4's and slipped them into the pockets, leaving a few empty so that I could add in my title card and a few filler cards. I decided to go digital with these cards, using a mix of Kerri's designs and a few digital papers that I happen to have in my digital collection.

To create my title card, I used a graph patterned paper for the background, along with a small strip of woodgrain patterned paper along the bottom. I used the PNG file for "currently", taken from the Grammar School: The Adverbs kit, and added in "all the things" using the Digital Stamps: Home kit to create the main part of my title (I added the "fixing and building" using the text tool and a fun font).

I cropped the What's Next digital card into a 3×3" square, and used it as is in one pocket. I decided to put it in the bottom right corner of the second page of the spread – kind of like "ok, I'm done with all of these projects, so what's next?" 😉

I wanted a black background to go with the Can't Stop Me, so I copied part of the black distressed background from the "What's Next" card and sized it to fit my 3×4" background before adding the "Can't Stop Me" PNG file (which I changed to white) to complete my filler card.

I also printed a 1×4" strip of that same black distressed part of the What's Next card to add to the top of my larger 4×8" photo that I printed for the backside of the insert page.

I added some tiny alpha stickers from Making Memories along the top, tucking them under the top edge of the photo.

I printed my journaling to fit the 4×11" insert. I was originally going to make it a 4×12" insert, but I realized I had some 8.5×11 page protectors, and decided to cut down one of those instead of a full 12×12" page protector. I machine stitched down the side of the journaling card, and then trimmed off the excess to make the custom sized page protector.

On the front side of the insert, I added my journaling page, adding a strip of the woodgrain digital patterned paper that I used on the title card. Try and ignore the extra holes from when I stapled the woodgrain paper in the wrong spot, making my page too short for the page protector. Lol.

I had one more 3×3" pocket to fill, so I created a background using the woodgrain digital patterned paper, and added the cute sketch house from the Digital Stamps: Gather kit (which I changed to white).

I love pulling Kerri's designs together, both her cut files (and the PNG's that go with them) and her digital stamps, to fit the needs of whatever project I'm working on. There are times when I'm all about working with physical papers and products, and using my Silhouette to die cut designs – and there are times when I'm all about working digitally, using Photoshop to create what I need. And I love that Kerri's designs offer the flexibility to be used in so many ways!
Movies: A Layout Share

March 6, 2019

Hey everyone! Last week I had a few days off work in a row, and got into some weird creative zone, where I was finishing up half done projects, while also working on new projects. When I get inspired like that, I tend to just go with it. Because it doesn't come all that easy at times. Or I get busy with work and life stuff, and don't have the same kind of interrupted time where I want to work on projects.

Anyways. This is one of those half done projects that I worked on. I'm not even sure I could say it was half done. Let's just say it was partially started 😉

A few years ago, when Alyssa was about to start her second year of college, we switched the girls rooms at the old house. During the switching process, Alyssa had cleaned out a ton of stuff that she had collected over the years. She's good about giving me things that she thinks I would want to keep, as a scrapbooker and documenter.

One of the things she gave me was a bag filled with movie ticket stubs that she had saved up over the years. My very first thought was that I wanted to make a layout with them.

I started out by sorting the ticket stubs out by dates, making piles for each year that she had tickets for. There were a few duplicates in the mix, so I threw those away. I decided I would adhere them to a 12×12 sheet of white cardstock, layering them over each other here and there. I started on the left side of the page, and adhered a row from top to bottom. Then I started on the second row, then the third row, etc.

I knew that I wanted to add my title along the right side of the page, and I ended up with plenty of room once all of the ticket stubs were adhered in place.

I immediately thought of this fun "movies" cut file from Kerri Bradford Studio for my title. It is actually a part of Kerri's The History Project class, and is included in the massive amount of cut files that come with the class. I die cut it from black cardstock and adhered it along the right side of the page.

The ticket stubs had touches of red and a little blue in them, so I added a strip of red patterned paper and a blue scalloped border sticker. I very randomly pulled out this plastic 12" border piece, which has circles going down the center. It was a part of a super, duper old monthly kit by Creating Keepsakes magazine.

Such an old, old, old product. But I love using older stuff. I've purged my supplies SO many times over the years, and if I'm still holding onto something that is THIS old, it's because I really did love it and can still see myself using it. So I'm glad I came across the bin of these plastic pieces (along with foam pieces!), because I may need to use them more often now 😉

I didn't really have a plan going into this for journaling, but I knew that I needed to include a little something somewhere on the page. I typed this up and printed it out, thinking I was going to adhere it on top of the ticket stubs. But then I decided to just adhere it sideways, on top of the plastic strip. I love when I stop overthinking things and just go with things. It took me no time at all to finish up this layout and that makes me happy!
Jillibean Soup: Be The Sunshine Card

March 5, 2019

Hey all. I've got a new card to share that was up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week. It's a fairly simple card, as are most of mine 😉 I incorporated five different patterned papers, from two different collections, into this little card. I pulled the "Be The Sunshine" card from one of the Bite Size Bits patterned paper for my sentiment.

I shared a few other Jillibean Soup cards that I created last week, and mentioned that I fussy cut a ton of these gorgeous flowers from one of the sheets of patterned paper – and then used them on the majority of my projects for the month. I arranged a few in the bottom right corner, and I love the way they look. A few quick tiny staples were the only embellishing I added to this card. Easy peasy!
Jillibean Soup: Smile & Be Awesome

March 1, 2019

Hey all. I've got a new layout to share that was up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week. I've been meaning to scrap these funny photos of Sarah for years. In fact, I even printed out this photo collage about 7 months ago, as I was going to use it for one of my Jillibean layouts at the time. But then I ended up going in a different direction.

Which in a way, was a good thing. Since the patterned papers I used on this layout fit SO much better than the ones I had originally pulled out.

Even when I started this layout, using the new set of patterned papers I picked out, I struggled to come up with a design that I loved. I finally realized that I was trying to use TOO much patterned paper. There are times when I can let my entire background be about patterned paper, but more often then not, I need a place for the eye to rest – I need that white space that I love so much.

So I started over, and re-worked the patterned paper placements, so that I could have plenty of white cardstock showing. I'm not one to go with a plain white cardstock background, so I die cut one of my favorite background cut files from white cardstock and layered it over the top of the page.

I searched thru my Jillibean Soup cut files, looking for something that I could use for my title. I love this tall and skinny "awesome", and knew that I could turn it into a title, by adding a few additional words.

I pulled out the "smile" die cut from one of the Pea Pod Parts packages, and added a few small alpha stickers to complete my title.

I wanted my journaling strips to stand out a bit more against the dotted patterned paper, and for whatever reason, vellum popped into my head. I remembered that I had these pieces of vellum (that I had run thru a dotted embossing folder) left over from doing the girl's high school graduation announcements. So I pulled out three of them, and arranged them across the page, adding a little machine stitching here and there.
Jillibean Soup: Hello & You Rock Cards

February 28, 2019

Hey all. I've got a few new cards to share that were up on the Jillibean Soup blog last week. I tend to keep my cards pretty simple, and while I think these two cards are on the simple side, I love that they're full of layers and texture.

I fussy cut a ton of these gorgeous flowers from one of the patterned papers in the Garden Harvest collection, as I also used them on one of my layouts (I'll be sharing it soon) for the month. I ended up using them on not only my layout, but four cards – that's how much I love them!

I am definitely putting my Silhouette to good use lately, after not using it for several months. I used a few cut files from Jillibean Soup for these cards – the circle background, and the sentiments.

I die cut the circle background from white cardstock, and adhered it to my white card base. Love some good white-on-white. I spritzed on a little misting ink, and then started planning out my flower placement. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I adhered them in place, trimming any excess off the edges of the cards.

I picked out two sentiments, and die cut them from patterned paper. I sized them pretty big, so they would fill the front of the card. To add some simple and quick embellishments to the cards, I added a few grey adhesive sequins to the centers of the smaller flowers.
Kerri Bradford Studio: Entertaining With Snapchat

February 22, 2019

Hey everyone. I've got a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio. So, I'm really not a fan of being in photos. And yet, I apparently seem to have no issues taking Snapchat selfies. Especially when I take them with adorable kiddos! Lol. I used to entertain the daycare kiddos with funny Snapchat filters at least once a day, so I've accumulated a lot of photos over the last few years. I decided to pull out some of my favorites and put together a two page spread.

I printed 14 photos as 3×3" squares, and arranged them around the outside edges of my two page spread along with some 3×3" squares of patterned paper.

I printed my photos in black and white, since there were so many colors happening in them. I love that this allows me to use any paper colors that I want.

I die cut a circle background from white cardstock, using Kerri's Background Basics kit, cut it in half lengthwise, and adhered the two pieces across the center of both pages.

I didn't really have any patterned papers in mind when I started this. Not sure how it happened, but I turned towards my patterned papers, and immediately thought about the You Are Loved collection from Bella Blvd & Illustrated Faith, that my good friend Stephanie Buice designed. I never did take the time to use her gorgeous paper designs, and thought this was the perfect time to dig into them.

I printed out Kerri's "Living Our Best Life" (from the Living Our Best Life kit) on white cardstock, as I wanted a 3×4" filler-type card to go side by side with my journaling card, which I also sized to 3×4". The metal rimmed tags are super old, both from American Crafts and Making Memories.

I had also printed the "Love This" (from the Click kit) circle on white cardstock, so I wanted to have a few additional circles to embellish the page. I arranged them on the left page of the spread, to fill in the empty space.

This two page design is one that I use quite often. Arranging photos/papers around the outside edges, whether 3×3" in size or 3×4" in size, and then using the space in the center to add my title, journaling, etc.

I love using the Weathered Door Alpha [All] kit for titles. It's a great choice for words that you may not be able to find specific cut files for, and I just love the chunky font with the option to die cut the outline of each letter as well. I pulled the "entertaining" from the Happy Stuff kit, and paired it with my die cut "snapchat" to complete my title.

Well, I guess I also added some tiny alpha stickers for the "with" part of my title – so that completed my title 😉

I also added machine stitching around the outside edges of each 3×3" square of patterned paper. I did this before adhering them to my pages, and then machine stitched down the strips of striped patterned paper once the layout was assembled.

These photos just make me smile. I realize the kiddos may not look all that thrilled in so many of the photos. But trust me, they loved doing them with me.

Seeing as how I actually started this layout last summer (all I had done was adhere my photos to white cardstock), I'm so glad I came across it and took the time to finish it.
Project Life 2018: Week Twenty Six

February 20, 2019

Hey all. Things got a little busier than planned this week, but I wanted to pop on and share another week in my 2018 Project Life album with you all. Here's a look at week twenty six.

So, week twenty six is the halfway mark of the year. This means that I'm totally done with half of my 2018 album. Yay! I actually have a lot of the second half done too, but those second twenty six weeks still need to be finished.

Side note. I don't often think to include things other than our actual photos in my album. But I worked two things into this week. One of them is the image I screenshot from Rad & Happy's Instagram, because it's totally my life. My days go like this more than I'd like to admit. Lol.

Here's the thing. I don't always have a lot of new info to share about these weekly spreads. I went with a really simple plan for my 2018 album, and I honestly love it. It totally works for me.

And I love sharing my weekly spreads, because honestly, they're a big part of how I document life these days. I still love to create layouts and cards. I have lots of other smaller album projects here and there that I enjoy working on. And now that my girls are grown, I've been enjoying documenting about myself a bit more.

So if I don't share these weekly spreads, I wouldn't have much to share. Lol. So I'll keep sharing them, since I have always shared every single project I make here on my blog. But I just don't have much new stuff to say about them 😉

And here's the second thing I worked in, that wasn't one of our actual photos. I want to work on adding things like this into my 2019 album. Whether it's a new favorite show, a song I love, etc. We're just about two months into the year, so I'd better get to work on this 😉
Project Life 2018: Week Twenty Five

February 18, 2019

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! I worked all weekend, so I'll be catching up on life today before heading back to work tonight. Anyways. Just popping in to share week twenty five in my 2018 Project Life album.

I had quite a few photos for this week, so I added a 6×12" insert. Here's a look at the first half of the spread, with the insert on the right.

I've mentioned before that I kept my digital journaling cards fairly simple for my 2018 album, by limiting my choices. One of the cards that I use each week is this lined digital journaling card. It's the one card a week that I personalize, usually adding a digital stamp to the top. I used a few digital stamps from Kerri Bradford Studio for the card above.

I don't get many photos from Sarah, so I was pretty happy to get quite a few good ones her birthday week.

I really need to get a hold of all of the photos like the one above. Alyssa and her dad go to Magic Mountain quite a bit, and Sarah often goes along with them. And every trip, they make sure to take this same photo, with the same pose. I need to make a layout with all of these photos 😉

I also make sure to include one of these digital journaling cards from In A Creative Bubble.

Here's a look at the second half of the spread, with the insert on the left.

Alyssa has sooooo many awesome photos from work. I've got a few ideas I've been tossing around in my head as to something I could do with them, for her to keep. Maybe summing up her first year, once she reaches that point in a few months.

For weeks where I add an insert (which happens often), I will just double up on one of the digital journaling card choices. Like using two cards from In A Creative Bubble on this week.

I really simplified my journaling card process this year, compared to last year's album (meaning my 2017 album), but I'm thinking about simplifying my process even more for my 2019 album. Still coming up with my plan, but I will share when I have it all nailed down.

It's photos like the one above that really make me miss those cute daycare kiddos. I mean, look at little man's face!! This photo makes me smile for sure!

I have one more week that's finished, that I'll share this week. And I've got a new layout to share as well. In the meantime, I'm going to be working on taxes this week, before my appointment with the tax dude on Thursday. And working. And starting some assignments. Just a whole lot of stuff that should keep me busy this week.

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