Laura Vegas

finally, i get to share this with you. a few weeks ago the amazingly talented jennifer mcquire from hero arts asked if making memories and i would participate in their "all-star paper week". of course we said "yes"! and today, you can check it all out.

   

 

you have 2 places to go to check for all the information, see the projects, and even catch a video … and a chance at a giveaway at both spots too! so make sure and stop by each one! the hero arts blog … and the making memories blog. and thanks so much to hero arts and jennifer for asking us to play along with them!

did this layout today during naptime. just wanted to play a little. i had these stamped flowers leftover from another project … so that's how this entire layout started. just found a photo in my stack and started pulling random things out.

  

i had used the new making memories stamps for these flowers … and then heat embossed them with some distressed green embossing powder. these were done for a card i made … and i had these few leftover. on the card i had used some paperie pattern paper … so i decided to use some of that same paper for this layout. i'm not sure how i decided to use these scenic route papers … they're much brighter colors. but i love the bold look it gives … with a little black and white to really make the colors pop.

just added some fun buttons and brads … and some paper frills and string. things i love to use on a regular basis. i used a hero arts quote background stamp for my journaling … and heat embossed it with the green embossing powder too. although i have to re-do the entire journaling block … i was trying to go to fast and made too many spelling mistakes. lol! plus, the pen i was using broke halfway through … and i was barely able to hold the ink part in to write. excuses, excuses … anyways, will re-do that later!

supplies:
pattern paper – making memories (green), scenic route (pink and turquoise)
paper frills – doodlebug
buttons – autumn leaves
brads – bazzill
clear sticker – making memories
title – heidi swapp
stamps – making memories (flowers), hero arts (quote background)
embossing powder – tim holtz, by ranger
punch – stampin up
other – string

and make sure and check back tomorrow morning … have something super fun to share!

thought i would share a few fun links with you tonight. just a few things that have caught my attention the past week or so.

this post by danelle johnson … about part of her process in documenting her family's life. i find this entire topic very fascinating … it's something i really struggle with. finding a process that works for me and my photos … and still makes sure i remember everything i want to remember. so i'm very intriqued to hear other scrappers ideas and what they have decided works for them. i can't wait to read more from her on this topic.

a friend that i met through my blog … has a friend, kate, that is starting her own online store, called i {heart} papers. she is currently holding a design call … you can get more info here.

the amazingly talented maggie holmes has come up with a new action set … called the color mix action set. love her actions … so simple to use and have stunning results.

my equally amazing and talented friend, megan cristello has officially launched megan cristello photography.

ali edwards has been doing her "week in the life" album for the past 2 weeks or so on her blog. what i linked you to is her post showing her album (not totally complete, but looks amazing). if you scroll back to the previous week or two … you can read all about the making of this album. the documenting, photographing, and preparing. love this idea … and am committed to doing this really soon. not this week … but maybe the next.

totally not scrapbook or photography related … but have you ever seen this site? amazing stuff … so yummy! these look soooo good … peanut butter, chocolate, and nuts … what more do you need? and these just crack me up … so funny!

i'm sure there are more … but that's all i can think of right now. hopefully, those will give you some fun things to read up on. enjoy!

thought i'd share a closer look at this layout tonight. did you happen to catch this one? it was a layout that i did for making memories … for a magazine ad. it was so cool to see this appear on a one-page ad in the september issues of the magazines! ok … it was actually in the bottom corner of the ad … but still!

   

this layout was highlighting the clear stamps that MM had just released. i loved the circle journaling stamp … and thought it would be fun to use it with the circle pattern paper from the new noteworthy collection.

 

i know it's hard to see on here … but i actually stamped on the circle paper (the stamp fits perfectly over the circles). then i did it again on another piece of paper … and then cut out just the inside of the journaling stamp. then i adhered them over the original piece … some with pop-dots and some without. did that make sense?!?! lol! then i added clear flower stickers, brads, stickers, and some string to finish them off.

    

and i won't even tell you how many trys it took to get that "perfect" title … just perfect. lol! i was very new to stamping when i did this … and i kept spacing the letters wrong and running out of room. but in the end … i think it turned out just perfect. lol!

nothing like waiting until the last minute … typical of me. lol! i wanted some cards to submit to some calls … some calls that are due tonight. but for some reason … i have no cards laying around. i was doing so well about creating cards with the scraps from my layouts … and i've gotten away from that for some reason. so tonight i whipped these up super quick. 

 

tag is from creative cafe … and ran through the cuttlebug with the swiss dot embossing folder. yes, i'm still addicted to that one folder. lol! large flower and journaling spot is from heidi swapp. stamp is hero arts.

   

the green dot paper is actually the chipboard from some making memories product packaging. i love dots … so i keep saving those from my packaging … thinking they'd be great for something. and tonight … they were! heidi swapp flower and journaling spot again. scalloped circle is a fiskars punch … and the scalloped border is a stampin up punch. 

 

and this is the mess that came from making 2 cards. lol! i know, i know … some of you are thinking that THAT is really not a mess. but for me … it is! my desk was totally clean today … just the one pile in the far corner (with the fun red polka-dot felt showing!). and the 2 shirts that have been sitting there on hangers all week … and yet neither of the girls will claim them. lol! for the record … as soon as i took this photo … i set my camera down and cleaned it all up. i'm like that. i clean up everything as soon as i'm done with a project … totally clean before going on to the next project!

there is this one photo of sarah from when she was born … taken just minutes after she came into this world. and every time she sees this photo … she asks me the same thing. "why did you cook me in a pot?". in fact, she talks about this from time to time … without even seeing the photo. just randomly asking why we cooked her in a pot. last weekend … we were at alyssa's soccer game … and she brought it up again. i told her i was going to go dig out that photo … and scrap it.

first, i had to find the photo. i never did scrap sarah's baby photos … just never got around to those. so i finally found it in an old photo album. but this was a photo from way "back in the day" … when i used to cut my photos into circles and ovals. and that was when you traced your shapes onto your photos using templates … and then cut them out. so apparently i had a great plan in mind … because there was a circle traced onto the famous "cooked in a pot" photo. this was NOT going to work.

luckily … i was always super good about keeping my negatives organized. so i pulled out my negative binders … and found the right year .. and then found "june 1999". and within minutes … i had the negative in hand. i took that negative over to costco (so thankful that one just opened about 4 minutes from my house) … and filled out the form to get a 5×7 printed. took me a while … because i can't even remember the last time i filled out a form. so the lady tells me that it'll be ready the next day. what? i have to wait 24 hours to get one 5×7 print?!?! i think the age of digital has spoiled me … i'm used to getting my pics immediately when i want them. lol! does she not understand i'm in the middle of a scrapbook page? i think she got a sense for my impatience … and told me to give her 2 hours and she'd see if she could get it done. thank you, kind costco photo lady.

this layout was headed in a completely different direction … because suddenly i wanted to make it a baby layout. but really … it's a layout to remember what sarah thinks of this photo. i do have plans to go through my negatives and order copies of all her baby pics (since they ALL have circles and ovals traced on them!) … to go with the baby KOTM that i pre-ordered! so i'll make sure and scrap this photo again.

but for now … it's all about the pot people! and you know what … it really does look like they were cooking her in a pot. lol! really, they were just cleaning her up and making her all pretty! although i do tease her. i tell her we cooked in her EVOO … and that is the reason she is so brown and dark! lol!

supplies:
pattern paper, epoxy shapes, brads, stickers, diecut strip - making memories
stamps - hero arts
scalloped journaling card - lisa bearnson, april KOTM
other - thread 

i was just having a so-so day today. nothing exciting … kind of boring. but then the UPS dude pulled up in front of the house … and i looked up and said "mr brown came to make my day a little brighter". little did i know! because he was bringing me the september KOTM … which was exciting. but then i found this inside.

 

 

a golden ticket … i actually got a golden ticket! there are 25 of these randomly placed in kits from august to october. i'm usually NOT a lucky person … so this was cool! and to think … i wasn't going to order the kit. i knew it was cute … but i kept putting it off thinking i really didn't need it. but i kept seeing other designers showing off amazingly cute layouts and projects using it … so finally, last week i gave in and ordered it. which was good … because i notice that it's now on backorder. lol!

my lesson here? sometimes, just sometimes … procrastination DOES pay off!

the other morning, sarah woke up … and she said something that she has said several times before. "i got 10 hours of sleep last night … so why do i still have dark circles under my eyes?". i had to laugh. the poor girl … she just has these dark circles under her eyes half the time … and it's not for lack of sleep. lol!

  

right away … it reminded me of this photo. i LOVED this photo when i took it … over a year ago. i love that you can see me in her eyes … standing above her taking her picture. but that dark circle under her left eye … it bothered me. i tried to retouch it, but it ended up looking worse. lol! but yet … it was perfect for this layout. perfect to remember this funny quote of her's. edited to add: sarah just got home from school, and i was showing her the layout. after looking at this photo … she now thinks that her left eye is bigger than her right eye. i told her it wasn't. then she said "what, there's supposed to be SOMETHING wrong with everyone". lol!

this layout came together in no time at all. i was looking for a journaling tag … and found these circle tags from martha stewart that i had never used. and the bag of autumn leaves buttons were sitting on the shelf … and matched. and i like how the circles (of the tags and the buttons) kind of go with the "circles under my eyes" theme … but yet, that wasn't my intention at all. just sort of happened.

then just used a rubon journaling circle … and a mix of rubons and hand journaling. i wish i had added the "10" in a rubon … so it would have stood out more. oh well. and how cute are those butterflies … they're foam and glittery. they're from making memories … i happen to find this one lone package of them at target this weekend. i'll be on the lookout for more next time i go!

supplies:
cardstock – bazzill
tags – martha stewart
buttons – autumn leaves
rubon journaling circle – hambly
rubon letters, foam butterflies – making memories
scallop punch – stampin up

 

also wanted to share about what thread i'm using … since several of you have asked. i used to use lots of regular embroidery floss … like the ones in this jar. but then i found out about these balls of thread from jennifer. you can find these in the yarn section at michaels. and there are lots of different kinds … make sure you look for the ones that are $1.99 … what a great deal. not a ton of colors to choose from like the bunches of floss … but a decent selection. i came across the red and black just a few weeks ago … you'd have thought i'd won the lottery … i was THAT excited with my purchase! and to be honest … one of these 8 colors have managed to work for pretty much everything i've done recently.

you remember this post from a week or two ago? i knew it was something i wanted to print out and save on a layout. so last night i decided to do just that.

 

finding a photo was the hard part … i'm realizing how few photos i have of either him or me. i found this one from last halloween … this was right as we were getting ready to go trick-or-treating. and he'll love this one … because he's wearing his "steelers" jersey. lol! so while this wasn't exactly the layout i planned in my head … i worked with the colors and the photo.

 

i wanted to use one of the long envelopes from the april KOTM kit … and this was the one that matched the best. and it said "remember this" on it … so i thought it fit quite nicely. but the "remember" part was orange … and that didn't match. i just took a piece of transparency and brushed silver paint on it … and then used some chipboard letters to spell out "remember" right over the original letters. i printed out all my journaling from that blog post … and tucked it inside the envelope.

 

and the only reason i thought to use the silver paint … was because i had these stars out. last week i was working on an assignment … and had squeezed out too much silver paint for what i was doing. so i just grabbed a few chipboard stars and painted them … knowing i'd use them for something. and i'm just now realizing that i drew those lines on the stars with a blue pen. lol! i guess i need better lighting in here when i'm scrapping … it was late last night and i must have grabbed the wrong pen. i'm totally going over those with a black pen when i'm done typing this! and how cute is that "man" stamp … i just had to use it!

supplies:
pattern paper – chatterbox
envelope – april KOTM
foam "man" stamp – dec KOTM
chipboard stars – deluxe designs
chipboard letters – heidi swapp
paint – making memories
other – thread, staples, paper clip, gem stars

as promised … more shares of the layouts i did for sweet pea scraps. and can you believe i did all of these in a week and a half …along with my other assignments, RAK layout, challenge layout, and a few layouts just for fun. i was on a serious roll there, my friends!

my sweet neighbor, ayana … i knew these pics i took of her would be perfect for this kit. i love the way the middle strip turned out … that is pattern paper, scalloped cardstock, ribbon, stickers, and thread … all layered together!

 

 

i actually know that this layout is missing something … just wasn't sure how to finish it. lol! that pattern paper is gorgeous … just cut part of it along the curve. an older photo of alyssa (as in about 7 years ago!) … from back when she took a few modeling classes.

interesting that i managed to get 2 layouts about me into this kit. lol! i actually had that photo printed out … and it just sort of made it's way on the layout. sometimes i start layouts without really knowing what photos i'm even going to use. i loved this pattern paper from we r memory keepers … it had the 4 different squares on the paper … so i just cut them apart and added them to my cardstock. 2 of these squares are actually adhered with thick pop-dots.

 

this layout is so different from my normal style … and yet i still think it's a bit of "me" at the same time. once again … the squares were cut right off one sheet of pattern paper that had 4 different patterns. i wanted to use the numbers from the american crafts puffy stickers … so i decided to line them all up in a row. i had no idea where i was going with this … or why i choose to put the gem circle around the "7". that's they way i roll sometimes … just fly by the seat of my pants! and i really felt like this layout channeled my inner "cathy zielske-ness". lol! if i was doing this over though … know that i would have probably added a small strip of photos along the bottom.

it's so hard to take a good photo of a 2 page spread! but i really thought this was cool. the kit had these raffle tickets journaling spots that one of their design team members, jenn stevens, had made. i had the idea to use them on blocks of pattern paper … like a year-long calendar. i started the layout … with all intentions of just journaling on these and not having any photos. but then i had the idea to mimic the first page onto a second page … and include pics of the girls from over the years. keep in mind … i was working with only 3 years of digital pics … otherwise, i would have gone farther back for the pics!

 

 

and for the record … the only things i added from my own stash were a few white tags, some thread, staples, a few mini rubons, a few buttons, and one flower. everything else came from the kit … and i have plenty left over. and i have to thank julie and kristin again … for giving me the opportunity to play with their super fun kit this month. loved it all!