Laura Vegas

ready for another one? i printed out these photos from the girls first day of school last july. well, the first day of school was last july … i printed these photos this week. lol! i had an idea for this when i started … and i'm really surprised at how quickly it all came together.

 

i found this old cork paper by karen foster in my stash … it's real cork with a sticker backing. i just tore a piece off of one side … and used the large piece on the layout. also used some older KI memories pattern paper and some of the newer lace paper. i added brads and eyelets on the lace paper … it's been ages since i've used eyelets. other goodies are heidi swapp large ghost star (which i painted blue), hero arts stitched circle stamp, and other making memories embellishments.

then i was trying to pick out my title letters. i wanted to use these chipboard letters from making memories … but the only "s" i had was orange. so i found a plain, raw "s" and figured i'd paint it pink. only the pink didn't quite match the other pink on the "o". so i thought i'd stamp something on the "s" thinking that might help … even took out some white stamp ink that i've never tried. but that wasn't quite right either. long story short … i wish the "s" matched the "o" better. lol! i know, i worry too much sometimes!

and speaking of making memories … go browse their new website. i noticed tonight that it's got a new look … and all sorts of info and pics of all their newest products. and i wasn't going to make a big deal about this … but i have to share because i'm so over-the-moon excited. now when you visit the MM blog … you can find me by looking under the "designers blogs" on the sidebar! i'm sure you all know that i'm a huge fan of the company … have been for years and years. and i'm also sure you know that i've been very fortunate to have done some fun things for them this past year or so … because i love sharing. what you may not know … is that all this time i've never been sure how "official" i was. i know, i'm such a dork sometimes. lol! but i can now say that i AM official … i am part of the team! i am totally honored and appreciative for the opportunity … and look forward to being part of this amazing team! so thank you MM!!! 

ok, so she’s not a ballerina … and has never ever taken a single dance class. but when i made this tutu about a year and a half ago … she was all over it! i’ve always loved these pictures of her … so i finally decided to scrap them.

i used all making memories products on this layout. some paper from the garden party collection … and some from the 5th avenue collection. garden party ribbon. and lots of fun flowers … paper and felt with rhinestone brads in the middles. the sticker is a really old one … but i came across it and decided it worked for me.

edited to add: since a few of you have asked … the font is called "prissy frat boy" and you can download it for free HERE (just scroll down a bit). i use this font about 90% of the time … i think it’s just "my font" now. lol!

sarah saw this today sitting on the counter. and she told me "you’re right … i’ve never, ever dreamed of being a ballerina"! at least i can say for sure that what i journaled is accurate! lol!

i cannot tell you how relieved i was today … when i actually scrapped! i got so caught up in organizing and photo editing and a bunch of other stuff. that for the past month i havn’t scrapped hardly at all. i’ve done some layouts for assignments. and those 4 super simple ones last week. but that was it. i’ve sat down intending to scrap … i’ve dug through photos to scrap … i had calls listed that i wanted to make some layouts for. but nothing was coming to me.

seriously, nothing. as in nada, zilch. it was actually getting kind of scary … it was as if i forgot how to scrap. i did nothing for the entire past week. and i had plenty of time while the girls were away last week … but i would just sit there and twiddle my thumbs. but last night, i finally picked out a few photos that i thought might fit with a few magazine calls … calls that end tomorrow, mind you. no pressure … i do my best work at the last minute to be honest. so i made photo collages all nice and pretty … and printed out a few sheets of photos to scrap. that was last night.

and today, i scrapped 4 entire layouts. which is quite good i think … considering i had 4 kids here today. lol! gotta love naptime … 2 naptimes since nikolas is still little! and i’m really happy with the layouts. will share when i take some pics of them.

and for any of you that might have been jealous of our gorgeous weather here this past weekend? yes, sunday was i think 95 degrees … we had shorts and flip-flops (capri’s for me), swimming, air conditioning running, and windows open all night long. wonderful, right? well, today was a different story. it dropped down to 70 degrees … but with winds of at least 30 miles per hour all day long. it sounded so crazy out there. and then sarah had a softball game tonight … at big leaque dreams. i cannot begin to even tell you how cold and windy it was. as in "hold on tight so you don’t blow away" type windy. she plays there again on wednesday night … so i hope it’s not so bad then.

i seem to have nothing creative to share lately … at least when it comes to layouts. so i thought i’d share an older layout i had in the october 2007 issue of scrapbooks etc. i don’t think i ever shared it here … so here you go.

this was my first ever assignment. it was for the "make it yours" column … where you have a layout that you use for inspiration. the final layout did have chunkier title letters … they wanted them to mimic the original layout’s title letters a little better, so i had to change them. you can actually see the original layout and mine HERE … and see what they wrote about it. and i’m pretty sure that this is one of my heaviest layouts ever. lol! all that chipboard, buttons, and brads really added up!

other than that? the girls are home … so glad to have them back. they had a blast … will have to post some of their pictures and stories later. i totally owe alyssa’s dad for taking them … he is such a good dad, to both of them. always includes sarah in everything and i appreciate that more than he knows. and within minutes of them getting home … the house is once again a total mess with their stuff scattered about. today they couldn’t wait to do two things … see amanda (their "sister", as they love to call her) and go swimming at grammy and papa’s house. we made it a package deal … and had amanda come over and go swimming with them. which worked out … because it was 90 degrees today! and not a breeze in sight … i actually had to turn on the air conditioning once the house got to 80 degrees inside. if you catch it too late … there’s just no way to cool it down. joe is on vacation for the next week … and it’s the girls last week before going back to school. i am not on vacation though. lol! actually, i did take thursday and friday off … so we’ll plan something for then.

that’s it for now … hope you’re having a great weekend!

"nothing, nothing … absolutely nothing" … i do belive that’s a backyardigans song. kind of sad … but it’s been in my head all day long. which is weird … because the tv has been OFF all week long (except when joe’s around). but it pretty much sums up what i’ve accomplished this week. whenever the girls aren’t here … i like to really take advantage of the alone time and get a lot done. and usually i do. but not this time. i had big plans for myself … all the things i wanted to work on and get started.

i did do a few things. i got a few layouts done for an assignment … and they turned out really good. but i can’t share. and i did do those 4 layouts the other night … but those are more plain, get-em-done type layouts. love them for "why" i did them … but not quite the pretty ones that i like to show off. i am totally caught up on my photo editing. since i shoot in RAW … i literally have to finish the processing on every single photo before it can be shared or printed. and i did them all … every single one. i cleaned out some magazines … sifted through and pulled out the ideas and layouts that i want to hang onto. then i tossed them in my "idea drawer" … and realized how much i had in there. so i cleaned that out today … purged the torn out pages that weren’t inspiring me anymore. nice to clean out that huge stack.

but other than that … nothing. i think i’ve actually worked harder this week because the girls aren’t here. i’m realizing just how much they help out around here. in a way, it’s the noise i miss the most … crazy, right? but when they’re here … they entertain the daycare kids. not that i just hand the kids off … or make them take care of them. but just having them here … it gives the kids someone else to interact with. gives me little, tiny breaks here and there … when i’m cleaning, picking up, or washing bottles. but this week … i have been the one and only source of entertainment for these kids. they look to me for everything. so not only am i taking care of their needs, feeding them, wiping their tushes and cleaning their noses … but i’m also in charge of keeping them busy and having fun. i know, it’s my job … but i usually have a little help. lol! and that means that since i’ve worked harder … i’m more drained at night and all the energy has been sucked out of me by the kids. so i do nothing at night.

i’m actually not trying to gripe about anything. because we all know that i shouldn’t be allowed to say anything "not-so-good" about my job … or to have any "off" days. lol! (by the way … that was said in total sarcasm … those of you that know a little backstory here will get it. lol!). just telling about my week. i’ve had a few days this week that i had to get up earlier than usual … i’m not a morning person. and today, my regular daycare kids (on my regular thursday schedule) left super early in the day … but i had "new kid" come last minute. so what could have actually been an unplanned day off (which never happens) … and i was stuck here with all day with a drop-in kid. nothing against him at all … he’s a good kid. just threw me off all day. i am so overdue for a vacation day … i think the last one i took was back in november … or was in august?

speaking of daycare stuff … and being able to say a few things about the job without upsetting anyone or having anyone taking it too personal. i found this blog a while back … have no idea how i even came across it. but i thought it was hilarious to read … it’s not all mary poppins. such funny stories about her daycare kids … i can totally relate and makes me realize all the stuff here is normal. and to quote her. "a childcare provider is expected to be a superhuman mix of the madonna and mary poppins, ever patient, loving, kind, always delighting in the sweetness of her charges. i don’t do such a bad job, all in all, and it’s far more likely the parents than the children who strain my sanity most days. but i’m here to tell you: it’s not ALL mary poppins". love that. i’m not saying i have issues with the parents … don’t get me wrong. i don’t. i just didn’t want to edit her quote. lol! i’m just saying that i love her outlook. the way she sees the day-to-day job in a funny, sarcastic way. we’re dealing with little itty-bitties … we take our humor where we can find it. lol!

i have only left the house for 2 things this week. one of which was soccer signups last night. just a random thought. why is it that whenever i have to sit and fill out a form on the spot (meaning you don’t get the form until you get there along with a zillion other people) … i suddenly can’t remember my kids middle names, their birthdays, or their mom’s work number??? and yes, i’m the mom … and i work at home … so you’d think that would be easy. it’s like it’s too much pressure to answer everything there … and my mind goes blank. but i did it … and $160 later … the girls are signed up for their 6th year of soccer.

the other place i have gone this week is starbucks. one thing that helps keep me sane … makes my day just a little brighter. sad, but oh so true. and today the dude working the drive-thru said … "would you like an extra shot of expresso added to your drink … for just 55 cents it will make your day THAT much more amazing". and you know what … i almost did it … he was that convincing. and my day was certainly NOT amazing … so the idea that for 55 cents it could GET amazing was tempting. lol! but i was already feeling jittery from not yet having caffiene … and it was already after lunch. so i passed.

i know, i know … this is truely important stuff i’m blogging about tonight! this is what my week has become. i’m so sorry. lol! the girls get back tomorrow from disneyland. maybe having them back will help my creative juices start flowing once again. let’s hope so!!!

first, i’ll show you these four layouts … and then i’ll tell you why i did them last night. and i appologize for the so-so pictures of the layouts … i was trying to rush so that i could get this posted while the babies are sleeping!

so last week as i was organizing some of my albums … i came across an 8×10 creative memories album. apparently it was for daycare pictures. this was before i started actually making layouts with the daycare pictures … i think i started doing those after my first year. so i guess my idea was to make an album where each kid had their own section with their pics. only think is … all i had in there were 3-4 pictures on each page. no names, no journaling, no pattern paper, no nothing … just pics on white pages. and of course a ton of them were cut into circles and ovals … remember, this was from almost 6 years ago.

so i decided to tear out all the photos. tore them right off the pages … and tossed all the pages away. i didn’t want to just get rid of the photos … because these held memories for me and my girls from the kids that were here years ago. but i didn’t want to just file them away. and i didn’t want to spend a whole bunch of time on layouts … since honestly, these kids aren’t here anymore. we still see them, still talk to them, still keep in touch … but they’re not here all the time.

so i literally just grabbed one sheet of cardstock and started arranging the photos on there … working from the middle out. i was able to salvage some of the circles and ovals … i just had to trim them pretty tiny to get the straight edges. lol! and then i just dug out some chipboard letters for their names … and added a little bit of embellishments. these were actually hard for me at one point … the fact that i didn’t have any pattern paper on there was really throwing me off. but i like that they’re simple … and that they hold a good assortment of pictures from the time they were here. and i love that i got all 4 of them done in under 2 hours. and loved that i eliminated an entire album that really had no meaning … and now can just file these layouts away right in each kiddo’s section of our "friends" albums.

and remember, these pages won’t be side by side in an album … they’ll be in different sections. so just another reminder that when you find a good page design … use it for several layouts at the same time! it saves you creative energy when the design or sketch is already there … and you just have to switch up the colors or embellishments a little. and no one will notice when these pages are spread out in the albums in different spots. take the shortcuts when you can!

the "book" that i won’t even begin to tell you how many hours i put into … mainly because i think i’ve already bored you with the details enough as it is. lol! the UPS dude pulled up this afternoon and dropped this off to me … have i told before how much i love the UPS dude?!?!

it’s the cutest little book … 7×7 in size. i was a little worried that it would be too small … or to hard to read. but it’s perfect. and it worked out really well with the photos that uploaded from my blog. since all my blog photos are resized … a larger book would have required me to replace all the photos with the full-sized versions. any idea how long that would take?!?! lol! and i think i mentioned that there was a reason i wasn’t going to add the white borders to my blog photos anymore, right? it’s because when they get pulled up into the blog book … you don’t have as many options on cropping them into the page designs. a lot of these pages had a spot for a square photo … but because i had the borders … there was no way to really fill up that square without a border showing on one of the sides. so this way, if i leave off the borders … i can crop into my photos more in the book and fill up the spaces.

here’s a few pages just to give you an idea of what i have.

for example, on that second page here with the 4 pics … those 4 pics could have filled up the entire page with 4 square photos. and the first page … those would have been larger squares too.

there were a lot of posts that i would have loved to add more photos too. posts where i’ve linked you over to other sites to see something i’ve done … or linked to a photo album with additional photos. but most of them, i didn’t do. this was one that i did add more pics too … mainly because i had an extra page there where i didn’t want to start the next post. if i had more time … i would have done all the ones that needed to be done. although now with my faster computer … i could have, but oh well. lol!

so there you have it. "the book". lol! and thanks to amanda for being my "book holder" for the pics. i already have my 2005 book all uploaded and ready to order. but i’m already half way through my 2006 book too … so i’m going to wait and order them at the same time.

then, since we’re all bored to death here without alyssa and sarah to entertain us … we did some quick "laura and me" photos just for fun. i will say right up front … i’m not having one of my better days. my hair is a mess … i’m scheduled for a haircut on friday. i only did half my makeup today. i only had about 5 hours sleep last night … was up super late finishing up some assignments. i was also too lazy to go get my external flash … and my camera settings were way off. but i didn’t have time to mess with it … because of these 3 kiddos that apparently require a ton of attention.

an almost 10 month old, a 16 month old, and a 17 month old … super crazy! luckily, they’re all good kids and get along pretty well. and they’re all on the same nap schedules which is super nice … then again, that means they’re all awake at the same time too. lol!

and me and amanda … who has been deemed my "helper" this week with the girls away. she has been great at helping with the kids and talking to them and picking up after them. just as long as she doesn’t have to pick anyone up. lol! i don’t know why … but she does not like to hold them. funny, since that’s all alyssa and sarah do … hold the babies. at the same time … amanda is bored out of her mind. i’ve taken down tons of the girls "good toys" to play with … and she’s watched a few of the new shows that i’ve recorded for the girls that she usually misses.

but from me and amanda both … "girls, come back soon because we both really miss you!!!".

are you looking for ways to get inspired to create? if so, check out the MM BLOG today for a few ideas … one of which was mine. i wrote that a few weeks ago … but i have to say it's so true. i definately took my own tip the last week or two … and it's really gotten me inspired to get back to scrapping! love christy and wendy's tips too!

i started working on my 2006 blog book today … and thought it was kind of funny when i got to my posts from april. that would be april 2006 … 2 years ago.

first … THIS POST … about the girls going to disneyland with alyssa’s dad. guess where the girls are headed tomorrow morning??? disneyland with alyssa’s dad! lol! and just like 2 years ago … i’m worried about sarah and hopeing she’ll do ok and not miss us too much. also, just like that post … i have big intentions of getting lots done while they’re gone. unlike that post … i did not take any vacation days and am working all week.

second … THIS POST … scroll down the part about rocking out to my ali & aj cd. guess what i happened to be rocking out to on my ipod tonight??? aly & aj! and yes, i most certainly copied over their cd to my ipod … along with both high school musical soundtracks! lol!

third … THIS POST … about all the stuff i got done last time they went to disneyland. that was an impressive post, right? i can only pray and cross my fingers and toes that i will be able to make a post like that at the end of this week. lol! i have big plans … a lot i want to get done … a lot of older stuff i want to work on. we’ll see how that goes though!

and lastly … THIS POST … about organizing all my albums. yeah, apparently i spend a ton of time on this just 2 years ago. and once again, i have spend a ton of time these past few weeks on the same thing … probably re-organizing all the same layouts i did 2 years ago. lol! but as of last night … all my family albums are totally done and looking good on the shelves with pretty little tags hanging on the spines. feels so good!

i could probably go through tons of my posts and find things that are so similar to what we’re doing now. but just those few from april of 2006 caught my eye … fun to look back to what you were doing the same time in a previous year.

first up … my laptop. last sunday night i ordered myself some new memory … and it was here by wednesday. alyssa’s dad installed it for me this afternoon. i won’t even humor you with how little memory my laptop had up until today … it was tiny. i am now sporting 2 gigabytes of memory … and am amazed at how quickly everything is moving. there’s 2 ways of looking at this. number one … i’m super excited that everything is so fast and running at top speed. but then again there is number two … kind of mad that i have spent all this time putting up with something that was sooooo slow. lol! too bad i didn’t know better … and didn’t realize sooner that the memory could be my problem. things were slow … but i just thought it was normal. and the fact that all this only cost me $42.00 total … even more amazing!

guess what has come out of this super fast computer just tonight? in only 2 hours time … i have my entire 2005 blog book ready to go. granted, i only had 7 months worth of blogging since that was my first year. but it only took me about 2 hours to upload the entries, go through them and edit the page designs, arrange the photos, and get everything alligned on the pages. all i have left is the cover … and only because i’ll have to dig out some photos for it off my external harddrive. 94 pages total … ready to go. i’m sorry … how long did the other book take me?!?! lol! i can’t wait to pull up 2006 and knock that one out too … will be nice to have all 3 books done and complete.

then there is this little piece of heaven! i’ve always thought that it wasn’t something i needed. and now that i have it … i’m not sure how i lived without it! to be able to listen to whatever i want … in whatever order i want? and not to have to get up and switch cd’s in the cd player … or spend my time trying to figure out why the music is only coming out of one speaker … or why it doesn’t want to play that day? amazing! i’ve got a ton of my cd’s all loaded up … but i still have a bunch to go through. i think right now i have about 300 songs on there … not even a dent.

although it appears that it has been stuck on brooke white’s songs … the 3 that i downloaded off  itunes last week. "love it a battlefield", "let it be", and "every breath you take" … love her versions of them. love her voice … and love when it’s her and the piano. makes me want to get back in there and see if i can still play the piano … i like to think all my years of playing would come rushing back to me. lol! so yeah, the 3 songs have just kept playing and playing. i’m funny that way … i can listen to the same songs over and over and over. and guess what … sarah’s the same way. she’ll listen to a song about 30 times in a row … drives alyssa crazy!