Laura Vegas

the girls had been home today for quite a few hours (early day, so they were home after lunch). i was sitting there looking at amanda for no real reason … and it just hit me. i asked her "what are you wearing?". i walked into the kitchen and grabbed my scrapbook stuff that i need to work on … and took it over to her and held it up against her shirt. perfect match!

needless to say … i made her take some pictures for me! not really a problem since she loves to pose for me and my camera! i couldn’t get over how perfect this was. not that i usually take photos specifically for product or layouts … i usually just dig around until i find some older photos that work. but i couldn’t resist this. of coarse, after i took a few pictures … i went back in the house. then i look out the window and she had taken her hair down. i picked my camera right back up and made her take some more! which is how i got the next one. isn’t she just gorgeous?

so i’ll be printing a few of these tomorrow and scrapping … along with some other ones i found on my harddrive. and i’ll finally be working on something that i’ve been carrying around this house for about 6 weeks. lol! i like to do stuff like that. i have these large ziploc bags with certain projects … or my clear 12×12 containers. and i bring them downstairs every day … just in case i have a few minutes to get creative … or in case all the kids nap at the same time. but i usually never get to anything. even if the kids do nap at the same time … it’s hard sometimes to start being creative if i know my time could be up any minute. it can be done … but i have a hard time with that. so then every night i bring the stuff back upstairs with me … thinking i’ll get creative then … or i’ll work on things while the girls are showering or watching tv. but i usually don’t … i’m usually too tired or just vegging on the computer. so the next morning i have high hopes once again … and bring it back down. then back up. and so on and so on. you get the long-winded point i’m trying to make, right? lol!

i really need to get some new pictures of my girls. i’ve been showing some of the daycare kids … but not my own kids. lol! i honestly havn’t taken hardly any photos in the last 2 months … and only about 6 of them have been of alyssa or sarah. we’re definately going to have to make time for that this weekend. i feel a photo shoot coming on. i can almost feel them cringing at me in their sleep. i’m certain they know it’s coming. lol! it’s a good time though … since the weather has been nicer around here this week.

and just for fun … i thought i’d pull up an old photo of amanda just to show how she’s grown. maybe i’ll do the other kids too … in their own post. i dug deep for this one. august 2005. this was one of my very first digital photos … i had just gotten my camera and knew nothing about it. ahhhhh, look at the itty-bitty! 2 1/2 years ago … she was only 5 years old!

and just an interesting, fun fact. this photo here from august 2005 … this was my 213th photo. and the first one i shared on this post … that was my 8066th photo. so i’ve taken 8000 photos in 2 1/5 years? that sounds like a lot … and yet it doesn’t at the same time. lol! edited to add: ok, i just did the math in my head … and i guess that is a lot of photos. if i did that correctly, that would average out to about 250 photos a month. not too bad!

and completly unrelated … i’ve been having some issues with my email the last 2 days. i’m assuming i’m getting all my emails … and i’m assuming my emails are getting sent. but maybe i shouldn’t be so quick to assume. i do know that i cannot get into my address book … which makes it hard to email someone unless i know their address by heart (which i know none of mine) … or if i can track down a previous email from/to you in my "sent" box or my "trash" … and then copy and paste your address. so long story short … if i owe you an email, or you havn’t heard from me, or if you just want an email from me (because honestly, why would you not?!?! lol!) … try me again. i think i’m caught up … but you never know. lol!

remember when i told you a few weeks ago that i would share my book i had done at shutterfly? well … i’m finally ready. i tell you … when i say i’ll do something … i do it. it may not be until a few weeks later … but eventually i get to it. lol!

so this is a 12×12 book … 20 pages long. i have a single photo on the front … the only photo i had that had the majority of the kids in it. once i got the idea for what i wanted to do … it came together very quickly. i used the same page design for each of the daycare kids … simple background and just included their name on one side. did the rough black edges around all the photos. i had 8 kids … but had to combine matthew and nickolas together. mainly because they were’nt here as long last year so i didn’t have as many pics … but now that i think about it i could have just had 2 pages added to give them their own pages. then i had 4 pages at the end of the book that just had random photos of everyone.

one of the reasons i ended up loving this book … is that it just summed up our year perfectly. i have tons of photos of all the kids here. in fact, there were a few more kids i wanted to include … but these 8 were our main kids. and a lot of those photos i have scrapped on numerous layouts. and i have all the others in the simple albums. and there are tons of fun pictures that i just honestly wouldn’t scrap … terrible to say … but the more everyday, crazy shots are ones that i wouldn’t usually pull out to scrap. so i love that this book has all those in there … all together in one place. so fun to look through!

and this cutie here … she gave me heck today! lol! not exactly sure what "heck" is … but i’m pretty sure that’s what she was dishin out to me! really clingy and demanding … kept getting mad when i put her down to take care of nikolas. and then when the fedex dude stopped by (which was all good since he was bring me a goodie box with some returned layouts) … she flipped out. i don’t know if she thought i was leaving … i simply went on the porch to get the box. lol! took about 10 minute to calm her back down. but then she looks at me with those eyes … and i can’t stay frustrated for long. cuteness can definately get you places with me! lol!

got caught up in stuff and forgot about my blog. lol! have nothing specific to blog about … so here’s some random stuff for you.

• just got done dying my hair … which i’ve been meaning to do for about a month now. lol! i have used natural instincts for years and years … #22, cinnaberry has always been my color. usually my hair ends up a auburn brown … but occasionally it ends up more burgundy (because i usually leave it on for too long!). and i only have to do it every 2-3 months. i can always tell when it’s time … because my hair looks dull and my skin starts to look washed out. and today i decided it was definately time!
• about a week and a half ago we had a big storm come through this area. a few hours into the heavy rain and wind … we ended up having some water leaks by our window seat in the stairway. i was walking downstairs and this thing on the wall caught my eye. the water had been dripping down the wall … and i guess since there was a pretty good amount … it had piled up into this huge "drip". there was about a cup of water inside the "drip" … so as it got heavier it was just going farther down the wall. i took a safety cutter and sliced the thing open and all the water spilled out … and then i could just peel off these huge amounts of the wall from where all the water was. anyways … the house dudes came out the next day and sealed up some stuff on the outside of the house. and then today one of them came back and spent 3 hours fixing the wall and retexturing it. i was nice enough to offer to repaint myself … now i’m wondering if i can even get up that high by standing on the window seat?!?!
• remember when i had like 7 episodes of brothers & sisters to watch? i caught up on them a while back … but i’m proud to say i even watched the newest one … on the actual night it aired! lol! i know i’ve said this before … but this is such an excellent show! if you havn’t seen it … you have to check it out. and i know i told someone today (sara?) that i heard it wasn’t on next week … well, in finding the link above i see that there is a new episode next sunday. yay!
• sarah had softball tryouts this past saturday. we know one of the guys that is coaching from soccer … and joe told him he would help him coach. i’m not sure how that is going to work?!?! he umpires for high school baseball … in fact, he had his first meeting tonight. he’s gotten a pretty good reputation with the guy in charge … so he gets good games and lots of games. but if he starts getting picky about what nights he can do … he won’t get all that many. umpiring pays good money … and he enjoys it. but unfortunatley, softball is a ton of weeknights (one of my least favorite things about the sport). so we’ll see.
• alyssa has a dance at school on wednesday. a semi-formal winter dance. i think it’s just 6th grade. they had one a few months ago … but she missed it because they had the spelling bee at the same time. wednesday is early day … so the kids get out after lunch. so the dance is right after … middle of the day. so cute though … all her girlfriends are going and i’m sure they’ll have fun.
• ok … something is up with my eye. i’ve never had any eye things … never had pink eye. so i’m not sure what this is. but it’s been killing me all day … it’s a little swollen … it feels a lot swollen … and there’s this little bump thing … and i can see it out of the corner of my eye. hope it’s not contagious. my dad told me to try not to touch the kids … kind of hard to do with little ones. lol! but i’m trying super hard not to touch it. guess we’ll see what it looks like when i wake up!
• been scrapping all weekend … and i mean ALL weekend. got a big assignment done and i think it turned out good. i have everything cleaned up … and i’m ready to dig into the next project on my list! actually, i don’t have a list … it’s all in my head. i know, scary thought. lol!
• did you know i can get lost for hours just browsing through the "stats" page on my blog? i love checking out new blogs … and one way i find them is by linking through comments left on my blog. and then from that blog … i’ll click on links for other blogs … and then find even more links. next thing you know … i have no idea where i am or how i got there. lol! and sometimes i can see those of you that don’t leave comments. lol! so that gives me even more to check out!

i’ve seriously been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to think of some other random stuff … and my mind suddenly went blank. so i guess that’s it for now!

i mentioned i had started a few new layouts. i had found some fun new making memories product at target the other night … the "garden party collection". i also found some great new embellishments at michaels too … but i havn’t used those yet. anyways … i wanted to play around but wasn’t feeling like being super creative. so i decided to "lift" a few of my favorite artists. "lifting" (for you non-scrappers who lurk here. lol!) means taking a layout that was designed by someone else … and using all of it or parts of it for your own layout. i see so many layouts and designs that i just love … but rarely do i take the time to use those ideas.

this layout was inspired by robyn … one of my absolute favorite designers. she has so much incredible talent … love all the detail she puts into all her layouts. there are so many layouts of her’s that i would love to pull something from and make it my own. but i wanted to choose one … and THIS ONE that she shared a few days ago was always one that i loved … so i decided to lift that one. i loved all the flowers going down the side of the layout … and i knew these dimensional stickers would be perfect. the pattern papers and dimensional stickers are from the new MM "garden party" collection … and there are a few chipboard accents and the big felt flower that were from a new little MM embellishment kit that i found at michaels … rubons, photo corners, and chipboard strip are heidi swapp … ribbon is lil davis … and rhinestones are just craft supply.

one of my other favorite scrappers is maggie. i have always loved her style. such a clean, linear style i think … but just like robyn, tons of fun touches and details. and her photography … simply gorgeous! there was a layout of her’s from a few years ago that i just loved … and this layout here was inspired by that. i used her same exact design and pretty much the same type products. she doesn’t have it posted anywhere that i can link you … but trust me, this looks pretty close to hers! lol! i ended up using totally different product than i started with … mainly because i was looking for certain colors. cardstock and embossed cardstock is KI memories … pattern grid paper is scenic route … plastic letters are heidi swapp … prima flowers, magic mesh, random ribbon, and brads and a clip.

so thank you to robyn and maggie … for always inspiring me with their talent! and i have to say that they are both so super nice and always willing to help me with tips or advice. ok … enough gushing. lol! i have some other designers that are on the top of my "favorites list" … so i will have to do a few more layouts inspired by them. but this was fun … still creating … but not having to do so much of the thinking! lol!

and i’m going to appologize for the crappy photos … and any more that come out crappy in the next few days or weeks. apparently we have been hit by the "winter" weather finally. for the past week it has been rainy, cold, windy, stormy, dark, and dreary. and that means that my house is like a dungeon … i seriously have NOOOOO light in my house. which has made taking photos of my projects really hard. i won’t tell you how many times i tried to take these photos today … and they just never showed the coloring as they really look in real life. so you’ll have to imagine them more bright and colorful. lol!

and i’ll leave you with this birthday card i made this afternoon for a little girlie. just a quick one. since i had the embossed cardstock out for the above layout … stumbled across this cupcake cardstock and had to use it. just rubbed sandpaper over it to highlight the embossed part. and what about that cupcake? i know, i know … i never claimed to be a good paper-piecer or a good doodler. lol! and now that i look at this … i totally should have added a cherry on top!

has this been the longest week ever? i knew this would happen … i was talking about it last week. i figured this week would be long and tiring. because after all … the last two weeks were fairly easy. what with christmas and new years in there … and having some extra days off work. so this was really the first week being back to a full week. and i was right … this week feels never-ending.

it hasn’t been a super crazy week. hasn’t been a bad week. just a long one. even on the fairly easy day i had … it just seemed like i accomplished nothing. i have had some scrapbook stuff out to work on … some paperwork that needed taken care of … some forms to fill out and mail off for things. and for some reason i just couldn’t find the time to sit and do any of those things. it was as if i couldn’t take even 5 minutes straight to give my attention to any one thing (excluding the kids … i took very good care of them for the record. lol!). i did manage to take care of my paperwork finally tonight … my little pile on the kitchen counter is gone. signed up for my refresher infant/child cpr and first aid class … that is seriously going to kill me to sit for 8 hours straight. filled out choir forms for the girls. ordered school spirit tshirts for the girls. paid a few bills. all homework is signed and ready for tomorrow.

and i even managed to scrap tonight. i have some stuff that i seriously need to work on. only thing is i happen to go out last night to take care of a few errands … and stumbled upon a ton of new scrapbook stuff! so now … the "new" new stuff is distracting me from the "other" new stuff. and i’m confused … i don’t know what i want to use first. lol! i came up with a brilliant idea tonight … since i wanted to scrap but didn’t want to think too much. i just have to journal my page and i’ll share it tomorrow. hoping to do 2 more … i have something in mind already. we’ll see how tomorrow goes. after all … tomorrow is friday!!! that means we’ve made it through this week … so how bad can it be?!?! lol!

and before i go … i have to share the funniest thing i heard all week. i get a ton of amusement from these kids … my own kids and the daycare kids. so many funny things and crazy stories. have to start writing more of them down. but this one was HILARIOUS.

• info you need to remember for this story … nikolas is 6 months, haley is 14 months, and ariana is 4 yrs old going on 16! so i’m sitting in the rocking chair, feeding nikolas his bottle. haley was playing … but all of the sudden she just flipped her switch and decided she was pissed (she does that when she’s tired … her mood can literally change within minutes). since i was feeding nikolas i told her she would have to wait a minute … but she was not thrilled that i wasn’t picking her up. so ariana comes over to me … looks me straight in the eyes, scrunches up her forehead, and gets super serious. then she tells me … "laura, i don’t think you know how to take care of babies very good!" omg … it was the most hilarious thing i have ever heard! just the way she said it … which is the way she tells me so many things … and why i always laugh when talking to her. lol!

here’s to tomorrow … and hoping that this coming weekend lasts just as long as this week seems to have! lol!

just wanted to share some cards i made yesterday. i had just finished up some assignments and had all sorts of scraps out … so figured i'd make some cards just for fun. the first 2 are using the new MM love story collection … which is available now. 

this first one is actually a chipboard coaster from bazzill that i decorated … it's a 5×5 coaster. back when i first found keisha's blog … she was doing a ton of these coasters and i thought it was the neatest idea. she has tons more … but i can't find them on her blog right now. seriously, it took me about 10 minutes to find that link. lol! so now you really owe it to me to go check her out if you havn't already … you will not be disappointed … the girl is super talented! anyways … one reason i thought they'd be fun is just to use them to "play". just a chance to use some fun product … not worry about pictures or journaling (although they would be fun that way too!) … just to create and have fun. so long story short … i finally did a coaster. lol!

super simple one. i had actually painted and glitter painted a different chipboard circle for this … but i was to impatient to let it dry so i grabbed this already-glittered one.

these next 3 are from the MM 5th avenue collection. these are from the red collection … i'm anxious to get my hands on the blue collection! i heard 5th avenue starts shipping at the end of the month … so keep your eye out for it!

what is this … possibly a birthday card? i always say that i should only allow myself to make birthday cards … because i always need them and yet never have any. lol! i think this green suede ribbon goes with the blue collection … but it was in my stuff so i just went with it … adds a nice touch i think. 

this is one of the older MM cards … it opens in the middle to both sides.

this one is super simple .. almost too simple for me. and that green "l" is sort of bugging me now. lol! i had to pull a few chipboard letters from my christmas collection. you would not believe how much time i can spend picking out letters trying to get the perfect color order … and figuring out what i can actually spell with what letters i have left!

and i just have to share this story … one of those "typical-could-only-happen-to-laura" type stories. ok, so it could happen to anyone … but these things tend to happen to me all the time. lol! remember last month when i went to the postal annex (a mini-post office) to mail my christmas cards … it was this post (scroll down)? and i mentioned that i wasn't quite sure i could trust the dude that works there? that i thought he just pulled numbers out of the sky? now i'm convinced that i'm right! nikolas and i went out today to mail off a layout … in a priority box that weighed next to nothing. i mail layouts like this all the time in the exact same box … and it's always about $5.00 to mail. the dude tells me it'll be $15.00 … what the heck? i tell him "no, that's not right". so after a few minutes he tells me it'll be $8.00 … still not right. i finally just grabbed the box back and told him that "i will take it to the REAL post office!". and sure enough … went to the other postal annex (which is almost like a regular post office) and it was $4.50 … although i did have to wait in line there. lol!

and i don't know if this means anything. but today i drank a vitamin water … the "focus" one specifically. i have never tried these before … but picked up a few this weekend while at target. the labels on these are hilarious … and the descriptions on the website are pretty funny too! i don't know if was a coincidence or not … but i was extremely focused and got so much done today! lol!

i know it’s only been 2 days since i last posted … and yet i have this continuous nagging voice in my head that tells me i need to come and post something new. lol!

i have no pictures to share. and i have no layouts to share. and i have no ideas for insightful or humorous story telling right now.

just busy this weekend with some creating … some scrapping. have some assignments to get done … leave it to me to always leave things to the last minute. that’s the way i do things … i work best under pressure! although i did finish something today that isn’t due for an entire week … so really, i’m ahead! i have lots of fun stuff on my desk right now … and i’m feeling inspired. even making a few things just to share with you. so watch for it.

and then i’ve been busy organizing. maybe it’s the new year … wanting to start clean and fresh. one thing i tackled today was my paperwork. well, some of it anyways. cleaned out all my files and took everything from last year out and into it’s new home … love my expandable file holder that i keep for each year. sorting things out that i need for taxes and stuff. don’t get me started on my daycare paperwork though … that’s going to take me some time. you’d think i’d learn and actually keep up with it all year-long. but no … i have reciepts to go through and itemize, meals to count, accounts to be tallied, and much more. once again … you see how i saved it till the end … it’s that whole "procrastination-why-do-it-now-when-i-can-do-it-later-work-better-under-pressure" thing i like to have going on. it keeps me on my toes!

will be back in the next day or two. maybe a random post is in order … havn’t done one of those this year, right?!?! lol!

i was asked to do a little write-up over on the making memories blog about paint and tool storage. it even inspired me to paint my "paint shelf" … it was originally white and i had wanted to paint it for over a year now. here's a little colorful peek … but make sure to check it all out HERE!

actually took my camera out today … i haven’t taken any pictures in weeks. sad! the girls went back to school today … so it was just me and the babies hanging out together. wanted to share a few really quick.

poor nikolas … at that age where we can do things to him and he really can’t complain. lol! i was trying to get haley to wear the glasses … but she wanted nothing to do with it. but nikolas sat there for days with these on. lol! i think he’s looking pretty cool! and i know that kids toys are supposed to be colorful and all … to grab their attention. but this excersaucer … it really gives some serious "color-overload" in photos!

so glad to have nikolas back. he’s been gone for over a week since his mom was off work for the holidays. this morning i asked him what new stuff he was learning while he was gone. a little bit later he was on his tummy … and got up on all fours, rocking back and forth. he got some movement going … before i know it he’ll be crawling. he’s also into rolling around. he rolls to the right every time … and just keeps going until he hits a wall or something. then i turn him around and he goes at it again. such a cutie!

haley … my girlie! she is at that super fun age. not that i didn’t have fun with her before … just that i love this age so much. she’s 14 months now. it was exactly this time last year when ady turned 1 … and it was the same with her. the girls had just gone back to school after their break … so it was mainly her and i all day. i had the best time hanging out with her … and i’m having the same thing with haley lately. so much personality … she understands me … she "asks" me for things … and she finds me hilarious!

i had alyssa take this photo of us this afternoon. i had my camera out earlier … but i’m having a hard time getting any pictures of haley. she comes right at me so fast … and stands right in front of me. she doesn’t "get" that she has to back up! and you see what she’s holding … my lens cap. all she kept doing was coming at me … and trying to stick it on my lens. love that she knows exactly what it is. lol!

i totally forgot to take some pics of the daycare book i got from shutterfly. i have a fun idea to share it with you … so i’ll do that in the next day or two.