Laura Vegas

i feel terrible … how did i forget to share these pictures of haley. i share my kids … i shared adyson … i shared ariana. but i had these pictures of haley at the same time and forgot about them. i’m such a bad daycare "mommy". lol!

as far as this "collaborative" day that i was worried about … it’s not that bad. i had amanda stay home sick … ashlen and ady left after the kids got out of school to go out of town … my girls went to their friends house to play for a bit … haley is taking a nap right now.

as for matthew … our "new" kid. i must have jinxed myself by typing that good stuff about him last night. lol! because he was totally NOT thrilled about coming today. after his mom left he stood at the window holding the windowsill … screaming "someone come get me" at the top of his lungs … for about 45 minutes!!! he finally settled in though and is back to his talkative, nice self. only thing is he’s not wanting to do that nap thing … which is essential to our day. he had tears welling up and was telling me that "i think i’m going to cry" when i told him we had to rest. i felt so bad. so i did get him to sit on the floor at least … and we’re watching "max and ruby" … a nice calm show. actually he’s watching … and i’m posting this! lol!

girls have awana’s at the church tonight. it’s "hard hat night" … so they’re wearing their softball helmets. and i have some stuff to get done … so i’m hopeing to have some motivation. i have a secret project that i have to get done. not a secret assignment or anything … just something for a party this weekend. and if my brother knew that i havn’t even started he would probally kill me … luckily i know they don’t read my blog. lol! i tried to make my sister-in-law feel quilty the other day … she said she had maybe seen my blog once. at least she’s honest i guess about never looking at it. but i realized that she has no idea what i do … all this photography stuff and scrap stuff that means so much to me … and they have no idea. lol!

i also need to figure out alyssa’s birthday party and stuff. her birthday is next thursday … and her sleepover party is next saturday. i think there’s about 10 girls coming … not sure how that happened. lol! and i have absolutely no idea what i’m getting her. 11 is such a tough age … they’re not really into toys anymore … all she keeps asking me for is a cell phone, a laptop, and an ipod. talk about high hopes. lol!

but considering how most of my wednesday nights go … i’ll sit and do nothing! lol! and then kick myself for not taking advantage of my time! 

just a few totally random thoughts . . .

• kids are out of school early tomorrow. who ever came up with this collaborative day thing? although it used to be they got out 45 minutes early EVERY wednesday … now they get out 3 hours early just ONE wednesday a month. so i guess i should be grateful. but 4 extra girls in the house in the middle of naptime … that never turns out good!
• have a new kid around this week. it’s a friend that i’ve known for a few years through soccer and softball … she’s bringing her son a couple of days a week. he’s almost 4 years old … so i was kind of nervous on monday. a 4 yr old boy … full of energy … that always give me wierd looks on the soccer field and doesn’t talk to me? but he was too cute. he talked to me all day. folded up some bibs and towels that ady threw all over. picked up his toys without me asking. and took a real interest in a scrapbook project i was putting some finishing touches on. lol! although i didn’t push the whole "naptime" on him since it was his first day … but we need our naptime!
• went to the doctors tonight for my knee. the knee that started bugging me over 3 weeks ago … right before the day i was supposed to take the girls to great america. lol! it’s actually not really my knee … it’s more the muscle behind my knee … the tendon. it hurts like heck … can’t bend it half the time. it’s swollen and there’s this big lump on the side of my knee. the doctor asked what i did for work … and then later said that the reason he asked is that it would be a problem if i was like bending and lifting heavy boxes a hundred times day. what the heck?!?! i bend and lift babies a hundred times a day … 187 times a day when haley is here. lol! i spend half my days getting down on the floor to play, pick up toys, change diapers, etc. although he told me what i knew he would tell me … it’s just a strained muscle or something. just rest it and take it easy (yeah, right), take ibuprofin (i live on that stuff), and let them know if it gets worst. and for that i paid $25!
• the doctor did get a good laugh from my nice tan lines though. i was wearing jean capris and couldn’t pull them over my knee … so i had to change and put that piece of paper over myself all tucked in. lol! i had already gotten dressed and was leaving when he commented about "that’s an interesting tan you have going". i live in capris and havn’t worn a pair of shorts in over 2 years. and one wouldn’t think i’m that tan … since after all i do have super dark, chocolate brown kids … so i probably look pretty light next to them. but i am actually pretty dark … at least the bottom part of my legs, my arms up until the t-shirt lines, and my v-neck chest. i swear … the top portion of my legs are a ghostly white! i had to explain it to him because he wasn’t quite understanding how i got that tan. lol! i guess that was rather embarassing to let someone see that. lol!
• also just wanted to appologize in advance for any spelling mistakes or weirdly worded thoughts on this here blog. lol! i get bugged by my family for my spelling … but i can’t be bothered by it. and lately … i seem to have a hard time getting my thoughts out. i start typing and have to backspace so much to make things sound right. the words aren’t getting from my brain to the computer quite the way they used too.

that’s all i got for tonight! how was that for random?!?! lol!

i've got about 14 different things going on today … but wanted to share these 2 layouts i just finished up.

 

this one is actually a 12×12 layout … one the only 12×12's i've done lately. but i wanted to fit quite a few pics on there so i went with the bigger size. although both joe and the girls pointed out that i didn't put a picture of me on there. lol!

and i know i already scrapped this photo of wes. but i've had these overlays from autumn leaves that i've had forever and wanted to use one … and i had this photo in a 5×7 just laying around that matched perfectly. i cut the overlay into different pieces to use on different parts of my layout (it's actually made so that you can literally just set the entire thing on your layout as is). the brown scalloped part was from the packaging from the overlay … thought the boy/girl drawing on there was too cute.

ok … back to the mess i have going on around here! have a good one!

you know how i commented on my last post that i love a good brown shirt on a kid? well, the very next morning … both adyson and ashlen showed up at my door wearing brown shirts. lol! actually, jenn hadn’t even seen my post … but i thought it was pretty funny! ashlen escaped to school without any pictures … but adyson was stuck with me and my camera all day! lol!

look at her little piggies! i don’t do her hair often … it’s actually cute all down and crazy. i remember when sarah went to daycare when she was only about 18 months (back when i worked in grocery) … and her daycare "mommy" would always have her hair looking so cute when i picked her up each day. anyways … when i do want to do ady’s hair i always let her play with all the little rubberbands … otherwise known as "ponies" around here. she spills them all out on the floor and works really hard to pick them all up one by one. so i ended up tossing them into a cup which i thought was easier than the little baggie. little did i know she would insist on taking the cup outside with us for pictures … and wouldn’t put it down for nothing. and then she would spill them while running around … and then spend forever trying to pick them all up out of the grass. lol! so that’s why she’s carrying a turquoise cup in half these pictures … which actually provided some great coloring. lol!

and how effecient am i? i already have 2 of these pictures printed out … on an almost done layout! i have 3 layouts on my desk right now that just need a little finishing up … then i’ll share. i had to take a break tonight … had to finish up a huge paper doll that sarah had to make for school representing her heritage. somehow joe said something about hawaii … so she made a hawaiian girl. actually … i made a hawaiian girl. lol! which is silly … because he’s pretty much puerto rican. and then alyssa got upset because when she had to do this project back in 3rd grade … i made her do a dutch girl. because my ancesters are from holland. but really … does my girl look at all like a blond dutch girl?!?! lol! now then … alyssa really does have hawaiian in her. so she’s not too happy about this at all. lol!

i have a few kids that i just have a tough time photographing. ariana is one of them. she is so bouncity that she rarely holds still for much. and she gives me these huge smiles … but avoids actually looking at me and then rolls her eyes way off to the side. but today i did it … i took a few great shots of her!

here’s the same picture … just full size.

have i ever mentioned how much i love a good brown shirt on a kid? great coloring!

and here’s another one of my tough subjects … michaela.

she likes to squint her eyes up when i take her picture. which for this picture was actually understandable.  it was  mid-afternoon on the soccer field … with full, harsh over-head sun. the worst thing for picture taking. lol! i’m not too worried about her though … i have the next 2 months to catch her at every soccer game (her big sister, alison and sarah are on the same team). so i know we have some early games in there which should give us better lighting. and i have to catch her early … before she gets her "gatorade face" … meaning a huge blue or red ring around her lips. lol!

still scrapping … still feeling my creative "mojo" going. not really enough time to do anything with it right now … but squeezed in these 2 layouts last night.

 

love this layout. love the photo of amanda. the colors are showing up a little different in the pictures … the aqua is a little brighter and the green background cardstock is more like the green on the stickers. i grabbed these epoxy stickers on a recent trip to target … they're from my minds eye. they fit perfect in this 7 gypsies scalloped circle stamp that i had. and you see that i finally used my making memories tag maker. i usually just use the metal rims on their own … but i finally cut out paper to fit and used the tag maker to make an actual tag. 

i'll be honest … i'm not totally loving this layout. love the picture of haley though. and i love the colors on the layout. i had these patches and flowers from an old poppy ink kit … and i just wanted to toss them all on there together. and i had the creative imaginations circle rubons from a goodie box i got recently. just one of those tossed together layouts that i really didn't think to much on. got to the end and felt like it needed something else … but also realize that it's fine as is too.

in other random scrap stuff:

• last week i picked up the september issue of scrapbook trends … couldn't wait to get my copy with my layout. the layout is of my friend dina's youngest daughter tawny … one of sarah's best friends. i took it to show to her … and told tawny that she was famous now. she just gave me one of those looks … like "whatever". i'm hopeing she got more excited after i left. lol!
• got my october issue of scrapbooks etc this weekend. this was one of my "secret" things i was working on a few months ago … i had my very first magazine assignment! it's for the "make it yours" column … where i had a layout that i had to be inspired by and use elements of on my layout. i ended up using some fun pictures of haley for this layout … so look for fun pinks and blues. her mom was so excited to see it in print … always fun to get other kids in the magazines! lol!
• i realized this weekend that i'm seriously addicted to my scalloped edged scissors. i seem to use them on everything i do lately. funny how they were in my drawer for years … from back when we used to cut all our pictures super small using all sorts of decorative edged scissors. lol! then again … i think back to a few years ago when i used to tear the edges of all my papers. i can't even think of the last time i tore a paper. now i just scallop it to death! lol!
• i also realized that i've done a lot of one photo layouts recently. i never got into that "one photo on a page" trend. but i seem to have more lately. maybe it's the smaller page size … just so easy to throw an enlarged picture on there and work around it. when i place my picture orders at winkflash i always order some 5×7's … because they're so super inexpensive. so i have my favorite pictures all ready to go.
• have i told you that i looooooove the 9×9 page size?!?! lol! seriously … if you havn't tried this size you must. i did a page a few months ago that i started as 12×12 … had like 5 pictures on it printed in some collage prints. had lots of goodies on it … pattern paper, ribbon, chipboard letters, flowers, etc. but yet i still had so much space left over … i couldn't figure out how to finish it. so i never did. lol! i love how compact the 9×9 size is. and so different pulling out a cute 9×9 album with all your cute little 9×9 layouts. not like lugging out your huge, heavy 12×12 albums. lol!
• and have you seen the disney channel show life with derek? the episode where casey is trying to make a film about the beauty of her blended family … and noone is acting like she wants them to so she writes a script for them to follow. as each member of her family fails to comply with her script … and the way she wants them to act … she writes them out of the script and out of the family. why is this scrap related? because it shows her cropping her family photo … cutting out that member of the family right out of the photo. i laugh every time i see this (and believe me … we seem to keep watching this episode over and over). i can just picture casey cutting up her photo and saying "you are NOT in my family anymore" in her totally controlling, type-A way! lol!

guess that's it for now. next up will be random everyday life stuff … girls are busy with so many things right now that i should share. back later!

remember that day a few weeks ago where i took like 200 pictures of the girls? i havn’t looked them since that weekend … finally getting around to going through some tonight. thought i’d share a few of alyssa from the first set of pics.

 

and i thought this one was fun … it’s like a "behind-the-scenes" look at photo shoot process. lol! the entire time i was taking pictures of alyssa that morning on our porch … sarah kept whizzing by on her scooter.  i caught her in this one!

too tired to say much more right now. back tomorrow with more!

started this layout real quick last night … and finished it right now as the daycare kids are napping. i printed this picture of my neighbor ziek on the weekend when i was doing the others … but just didn't get to it.

i got a comment the other day asking how i go about picking what i use on my layouts. interesting question. i'm actually quite spastic when i scrap … i start with one idea and jump to totally different ideas. lol! just like this layout.

• i started with the clear, plastic title that i had bought a few weeks ago and knew it went with the picture
• picked up a stack of my mind's eye pattern paper and came across the green dot that matched perfectly … the blue and the brown were right next to them so i grabbed those too
• the brown polka-dot ribbon was in a jar on my counter … loved it against the green. i originally had some yellow/blue/green striped ribbon out too
• couldn't figure out the title piece … wasn't sure how to make it stand out. so i dry brushed some brown paint on the edges
• actually had a large, clear star out that i brushed some brown paint on too … but it wasn't looking right
• went to find a smaller, clear star … came across the blue plastic "boy" star and knew it would go good
• there was some cute orange plastic embellishments in the jar too … was originally no orange on the layout … but it was more colorful with it on there
• switched out the yellow/blue/green ribbon for some orange ribbon
• gotta have staples on the ribbon … love that
• still needed another star to balance out the blue one … so i found these other clear stars which are already blue … saved myself some painting
• added the orange brads to balance out the orange ribbon and plastic tab … and also to easily adhere the stars
• typed up some journaling and added that

ok … maybe that really wasn't too spastic.  lol! but i really don't have a method to my creativeness. i just really rummage around and dig through baskets and jars until i stumble across something i really forgot i had … but that is perfect for what i'm doing.

i have also really learned what works for me … what i like to use. i know i love pattern paper … but balanced out with solids. i know i love ribbon … and chipboard … and plastic … and buttons … and all those fun embellishments. i love texture … love having a certain amount of bulk to my layouts. i love the white borders on my photos. i love journaling strips. but i like everything to be clean and neat … totally measured out and even.

and once you know what you like and what you're comfortable using … it makes it easier to narrow down what you use on your layouts. just use what you love! do the techniques you enjoy doing. nothing overly complicated … just stuff that comes natural to you.

i also go with my gut more. once i find something that looks good … i normally don't waste time looking for something else that will work. i used to dig through everything i owned looking for just the perfect paper or embellishment. but there are so many perfect papers and embellishments for every photo. just use what you come across first. sure … i change things all the time while i'm in the process of creating a layout. but usually only because i'm looking for something entirely different and accidently find something. if i have something that works … i use it. if i happen to find something different … i'll switch to that. did that make sense?!?! lol!

i have really become so much more comfortable with my style in the last 7-8 months. i know what i like … i use what i like … and i think it shows! i think it's the best thing when we can easily pull together a layout without thinking too hard … and really be pleased with what we made! 

i scrapped this weekend! and why am i so excited about this? because as i mentioned before … i havn't made a single layout in 2 months. but after all my re-grouping and re-organizing … i was finally ready last night. i did 5 entire layouts from start to finish (including selecting and printing the photos). here they are … along with why i love them.

first off … i love this one because of the photo. i love that picture of alyssa! i also love the colors on this. it started with the hambly screenprint … i pulled out this large cut piece i had left over and used it right as is. i loved the glitter chipboard letters from making memories and hadn't used them yet so i added those. gems from an old montly kit that i had laying around … same with the ribbon scrap.

love the bright colors on this layout. i had a montly kit from poppy ink that i was holding onto … from back in march. i loved the bold patterns and colors and the star theme … so i had kept the kit all together. love how everything matches these pics of the girls perfectly … it was if they planned their clothes just to match the kit. lol! these pictures were from the last day of school back in june. everything on here was from the kit … except the glitter chipboard letters from lil davis and the rhinestone stars.

love this layout! ashlen came over yesterday to play for a bit … and i commented how i never do layouts of her. i actually pulled out all the layouts of the daycare kids that i've done this year … and none of her. so i told her i needed to do one. i sat right down and printed off a few of my favorite pics of her … and within about an hour i had this layout totally done. i showed her and she gave me a hug and told me "thank you"! this was another kit from poppy ink … the may kit which was the last one i got. i loved this kit colors … so i had this one put aside to play with too. such fun papers and rubons from sassafraslass.

i had these 2 pictures put aside with the making memories pattern paper and the fabric tag … about 5 months ago. funny how i just never got to it. i actually have about 10 of these same "blah, blah, blah" tags … they were left over from a class i taught over a year ago. lol! i love that i didn't even think too hard on this layout. threw the photos down … added the paper strip down the middle … added a rubon stitch … and picked out some embellishments. i've had those ki memories acrylic and metal accents forever … but have never used them except for on a card once. the flower and the sequins were from a few random monthly kits i've had forever.

and this layout … love those pictures of wes! i love this layout. i had bought these felt ki memories alphabets a few weeks ago … just because i knew they would go with these pictures. so i knew i had to use those. and don't you love the magic mesh on the top? i don't know if i had mentioned this … but that really was my most exciting purchase when i went to the scrapbook expo last month! i know it's a super old product … so i had to laugh at myself when i found it and bought a ton of it in all different colors. i love this style with the larger holes. also threw on a few heidi swapp tags that i've been hoarding because they're so cute.

so there you have it! did i make up for lost time?!?! lol! i was so excited last night that i got this much done. all this start to finish in just about 6 hours! helps that my girls were at a sleepover with ashlen for some of that time. lol! i was so ready to share these with someone this morning. joe looked really fast and gave me his normal "those are nice". i made him stop and really look at them. lol! hate that … when you have something you want to share that you're excited about and are proud of … and no one is around that can truely appreciate what you put into it.

but i knew i could come share here! not just because it's my blog and i can share what i want … although that is true! but because i knew you all could appreciate what went into these layouts. so thanks for letting me share!

i can say that after the last 2 days … i am 90% caught up on my photos. i had family photos and daycare photos from the last 2 months that needed to get done. by "get done" … i mean finish my normal steps i take each month. i got everything except the 200 or so photos that i took of the girls last weekend.

i got everything edited … and was fairly good about only doing the "best" photos … and not 10 of the same shot. lol! i got everything uploaded to my winkflash accounts (i keep one account for family stuff and one account for daycare stuff) and ordered 266 pictures! they have a great deal right now … all 4×6’s are half price … only 6 cents a print. i got everything off my laptop and onto my external harddrive.

and i also started a flickr account. i wasn’t very good about keeping up my photo albums here on the blog. but i wanted one place where i could keep my favorite photos … and to share them. and i just had to have one of these cute badges on the side of my blog. lol! so if you click on the flickr badge on the left side it will take you to my page. i started with january of this year and picked out my best and favorite photos. sorry … got real generic with the photo titles … decided to just use the kids names. lol! but it did take some time to go back and resize all those pictures. i resize all my photos for the blog but never think to save those versions … maybe i should rethink that to save me some time. lol! you can also just go HERE to see my photos!

also been finishing up my re-organizing of my studio. just cleaning out a little and making some things fit better. i have a whole other post on that topic … will do that tomorrow night. let’s just say that my favorite saying for the past few months (at least when it comes to purging my scrap stuff. lol!) has been … "let it go"!!!

edited to add:  i took the flickr badge off for now … it was tweaking with my blog. hopefully i can figure it out later! if anyone has any idea what i’m doing wrong … would appreciate the help!