Laura Vegas

Scrapbooking And A Little Bit Of Everyday Life

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Bella Blvd: CHA Winter 2015 Reveal Week – Color Chaos Collection

January 7, 2015

It’s CHA Winter 2015 reveal time over on the Bella Blvd blog! There are 4 new collections, along with new embellishments and specialty papers. We started the reveals last week, and will be continuing all the way thru this coming Friday. Today we are sharing the new Color Chaos collection!

I'm sharing the layout that I created for the catalog to highlight this new collection. I had an older layout of mine in my head that I was sort of, kind of, using for inspiration when I sat down to start to start this layout. I had a certain photo combo in mind, so when I went looking for photos, I came across these photos I took of two of my very first daycare kiddos. Of course, these were taken years later, as they weren't that little when I watched them!

I knew that I wanted to use the fun paint splatter patterned paper, and decided to use it as the background for my page. I trimmed down a sheet of white cardstock and matted it on black cardstock, which I then adhered to the center of the page. This kind of created a "layout within a layout", so that I could build the rest of my page on the white cardstock.

I then picked out four colors of the tone-on-tone diagonal striped patterned paper to add onto the page. Any of the colors would have great choices, so I went with the four that were most appealing to my eyes. I trimmed them into two different sizes, so that pieced together, they would fill up the white cardstock. I machine stitched around the edges of all of them, and then adhered them in place.

I originally wanted to use the navy blue diagonal striped paper, but decided to mix in the navy blue chipboard border instead. I actually cut it into two pieces, so that it would appear to be longer and reach across the page. The hashtag is a chipboard piece, and I hand cut the little camera from one of the 2×2" cards on one of the patterned paper sheets.

I wanted to incorporate a little black patterned paper and was really drawn to the 4×6" days-of-the-week card on one of the patterned papers. Since the card was only four inches in height, I simply cut a few small strips across the card, and then pieced them one on top of the other, to make it look like it was a long strip of patterned paper.

I picked out a variety of chipboard flowers to embellish the page, adhering the along the strip of black patterned paper. I added a little enamel dot to the center of each flower. I also added in some little stickers here and there to finish things off.

Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog, HERE, to see the entire collection, piece by piece, and to enter the drawing for a chance to win-it-before-you-can-buy-it! The randomly chosen winners for ALL of the reveal giveaways will be announced on Sunday, January 11th.
Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet – Winter & Christmas Cheer

January 6, 2015

We are taking a break from the new collection reveals on the Bella Blvd blog today so that we can share the January project sheet with you. For this month's project sheet, I was asked to use the Christmas Cheer collection, but to create a winter themed layout. I borrowed these adorable snow photos from my good friend Krista Lund.

The fun snowflake patterned paper was the perfect choice for a winter themed layout. I also pulled in the yellow dotted patterned paper, and a few border strips in aqua and green from the Borders patterned paper. The yellow die cut tag came from the Paper Pieces die cut package. I trimmed it down a bit and tucked it under the border strips.

I wanted to use the chipboard "december" word from the Chipboard Icons for part of my title. All but two of the letters coordinated perfectly with my paper. Two of the chipboard letters were red, so I simply swapped them out with some pink Amorie chipboard alphas. The green alpha stickers from the Treasures & Text sticker sheet completed my title.

Once I had my photo collage adhered to the white grid patterned paper, I knew it would have looked better matted on some colorful patterned paper. I wanted to incorporate some more pink onto the page, so I decided to use some pink striped designer tape instead of patterned paper. This was also a good choice, since my photos were already adhered in place and not budging. Lol.

I tore off small pieces of tape, and carefully tore each one in half lengthwise. This gave me skinnier strips to work with. I pieced them together around my photo collage, basically creating a frame. You could easily just adhere full strips of tape, which would be quicker.

The Chipboard Icons sheet had a few little chipboard snowflake circle accents, which I adhered on one side of my photo collage. I was able to add my journaling block over part of the larger photo in the collage, since it had a bit of empty space up top.

I added a die cut label from the Paper Pieces die cut package and a yellow "December" label sticker along the side of the photo collage. As I was creating this layout, I just looked for any stickers, die cuts, and patterned papers that could be used for a winter themed page. Turns out, there was plenty to choose from!

To download our January project sheet, complete with full supply list and detailed instructions, simply click HERE.
Bella Blvd: CHA Winter 2015 Reveal Week – Campout Collection

January 5, 2015

It’s CHA Winter 2015 reveal time over on the Bella Blvd blog! There are 4 new collections, along with new embellishments and specialty papers. We started the reveals last week, and will be continuing all the way thru this coming Friday. Today we are sharing the new Campout collection!

When I sat down to create my layout for the catalog, I had some camping photos in mind to use from a trip we took years ago with some family friends. Unfortunately, we were working with film years ago, and the photos I ended up with thru scanning and reprints just weren't the best quality. I will definitely be scrapping those photos at some point. But for the catalog layout, I ended up borrowing these photos from a former Bella Blvd designer (and amazing photographer), Megan Klauer.

I knew I wanted to use a grid style design for this layout, incorporating 3×4" and 4×4" photos and pieces of patterned paper onto the page. I ended up with a two inch strip on one side of the page where I was able to add a few thin strips of patterned paper and a border strip.

I have to admit that I don't normally use many plaid patterned papers anymore. I really love the plaid pattern in this collection though. It's probably the colors. Green and brown are two long time favorite colors of mine, and lately, I can't get enough of navy blue.

The little "hello deer" piece was taken from the Daily Details patterned paper. The 2×2" squares on that paper are prefect for cards, but I knew the little deer would fit in nicely on this page.

I knew I wanted to use the "outdoors" word from the Chipboard Icons, and combine it with the brown alphas from the Treasures & Text sticker sheet for my title.

I built this layout directly on this white sheet of cardstock, and had spritzed it with tan misting spray before I started creating the layout. I don't always know where I'll be placing things on my page when I do my misting, so I just mist away and hope it all works out.

Well, it honestly wasn't until I was editing these images that I realized a few of those mists landed in a very unfortunate location. My poor, adorably cute chipboard bear looks like he's pooping. Lol. And yes, I just referenced poop on my blog. I do work with kids all day long!

I did a ton of machine stitching on this layout. Once I had the majority of the page done, I added some small stickers, chipboard pieces, and enamel dots to complete the layout.

Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog, HERE, to see the entire collection, piece by piece, and to enter the drawing for a chance to win-it-before-you-can-buy-it! The randomly chosen winners for ALL of the reveal giveaways will be announced on Sunday, January 11th.
Bella Blvd: CHA Winter 2015 Reveal Week – Themed Clear Cuts & Invisibles

January 2, 2015

It’s CHA Winter 2015 reveal time over on the Bella Blvd blog! There are 4 new collections, along with new embellishments and specialty papers. We started the reveals earlier this week, and will be continuing all the way thru Friday of next week. Today we are sharing the new Clear Cuts & Invisibles that coordinate with our new themed collections! You'll be hearing lots more about these next week as well.

I created this layout using one of the new themed collections that we haven't revealed yet, so you're getting a little sneak peek 😉 I used one of the coordinating Clear Cuts 12×12" transparency overlays that go with the collection. I loved the Cloud Clear Cut and knew it would make a fun background for my page.

I layered the entire sheet right over this pink woodgrain patterned paper. It's almost like having a double piece of patterned paper. Two patterns in one! I also like that it's a nice subtle pattern, with the white clouds.

Before I layered the Clear Cuts over the patterned paper, I spritzed it with several colors of misting spray. The spray won't adhere to the transparency itself, but you can easily add your misting behind it.

To adhere the Clear Cut, I simply added adhesive on the areas that I knew would be covered with other pieces of patterned paper or my photo. I had a really good idea of where I was going with this layout from the beginning, so I knew what areas would be good for adding the adhesive. But it I wasn't sure yet about where everything would go, I would most likely take the time to make a few decisions before adhereing the Clear Cut.

By placing your adhesive where it will eventually be covered up, it allows you to hide that adhesive and not have to worry about it showing thru the overlay. I also added some machine stitching along the top and bottom of the page, which helps secure the Clear Cut in place even more.

I dug up this old photo of Ayana, who used to live across the street from us and also used to come to my daycare every now and then. It's my favorite photo I ever took of her, and I knew it would go perfectly with this collection.

Loving all the new chipboard pieces you're going to see pop up in the rest of the reveals next week 😉 I'm also loving the enamel dots. Although I really need someone to teach me how to sprinkle them onto the page, without spending more time than I care to admit analyzing the placement of each and every dot. Lol.

Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog, HERE, to see the entire set of themed Invisibles and Clear Cuts, piece by piece, and to enter the drawing for a chance to win-it-before-you-can-buy-it! The randomly chosen winners for ALL of the reveal giveaways will be announced on Sunday, January 11th.
Bella Blvd: CHA Winter 2015 Reveal Week – Star Student Collection

January 1, 2015

It’s CHA Winter 2015 reveal time over on the Bella Blvd blog! There are 4 new collections, along with new embellishments and specialty papers. We started the reveals yesterday, and will be continuing all the way thru Friday of next week. Today we are sharing the new Star Student collection!

I created this layout for the catalog, which means I get to share it with you today! When I saw the chipboard title "super smart", I immediately thought about these photos of Alyssa from 8th grade graduation.

I started this layout with mock up product that I had picked off screenshots from the office, so somehow, I ended up picking a patterned paper that is actually a bonus paper. The new collection kits will all have a bonus sheet of patterned paper in them, so this blue dotted paper is one of those. I really love it though against the black.

I love that there's a new white grid patterned paper too, as it's such a "basic" in my book. I use the grid papers ALL the time. And it's great for school themed projects.

I did tons of machine stitching on my CHA layouts. Mainly because I love the way it looks and how much it can add to a layout. The bonus is that it really secures everything in place! This layout went through a lot, for various reasons, and parts of it were torn apart and pieced together several times. I'm pretty sure it weighs about 4 pounds now. Lol.

There are a few new sets of basic chipboard in this release, and I was so happy to see new chipboard borders and chipboard stars. I cut the green scalloped border in half, sanded down the edges a bit, and used half on each side of the layout. A few of the chipboard stars are from the Star Student chipboard set, and the other star is from the new Hearts & Stars chipboard set (will be revealing those in full next week).

I wanted to use a scalloped border of the aqua star patterned paper, but I wanted it to match the scalloped border sticker I used at the top of the layout. Since I originally started this layout using some mock up product, I used the "sticker" that I had cut out by hand, and traced it onto the aqua star paper, which I then cut out by hand as well. I wish I had a border punch that would mimic the scalloped border stickers found on the Bella sticker sheets.

Head on over to the Bella Blvd blog, HERE, to see the entire collection, piece by piece, and to enter the drawing for a chance to win-it-before-you-can-buy-it! The randomly chosen winners for ALL of the reveal giveaways will be announced on Sunday, January 11th.
Last Minute Holiday Card

December 24, 2014

It's Christmas Eve and I'm blogging. What the heck? This year is a repeat of last Christmas Eve. The girls are with Alyssa's dad, celebrating the holiday with her grandparents. Joe's sleeping and working, as he works the entire holiday week. He'll be working tonight, and Christmas night as well. So I'm just hanging out at the house, wrapping a few gifts, making a few last gifts, and watching Christmas movies. So I figured I would pop in here really quick and share a last minute holiday card idea. It's not too late to throw something together, as I just did this yesterday.

A bit part of the reason that I fail so miserable at sending out Christmas cards is that I don't always have a good photo to use. With the girls being older, I hardly get any photos of them throughout the year to begin with. So I don't usually have photos on hand to pull together for a fun little photo collage or something. And the only time we seem to get a family photo is when we get together for Christmas. There's always seems to be too much going on in life, that we just put off getting a photo taken for a card, and then before you know it, it's just too late.

The girls went to Magic Mountain (a big amusement park a few hours from here) last weekend, and when I saw this photo they took, I knew it would solve my problem. It's not what I might typically use for a Christmas card, but I thought it was a super cute photo and I figured it was a guaranteed way for me to get a card made to send out this year.

I browsed the designs online at Costco, which is where I normally order my cards, but didn't see anything that I cared for and that would work well with my photo. I've designed my own Christmas cards before, so I knew it would be super easy to do again.

I dug through my kits from Kerri Bradford Designs, looking for designs I could incorporate into my card design. When you purchase Kerri's kits, you get her designs as PNG files as well as the cut files. The PNG files can be used digitally, which gives you more ways to incorporate them into projects. I didn't start out with all of these picked out when I started. But they're all the pieces I ended up with, including the digital stitches and staple that I pulled from my stash of digital kits.

I started with a sentiment from the Merry Everything kit. I actually started with "Merry Christmas", but since I won't even be mailing these out until after Christmas, I decided to go with the "Merry Everything" instead. I just think it's a cute little sentiment.

The PNG's will often be certain colors (or the standard black) once you pull them into Photoshop. But you can easily change them to whatever color you need by using the "color overlay" option. I went with a dark aqua to go with the ornaments on the trees. I also added a little drop shadow to the sentiment.

I thought the dotted overlay from the Magicalness kit would be fun to use over the entire photo. I layered it onto the "background" layer, so that the sentiment was still on the top layer (otherwise, the title would have been covered by the dots).

I didn't want the dots to cover up the girls, so I used the rectangular marquee tool to select any of the dots that I wanted to remove, and simply deleted them.

I also changed the opacity (down to about 82%) so that the dots were a little more subtle.

I knew I wanted to add a little something to the side of the photo, and that I needed to incorporate a little red into the design. I pulled up the red dotted card from the Hello December kit, and selected just a small strip of it to add along the right edge of the photo (I turned the image here, just so that it fit better on the screen). I sized it to fit, and then changed the opacity so that it had a clearer look to it. Kind of gives a washi tape look to it, right?

I pulled up one of my digital zigzag stitches in grey, and added that along the edge of the red dotted paper, to give it a more finished look.

The upper left corner needed a little something, so I pulled up this cute little tag from the Attach It kit and resized it to fit along the edge of the photo. I changed the opacity on the tag as well, just as I did on the overlay and the red dotted paper.

The tag starts out yellow, but I changed it to the same dark aqua color that I made my sentiment. It's easy to make things the same exact colors, when you use the color code # that comes up once you pick your color. You just copy that color code # into the box on your next item, and it uses the same color.

I used the text tool to add a secondary little sentiment and our names. This is the font that just popped up when I started typing, so I just went with it. The fewer decisions I had to make on this, the quicker I got it done.

The little hole in the tag neeed something, so I added two small digital staples.

And ta-da, the finished card. I spent about half an hour on this, and put my order right into Costco. No overthinking on this, and it feels good to know that after a two year break, I can finally sent out some cards again to family and friends. They might not arrive until after New Year's, but that's more than ok with me!

And with that, I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas! May your time spent with family and friends this Christmas holiday be magical and full of great memories.
Kerri Bradford Studio: Do Not Open Until Christmas

December 20, 2014

I have another little project up over at Kerri Bradford Studio today. Now that my girls are older, along with my nieces, I tend to give a lot of gift cards at Christmastime. So I'm always looking for fun ways to give them. When I saw the cute little pinked petal envelope in Kerri's Santa's Workshop: Toys Only kit, I pictured it paired up with the Confetti kit to create a fun shaker envelope.

I cut the envelope from some tone-on-tone patterned paper (all patterned papers are from Simply Stories), picking a lighter color so that the other elements would stand out against it. I cut a piece of a transparency just slightly smaller then the size of the envelope and machine stitched it to the front of the envelope, leaving one side open.

This shows the backside of the envelope, which is really the inside of the envelope once you open it up. When I went to photograph this, I didn't have anything to hold the flaps down, so I don't have a picture of it closed. Once I jot down my message on the inside and add the gift card, I will fold down the flaps and secure them with a sticker or some washi tape.

I used Kerri's Confetti kit to cut pieces of confetti from two different patterned papers and then dropped them into the "pocket" I had created with the transparency. I added in some red, green, and silver sequins before sewing the last side of the transparency closed.

I cut the "do not open" from Kerri's December Twenty-Five kit and adhered it directly to the top of the transparency, using some tiny alpha stickers to finish off my sentiment. Or maybe I should call it my "instructions" to the recipient of the gift 🙂
Scrapbook & Cards Today: 12 Days Of Holiday Giving

December 17, 2014

I hope you've been visiting the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog for the last week and a half, to check out their 12 Day of Holiday Giving celebration! Each and every day, for 12 full days, they are sharing holiday project ideas from the design team and hosting some amazing giveaways from their generous sponsors! And TODAY is my turn to share!

When I sit down to create Christmas cards, I love to come up with designs that are simple, quick, and easy to mass produce. I use this same concept when I create birthday cards, since I use so many of them. I also love to keep my cards fairly flat, so that they don't require any extra postage or special handling when mailing off to family and friends. If I happen to create more elaborate or bulky designs, I save those for the ones that I personally hand out.

These cards took no time at all to put together. I chose a sentiment and a scalloped border to die cut using my Silhouette Cameo, and arranged them on my cutting mat so that I could cut multiple sets at once. I used three different strips of patterned paper on my mat, lining them up so that I cut 2 sets (a sentiment and a border) from each paper. If you were doing a large amount of cards, you could even cut all 6 sets from the same patterned paper, and then repeat for your other paper choices.

I also cut the "merry" part of my sentiment from a black chalkboard patterned paper (arranging as many as needed on my cutting mat), which was layered over the original sentiment cut. Once my pieces were cut, it was just a matter of adhering them to my cards.

I adhered two thin coordinating strips of patterned paper along the bottom of each card base, which I also lightly spritzed with misting spray in coordinating colors.

I adhered my scalloped border die cuts to each card, matching the color of my border to the color of misting spray on each card base.

Then I decided which color sentiment I wanted on each card, and adhered those in place. A little machine stitching and I was finished.

I mentioned there is a new giveaway every single day, right? And I said they were amazing giveaways, right? Today, for the day 10 giveaway, there is a generous prize package from both Stampin' Up and Gossamer Blue! Head over HERE to get all the details and leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway.

You have until 6:00pm EST on Sunday, December 21st to enter in all of the giveaways. So if you're just now hearing about Scrapbook & Cards Today's 12 Days of Holiday Giving celebration, you can still go back and check out the first 9 days and get in on those giveaways as well!
Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet – Christmas Cheer

December 9, 2014

It's the second Tuesday of the month, which means that it's time for another step-by-step monthly project sheet from Bella Blvd. The December project sheet is up, featuring the Christmas Cheer collection.

I borrowed some adorable photos taken by my good friend Krista Lund. She always sets up the cutest backdrops for taking holiday photos of her kiddos. I wish I could have left the entire backdrop she created in one of these pictures, as it was just gorgeous. But I felt like I needed to crop in more, to capture the cuteness of her children.

For someone that doesn't really have an easy time scrapping Christmas layouts, I think I pulled this one off pretty well. I did pull in two patterned papers from other collections for this layout. The first was this black dotted paper, from the Halloween Magic collection, as I wanted to add a touch of black to help the other colors "pop" and the photos had some black in the background as well.

I had printed my photos out before really coming up with a page design. I had printed the main photo as a 4×6" (but later re-printed it as a 3.5×5" photo), and then printed two photos at 2×3" and two photos at 2.5×2.5". This ended up working out really well, as I adhered the smaller photos to two narrow strips of patterned paper, and then added some little embellishments along with them.

The second patterned paper that is not from the Christmas Cheer collection is grey dotted patterned paper. It's from the Scattered Sprinkles collection, and I picked it to add a light, neutral backdrop for my title. I also lightly spritzed it with some black misting spray, to tie in a bit more black.

For my title, I used a mix of alpha stickers and the word "celebrate" which I hand cut out of a sheet of patterned paper. I really detest fussy cutting, but I'm totally willing to do it for these fun little words.

I knew I wasn't adding any journaling (other than the kids names and the year), so I needed a little something to fill up that bottom right corner. I cut a few strips of patterned papers, and made little notches in the bottoms to create banners. I layered them together and tucked them under the main photo.

You can download the December project sheet, which features a complete supply list and step-by-step directions, RIGHT HERE.
Kerri Bradford Studio: Christmas Joy Cards

December 2, 2014

It’s that time of year again. The Twelve Days of Christmas celebration started over at Kerri Bradford Studio yesterday. There’s a ton of good stuff happening over those twelve days. Fun ideas, giveaways, guests and the ever popular one-day only freebie! You never know what each day will bring, so you don’t want to miss a day!

I created two different projects for our celebration, and the first one is up today. I came across a cute wooden Christmas tree on Pinterest (original project can be seen HERE), and asked Kerri if she could create something similar as a cut file. I knew it would make a great design to use on Christmas cards, although I'm also picturing it being used to create a fun wall décor piece.

I knew I wanted to keep my cards fairly flat, so they would be easier to mail. I also love creating cards that can be mass produced, and this was one of those. I created eight of these cards in one sitting, two of each color.

I had some patterned papers in mind before I even started these card. I immediately thought of my stash of Basic Grey papers, as they have some great tone-on-tone patterns that I can never seem to part with. I think you all know my fondness for tone-on-tone papers 🙂

I chose a few papers in the colors you'll see in my home when it comes to decorating for the holidays. Green, red, pink, and aqua. I cut several sets from each color at once, cutting the dotted part of the tree from the patterned papers and the solid backsides from white cardstock.

For the base of my cards, I cut pieces of white cardstock just slightly smaller than my card and embossed them using a snowflake embossing folder. I spritzed each one with coordinating colors of misting spray, and did some machine stitching around the edges.

Then I started piecing together my trees. I started by adhering all of the dotted patterned paper pieces to the solid white cardstock pieces. I had cut the tree trunks from a black dotted patterned paper and once I adhered those to the card, I adhered the rest of the pieces and added a yellow star at the top.

For my sentiment, I die cut the word "joy", taken from Kerri's Just Because kit, from the same black patterned paper that I cut my tree trunks from. I used tiny alpha stickers, from Jillibean Soup and Lily Bee, to add the "christmas".