Laura Vegas

Scrapbooking And A Little Bit Of Everyday Life

recent posts

about

Creating Keepsakes: Creative Spaces Vol 2

January 8, 2013

There's a new special issue out from Creating Keepsakes magazine, and it's all about creative spaces. I love getting to peek into other scrappers spaces and to see how they organize their scrapbooking supplies. I'm an organizer at heart, so I eat up every nook and cranny of every photo. You just never know when you might see an idea from someone else that will end up working perfectly for you, your supplies, and your space.

******************************************************************
I was asked to share a little something about organizing or my scrap space today. I really should give an updated look at my space, since it's been a few years since my last share. But it's a true mess right now and needs some loving attention. So I thought I would share an extention of my scrap room … my scrap island.

Some of you might remember when I had my scrap space in our upstairs loft. The piece of furniture I would get asked about the most is my scrap island. It's huge, at 4 feet by 8 feet in size. When I moved my space back to the downstairs bedroom, my scrap island (which is now used for like 10 different purposes) ended up in the playroom (actually the living room/dining room area, which is our "playroom" for my daycare business). It's only about 10 steps away from my scrap room, so I'm always working on the island as well.

For years, I've just had piles of stuff on this island. I try and make it look neat and organized, but it still comes off looking like "piles" and kind of like a random mess. It's such a large island, that it's hard to make it look semi decorative, but still have room to work. A few months ago Sarah decided to get rid of the desk in her room, and this white wooden hutch piece was sitting on top of the desk. I wasn't willing to get rid of it, since it's an old Pottery Barn piece.

I had it sitting on the island until I had time to take it out to the garage, and it finally dawned on me that I could make it work right where it was. I positioned it in the center of the island, pushed further to the back since I don't work on the backside of the island. I added a few decorative greenery pieces to the sides to use up even more space and try and make it look more homey.

The great thing about this hutch piece is that it has two small drawers on each side, and 4 compartments across the center. I had some old metal tins that I got in the dollar section at Target ages ago, that fit perfectly in the compartments. I use those to store extra adhesives and small tools so that when I am working on stuff out on the island, I don't have to drag all the basics out from my scrap space. I shove larger things (like an extra Xyron sticker maker) in the drawers.

I love, love, love that my external hard drives fit in one of the drawers. I was always stuggling to find a good spot to store these, since I do use them constantly and like to have them handy. I have three external hard drives in that bottom drawer. Perfect! I have some extra camera stuff in the top drawer.

This aqua wooden tray was something I found at Hobby Lobby. I have it in two sizes, and this is the larger one. It had been off to the side of the island all along, and when I realized it tucked into the open area in the center of the hutch perfectly, I was thrilled. This tray holds totally random stuff, and it always changing. Usually, I have completed layouts stacked on one side that I add to as I create.

Right now, I have a CD I need to put away, Alyssa's music and academic blocks that she earned at school that need to go into her school album (decided against a letterman's jacket, knowing she wouldn't wear one), copies of scrap magazines, paperwork that needs to be put away, extra photos, etc. Just random stuff. But I like that it looks organized, all because it's in a tray!

And I topped off the hutch with this fun "Happy" sign. Because after years of this scrap island looking like a misplaced piece of massively large furniture, it now looks like it has a purpose. Which makes me HAPPY!
Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peek – Feathers

January 7, 2013

CHA Winter opens up this coming Saturday! It's always exciting to see all of the new products that the manufacturers are coming out with, isn't it? This week, on the Bella Blvd blog, we are continuing with our new product reveals of what will be making it's debut in their booth this weekend.

And today we are revealing our exciting new embellishment. Feathers! Feathers have been a big trend in the fashion world, and now Bella is bringing feathers to the scrapbooking world. Check out the rainbow of colors the feathers are available in. All of Bella's bright and fun colors they are known for, with shades to match any and all of their collections. They add lots of texture and interest to your projects, and are lots of fun to work with. Each package comes with four feathers.

I created this layout for the catalog, for the page featuring the feathers. I started this layout by picking out a handful of colors to work with, and then found a few photos to match and some coodinating papers from the new collections.

Since I knew I was adding quite a few feathers to my page, I decided to fan them out, coming out from behind one of my photos. The feathers come in a mix of sizes and shapes. Some are thinner, some are wider. Some are fluffier, some are more flat. They really do add a fun texture to the page.

My title was inspired by the arrows on the patterned paper I used as my background paper (which will be revealed in a new collection later this week). I started with my chipboard alphas to spell "Direction", and then after lots and lots of back and forth with myself, I settled on the rest of the title which I created with alpha stickers from the High Five Alpha sticker sheets.

My journaling is always the last thing I do on my layouts, so it was written after finally deciding on the title.

The feathers can be a bit tricky to adhere. I found that the easiest way to adhere them in place was to position them so that the ends were under another element on the page. This allows you to hide things. Like the staples that I used to adhere all of these feathers! I simply staped the ends down first, and then adhered my photo and journaling/title card over them, using pop dots and glue dots. I did a little shifting of the feathers here and there, so that I knew the adhesive was touching down to the paper in several spots to secure things.

I also added a few of the wooden buttons to my page. Since they were positioned over the feathers, they added a little extra hold to keep them in place. Normally, I thread my buttons and then glue dot them to my layouts. But since I wanted these buttons to help hold the feathers in place, I did handstich them onto the page.
Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peek – Designer Tapes

January 2, 2013

I know I have been very quiet here on the blog lately, but with good reason. CHA Winter is taking place a few weeks earlier this year than most years. This means that I spent most of December trying to balance a ton of CHA work for Bella Blvd (behind the scenes planning and creating projects), work (2 new daycare little ones came in December), family, soccer, and Christmas … all at the same time. I won't lie. It's been pure madness. But the good news is that I should have plenty to blog about for the next few weeks. Starting with this:

Yes, it's sneak peek time on the Bella Blvd blog and you won't want to miss it! Starting today, and continuing into next week, we are revealing the new collections and products that Bella is debuting at CHA Winter (starting January 12th). I've been working with all of the new products for the last two weeks and I'm excited to let you all in on the fun new goodies!

We are starting the reveals with our new Designer Tapes! When Bella first came out with their own tapes (CHA Winter 2012), I was excited to try them out. I had never used washi tapes before, but they have quickly become a favorite supply of mine. If you're looking for bright, fun, and colorful tapes, Bella definitely has what you're looking for. We are introducing 9 new individual tapes (including the extremely popular yellow chevron that has been sold out for ages) and 3 combo packs (includes rolls not sold individually). Don't blame me if you want them all 😉

I created this layout focused on the new tapes. I had these photos of my friend Krista's daughters, and picked out a wide variety of the new designer tapes in colors to match. Even though I stuck with aquas, yellows, greens, and tans, I had plenty of designs to choose from. I used a total of 12 different rolls.

I tore off strips that were just shy of 12 inches long, and lined them up across the page, top to bottom. I basically used my tapes to create my own "patterned paper" background. I also used a few torn pieces of tape on the sides of my photos, and added a threaded button to each.

I also added some zig zag machine stitching along some of the designer tape strips. One thing that I love about the tapes are that they are very forgiving, and you can peel them up and move them around without tearing papers and/or photos. They stay put very well too. But when I want to be totally safe and make sure they don't go anywhere, maching stitching is an easy way to secure them down.

Make sure and stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see the full reveal, another project featuring the new Designer Tapes, and a chance to get in on our giveaway, where one lucky blog reader will win a full set of our new tapes. Keep checking in, as we have lots more fun products to reveal to you!
Kerri Bradford Studio: Christmas 2007

December 21, 2012

What a week. My broken power cord forced me off the internet for two days, and then when my new cord arrived, I forced myself off the internet for another day. Too much going on at once, and not enoug time to do it all in. Anyways. I'm finally back and wanted to share a layout I had up at Kerri Bradford Studio earlier this week.

I came across some Christmas photos from a family get-together, taken back in 2007, that I had never gotten around to scrapping. I had quite a few photos, and wanted to get them all onto a layout, so I picked out one of Kerri's Storyboard templates to create two quick photo collages.

I knew the collages would go side by side, on the two pages, so that it created one large collage across the two-page spread. So I simply turned the template upside down, so that the template design was flip flopped on the second page.

I love using Kerri's handwritten words. I can only dream of having such gorgeous handwriting. Believe me, you would NOT want my handwriting on your layouts. Lol. I used the "Christmas" from the newer December Twenty Five kit, which has TONS of handwritten words.

I never use snowflakes, being as we live in California, where we just don't have true "winters" or see any snow. But since the majority of the family was wearing a lot of blues, browns, reds, and lighter colors, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to go with a more "winterey" color scheme and use the snowflakes instead of Christmas trees, presents, or other typical Christmas themed shapes.

I used one of the snowflakes from the This & That: Winter [Shapes Only] kit. I cut a lot of these, from several colors of cardstock and patterned paper, along with some from white cardstock. I knew what I wanted to do, but I also didn't take the time to figure out how many snowflakes I would really need. Turns out, it was a LOT less than I thought, meaning I had tons of leftovers.

All of the patterned papers that I chose for this layout are older papers from Fancy Pants. I believe from their 2011 Christmas collection.

I didn't add any journaling to this layout, which isn't normally something I skip. But I'm not that worried about it, since this is really just a collection of photos from Christmas day, which we know involved family, good food, gifts, and spending time together. I added the year and called it "done".

I really hope you've been checking Kerri's blog these past two weeks, for her "12 days of Christmas" feature. She's been sharing projects, video's, and tips, along with having a freebie shape available each day. But only for that day. Which is why I will feel terrible if you havn't been checking in, since we're 11 days in now. Rest assured, if you've missed downloading these shapes, she will have them all available as a kit later on.
Enjoy: A Birthday Card

December 16, 2012

I'm still alive. Still trying to make progress on Christmas. After spending 6 hours on the soccer field on Saturday, I decided to keep going and spend another 5 hours power shopping with the rest of the world. That's not really my kind of shopping, but I did pretty good crossing some gifts off my shopping list. I also had great intentions of putting the decorations on the tree, but I got side tracked when the power cord on my laptop broke. I had to borrow my great friend, Deneen's, power cord from her laptop, and I'm working on borrowed time trying to prioritize what needs to be done on my computer before giving it back to her. Then I'll patiently stalk the delivery trucks until my new cord arrives.

But I did manage to find a few projects to share this week. The first one is this birthday card that I found under a stack of papers, forgotten. I'm really bad about having birthday cards on hand. I made a point to create quite a few of them not too long ago, and they're already all gone. What usually happens is that we're on our way out to a birthday party, and there's this frantic "I need a card NOW". Then I scramble to whip up a card in 5 minutes.

And that's exactly how long this one took me to make. Alyssa was headed to a friend's house, for a little impromptu birthday get together. So in a mad rush, I went to make a card. The main reason this card came together so quickly is that most of these pieces were laying around from other projects. I had embossed the front of this white cardstock card base with a woodgrain embossing folder a while back, and never ended up using it. So that was easy to pull out.

The "enjoy" was already cut out using my Silhouette, from when I made some confetti cupcake cards. I had a handful of punched circles from the Birthday Boy collection, from Bella Blvd, that were left over from some projects. I just kind of threw it all on the card and went with it. I thought it was a decent card for a teenage boy. Then it turned out that she didn't want a card. That no one else was giving cards or gifts, so she thought it would be weird to give him one. Soooo. I now have a card for the next time a birthday comes up.
Christmas Progress

December 13, 2012

Does anyone have a clue how it's already the middle of December?!?! It's bad enough that I've been such a bad blogger this month, but I also feel like there should be some mention of Christmas on here.

I don't even have a new Christmas project to share. This card is from years ago. Just wanted something visual on here, since I hate to post without a picture.

I wish I was put together enough to do a December Daily album, like so many others that I've been seeing. I did a Christmas journal years ago, but would love to attempt the December Daily one of these years.

I kind of wish my kids were younger, so I could do an Elf on the Shelf. I love seeing everyone's creative photos every day on Instagram, showing where their elf ended up that morning. Of course, I'm the kind of person that would totally forget we had an elf, and leave it in the same spot for two weeks straight. Lol.

We do have our Christmas tree up. A pre-lit artificial tree that I love, but that's quite old and only half of the lights work. So I string more lights on, which is the very reason most of us get an pre-lit tree, is so that we don't have to mess with stringing lights, right? However, that's as far as we have gotten on the tree. I wanted to see how it went with just the lights, since I have a lot more little ones running around and they're at the age where they want to get into anything and everything. So far, so good. They can care less about the tree. So adding the ornaments is next.

And maybe along with the ornaments, I will put up the rest of our limited Christmas decor in the house. I added the lighted garland on the mantel above the fireplace, and by the front door. But that's as far as I got.

Christmas shopping? Ummmmmm. Yes, I guess I should start thinking about that as well. I have no clue what I need to get, or who all I need to get it for. And I really shouldn't wait too long, because there is nothing I detest more than dealing with holiday crowds at the stores and in the parking lots. I always come home so frustrated and ready to rip someone's head off. Lol.

It will come together somehow. I'm sure of it. Well, I'm not totally sure. But I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it will!
Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall Issue Layouts, Part 2

December 4, 2012

I'm back to share another layout that I created for the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link) of Scrapbook & Cards Today. I was asked to work on the Easy, Detailed, Expert column. It focuses on showing three versions of a layout, so that no matter what level of difficulty appeals to you, there's an idea for everyone. Yesterday, I shared the Easy and Detailed layouts, and today I'm sharing my Expert layout.

Here is my take on an "EXPERT" version of my layout. While both of the first two layouts fit my style and are designs that I can see poppping up on lots of my layouts, this layout here is a great representation of my normal style of scrapping. It's got a touch of technique, but not anything that's super involved. It's got lots of texture, but without a ton of bulk.

I started by printing my photos all individually. I went from five photos to four photos, printing the main photo as a 4×6, and the other three photos as 2×3's. I knew that my photos and embellishments would add color to the page, so I wanted the center of the layout to be all white cardstock to built on.

I used the brown burlap patterned paper for my background (all papers and stickers by Bella Blvd), and then trimmed up a piece of embossed white dotted cardstock to add to the center of the page (which I sprayed with some green mist first). I used a scalloped border punch on some aqua patterned paper, and tucked a strip under each side of the white cardstock, so that just a little bit was peeking out.

I wanted to add a bit more texture to my flower sticker on this layout, so I started by roughing up the edges of the petals and then bending them up as well. I added a green punched circle to the center of the flower and machine stitched around it. I added a nice, chunky button to the center, with silver mini brads placed in the button holes.

I adhered a few of my smaller photos to the page using pop dots. I added silver mini brads to my smaller buttons as well as the large button, which is a little trick I've done for years.

I used my Silhouette for the title on this layout, just as I did for the second layout. I chose a "pumpkin patch" title that had one word in a scripty font. I love having one part of the title in a regular, more basic font, and the second part of the title in a large script font. I also added some tiny alpha stickers to create a longer title.

I had a lot of fun working on this column. If you havn't checked out the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link) of Scrapbook & Cards Today, definitely give it a looksie. The Winter issue is due out later this week and I can't wait to see it.
Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall Issue Layouts

December 3, 2012

I figure since the Winter issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is set to come out this coming Friday, it's about time I shared a few layouts that I created for the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link).

I had just finished up my work for Creating Keepsakes a few months back, after being on the Dream Team for three years, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to jump into doing some work for another publication. I was asked to work on the Easy, Detailed, Expert column. It focuses on showing three versions of a layout, so that no matter what level of difficulty appeals to you, there's an idea for everyone.

This first layout is my take on the "EASY" version of my layout. I started with a storyboard template from Kerri Bradford, and printed out my photos in a collage. This is a great way to make those layout come together faster. Instead of printing out FIVE photos, trimming them individually, and adhereing them all to the page … I simply printed out one large photo, trimmed around it, and adhered it to the page.

It might take a few extra minutes to get your collage set up, but having one large photo to work around on the page really does simplify the layout process. There are so many different ways to arrange five photos on a page, but there's not that many places to place one large photo (which is really five photos in one).

I adhered the collage to the center of my page, towards the bottom, and then worked on building around it with my chosen products. I added a strip of the colorful leaf patterned paper along either side of the photo collage, and a nice brown burlap patterned paper strip below the collage. A brown scalloped border sticker went along the inside edge of the leaf strips, and a yellow scalloped punched border went on the inside edge of the brown paper strip.

I added a green scalloped border sticker along the top edge of the photo collage. If you look closely, you can see where I must have pieced together two strips of the border sticker. I can't even remember why. Since I was keeping this layout "easy", I resisted the urge to use dimensional adhesive (even though it's still easy, and takes no extra time than regular adhesive. Lol.), and simply stuck my yellow flower stick right to the page, adding the tree circle sticker to the center.

For my title, I used a mix of brown letter stickers and orange chipboard letter stickers. A few photo corner stickers finished off the page. Easy peasy.

****************************************************************************

This second layout is my take on the "DETAILED" version of my layout. Once again, I used a photo collage, although this time I took off the rounded corners on the template and kept with the straight edges. I moved my collage over to the right edge of the page, close to the bottom, and started building around the photo collage with my products.

To unify these three takes on one layout, I kept with the same Thankful collection from Bella Blvd. I used a few of the same patterned papers on all three layouts, but also choose a few different patterned papers to mix it up a bit.

I kept the same brown burlap patterned paper along the bottom of the collage, and added this large polka dot patterned paper along the left side of the layout, in addition to the orange strip of patterned paper and the brown ribbon. I added just a touch of machine stitching to this page, along the orange patterned paper and the green scalloped border sticker. I also added threaded buttons along the ribbon, as well as the bottom corner of the page.

To add a bit of interest to the polka dot patterned paper, I punched out some of the circles from another piece of the same paper. I also punched some circles, in the same size, from a scrap piece of chipboard. I adhered the paper to the chipboard, and sanded down the edges, before adhering them directly on top of some of the circles on the layout. It adds a bit of subtle interest, without much bulk.

I pulled out my Silhouette to create my title, cutting it from the brown burlap patterned paper and some orange cardstock. I also added a bit of green misting to the white cardstock background of this page to add a touch more color. I embellished the flower sticker more this time. Added a punched blue circle of patterned paper, did a bit of machine stitched around the center, added a threaded button, curled up the edges a bit, and adhered with pop dots.

***************************************************************************
Stop back by tomorrow to see my third layout for this feature, the "EXPERT" layout.
The Craziness That Is December

December 3, 2012

Things have been crazy busy around here lately. I feel like I fall more and more behind on things every day. I mean, I stay on top of the important things. But there's still a lot of things that fall into the cracks and get forgotten along the way. Or put off for another day, which then turns into another week. I guess that's life, right? Here's just a small taste of what my December looks like.

I'm taking on two new daycare itty bitties starting this week. It's been a bit quieter here the last few months, since I had two kiddos move on. So it's really just been the 12 month old and the almost 3 year old here with me. I thought it would be super fun to add an 11 month old and a 4 month old into the mix. I know. You're thinking I'm a little crazy. But I really do love the little ones, and they keep me on my toes.

The girls both finished up their fall league soccer a few weeks ago. But that doesn't mean soccer is over. Sarah's fall team is going on to a huge state tournament, which takes place the next two weekends. Luckily, it's taking place only 10 minutes from here. Which is perfect, since I certainly don't want to be traveling the weekends before Christmas. After that, she moves onto All Stars, which Joe is coaching and goes through March. Alyssa is doing winter league, and starts her games this coming weekend as well. Lots of running back and forth between fields to watch both of them.

I'm team parents for Sarah's teams. Between just finishing with fall league, preparing for this tournament, and also getting the All Star team in place, it's been busy. And confusing. I forced myself to sit down last night and organize the two different teams and all of the players emails in my contact lists, which took me forever. I'm collecting info for both teams (some players are on both, and some are only on one team), turning in that info to different league people, and trying to keep track of who is who, who paid for what, who needs hoodies/uniforms, etc. Joe and I both are constantly asking "is this for Founder's Cup or for All Stars???".

CHA is coming up in January. Much earlier than it was last year. Right now, we're just in the planning stages for Bella Blvd. I'm working on figuring out the assignments for all the projects we'll need for the booth. New product will be coming soon, and I'll have projects to make, to collect, to organize in my files, and lots and lots of blog stuff to set up. With this falling right during the holidays, I'm sure it will make things a bit hectic. Then again, CHA time is always hectic. It's always exciting, but always hectic.

With the holidays, comes school activities. We already missed the annual Omelet Breakfast at Sarah's school this past weekend. Not on purpose. We just forgot. And because we had soccer. We had the Christmas Parade on Saturday night. The weather report called for rain. Lots of rain. Which we had Thursday and Friday. The band at Sarah's school ended up pulling out of the parade, because of the weather. The high school band was all in though, so Alyssa did march in the parade. Luckily, they were 15th in line at the parade. So much better than previous years, where they were in the 100's. They only got caught in a bit of rain, and had their ponchos on over their uniforms. I guess all of the other bands pulled out because of the weather too, so they ended up taking 1st place for bands. Of course, I think they would have taken 1st place anyways, because they're amazing! Both the girls have winter band concerts coming up in the next few weeks as well.

And somewhere, in the midst of all that craziness, we need to Christmas-fy the house. The Christmas tress, ornaments, and decorations are all up in the attic still. No idea when we'll get them down. Or put them up. I'm thinking the daycare kids are going to be all over the tree this year. For the first time ever, I may have to only decorate the top half. Lol. I've never had to do that in the eleven years I've been watching kids. But I have a little ones that will get into anything and everything he can. And Christmas shopping? I havn't even thought about it yet, and have NO clue what the girls might even want.

Long story short, it's busy and crazy. Please tell me I'm not the only one.
Creating Keepsakes: Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers *Giveaway*

November 27, 2012

I'm excited to see the newest special issue from Creating Keepsakes finally arriving on newstands! Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers is a special issue that I think most of us out there can find inspiring. While my girls are both teenagers now (still not sure how that happened!), it wasn't too long ago that they were in the baby and toddler stages themselves. I still love to go back to those old photos of them, as itty bitty little things, and use them on my layouts. No matter how big our kid have gotten, I think this issue can still come in handy, as most of us are never really caught up in scrapping our photos and memories.

As seen in the Scrapbooking Babies & Toddlers special issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Here's a peek at one of my layouts in this issue. I didn't plan it this way, but I have three layouts in this issue, and none of the three feature photos of my own children. Lol. I borrowed these photos (taken of her brother and sister-in-law) from my friend Krista Lund, who is an amazing photographer.