Laura Vegas

Scrapbooking And A Little Bit Of Everyday Life

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sweet cheeks – a bella blvd layout

April 11, 2012

i have a few CHA projects that still havn't been shared yet. two of those went up on the bella blvd blog this week, so i thought i would share them here as well.

look how cute little zachary is! he was six months old in this photo. i used the baby boy collection for this layout. i honestly wasn't sure about using the giraffe print patterned paper at first. i thought it would to busy for my style. but i love how it ended up looking on here. it's almost like i create a smaller layout (i believe the main part of this layout is 10"x10"), and then mat it on the background paper.

i will fully admit that i got a little embellishment-happy on this layout. lol! while i was working on the gob of CHA layouts for bella, i tried really hard to get a little bit of all the new embellishments on every project. the difference on this layout, was that i used quite a bit of each embellishment. it's all cute stuff, so why not go a little crazy, right 😉

i love to take the cardstock stickers (like the "sweet cheeks" sticker), and adhere them to cardstock. that way, you can adhere them using pop dots, or layer them over other elements, without worrying about them sticking to things you don't want them sticking too. i have been addicted to my distressing tool lately too. by dragging it around the edges of the sticker/cardstock piece, it actually gives the appearance of the piece being thicker then it really is. almost makes it look like chipboard.

love the little miniature stickers! i wanted to add a touch of green in the upper corner of the layout, but couldn't find a sticker that worked. this green chevron piece was part of a chipboard border. i just cut off a piece in the size i wanted, and cut into the end at a diagonal.

i started this card with the "BABY" border strip. i trimmed it to fit, and then built the card about that piece. i cut the long ruled journaling sticker in half, since i only needed part of it, and then added the chipboard "boy" letters on it. a few word stickers, torn pieces of designer tapes, and buttons, and i was done.

Supplies used:
Amy Tan’s Collect & Create Workshop at Two Peas In A Bucket *GIVEAWAY*

April 10, 2012

I was beyond thrilled when Amy Tan asked me to contribute to her new workshop at Two Peas In A Bucket, called Collect & Create with Amy Tan.

Here's a bit more about the workshop, straight from Amy and Two Peas:

As crafters and storytellers, we are natural collectors. We save everything from treasured products and pieces from our everyday lives, to scraps and sketches. Incorporating these elements and all of our favorite bits from life are essential to the process of creating. I want to help you create with what you collect!

In this self-paced class, my contributors and I will show you over 50 brand-new projects! Five chapters covering a range of topics are each supplemented with a printable PDF providing step-by-step photos and in-depth looks at the process behind the pages. Get your creative juices going with the "extras" in the PDF's like challenges and tips, and be inspired by the video in each chapter covering even more examples and tutorials!

Collect & Create explores different styles, as well as my favorite go-to techniques like embossing, using up scraps, incorporating real memorabilia, misting, mixing products and colors, and using sketches. Join me and together we'll create a whole new collection – pages and projects we love!

The content of this workshop will be available immediately upon purchase. The lessons are available for you to work at your own pace and upon purchase can be accessed in the "Workshops" section under "Classes & Events." A private message board forum is also available to ask questions for Amy and to connect with other participants. Enjoy!

There's a special promo going on, and you still have a bit of time to get in on it:

When you purchase this workshop before April 12th, you'll receive a FREE printable PDF made up of Amy's label and border designs! Find it in the "My: Downloads" section upon purchase, click on the Digikit tab, print and enjoy. You'll want to hurry, this is a limited time offer!

I created 3 brand new layouts to contribute to Amy's workshop. Here is a little peek at one of them 😉

The cost of this workshop, packed with content and video, is $25, and one of my readers will be receiving a spot for free! If you'd like to enter, just leave a comment here (please include your 2Peas user name if you have one) by Friday morning. I'll be announcing a winner Friday afternoon.

Oh, and if you've already signed up for the workshop or want to go ahead and purchase a seat to take advantage of the special promotion ending on the 12th, 2Peas will either refund your tuition or let you give the seat to a friend should you be chosen as the winner. How cool is that?
summer 2010 – a layout share

April 10, 2012

i think this is going to be a good week on the blog, my friends! i actually have layouts/cards to share every day this week. including saturday. should make up a little bit for the last few slow weeks over here 😉

{click to see larger}

lately, i've really been wanting to scrap a few events, get-togethers, birthdays, and things like that. these are all layouts where i know that i have TONS of photos to choose from, and i want to make sure and get as many as i can onto my layouts.

this is where i get hung up though. i have been struggling to figure out exactly how i want to go about scrapping these photos. do i want to use divided page protectors, and keep it pretty simple? do i come up with a page design, and then size all my photos accordingly, print them out, and trim them up? do i just do a quick print at costco, trim them all myself, and just do my best to fit them on the page? do i create digital layouts? do i create photo collages and print as one large photo? i can't tell you how many times i have debated back and forth on these ideas. on a whim this weekend, i went with the last idea, for the photos from this family get-together from a while back.

i have a TON of digital templates from janet phillips, thanks to an amazing black friday sale i came across last thanksgiving. i love that she has so many two page templates. sure, you can take one or two collages, and use them together for a two page layout. but for some reason, that's not always as easy as it sounds, to make them look cohesive. i love that these are designed with the two pages in mind, so that they flow together so nicely. i started with this template here, which holds 23 photos.

here's how my template looked, once i got all of my photos dropped in. for a few minutes, i debated actually making this a digital layout. but i had some papers picked out already, and really wanted to do a real paper layout. so i figured i would just print out the photo part of this design. it was late at night, and i didn't want to wait to upload and order this from costco, which would be my first way of printing something like this. so i decided to play with this, and see if i could print it myself.

i started by taking off all of the other elements in this digital design. i deleted the side papers, the bracket, and the title. so i was left with what you see here. just the photos, all pretty in their collage.

these templates are set up as a 24"x12" image. so i knew i had to break this into two pages, in order to print. i simply cropped the two pages out seperately, both at 12"x12". here is the first page of the spread.

and here is the second page of the spread. the next thing i did was to resize this down to an 11"x11" image. i knew i was printing this out at home, and i can only print 8.5"x11" on my photo printer. i wasn't sure what the final dimensions would be on the actual photo part of the page, but figured i could easily take off an inch to help bring the size down a bit for starters.

then i cropped out JUST the photo part of the page, leaving a bit of a border around the edges. i copied and pasted that onto an 8.5"x11" canvas, and the photo collage fit perfectly on there. what you see here, is what i printed out. i did the same thing for the first page. if the collage had been too big, i would have just adjusted it to fit the page. {i did this same trick for another layout that i'll share tomorrow, and i'll explain how i had to resize it even more before i was able to print}

and here is how they look on my layout. the first page.

and the second page.

a reminder of what the pages look like together. i love how the photo collage flows so nicely on the two pages. fancy pants is a generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and i just love getting their boxes with the new collections. last week, one showed up on my doorstep, and it included the new wave searcher collection, which is what i used for this layout.

one thing that i love about doing these layouts just for fun, and not to meet any design team or magazine requirements, is that i can include some older products here and there. remember these plastic letters from heidi swapp? from years and years ago? i have a TON of these, and used to hoard them, claiming they were "too special" to use. goofy, i know.

fiskars is another super generous sponsor of the CK dream team, and just sent over a box of new punches last week. i used the groovy rainbow interchangeable punch, which works with the interchangeable punch starter set, on some of the brown distressed pattern paper. i love that these punches take up so much less space, and the interchangeable pieces stack up so nicely together. you just snap in the one you want to use, and you're ready to go. so easy.

here, i combined two of my favorite embellishments that fancy pants has in their collections. the chipboard banner stickers and the buttons. i'm a huge fan of both of these.

overall, it's a pretty basic layout. the photo collages take up a lot of the space on the pages, so there's not a lot of room left that you have to fill up. but i find that for layouts based on holidays, events, vacations, etc … anything where you have TONS of photos … photo collages are the way to go. at least, for me they are. i absolutely love that i fit 23 photos on this layout! i had a small handful of photos that didn't make the cut for this layout. but they were all about the food we ate that day. i decided to make that a page of it's own, and i'll be sharing that tomorrow ;) change of plans: will share that layout on friday.
bella blvd: sophisticates & crochet flowers & designer tape project sheet

April 9, 2012

today, on the bella blvd blog, we have a new project sheet available for download. this month, i focused on the sophisticates collection, crochet flowers, and designer tapes.

my challenge for this layout was to use the sophisticates collection, along with the newest crochet flowers and designer tapes, and three photos. this layout started with the "sister" chipboard title piece. then i found 3 photos of the girls to use. alyssa's shirt was purple, so i chose the purple sprinkles & lace pattern paper to build my layout on.

for the flowers, i choose papers and flower stickers in colors that coordinated with the "sisters" chipboard piece. three of these flowers are stickers (the yellow, purple, and aqua). for the green and pink flowers, i simply traced a flower sticker onto the sprinkles & lace pattern paper, and cut them out by hand.

i used a distressing tool around the edges of all of the flowers, and then curled up the edges of all the petals. i used a scalloped circle punch on my favorite graph paper, and adhered one to the center of each paper/sticker flower, using pop dots. on a few of the flowers, i also added a circle sticker, to add another touch of color. then i finished them off my adhering a crochet flower to the top of each flower. when i adhered the finished flowers to my layout, i adhered a few of them using more pop dots. lots of dimension and texture going on here!

you can download our project sheet, with full instructions for creating this layout, right HERE.
my girls, flowers, and hair

April 5, 2012

how's that for a random title 😉 let's start with my girls. because they're cute, and because i like to start my posts with a photo.

i took this photo of the girls tuesday night, after their band concert. i'm terrible at taking pics in the gym, but this one wasn't half bad. then i went to post it here, and typepad sucked all the color out of it. i'm too tired to try and figure out why. anyways, they're so cute all dressed up, aren't they?

it's been busy around here lately. i keep saying that i'm going to blog more, and that i'm going to have new layouts to share. honestly, i have TONS of layouts in mind that i want to work on. i have some event photos that i have ideas for and want to do something with. i have new products out that i'm dying to use. i just got a huge box of new tools that i really want to open up and use on pretty paper. lots of ideas. but not enough time. isn't that how it usually works?

it's been a little crazy here, with a new baby in the house. even though i get to send the daycare kids home every evening and have time for other things, i'm usually too tired to do much. after working 10 hours a day, doing drop offs and pick ups at school, school events, etc, we're just plain tired. in the last 3 days we had a choir concert, a band concert, 2 JV soccer games for alyssa, church activity for sarah, and joe umpired 2 games. i'm really looking forward to the girls being off from school on friday and monday, since it means less running around and a little extra time to sleep in the morning.

anyways. enough of that. i happen to remember myself mentioning these flowers back in december. and saying that i would have to share something about them. 3 months later, i remembered to come back and do that. i created about 15 of these flowers, to add to some large wreaths i made for christmas gifts. it took quite a while, but it was fun to work with fabric for a change, and was something i could do while watching tv at night. i found the tutorial HERE, after seeing it on pinterest. so easy to make. these would be really cute to make for headbands or to pin on a tote bag or something.

and next up was hair. something i mentioned at the same time as the flowers. i discovered the small things blog last year, and have been addicted to it ever since. the writer, kate, is a hairdresser and crafter, who shares lots of fashion and hair stuff on her blog. i was drawn to the hair stuff. hair styling has never come easily to me. i can get a certain look, but i usually do way more to my hair than is needed.

she has a TON of hair tutorials, with full videos on how she created the style. i'm a visual person. so even seeing something basic, like teasing your hair … it's nice to see someone actually do it, so you know if you're doing it right. i have watched every single video she's made. you can even follow her on her youtube channel. i have a pretty similiar cut as her, so i find her tips very useful. for example, i thought i knew how to curl my hair, since i used to curl it every single day, for years and years. and yet, i have learned so many new tricks to curling hair that make a huge difference. i highly recommend checking her out.

those are my quick shares for today. hopefully, i'll have more to share soon.
bowling – a layout share

April 2, 2012

backtrack to february of 2011. the girls had a day off from school, and i took them and 2 of their friends bowling. and i took some photos while we where there. and then i blogged about it HERE. and at the end of that post, i typed this:
"and amazingly enough, these photos are all on a two page layout already. not quite finished. but should be ready to share it very soon".
yes, that was over a year ago. and it wasn't until yesterday, that i actually finished this layout. lol!

i have pulled out this layout about a dozen times in the last year, with the intention of finishing it up. i had the two pages here, with all but 2 photos adhered, all the pattern paper was done and machine stitched, and title was adhered. but i just couldn't seem to figure out how to finish it. yeserday, i forced myself to do it. mainly, so that i would have something to blog about today 😉

at the time, i had just gotten a hold of the rocket age collection, from october afternoon, which was super new at the time. there was something about that collection that i just loved, even though i didn't have boys. well, i realized that bits and pieces of it would work with these bowling photos.

the two page layout started with this paper here. i love the sunburst look to the page, and immediately did some machine stitching down every single row. yes, it took me forever.

i can't remember how i decided to use these super old black chipboard letters from lil davis. i've held onto them for years, just because i like the different sizes and looks to the letters, and because they're really chunky letters. the word "bowling" fit perfectly along one of the rows.

i originally had the photo of the girls printed as a 4×6, and it was the only photo i had for the first page. this is partly what i was struggling with, was what to do with the rest of the page. i finally printed out the photo as a 5×7, and also printed out a photo of the score board to add on.

i had printed out eight 2×3 inch photos, 2 of each of the girls, to use on the second page. i added a strip of the star pattern paper, in between the two rows of photos, and machine stitched along either side. i also added the black large scalloped border, to balance out the black chunky title on the opposite page.

to embellish the layout, i made it easy on myself. i just pulled out the miscellany kit, and pulled pieces from there to use. i used a few of the flashcards, the label, a ticket stub, a piece of the ribbon, the chipboard star (i painted it black), and the buttons. all from the kit.

i could not be happier with this layout. first off, i'm just glad that it's finally done and in the albums. and secondly, i really like how it came out. now, if only i could finish up the other 7 layouts that are sitting on my shelf, partically done 😉
birthday cards: a kerri bradford studio project

March 28, 2012

i have some new cards up at kerri bradford studio today. i knew when kerri asked us to focus on cards this month, that i wanted to make some birthday cards. that's the one kind of card that i always need, but never seem to have on hand.

for my "happy birthday" cards, i started with the loopy card base from the for you kit, and added on a few rows of circles using the envelope insets from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card.

i cut it out of tone-on-tone pattern papers from bo-bunny, and then adhered graph paper to the inside of each card. i have a definate obsession with graph paper lately.

then i adhered a threaded button in the center of each cut out circle. all of the buttons i used are from basic grey. they make some of the best buttons, and i love the colors.

the first card was my more "boyish" card. although my girls told me the buttons aren't "boyish". oh well, the colors are and that's good enough for me. this card is the "girlish" version.

when you open up the card, you're just lifting the pink piece on top, with the loopy borders. so the buttons will actually be on the inside of the cards, in two neat little rows.

for my sentiments, i spent forever looking for the perfect "happy birthday" stamp, and couldn't find one that would work. then i remembered these "happy birthday" rubons from pebbles. i LOVE these, and they're perfect for card making, since you get so many in each little package. i added the rubon to a label sticker from my mind's eye, and adhered it to the card front, along with a piece of ribbon from pebbles.

for my next cards, i wanted to use the tear-away envelope from the signed, sealed, delivered kit. i love the idea of tearing off that little strip, to get to what's inside of the envelope. i also took a little inspiration from robyn's cards that she shared a few weeks ago, since i love how she added them right to the front of her cards.

for my actual card base, i just used a regular old card. all of the papers are from amy tangerine's first collection.

i resized the envelope, so that it would be the perfect size for a gift card. we are always giving out gift cards for birthday gifts, so this will come in really handy. i cut these from some graph paper. to add a little something to the tear-away strip, i used a teeny tiny stamp from technique tuesday.

i added a few stars to the cards, embellished with threaded clear buttons. i'm sure there are stars in several of kerri's kits, but the first one i found during my search was from the christmas countdown kit. i also used a sentiment stamp from hero arts.

i had a few extra stars left over, so i also added one to the front of each envelope, along with a "Celebrate" sentiment from the all about you kit. the envelopes for all of the cards are also in the tear-away style. i cut them from kraft cardstock, and then lightly sprayed them with white misting spray from studio calico.

i love that i have a few birthday cards on hand now. i made 2 of the second style, which means i have 4 cards. only problem is that i have 3 birthdays in the extended family, during the next week. which will leave me with only one spare card. guess i'll have to make some more cards one of these days 🙂
for like ever – a digital layout

March 27, 2012

i've been creating lots of layouts over the last few weeks. but nothing i can share for a while. i actually have a nice little creative break, and don't have any projects that i HAVE to do, for a little over a week. which is nice, because i have some layouts that i've been really wanting to work on. just for fun. i'm hoping i'll have some ready to share late this week or next week. in the meantime, how about a digital layout share.

{for whatever reason, this shows better when you click on it}

i can't remember the last time i created a digital layout. actually, i can tell you. through the beauty of "categories" on typepad (and the beauty that i actually DO check off categories for all my posts ;)), i can tell you the last time i made a digital layout was november 2010. what??? that doesn't seem right, considering what a huge amount of digital products i have. lol!

this was a really quick layout that i created a while back. the only thing that wasn't done was the journaling. that's the hardest part of digital scrapping for me, is actually typing up some journaling. i have no clue why, since it's pretty easy to do. it's just the part i put off. which is why it took me this long to actually finish the layout.

i started with this fun digital template, from robyn meierotto. the great thing about templates like this, is that the design is already done for you. you just drop everything in. photos, papers, cardstock, etc. and you still have the freedom to add extra pieces, or change things around.

i know i used the cool star die cut paper from robyn's let's go paper kit. i think one of the reasons i used it, other then because it's cool looking, is that i purchased this kit at the same time as the template. it saved me time, so i didn't have to dig around for another cool paper.

i took the title from the a kind word – love part 2 kit, from deena rutter. i knew i only had 2 photos for this layout, and i wanted to add the title in the third photo frame. "for like ever" was really a cute title. and it fit.

i wanted to add a little extra something to the frames in the template, so i dipped into my insta-frames, from audrey neal. i've actualy used these on a paper layout before. just printed them out, and trimmed them up.

after adding in those main pieces, i then lost track of what products i was using, from what kits. i picked a few other pattern papers to add in. pink and yellow to go behind the frames, black for the top and bottom of the page, and blue for the background. i found some buttons from random kits. and finished it off with some journaling strips.

i would never give up paper scrapping. but i also really enjoy playing with digital scrapping too. with a basic knowledge of photoshop and layers, it's really not that hard to learn. i remember saying a few years ago, that i would NEVER digi scrap. i thought it was too intimidating. i'm glad i took the time to play around with it and learn "just enough" to get me doing some pages every now and then.

edited to add: it was just a coincidence that most of the kits i used for this layout came from design house digital. there are a few digital shops that i frequent, for great digital kits. one thing i love about design house digital, is that on tuesdays, they have tuesday dollar deals. 5 brand new kits that are each only $1. so the ones you see above were all purchased for $1 each, when they first came out. a great way to try out digital and see if it's something you might enjoy.
suddenly a boy: a bella blvd layout

March 21, 2012

i have a new layout up today, on the bella blvd blog.

i look forward to our "free-for-all" layout days, which our designers have once a month. it's a chance to scrap about whatever we want to scrap about. no rules or restrictions to what collections or products we use. it's a great way to create some layouts that i've been wanting to do, just for fun.

it started when i took this photo of him last week. 26 months, going on 27 months. 2+ years, if you will.

and it made me think back to this photo of him. 7 months old. just a little thing.

time really does fly by so fast these days. it sort of seems like he magically became a full-fledged boy out of no where. he still had a few of those "baby" qualities about him. and then one day, he didn't. he was suddenly a boy.

i'll be honest. it bugs me just a teensy-tiny bit that my journaling printed a little crooked on the ruled pattern paper. lol! i'm sure no one would notice that except me. and i'm sure i'm weird for feeling the need to point it out to you all.

all of bella's new products started shipping out last week. so keep your eyes out for them, at your LSS's and online retailers. i know you can find them HERE at 2peas 😉
four foto friday

March 16, 2012

i'm short on time this week. i'm not short on words, but just don't have time to share them here on the blog. too much going on. so i'm taking the easy way out, but still getting something cute up here to look at. it's four foto friday.

seems like zachary was just a baby not too long ago. apparently, when i had my head turned, he went and grew into a full fledged boy. a little dude. 2 years and almost 3 months old.

and still quite attached to me. literally.

which is all good to me, since i find him quite entertaining and super adorable.

he's one of the funniest little dudes i've had the pleasure of taking care of. we all love him to pieces!