Laura Vegas

blessings – a layout share

November 10, 2011

i feel like i'm really off my blogging routine lately. i usually blog late at night. but with joe on an entirely different work schedule right now, he gets home late at night (when i'm used to leaving for work late at night). when you've spent 8 years, having nights to yourself, it's weird to have someone else around. throws me off my game a little. anyways. morning blogging it is for now, i guess. he goes back to his regular hours in a week :)

i have a quick layout share today. i created this layout for something, and then that thing got postponed, and then it got canceled all together. huge let-down for me. and for the gorgeous family in these photos, by krista lund, that i borrowed for the assignment. the silver lining, i guess, is that i can share it now. instead of sitting on it for even longer.

isn't this photo gorgeous? krista is an amazing photographer, who is local to me. she's also super creative, and always amazes me with the fun crafts, photo props, and scrapbook projects she's working on. i took a photography workshop from krista back in june, and the two little kids in these photos were our models for the day. they were so adorable. i should really share some of my photos from that workshop. maybe tomorrow.

for my title, i used this "blessings" design from the silhouette store (by loni stevens). i love these layered titles, with the thin outline.

i cut the title from the same purple and golden yellow pattern papers that i used on the second page of the spread. those two papers, along with the dark brown leaf pattern paper, are from bella blvd. the lighter kraft pattern paper is from american crafts.

i chose a layered chrysanthemum flower, to cut on the silhouette. this was the first time i had used a shape like this, and i love the way it cut. it pulls up about 8 different sized flower, that you can cut all at once. they all fit together, to create this great dimensional flower.

just a head's up. i'll be drawing a winner tomorrow morning, for monday's giveaway. so if you havn't commented to enter yet, make sure and do that (one comment per person, please). and saturday, i'll be sharing another new gift giving project for kerri bradford studio. it's a good one. i promise 😉
tiny notes gift jar – a kerri bradford studio project

November 8, 2011

Kerri Bradford Studio is having a Get Started Now sale this week, that you won't want to miss.

Discounts are shown in the store and indicated with a 'sale' tag. NOTE: Please make sure you do all your purchases through the Store. There is a Store link along the top menu and over to the right. You can also go into the store HERE.

Today, she's sharing a gift giving idea that I designed, on her BLOG.

I have this huge collection of jars that I have stored away, that I used to use in my scrapbook studio years ago. I love finding new ways to use these jars, for gift giving at birthdays and holidays. I was thinking ahead to Christmas, and trying to come up with some ideas for gifts that I could make.

I thought it would be cute to make some tiny little cards and fill up a jar with them.

I used the Fancy Long Envelope, from the Signed, Sealed, and Delivered kit, to create my envelopes from white textured cardstock. I made them pretty tiny, so they're only 4 inches tall, and about 2 inches wide. I also the Circle Insets, from this same kit, to add some interest to the fronts of the envelopes.

For the flower and vase, I used the shapes from the This & That: Lucky kit, and cut them from tan, green, and orange cardstock. After I adhered them to the front of each tiny envelope, I added a small staple at the neck of the vase, and an orange jewel to the flower.

I also trimmed small pieces of blue cardstock, to slip inside of each envelope. I thought these would be fun to write tiny, little messages on. Then they could be slipped into someone's lunch bag, purse, or desk, to find later.

I created 12 of these envelopes/cards, and slipped them into a jar (from target). I dropped some shredded kraft paper in the bottom of the jar, before adding them.

Then I embellished the jar with ribbon and a fun little tag hanging from a chain. It's a cute little gift that you can give to a friend or family member, and they will have tiny little notes on hand, that they can then share with their friends or family.

Be sure to check out Kerri's blog, as the design team will be showing fun ideas all week long!
CK’s scrapbooking with fabric & notions – GIVEAWAY

November 7, 2011

creating keepsakes has a new special issue out, scrapbooking with fabric & notions, and it's starting to hit stores this week.

Discover how to enhance your scrapbook layouts using buttons, fabric, thread, and other materials from the sewing world. From using quick, pre-made accent options to creating beautifully sewn backgrounds, we'll help you learn the ins and outs of adding homespun textures to your layouts with patterns, step-by-step instructions, and more. You won't want to miss this "sew" special issue from Creating Keepsakes.

here's a sneek peek at one of my layouts in this special issue, where i incorporated silk fabric into my page design. my other layout involved canvas. it was interesting to go from working with such a delicate fabric, to a heavy duty piece of canvas. i'll share more about both of these layouts one of these days.

http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v2/IssuuReader.swf?mode=mini&backgroundColor=%23222222&documentId=111021184838-ed054c0f35b448b397570de4d3bb159b

i have a free copy of this special issue to give away to one of my lucky blog readers. just leave me a comment, and i will randomly draw a winner on friday morning.
she is always ready – a creating keepsakes layout

November 4, 2011

i'm making this short and sweet today. it's been a long, draining week, and i don't have it in me for a big post about anything. but i wanted to at least stick something cute up here.

as seen in the Budget Friendly Scrapbooking Special Issue, from Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i can make this short and sweet, because there's not much to tell about this layout. it's 8.5×11, which isn't a normal size for me. i can count on one hand the number of times i've created in that size. i had a very strict sketch to follow for this. down to the paper sizes and everything. which made creating this layout pretty straight forward.

i wanted to use the happy go lucky collection, from pebbles. at the time, this was a brand new collection, and i just loved the colors and patterns in it. mixed with some favorites photos of alyssa from years and years ago. which oddly, i'm not sure i have ever scrapped before.

hoping this weekend turns out better then this week has gone. i'm trying out a new girl for a haircut today. it's one of alyssa's soccer coaches. cross your fingers and toes for me. here's a funny thing. i was out doing one of my taxi-mom routes the other day, and i checked to see where this salon was located. turns out, it's in this building where they used to have oral surgery. odd, right? i know this, because i have been in that building twice in the last 5 years or so, to be put to sleep and have teeth pulled out. so i don't exactly have fond memories of the place. lol! let's hope this trip there is better.

then we have 5 soccer games this weekend. it's end of season tournament time for sarah. so 4 games for her, and 1 last game for alyssa. then alyssa has tournament time next weekend, with 4 games. busy, busy. and joe just got transfered to a new store. so new, it's not even open yet. we're not happy about it at all. it's a longer commute than he was already doing, and more money in the gas tank, which was already obscenely high. and in preparation for the store opening, he has to work a late day shift until they open. which is hugely different than the night crew hours he's worked for 8 years. it's weird that he's not here all day and all evening. and the girls haven't seen him since monday night. weird change, that we didn't ask for. but we're dealing with it.

ok, that wasn't short and sweet. lol! hope you all have a great weekend. i'll be back next week with some christmasey shares. and i'm pretty sure i have a giveaway going up on monday 😉
the deals that make a home – a CK layout

November 2, 2011

it's been a while, since i have shared a layout from one of the recent issues of creating keepsakes. i have a few piled up, that are all ready for sharing. and a few that should be coming out any day now, and then will be ready for sharing.

as seen in the October 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

for this layout, i was asked to "try a new angle" for my story. i was given the example of, instead of scrapping all about a cruise you took, to scrap about the food you ate on that cruise. i really thought and thought about what i was going to do for my layout. i'm not actually sure how i came up with the idea for this page. but i decided to scrap about my home. but not my entire home. just the deals that make up my home.

instead of taking photos of our home, and a few of the rooms, i took some photos of decor items around the house. actually, these were all things from downstairs, in the family room and kitchen mostly. i'm not convinced that our home really looks all that put together. i tend to collect things here and there, and then just kind of plop them somewhere, until i eventually find a home for it.

i love looking for deals on things, when i'm out shopping. when i find something that's super cheap, or on some fabulous clearance rack, i feel like i won the lottery. even if i have no clue what i'll do with it, i will usually purchase the item, knowing that at some point, i'll find the perfect spot in the house for it. this means that i usually have little corners, with random decor items all piled up. they might sit there for a few weeks, or even a few months, before i get some cleaning/decorating bug, and move things around.

i love that text paper from october afternoon. seriously love it. and i'm running very low on it, which is so sad. i used a mix of alphas for my title, in different colors, fonts, and textures. the red corrugated alphas from jillibean soup, the brown ledger alpha stickers from making memories, and the aqua tiny letter stickers from bella blvd. the house diecut and tree die cut are from october afternoon as well, and i added the corrugated tree branch piece from jillibean soup, which fit perfectly.

i added some digital frames to my photos, before printing them out. i choose the curled photo frames by mary ann wise. these would probably look better on a digital layout, with a colored paper background. that way you could really see the curled edges of the photos. to cut these out, and still keep the look of the curl, i had to leave a pretty good sized white border around the photos. but still fun to do a little hybrid scrapping.

i used lots of journaling spots from jillibean soup, so that i could write where the item was from, and approximately how much i paid for it. yes, i do remember stuff like how much something cost. the woodgrain paper is also from october afternoon, and the red and aqua papers are from bella blvd.

the main thing that i remember about this layout, is that i only had a few hours to make it. i'm sure i had at least a week's notice, for this assignment. but this was right smack during the time i was traveling to colorado, to film some DVD segments for the magazine. i put in sooooooo much time preparing for the filming, and the huge amount of projects that i had to create for that, that i just didn't have time to get this done before i left.

so by the time my flight landed and i made the drive back home, it was really late. like midnight-late. and i still had to make this layout, and have it turned in by the morning. those 8:00am deadlines always kill me, with the time change, since it means 6:00 or 7:00am for me. lol! so i powered through and stayed up until like 3:00am to create this layout. i think i turned it in, not totally done, and just told them my intentions for what was left.

guess it worked itself out though, since it got sent off, and looked cute in the october issue 😉
bella blvd + silhouette: an advent calendar

November 1, 2011

how many of you own a Silhouette? and how many of you have seen the NEW Limited Edition Advent Calendar?

The 2011 Silhouette limited edition advent calendar is the best way to use your Silhouette to count down to Christmas. The calendar is a 15" wood shadowbox which includes a special download card redeemable for 25 boxes and drawers from the Silhouette Online Store. Each box and drawer template is downloaded automatically into My Library and is pre-sized and labeled for each compartment of your shadowbox advent calendar. Fill each box or drawer with a holiday message or a little treat and enjoy the holiday season.

i was lucky enough to get to work with one of these, for bella blvd. and today, i've posted all about it on the bella blog. here's just a few peeks of what i made.

you can see the full project, along with lots more images, and hear all about how i went about putting this together. RIGHT HERE. and at the end of the bella post, there's a special offer from silhouette, for a discount on purchasing one of these great Limited Edition Advent Calendar for yourself. find all the details in that post.

also, check out the silhouette blog for links to other participates in this promotional event, and to see lots of other manufacturer's takes on the advent calendar concept!
becky higgins divided page protectors

October 29, 2011

i don't often post on the weekends. but last night, i was doing my normal friday night routine. i was watching lifetime movies, and working on my laptop. and i happen to notice a new post from becky higgins on her blog. i have been patiently awaiting her new divided page protectors, and she had word that they had arrived at amazon, and were ready for ordering. i placed my order about 10 minutes later. i wasn't playing around. lol!

i'm a huge fan of using divided page protectors in my scrapbook albums. i have shared quite a few projects, where i have used them. including my school albums, vacation albums, and sports albums. i love the additional options that some of becky's new configurations will give me, when working these into my albums.

so i figured i would enable some of you, to make myself feel better about placing my order 😉





there are the individual packs, which contain 12 pages in a pack. design A and B, have been around for a while. i had ordered these quite a while ago. i have a bunch of the design C already, but from a different manufacturer. i have used this particular configuration a TON in my albums (school, vacation, and sports albums especially). i think designs D and E are both fun options. i have ideas for both already. but my favorite has to be design F. i'm loving this one, and can't wait to use it!



or you can get the big variety value pack, which contains 10 each of designs A, B, C, D, E, and F. this is the best value, if you think about it. and if you'll use each of those configurations. if you can't see yourself using a few of the designs, then i would buy them individually. there's also a value pack of just design A, which i'm assuming is one of her best sellers. if you're going to order at least 3 packs of this design, you might as well order the value pack, since you will get almost double for almost the same price. kwim?



i love these big envelopes pages. these came in becky's school and baby kits, from years ago, and i love them. i actually found some plain ones, sort of like these, a long time ago, and bought a ton of them. i have one at the beginning of each year, in my albums. in my family albums, and in the girls albums. i use them to seperate the years, and to hold any random memoriabilia from the year. i ran out a while ago, so i'm really excited that these are now available. and i think the dividers will be nice to use too. they can be used to seperate the years, or events, or just to mark things in the album that you want to draw attention too.



there are also regular 12×12 page protectors and 6×12 page protectors available. i'm well stocked up on 12×12 pages. but i ordered some of the 6×12, since i have used these in the girl's school albums, for adding in programs and newspaper clippings.

if you want to see and hear more about these, becky has a video HERE. there is also more info on her website. for the page protectors, and also her project life products. as much as i LOVE the concept of project life, and i set out to commit myself to it every year, i have yet to follow through on it. i completed one year. in 2009. i still have high hopes to work that in somehow. but i can definately say that i DO and WILL use all of these products.
such a fun day – my mind’s eye guest designer

October 28, 2011

today, my last blog post is up on the my mind's eye blog, where i have been the october guest designer. this is my final layout for the month. although i still have a layout and card, that will be featured in their upcoming newsletter 😉

i was asked to a "my style" post. i think this was my favorite part of the guest designer duties, since i could really do what comes naturally to me. here's a few peeks at my project:

you can read my final blog post, and all about my thoughts on my style and how i incorporated it into this layout … and see the entire layout, RIGHT HERE. thanks to MME, for letting me join them this month. i've had a blast!
creating keepsakes nov/dec cover

October 26, 2011

have you received your creating keepsakes november/december 2012 issue yet?

i know this isn't the look/colors you'd expect for a december issue. you're probably thinking chrismas, right? well, don't forget it's a november issue as well. and i just love that CK decided to go with a fall color scheme and a thanksgiving/baking themed layout. i have to admit, i'm more partial to fall colors, than i am christmas colors.

and i also love that they asked me to design the cover layout! i was given such a cute photo to work with, and personally, i love how it turned out. this issue is full of ideas and inspiration for thanksgiving, christmas, and winter layouts. you won't want to miss it!
BOO – a kerri bradford designs layout

October 25, 2011

i had a layout go up at kerri bradford designs yesterday. since it's october, i thought it was fitting to create a halloween layout for my project.

at first glance, this might not look like your average halloween layout. there's no orange. there's no purple. there is black, but not mixed with orange and purple. those are the colors normally found in most halloween collections. BUT. my girls don't usually choose costumes in your more traditional halloween colors. so when it comes time to scrap these photos, i definately look for more creative options to use on my layouts.

the great thing about die cutting your own images, is that you can choose the colors and papers that you cut your shapes from. i almost always pull the colors for my layouts, from my photos. these photos of alyssa and sarah, along with their friend amanda, were from two halloween's ago. i pulled the aqua from my girl's costumes, red from amanda's costume, and green from the greenery in the background of the photos.

i started with the grunge diamond background, which is from kerri's new foundations: trick or treat kit.

i used this new aqua patterned paper, from bella blvd's new winter wonder collection. i knew i wanted this background to cover half of my layout. i simply cut the shape twice, both at 6 inches square.

i knew my smaller photos would be covering the background design a bit, so i could cover where the two pieces met. i ended up cutting off a few rows of the diamond background at the last minute, to use on a card. i love the grungy look to the shape, with the little torn pieces here and there. this cut beautifully on my silhouette.

next up, i knew i wanted to use this spider web, from kerri's this & that halloween: shapes only kit.

i cut the spider web from black cardstock. i wanted it to go from the top to the bottom of the page. but i didn't want the shape to get too wide, since i only had 6 inches across to work with, on that side of the page. so i cut my shape at about 8 inches high. then i just cut off the top 2 inches or so, and adhered the two pieces above and below my photo strip.

i decided on using the "BOO" title, that is also from kerri's this & that halloween: shapes only kit.

i had already added some of this red and green pattern papers to the opposite side of my layout (both by bella blvd). so i cut my "BOO" title from both of those same papers, keeping them the same size. then i adhered the green letters on top of the red letters, using pop dots. i shifted the top letters to the side, just a tad, so that you could see the red letters peeking out from behind. i added a few rhinestones to the letters, to embellish them.

one of my BFF's, lynn ghahary, has a challenge up in the garden at 2peas, for just this sort of idea. to scrap using non-traditional halloween colors. you can see her adorable layout and join in on the challenge HERE.

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