Laura Vegas

slice – cheer up card

April 18, 2011

i want to share a simple card that i created yesterday, using my slice from making memories. one card that i don't have a lot of in my stash, is get well cards. i loved the font and look of the "cheer up" sentiment. it sort of feels like a more casual take on the standard "get well" card to me.

for this card, i used my slice, the dilly dally design card, and the greetings design card. the pattern papers are from the great escape collection.

i started by slicing my sentiment, using the new greetings design card. my cards are standard size, at 4.25" x 5.5". so i went with a 2.5" sentiment.

then i switched over to the dilly dally design card, to slice my flower. this design card has the new layering option. this breaks down each design into several different pieces and cuts. this allows you to cut the different parts of each shape seperately, from different papers, so that you can then piece them back together. this flower i choose has two layers. this is the first one, which i sliced at the 4 inch size.

if you push on the double arrow buttons at the bottom, this takes you from the normal cut, to the shadow option, then to the mirror option, and then to the layer option. once you get to the layer, this is where you'll find the next set of cuts for this flower. the circle piece goes over the actual flower, and the small piece is for the leaf.

i sliced the base piece of the flower from green pattern paper. since i was slicing the layered pieces from two different papers, i decided to go ahead and make two cards. i just swapped out the pieces. so one card will have the pink flower and leaf, with an aqua flower center. and one card will have the aqua flower and leaf, with a pink flower center.

to add a little texture to the layered pieces, i ran them thru my cuttlebug, using my swiss dot embossing folder.

i then inked the edges with a brown ink pad, and also rubbed it over the embossed areas of each piece. i added mini pop dots to the back, to give some extra dimension to the cards.

for the actual card base, i started with white textured cardstock. i decided to take out this background grid stamp from hero arts. i stamped it to the card front, using some peach parfait ink from stampin up.

the new greetings design card has some cute little borders to choose from. these are perfect for card making. i choose the 4 inch size at first, knowing my card was 4.25" wide. but it was a little too long. i think it ended up cutting a 4.5" border. most slice shapes only cut to 4 inches, so this is kind of nice to have a larger cut on this. i decided to use the 3.5" size, which was perfect for my cards.

i adhered my sentiment in the upper right corner of the card. then i adhered my border strip directly across the bottom of the card. i adhered my flower base, tucking it behind the border strip.

then i adhered my pop dotted, layered pieces, on top of the green flower base. i added the circle outer flower piece first, and then added the flower center right in the middle. a few rhinestones and some staples finished off the card.

and in less than thirty minutes, i had two super simple, but cute cards to add to my card stash. if you want to see some cute easter cards, using the layering options on the dilly dally card, check out wendy sue anderson's cute idea.
CKC st louis: recap

April 15, 2011

i think i have just about recovered from CKC st louis last weekend. it seems that any time i go away for any sort of scrapping trip, it takes me a good three to four days to recover. i had worked the first half of the week, and had been busy with the girls activies and all. so i went into my trip being a little tired to begin with. i had to be out the door at 4:00am on thursday morning, to make the hour drive to catch my 6:30am flight.

or flights i should say. i had my first experience with a layover. the first flight was 2.5 hours, then a 1 hour layover, and another 2 hour flight. the time passed pretty quickly. this airline promoted the fact that you got your own personal tv at each seat. which we did. but you had to pay to use it. seriously? i wish i had been as smart as the couple next to me on the second flight. they had a movie downloaded to their laptop. brilliant. this is why i'm still not classified as a "experienced travelor". because if i was, i would have thought about that. i kept busy with my ipod, magazines, going over my classes on my laptop, and some snoozing here and there. i landed in st louis at 1:30pm, losing 2 hours with the time difference. or is it gaining 2 hours? i think it's losing, right? lol!

photos all taken by carla and jen. i have a feeling they were all resized when they sent them to me, and i went and resized them again. this might explain the blurriness. sorry.

my online friend, carla, lives in chicago. so she made the 4 hour drive, to hang out with me for the weekend. she picked me up from the airport, and we headed to the hotel to check in and get settled. i checked in with the events people at the convention center. it was fun to see all the same people from when i taught at CKC last year. familiar faces are always good. they are always so sweet and helpful, and put me right at ease about the weekend. and they give me chocolate. what more could i ask for? then carla and i headed out to get some dinner, and then stopped in at archivers. since i don't have any lss's out here, it was really fun to browse thru such a huge scrapbook store.

friday morning, i headed over to the classroom. i taught a total of 10 classes over two days. five on friday, and five on saturday. they were all back to back, with only 20 minutes in between each one. which got a little crazy at times, since you need all of that 20 minutes to clean up from the last class and set out supplies for the next class and hand out kits. most of my classes were super full, maxing out at 54 students. i had some great volunteers to assist me, and carla pitched in here and there too. my class attendees were all great, and made me feel very comfortable.

we ran into jen jockisch at the studio calico booth. jen is a designer for studio calico and also a garden girl at 2peas. she taught one of the studio calico classes, that carla happened to take. and i have to add, that we took this photo at the end of the day on saturday. and goodness, my hair was getting poofy. lol! i think it's the hard water at the hotels. my hair starts getting this weird texture, and poofs up. and yet my bangs went flat. go figure.

i was once told that it was hard to picture me in a classroom setting, teaching to large groups of scrappers. i guess it's because i can be quiet at times. when i was a kid, i was super shy, to the point that i wouldn't talk to anyone. now days, i go back and forth. i have my quiet moments, and times when i'm not as talkative or outgoing. but i also have my times when i'm my normal self. talkative, funny, and more outgoing. and i honestly do think that that is the side of me that shows more when i teach. i could be wrong. lol! but i do feel like i'm myself up there.

i had a few of my blog readers that were at the show, and came by to meet me. joanna and natalie, who are great friends, and were super sweet. excuse my dorky look. i told them upfront that i'm terrible at having my picture taken. lol!

the fabulous kelly purkey was also there for studio calico. i was a total dork and finally went up to introduce myself to her. i have seen kelly a few times before. just this past january, i saw her at CHA. i was standing right next to her, in fact. but never said "hi". that would be my quiet side in action. lol! so i introduced myself, and kelly said "we've known each other forever". which is true. it was really nice to chat with her for a while, as she was finishing up teaching her class.

another photo of jen and i together. we were on the 2010 CK dream team together. there were a few girls from last year's dream team that i never really got to know, and jen was one of them. so i was excited when i heard that she was going to be at CKC. i loved visiting with her, and chatting about scrapping things. btw, studio calico was the only booth that i ended up shopping at. i managed to get about 30 minutes on friday, and another 30 minutes on saturday, to look around the shopping area. i was actually so tired and drained, that i just walked aimlessly around. i would see things, and say "that's cute, but i'm too tired to look at it", and then walk on. lol!

two very full days of teaching, and i was beat. my feet were killing me, since i wore my big boots. i was tired and hungy, since i didn't have time to eat my lunch. but right after the show on saturday, it was time to head over to the airport for my flight home.

this, my friends, is where the craziness of my trip began. flying home. it sounds so simple, doesn't it? lol! let's just say, i ended up getting home a day later than planned. there's a long, hilarious story to this. trust me, it's funny. and long, so i'm going to save it for a post next week. and i didn't plan this at all, but i actually even have a layout about it. just sort of happened, while i was playing with some product this week. so watch for that post next week 🙂
biking girls – a jillibean soup layout

April 14, 2011

i have a layout up on the jillibean soup blog today. this one is actually my last official jillibean layout, which is kind of sad. i do have one more card coming up next week though. and i'm sure i'll have lots of "unofficial" jillibean layouts ;)

i really love the bicycle paper in the blossom soup collection. i have used in on a card before, but this time i wanted to use it on a layout. so i dug out these super old photos to go with it. i even went so far as to dig out the negatives, so that i could have them reprinted, since they always come out lighter when i have them done again. and then i just forgot to take them in.

to make my flowers, i layered journaling sprouts, corrugated flowers, and even some of the new cardstock stickers. i used lots of pop dots between the layers. and i used some border stickers from doodlebug to make the stems.

i used a mix of corrugated alphas and letter stickers. these are jillibean's first set of letter stickers, so they're an older product. but i have always loved that font, and am glad i have such a large amount of them left. and just like the card i created a few months back, i also added little silver accents to all the wheels on the bicycles.
dilly dally cards – making memories

April 12, 2011

i had some new cards up on the making memories blog yesterday.

i used the new dilly dally collection for all of these cards. it's such a fun, bright spring collection. full of flowers and butterflies.

this sheet of pattern paper, has all sorts of title blocks and journaling spots. i found that it was perfect for making cards. on five of my six cards, i used one of the blocks from this sheet.

i love adding new cards to my stash. it's nice to be able to have a nice assortment of cards on hand, ready to be given out at any moment. considering how big my card collection is right now, i'm guessing it might be time to randomly send out some cards 😉
slice – fabric cutting

April 11, 2011

i get asked a lot about cutting fabric with the making memories slice. they recently came out with the slice fabrique, which is geared towards quilters. but you'll be glad to know, that you can cut fabric using your original slice or your slice elite.

here's another look at some fun fabric flowers i made last year, using my slice and the spring has sprung design card.

if you take a minute to watch THIS VIDEO, it will show you just how easy it is to slice fabric.

having the right accessories makes cutting fabric much easier.

you'll need some fusible webbing to start out with. you iron it onto the back of your fabric, so that it stiffins up the fabric for slicing. once you slice your shape, you can peel off that fusible webbing and then iron your shape onto your project. or use it as is, which is what i did for the flowers above.

the hands free kit is a must, in my opinion. it's not only because of the fact that you don't have to hold the slice in place while it's doing the cutting. it's more due to the fact, that you just get more accurate cuts all around. and with fabric, it just really gives that extra hold that you need to keep the fabric from sliding around on the mat.

with that, you'll also want to be sure you have a nice, sharp blade to work with. the blade will dull a bit faster, when you're working with fabric. and have a good amount of the spray adhesive on your mat as well, since the fabric and fusible webbing are more textured than your normal paper or cardstock, and need to really stick down in place.

if you havn't tried using fabric with your slice yet, think about giving it a try. it's another really fun way to add a cool touch to your projects!
you won’t want to miss this

April 8, 2011

i know april just started. but before you know it, may will be here. and you know what happens in may, right? national scrapbooking day is on may 7th, 2011.

this year, creating keepsakes is teaming up with big picture classes, and they are hosting a 12 hour crop event. and you'll love this. it's free! you can already register for the big day, so that you're all ready.

all these fabulous ladies will be hosting challenges, over the 12 hour crop. you won't want to miss any of them.

and you know there's going to be lots of prizes as well, donated by all these amazing manufacturers. so make sure and get yourself signed up for this event. i already did 🙂
she loves him – a jillibean soup layout

April 7, 2011

i have a layout up on the jillibean soup blog today.

i have actually scrapped some of these photos i took of sarah and her teddy already. they were on a layout i created for a special issue of creating keepsakes, that came out at the end of last year. not sure i ever shared that layout. will have to make sure and do that. but this one photo of sarah and teddy is my favorite. and i had it printed out as a 5×7, knowing that i wanted to highlight it, on it's own layout.

i used some pattern papers from the dutch mustard soup collection, as well as some kraft pattern paper from the chilled strawberry soup collection. i know i mentioned a while ago, that i'm not a huge fan of kraft papers. and some of you were shocked and concerned about that. lol! i am really loving this kraft collection, with the touches of white in it. using a large piece of it, and mixing with some coordinating colors of pattern paper, and some white cardstock, and i love it.

i layered together some different elements on this top corner of the layout. i cut the bottoms of the tag and die cut at an angle, so that they look like they're tucked under the photo. i had already done my machine stitching, so i just adhered them right to the edge of the photo. i used a mix of kraft tags, printed die cuts, journaling sprouts, corrugated flowers, and kraft mini alphas. btw, those mini alpha sheets are amazing. TONS of letters, that will last you forever.

my favorite corrugated alphas for my title. mixed with my favorite loopy letter stickers by doodlebug. if i ever run out of either of these alphabets, i'm going to be in trouble 😉
tuesday night ramblings

April 6, 2011

i had thoughts of blogging last night. and then i got lazy and forgot all about it. i also had thought of typing up some blog posts to cover the days i'll be gone this week. it looks like i'll have one post ready for thursday. and that will just have to do.

1. this is one of my recent cards that was on the jillibean soup blog on monday. the colors look a little off here, because it was raining when i turned it in. no good lighting. and i'm thinking that some machine stitching would have added something to this card. i've been sewing on all my projects. not sure how i missed this one.

2. i'm leaving at the crack of dawn on thursday morning, to fly out to CKC st louis. it's the longest flight i've ever been on. an hour drive to the airport. four and a half hours of flight time total, with a one hour layover added in as well. also, the first time i've ever had a layover. my layover is in denver. that HUGE airport that i was just at a few weeks ago. no idea how i'm going to sit still for that long.

3. i totally just sent myself an email that said "FLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in the subject matter. it's the only way i'll remember to check in tomorrow morning, 24 hours in advance. lol!

4. i think i have the girls all accounted for while i'm gone. the brunt of it was going to fall on my mom, since joe's working and had 4 baseball games to umpire on top of it. but he had to cancel all his games, so now she mainly needs to spend the nights here, since joe is at work all night. he'll take over after school and until bedtimes. i'm so thankful for all my parents do for us. and also that they live a few blocks away.

5. the reason joe had to cancel all his games, is that he's sick again. he was out of work for three days last week. the first time he's ever called in sick in almost 7 years. a not-so-great doctor said it was a cough and allergies. a few days later, he asked for an xray, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. lovely. lots of meds, and he seemed to be better. but he started getting worse again, and went back in to a different doctor. allergies are horrid out here. so much junk in the air, and anyone with allergies is hurting these days. well, it flared up his asthma really bad. and being out umpiring, on the dirt and grass? not the best thing. so the doctor told him to take the week off. we'll miss the money, but his health is more important.

6. both the girls have had band concerts in the past two weeks. but sarah has her spring concert on thursday night. i'm feeling super guilty that i'm going to miss it. mom guilt. it gets you every time, doesn't it?

7. i was feeling really accomplished the other day, when i cleaned up ALL my shows on the DVR. i have a tendancy to fall behind in my shows, and they piled up like crazy. but every show that i had recorded, i managed to watch. BUT. in the last two night, i now have 6 hours of shows that i know i won't get too before i go. and then all the shows that are recording while i'm gone. looks like i'll need to do a whole lot of tv watching next week.

8. i'm not very good at these rambling posts as i used to be. i started this post 2 hours ago. i've been stumped on what else to say. it's now 12:15am, and officially it's wednesday. but i'm still calling this "tuesday night ramblings" anyways 🙂
slice bravissimo design card

April 4, 2011

have you seen the new bravissimo collection, by making memories. it's a really different type of product for them, and is something that we really havn't seen before in the marketplace. it's a really fun concept, and i think it's pretty cool. a huge collection of personalized keepsakes and awards, for all occasions. it's full of ribbons, wands, awards, and shadow boxes.

making memories is also coming out with the bravissimo design card, for the slice, which compliments the bravissimo collection. you can get the same look of the awards and ribbons, using paper and/or fabric. and then embellishing them with all sorts of things from your scrap stash. i played around with this design card over the weekend, and made a few cards to share with you.

first up, is my "have a great day" card. i used papers from the noteworthy collection, and some older slice ledger paper. for embellishing, i choose some pearls from the gem collections, and a few pebble brads.

i chose a really cute scalloped circle shape for the main part of my design. i sliced it at 3.5 inches. the center is cut out, so i also sliced a 2.5 inch plain circle, which is also found on the design card. for the ribbon tails, i chose a design that has all 5 of the strips cut as one piece. once again, i sliced it at the 3.5 inch size, but i cut it from two different pattern papers.

i lightly adhered the two circle pieces to each other, and then machine stitched them together. since i'm not talented enough to make a clean, straight stitch, i tend to do very random stiching. i just go several times around, purposely going a little wonky, so that it's a very carefree stitching. anyways. i adhered this piece with pop dots to the card front. i then sliced a 3 inch butterfly, also on the bravissimo design card, from some brown woodgrain paper. i adhered the butterfly with mini pop dots, and added some pearls along the center.

i mentioned that i sliced the ribbon tails from two pattern papers. i just trimmed two of the strips from the green pattern paper, and then adhered them directly onto the same spots on the orange piece. i adhered the entire thing onto my card, before doing the machine stitching down each strip. i pulled out this old MM tag, and added it for my sentiment, securing the ends with mini brads.

next up, is my "sweet baby girl" card. this is obviously another take on my first card. i loved that scalloped circle, and had to use it again. i used papers from the dilly dally collection and the pitter patter collection, as well as some older text paper that was designed for the slice. i used an older making memories rub on, and an epoxy sticker as well.

same sliced cuts on this one. the scalloped edged circle, and the ribbon tails are both sliced at 3.5 inches. i thought about doing three different pattern papers for the ribbon tails, but ended up only doing two paperes. and the circle was sliced at 2.5 inches. "girl" is also found on the bravissimo design card, and i believe i sliced it at 3 inches.

same idea here. machine stitched the circles together, and adhered using pop dots to my card. since the font on "girl" is fairly narrow, i choose to simply adhere it to the piece, instead of using pop dots. i added the "sweet baby" rub on. i lost track of dot to my "i" during the process of making this card. normally, i would add a mini brad, but i had already adhered this whole piece down. so i just used an epoxy flower sticker to dot my "i".

same thing on the ribbon tails here. i pieced the two papers together, and machine stitched it to the card.

lastly, my "sweet baby boy" card. for this one, i used papers from the pitter patter collection and the animal crackers collection. once again, i used an older making memories rub on. and the gems are from hero arts.

i'm not sure what to call this fun center design. maybe a starburst, of some kind. i sliced it in the 3.5 inch size, once from the orange text pattern paper, and once from kraft cardstock. the ribbon tails are another design that cuts all 5 strands in one piece. i sliced this two times, at the 3.5 inch size, from the green pattern paper.

i adhered the kraft starburst shapes to my card first. i did some very wonky machine stitching around the center of the orange pattern paper starburst, and then adhered it with pop dots, directly on top of the kraft starburst. i bent up the edges all the way around, to give it some extra texture. i sliced "boy", also found on the bravissimo design card, from a woodgrain paper, and adhered it using mini pop dots. i added the "sweet baby" rub on right above "boy".

i used mini pop dots to adhered the two sliced ribbon tail pieces together, directly on top of each other. adds a really subtle touch of interest. i added some blue gems to a few of the strands.

keep your eye out for this super fun design card. it should be out in stores any day now. i think it's a super fun way to add a new look to your cards and gift giving projects.

to see some fun cards and hear tips about using the layering option that can be found on some of the design cards, check out wendy sue anderson's blog post from last friday. and tomorrow, wendy bretz will be hosting a fun slice related giveaway. if you're on facebook, make sure to become a fan of the slice facebook page, so that you can stay up to date on all the fun projects we're going to be sharing 🙂
jillibean soup

April 1, 2011

i was lucky enough to join the jillibean soup design team two years ago, when they had their first design team call. today, they are announcing their new design team over on their blog. it's a very talented group of scrappers, and i'm so excited for all of them. a good mix of both returning and new ladies.

it was a really hard choice for me to make, but i choose not to reapply for the team this time around. i have had an amazing two years, and have truely enjoyed every moment of it. jill and kimber are so fun to work for, and they do such a great job at making each of us feel like such an important part of the team. i'm really going to miss all the jillibean soup girls 🙂

from my very first jillibean soup card . . .

and all the ones over the next two years . . .

and finishing with one of my last jillibean soup cards.

well, not quite my last. lol! i still have my last set of design team projects that will be going up over the month of april. so you'll see those on the jillibean soup blog, as well as here. and i'm always pulling out their fun papers and embellishments to with, so you'll still find them on my projects. i promise. you know i would never abandon my corrugated alphas. lol!

change can be good. and now we're lucky enough to see a new set of designers, and what they can do with all the fun jillibean soup products. so make sure and stop by the jillibean soup blog, to congradulate the new team 🙂

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