Help us welcome our guest designer for September: Laura Vegas! We are so excited to have her with us!
Hi there! I'm Laura Vegas, from Northern California, where I live with my husband Joe, and my two gorgeous daughters, Alyssa (16) and Sarah (14). I have been scrapbooking for over 19 years now. I started shortly before my first daughter was born, and have not slowed down since. I scrapbook mostly about my girls and our family, but like to mix it up now and then by scrapping photos and stories about my daycare kids and family friends as well. I have been fortunate enough to design for Lil' Davis, Making Memories, Jillibean Soup, and Pebbles, and was proudly a member of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Creating Keepsakes Dream Team. I am currently serving as the Design Team Coordinator, as well as designing, for Bella Blvd, designing for Kerri Bradford Studio, and am a member of the 2013 Scrapbook & Cards Today design team. I have been published in Scrapbook & Cards Today, Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbooks Etc, Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Create, Paper Trends, Papercrafts, and PaperKuts magazines.
We sent Laura some fun questions to get to know her a little better. Below you will find her answers!
Are you a layout person, a card person ... or both? I consider myself both a layout person and a card person. While layouts are my main focus, and the kind of creations I make the most, I am all for good card making too. I am a huge fan of taking my scraps after finishing a layout, and using them to make a card or two while everything is out and coordinated. I'll even use my layout design as inspiration for the card.
What is on your scrap desk right now? Right now, there is nothing. I am kind of a neat freak when it comes to my scraproom. I only have things out on my desk if I'm working on a project. I am constantly cleaning up as I go about creating my projects, and I put everything away once I'm done. So my desk is kept very clean most of the time.
What is your favorite October Afternoon line or product ... and why? I still love the older Night Light collection, with it's bright colors and cute little monsters. I also love the 9 to 5 collection. Buttons are one of my favorite embellishments, and I've always loved OA's buttons.
What can you NOT scrapbook without? I always start my layouts with a sheet of white textured cardstock. I also need a few rulers on hand, as I measure and re-measure just about everything on my projects, making sure everything is perfectly straight and evenly spaced. Product wise, I need lots of patterned paper, alpha stickers, and buttons. Those are a few of my go-to products.
What is your favorite source of inspiration? For me, inspiration really comes from new products (or even older products that are new to me), or great photos. I love to look at scrapbooking magazines, online galleries, and Pinterest for ideas, but don't often act on those ideas. So for me, pulling out some new products, or taking some great photos is what really inspires me the most.
What is your favorite movie, TV show or book? I fully admit I watch WAY too much TV. Some of my favorites are Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Revenge, Pretty Little Liars, Suits, half hour comedies, anything on Lifetime, and my guilty pleasure is The Bachelor/ette. Too many favorites to list!
What is your favorite food? Chocolate, of course! I do love my chocolate and my ice cream. As far as "real" food though, I love a good juicy burger with avocado and swiss cheese. Or any sort of pasta dish.
Besides scrapbooking and papercrafts, what do you do for hobbies or enjoying during your "free" time? Free time??? What's that? I don't seem to have much free time these days, since I work such long hours. But when I do, I spend time driving my two teenage daughters around to their activites, attending their soccer games and band performances, and just trying to keep up with the errands and housework. Not too exciting, right?
If you were a superhero, what power would you possess and why? Good question. I would love the power to duplicate myself. I always seem to have 47 things going on at all times, and never enough time to handle everything. It would also come in handy as I am a full-time daycare provider in my home. Having more of me to go around, and more hands to hold all of the babies and meet their needs, would make my days go a lot smoother. I'm sure there would be a downfall to have extra Laura's running around, but I'm choosing to think it would be a good thing ;)
If you could have dinner with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be and why? I would love to have dinner with Rachael Ray. I became a huge fan of her about 4 years ago, and started watching all of her "30 Minute Meals" shows, along with her talk show every day. She made me care more about cooking and I would say that 80% of the meals I cook these days are ones that I've picked up from watching her shows and reading her cookbooks. Plus, she just seems like she'd be fun to hang out with.
Laura shared some projects she made with some of our older lines: Night Light and Rocket Age.
Be sure to follow Laura on our blog each Friday this month! And don't forget to pop over to her blog to see what other gorgeous creations she has made!