Ever had one of those weeks?

Where it just doesn't seem to end? And when it does, it brings no relief? I have had one of those weeks. My youngest- almost two- has been waking up A LOT at night. Some nights it has been 6 or 7 times. Which, inevitably, means that I wake up. So I have been exhausted all week. My creativity has been at an all time low. So, I haven't updated much, as there hasn't been much work to show.

I did manage to do this one page and I can honestly say, that I am not a big fan of it. It just didn't turn out the way I wanted and I will most likely take new pictures of her in her shoes and try again at the page.

I also did my first two DT pages. But they can't be shown yet. Come back tomorrow for my first reveal.

My Scrapbook Supplies

I have been very lucky this week. I made another design team. This time it is My Scrapbook Supplies. I will be designing for challenges and doing product review. Please check them out. They have monthly prizes with lots of goodies.

Well it is official

I am a member of A Scrap Addicts- Just My Sketches team. I am SO excited. I can't wait to start working on her sketches and the musical aspect of it. Here is what Deanne says on her blog

"I'm changing up this blog a bit! I'll be posting sketches but there will be a twist! You have to BLEND the sketch with a song! I love listening to Sirius radio and The Blend station plays a wonderful "blend" of great songs! So I'll be posting a layout and card sketch every 2 weeks, and along with it 5 songs to choose from to inspire you. You can let the title inspire you or choose a stanza from the song, or even let the theme of the song inspire you!"


I hope you will check out Deanna's blog and her sketches.

one layout- many challenges

This one page covers quite a few challenges. First, ScrapTiffany weekly challenge is to discuss grief. Practical Scrappers, wants us to use patterned paper. 52 x 52 wants a little birdie. Lastly, the Scrap Room wants a title to be vertical. So there, I managed to put four challenges, into a page that I have wanted to do for a very long time. And I do like the way it turned out.

PPs are DCWV, birdie is an imaginisce stamp, alphas are thickers, pearls are recollections, flowers are unknown, as they were a RAK from long ago, and brads are making memories.

Every Day Scrapper Crop

The Everyday Scrapper Website & Forum contributors
are pleased to invite you to

The Everyday Scrapper

First Ever Online Crop

held Wednesday, January 20th to Wednesday, January 27th

on The Everyday Scrapper Space

Details:

This category of the forum has challenges, all with prizes, for you to enter. Each challenge hostess has posted her own challenge with an example layout and a photo of the prize.

You have until midnight (eastern time) on January 27th to submit your layouts by posting them on the challenge thread you are entering it for.

Winners will be selected by random.org and announced January 28-30th on the same thread the challenge was posted on.

There are also some fun games and RAKs up for grabs!

EDS Crop Challenges

The Crop has been going on for days- and if you haven't made it over there, go, now. I have completed three of the challenges- I hope to do more, if my laptop gets finished tomorrow. Here are the three that I have done.

This is actually an altered object. It was a box that held chipboard. I covered it with PP (basic grey) and then added the flower. The flower is for the challenge. I used my slice to cute the papers and then followed this tutorial.
The second challenge was to use no patterned paper. I used ribbon (american crafts) instead.

The third was to use another person's layout and pick elements from it. Click here to see the original layout. This LO is from a sketch at Scrapbook challenges.

Nap Time- Sketchy Thursday's

I just found Sketchy Thursday's (that is what I love about blogs, I am finding so many great sketch places via other people's blogs) so this is my first time playing with one of their sketches.

I love this picture of my daughter, my father and my cat. Gracie fell asleep in the car holding the balloons, then I carried her in the house, still holding the balloons. My dad was sleeping, so I laid Gracie down with him, still holding the balloons. The Rita, the cat, joined in.

So for the layout I turned the circles in their sketch and made them into balloons. It is quite a simple page, but I do love the way it turned out. The twine that I used for the balloon strings, came off of some jeans- the tag, LOL.

PP are all Scenic Route. Alphas are Bazzill.

Two sketches from Sassy lill' Sketches

There is a new sketch blog in town- Sassy lil' Sketches. I did their two promo sketches and here they are. "A housewarming gift" is also for ACOT montly challenge- to scrap a "first". In this case, I am doing our first housewarming gift. The second is "Merry Go Round" also used for 52 x 52 challenge of using 7 stickers.

"All Together" is spotlighted at ACOT

My layout, "All Together" has been selected as one of the "January Creative Team Spotlight" at ACOT. I am SO please about this, as I love ACOT and all the women on the Creative Team are SO talented.

The Every Day Scrapper Crop

Starting today and continuing for the next 8 days the Every Day Scrapper is having a crop. There are super fun games, 8 fantastic challenge, and prizes. So hop on over and check it out.

2 lil' Artists

I am totally loving the sketches at The Scrappiest Blog. I don't know what it is about them, but my pages turn out wonderfully- at least I think they do. LOL and that is all that really matters- that I am happy with them.

Anyway, here is my latest page done with the sketch #48 from the Scrappiest Blog. All patterned papers are from Fancy Pants. I am also using it for the challenge at Candy Shoppe Designs which is to use your newest scrappy goodie. The thickers are brand new, got a box of them on Monday.

Anyway, I love these two pictures of the girls. And not because of what they are doing, but because I remember that day perfectly. We had just put an offer in on a house the day before (or maybe two days before) and they counter offered. We weren't sure that we want to counter their counter, because the house next door was also for sale, at a much much much lower price. However the house next door needed some TLC, like a new kitchen. So while they were painting I was making phone calls trying to figure out how much a new kitchen would cost and if we could get into the other again.

Well we did get into the other house and we put an offer on it. And months later we are living there. So you see, the pictures show my "2 lil' artists," but the story behind the pictures is what makes me smile. And that is what is on the journaling card that is tucked away but peaking out with ribbon.

One Week Ago

It was one week ago that I dropped my camera off to be fixed. I miss it so. I do have a back up, but it really isn't the same. Only 2-4 more weeks, LOL.

It was also one week ago that my laptop stopped functioning properly. Since then I have been on the phone with dell four times, and had my mother board replaced. Still not working. I still need to call dell again, but I just cannot bring myself to do it. Soon. And hopefully we can get it up and running. All my pictures are on there. I have been using Jon's laptop, but his won't print pictures. So I am stuck. However, that can be good, because it is forcing me to scrap older pictures.

Gotta look on the bright side, right?

two more

Both of these are based on sketches from Nuts About Sketches. The first one, "2 Girls in a Box" is for a challenge on Dixie Pieces to use number papers or something else with numbers.


Lately I have been doing a lot of single photo or two photo pages. I have so many multiple picture layouts to do that it is a bit crazy. So I made myself dig out a kit I made months and months ago and do this page.

Sisterly Love

Here is a layout based on sketch 32 at Twisted Sketches. The twist is to use stamps. I stamped on the flowers. It will also be used for a Scrap and Stamp challenge, use stamps and do a girly page. And My Scrapbooking Supplies is having a LOVE contest. So basically you do a LO about Love.

Two new ones

Here is a layout I did for a few different challenges. Scrapbook Challenges has a challenge to use paint- there is paint on the picture, and on the chipboard pieces. ACOT has a challenge to journal about family- the journaling card is tucked in behind the paper. Finally this is also from a sketch from the Scrappiest. And I have to say that I love the way it came out. Patterned papers are October Afternoon.

Here is another one that I did recently. It is for a challenge on Dixie Pieces to tear papers. And from a new blog entitled Dirty Scraps. The challenge was to do a layout about something that annoys you or bothers you. But to put a twist on it and bring out the positives.


Journaling reads: One of my biggest annoyances is when I don't get "me time". I get so irritated and short with the girls that I end of not liking myself. I try to stay positive and remember that they are only little once. Soon they won't want me around. So I need to step back, take a deep breath and enjoy these moments. Me time or not.

O.M.G

I am so stinking excited.  I still haven't made a DT but I did submit to Scrapbook  News and Review and they accepted my layout, 2010.    I am really so excited.  So now I get a special blinkie to wear AND I get to have that really cool image where my LO used to be.  For example, see here

Soccer Camp and Me & Jenn

Here are two layouts I did this weekend.

Soccer Camp is for a no patterned paper challenge at Scrapbook Challenges.  It is also for a challenge at ACOT to use 5 pics, chipboard and stickers.    

Me and Jenn is from a Creative Scrappers sketch # 85.   I am proud to say that all these papers are from scraps.  LOL.

Things I can't live without

This page is for the weekly challenge at Scrap Tiffany.  The challenge is to scrap about the things you can't live without.   Although ideally I would have added electricity to it- after we lost ours the other night- but the pics were already printed.  I am also using it for a altered alphabet challenge at Dixie Pieces.  The gray paper is Basic Grey, the red is Bo Bunny- as are the red alphas.  The flowers are Heidi Swapp and the grunge is Tim Holtz.   Pink alphas- not sure. 

A shout out to Dixie Pieces

I ordered three of their kits on sale on the first and I actually received them on Monday. So yesterday I sat down and created this page. I used a sketch from The Scrappiest. The page is actually for one of Dixie Pieces challenge- they have a fantastic forum with wonderful challenges. So if you haven't heard of them check them out.

A reminder to myself

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

What I did this weekend

Other than playing in the blog hop, I scrapped quite a bit. Here are two from Twisted Sketches. This one is from Sketch #030. The twist is glitter. The embellies, from Little Yellow Bicycle, are glittered as is the title lettering and the "I want candy strip"- K & Co.


This one is the sketch for a design team position, which I submitted this weekend. I had a lot of fun with this page. It took me a little while to figure out how to incorporate the twist of transparent. Anyway I am loving how this turned out. I used Tim Holtz grunge, making memories brads, cosmo cricket papers.

Lastly the girls school pictures. This is from a sketch at Scrapbook Challenges. I also submitted to the monthly contest at the EveryDay Scrapper.

Well that is all for now. But I am attempting a Lay Out A Day with some of the Every Day Scrappers, so if you want to try for it, join in. I am offering a RAK to one lucky participant.

Welcome to the Scrapbook Challenges New Year's Blog Hop.

If you have just stopped in, please join us and start at Pamela's blog .

I am Ana White, your April Guest Designer. I am a stay at home mom living in Northern VA. I have two small daughters- 3.5 and 1.5. I discovered scrapbooking about 4 years while on bedrest during the pregnancy of my first daughter. I am totally addicted to scrapbooking and view it more as a lifestyle than a hobby. Please check out my blog, leave me some love where you see fit and perhaps even become a follower.

Here is the sketch for the blog hop- if you want to play along feel free. Create a page based on the sketch and you could win some a great RAK- see the info below.

Here is my lay out based on the sketch

There are a number of RAKs up for grabs during the hop. Here are two of them and how to get them.


One lucky "Hop On" (to read how to "Hop on" click here) participant will win the Origins collection from Basic Grey for making a post on their blog


One lucky person will win this for commenting on the blogs in the "Hop On" section. It's a chipboard layered album and a whole bunch of fabulous trim, from Rusty Pickle. For every comment you leave you will be entered into the random drawing, so leave a comment on all of the blogs for the best chance! :)

There will also be a drawing for a RAK for everyone making a LO based on the sketch above. And if you are not a member of Scrapbook Challenges and you join this weekend, you will be entered into drawing to win another RAK.


Thanks for visiting my page and getting this far in the Blog Hop. I hope you are having fun and now it is time for you to visit Brynn's blog.

Holiday Party

From another great website I just discovered, Creative Scrappers. This is my first time using one of there sketches, but I promise it won't be my last.

The papers are from the December Scrap-Room Kit and are all from Pink Paislee. Alphas are Websters Pages, and pearls are Queen and Co.