Scrapbook Challenges Birthday Bash Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to the Scrapbook Challenges Birthday Bash Blog Hop. I am the 9th stop and you should have come from Amy. If you didn't and you are one of my followers (thank you by the way) or you just happened upon my blog please go to the beginning and hop from there (it will be totally worth it I promise, since there are goodies to be had along the way.)

Well the reason for our blog hop- encase you didn't know is that the best ning site EVER is turning 1. So we are having a huge birthday bash. There will be challenges galore, with RAKs to be won. There will be games and lots of things happening at Scrapbook Challenges. So if you haven't made your way over there yet, whatcha waiting for? Go do it, do it now. Ok not now, but after you hop through the blog hop.

So for your first challenge we have a sketch for you, and everyone who does the sketch and posts it Scrapbook Challenges, will be entered to win a RAK (I will show it to you in a moment, ok?) So here is the sketch,

And here is my layout based on the sketch

This page is of my little kitty girl, Rita. She was named after the Beatles song "Lovely Rita" and that is the title of the page. (Fancy Pants used here, and it is the boys line "Little Sprouts" but you would never know by looking at the paper.)

Ok Pamela, our leader and the lady who started it all, has a number of fabulous RAKs involved here. Seriously, wish I could try for them. So here they all are,

RAKS involved in this blog hop:

1. Everyone who leaves a comment on all the blogs in the hop will be entered into the drawing to win the It’s Your Day collection from Fancy Pants Designs.

2. Everyone who does a layout based on the sketch and posts it in the Hop On section gets entered into the drawing to win the Early Bird Collection from Cosmo Cricket.

3. Everyone who joins the group during the Birthday Bash gets entered to win the Merry Christmas collection from Echo Park Paper Company

4. Everyone who invites someone to the group during the week, through the "invite" link on main page, gets entered into a drawing for the Road Map collection from October Afternoon.

Ok so that is that. Those are some seriously good prizes to be won so I hope you will join us in this Birthday Bash.

So thank you for stopping by, and I hope you will come back and visit my blog again. And if you tell me who your favorite paper company is I will enter you into a drawing for a surprise RAK. (I say a surprise RAK because I am not sure what it will be yet, LOL)

Now hop on over to the wonderful Sookie.


Have fun and good luck.

Get Ready

It is almost time for a PARTY and blog hop.

Check back Friday for all the action and some great prizes. 

My Guy

The song this week at Scrap it with a Song is "My Guy."  I decided to do a layout on my kitty boy, Oscar Leroy Brown.  AKA Oscar.  AKA "Mean Kitty".  AKA "Bad Bad Leroy Brown."  As you can see, he is a cat of many names.

Back in the day, when I was in graduate school I worked with the humane society trapping feral cats.  There was a colony that lived near some dumpsters where I had an apartment.  Oscar was the second cat I trapped.  (The first was a lovely and very tame tortoiseshell kitty who my friend found a home for.)     Basically what I would do is set the trap at night, catch the cats, bring them into my very very small apartment with my two cats.  The trapped cats would stay in the cage in the bathroom until I took them to the vet the next morning to get fixed.    Then they would recouperate in my bathroom- in a carrier at this point, until they could be released back to their colony.
  
Anyway, I ended up keeping Oscar.  He was semi-tame and he was so little.  It took him days to calm down and let us become friends. I will never forget when he did.  He stuck his little paw out and squeaked.  (Most people do not realize that wild or feral cats do not meow, meowing is typically something cats do to people. And that being said, he has just now started meowing, and he has been with me nearly 10 years.)   So I let him out of the carrier and I got in the shower.  He actually got in the shower with me.  I held him and washed him and he just loved it. 

Later that day I took him to the vet and they could not believe that he was feral.  But he was and every once in a while you can still see it in him.   (And that is why he is known to Bella as "mean kitty.)

So here is my layout- sorry for the lesson on feral kitties.

This week the sponsor is the Stamping Boutique.
 
The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality,as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

Store: http://thestampingboutique.com/Challenge Blog: http://thestampingboutiquechallengeblog.blogspot.com/

They have offered up to the winner 5 digi images for your crafting pleasures!!


So don't forget to play along. 

Avon Walk for The Cure

Ok, I don't normally do this, but  . . .   I have signed up to do the Avon Walk For a Cure on April 30/May 1 in Washington DC.  In order to participate I have to raise $1800, so I am asking everyone I know and asking anywhere I can.  So here I am asking the blogosphere to help me out.

If you want to help me out and donate to a great cause click here .  Or you can go to www.avonwalk.org and  put in my name, Ana White, and there you go.  Any size donation is accepted, even if it is only $5 or $10 bucks.

And feel free to share this on your blogs.

cheers,

ana

Two layouts featuring Gracie

I didn't realize it while I was doing my assignments this week, but both pages feature my youngest daughter Gracie.

For Scrap it With a Song, the song was "Born to be Wild" by the great Stepphenwolf.    I titled my page "Born to be Wild?" and used a picture of Gracie taken when we were still in the hospital.   She is such a wild thing now (everyone comments on how fast she is and crazy she is) that is hard to remember how quiet she started.  Even in utero she was calm.  I had to do the kick counts every day because she rarely be-bopped around in there.  (In contrast Bella was a soccer player constantly beaten me, to the point that people could see my stomach moving.) Then Gracie was born and she did cry right away, but those two days in the hospital I actually worried about how quite she was.  That all changed quickly, and that is what my journaling is about.  So here is the page,

 This one is from a kit at the Scrap-Room.

This week's challenge is being sponsored by Digital Delights and they have offered up to the winner a $10 gift certificate that will equal 5 images.  So if you want to play along please do, just link up your creation to the main blog.

Now on to the next layout about Gracie.  This one is for Scrapbook Challenges and it is sketch 223.    This page is entitled "Dancing Queen" (I JUST realized I spelled Dancing wrong on this page, so I will fix it asap) and features Gracie dancing on the table whilst posing for the camera.   It truly shows her wild side.

So here is the sketch

And here is my page

This page is from a kit at Dixie Pieces.

Scrap it with a Song and Scrapbook Challenges layouts

So life has gotten insane, or at least it feels that way.   And I have found it hard to sit down and do anything.  So here I am late again with my layouts.

The song this week at Scrap it with a Song is Vogue by Madonna.  This summer I took my girls and one of their cousins to my parents house for a week.  My cousin, Ian, posed every time I had my camera out.  But they weren't any old poses, they were outlandish poses.  Then Bella started doing it.   So I knew exactly what to do for the song and here are the two of them with their poses,

(all elements, minus the alphas are from a kit at the scrap-room)

The sponsor this week is Sew Many  Cards and the winner will win five digi images.

And here is sketch 222 from Scrapbook Challenges,

and here is my layout

 This is me and my hubby from two weeks ago.  It was our anniversary and we went to a B&B and had a quiet weekend. 

Going to China

Here is a just for fun page I did the other day.  All pps, and embellishments (with the exception of the border strip and the alphas) is from a Dixie Pieces kit.  The sketch is from the Scrappiest.  It fits two other challenges- the supply list challenge from A Cherry on Top and the Scrap Room pop up challenge.

Bella packed all her belongings (ok, NOT all of them, but . . . ) in a baby stroller  and came into our room and announced she was going to China to see Kailan. 

XOXO - Party Princess

Well it appears that XOXO is back up and running and challenge #12 is live.  So check it out.  Remember it is a scraplift blog so you have a number of layouts to choose from.  Here is mine,

Scrap it With a Song Reveal

Hello all.  I have not been feeling too great lately nor I have been to inspired to scrap. I am hoping to get some scrapping done this week.

Anyway, the song for this week at Scrap it With a Song is "Feel Like Home."  So I did a layout of our new home.  Well, it isn't really new anymore.  We have almost been in it for a year, but still. . . ,

Everything on this page, but the photo corners, are from a kit at Dixie Pieces.

Sponsor this week is Toucan Scraps and she is offering the winner of this challenge a pack of 6 digi papers (8 x 8 inches) from her store at Stitchy Bear & I Did It Creations Crafting Boutique.  So if you want to play along please do so, and post your creation at the main site.