Mega Losers

Bill and I decided to do a financially unwise thing and take a chance at winning the $640 million dollar Mega Millions lottery.  It’s not a smart use of our limited funds, because the odds of winning are 1 in 176 million (higher odds of getting hit by lightening).   But, ya gotta be in the game to win.  Right?

We don’t typically play the lottery until the jackpot gets so big and the hype is more than we can bear.   So, we threw common sense to the wind for a chance to dream.   Bill bought his tickets and I bought mine.  Different store locations.  Different methods of picking the winning numbers.  We played numbers that are special to us.  Birthdays, anniversarys and lucky numbers.  If we're gonna play, then we're gonna be serious about it.  Geesh! 

During our Thursday evening walk with our dog, we joked over what we would do with the windfall.  Sure, we'd like to pay off the house, help our kids, travel, and maybe splurge on hiring a chef and a personal trainer...but really, what would we do with that much money?  It sure made the hourly walk with Gracie go much faster; and I think for those three miles, there was a bounce in our step.

We had a bit of fun.  It is fun to dream. 

Today, we realize that we are just two of the millions who didn't win a dime.  The dreaming is over.  Time to get back to reality.

I'm feeling rather stupid.  I take little consolation in knowing that plenty of people don't win the lottery the first few thousand times they play, but for those lucky three winners...a small "woo hoo."

Exciting News!

Boy, have I got big news! I'm honored (and humbled) to announce I have been selected for the Design Team (DT) at Let's Scrap!  Yippee!!

My four-month term starts April 1.  You can expect to see a lot of my work, my photography, and my life over these next four months.  (Oooh, I suddenly got goosebumps, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I might be having a heart attack!)

As a DT member, I will be posting original design work based on a particular week's featured sketch.  I will also be creating a special DT challenge in June and showcasing a DT tutorial in July.  Hmmm...what do I know that I could teach via the web?

Wanna see the winning layout I submitted?  Check out Let's Scrap on April 4.  The sketch, my design, and my fellow DT members will all be featured.

Cool, huh?  I'm calm.

Three Questions

I thought I'd take a minute and answer just three questions.  These are the questions I am asked 99% of the time I'm working on a project or scrapping with my friends.

Q:  Where do I get my inspiration?

A:  Everywhere.  I view my life, my family, my friends, my experiences, my feelings, my thoughts, and my surroundings through my scrapbook lenses. 

I soak in everything (I have a steel trap that way).  I read blogs.  I follow designers and companies, and I subscribe to the major scrapbooks mags.  I print ads, photos, and tear out things I see in print.  They all get tossed into an Inspiration file.  With pinterest, anything I love on the internet gets "pinned".  (If you want to get started, leave me a comment below, and I'll send you an invite.)

Q:  What are my favorite scrapbook internet sites?

A:  I love several:

1. Two Peas in a Bucket
2. Let's Scrap
3. Scrapbook.com

They have amazing galleries.  You can sit for hours and hours looking through layouts. Two Peas alone has over 1,100,000 layouts posted.  If you're more of a "show-me-how-to-do-that" person,  Let's Scrap has an arsenal of sketches you can print & adapt to your style.  Scrapbook.com has a cool feature that connects the layout to the product.  Couldn't be easier.

Q:  Where did I get that? Or this?

A:  I don't remember (exactly).  I shop at the big two in my town: Michaels and Hobby Lobby.  There are coupons in our newspaper every Sunday.  I vowed (with my hand over my heart and with my three fingers held up) a long time ago to never waste a 40% off coupon.  Just won't do it.  We also have an Archivers store here in Westminster.  I like that store as well, but I always use a coupon there too.  Scrapbook supplies are plentiful and costly.  I like a deal.

In addition to "touch and feel" stores (and when I want to shop at odd hours), here are my top three go-to internet shopping sites (make sure to look on the site for coupons and discounted shipping offers):

1. Two Peas
2. Scrapbook.com Superstore
3. A Cherry on Top

Just for fun, if you'd like to see "me" at any of these places I've mentioned above, you can find me here:

1.  Pinterest
2.  Let's Scrap
3.  Two Peas

There you have it!  If you want to know something else about me, just ask.

An Irish Blessing

 /ˈblɛsɪŋ/ Show Spelled

bless-ing

pronunciation [bles'ing]

noun

1. the act or words of a person who blesses.

2. a special favor, mercy, or benefit: the blessings of liberty.

3. a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.

4. the invoking of God's favor upon a person: The son was denied his father's blessing.

5. praise; devotion; worship, especially grace said before a meal: The children took turns reciting the blessing.

6. approval or good wishes: The proposed law had the blessing of the governor.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend.  Stay safe.

Friday Freebie

You may have noticed my new "motto" over there to the right.  I was inspired by this photo I found on pinterest.  It is so me.

So...I now have a motto for my photographic endeavors, but I also wanted a piece of framed artwork for my scrapbook studio.  I went a little overboard and couldn't decide on what color I wanted.  After several different versions all pasted on my wall, I decided on black and white. 



Frame is from Hobby Lobby (50% off!)

Since I had done all that work so many other choices, I decided to put them up here on the blog for my followers:

Free download:

Keep Calm and Take a Photo - 8x10 Freebie

Print the images just as you would any other photo using a photo lab such as Costco, Shutterfly, or Walgreens.  Or, do as I do and print on your home printer.  I printed mine on 90# smooth white (index weight) cardstock. The images are 8×10 in size. Matte and frame and you’ll have a positive reminder in your home to keep goin’ and shootin'

Terms of use:

• Prints are offered here for followers only.  If you're not a follower, please sign up - and  Welcome aboard!
• Prints are for personal use only. They are not to be resold for any type of profit. 

Designed by Judy.  If you have any questions, please contact me at onejr@aol.com

Project Life - Weeks 7 & 8

Okay, so I am still a little behind.  I had planned to get this posted and caught up, but with the end of the blog hop, it has just taken me a while to get it posted.

Week seven was Valentine's week...so lots of redness.

Bill and I still exchange Valentine's.  I love that about us.  And, since I received my order of plastics on the 23rd (I had been waiting ever so patiently), I thought it would be great to keep the cards love notes that we exchanged and used one of the new 6" x 12" page protectors (I call them half-ers).

The Notes and the heart/love you (a freebie here) were cut from my Silhouette.  I like the look of the half-er from the front, but not quite sure about how it looks when you turn the page.  I'm leaving it alone for the time being, but I may come back and add something to the top.

Week 8...pretty plain jane.

However, I did cut a 4" x 6" photo down and mounted it on one of the title cards along with some cute Mardi Gras Jolee's embellishments.

{Observations} is also a Silhouette cut from a travel kit (get it here).  Other than that, pretty darn simple.  Love that about Project Life.

Sweet little cookie

In honor of OREO's 100th birthday (geez, I've been a fan for half of their existence!), I thought I'd post my absolute favorite OREO recipe.  It's super easy.  Super decadent.

Dirt Pudding

Ingredients:
19 oz crushed OREOs
2 sm boxes French Vanilla Pudding
2 3/4 C milk
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 C powdered sugar
1/2 stick butter
8 oz Cool Whip

In a small bowl, mix pudding & milk.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and butter.  Add pudding mixture & cool whip.  Mix all together.

Layer 1/2 of the crushed OREOs in a 13" x 9" pan, cover with the pudding filling mixture.  Layer remaining OREOs on top.  Refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Leap Around the World Blog Hop - UPDATE

My first ever blog hop has come to and end (insert sadness).  It was really fun, and I've met some super cool and talented crafters in cyber land.  In total there were 1,213 cards/layouts made for the hop and uploaded to Let's Scrap. Amazing.

If you will remember (refresh your memory here), I was assigned a sketch for a card and I made not one, but two cards.  Well...twenty-one talented ladies jumped on the challenge (hmmm...I'm wondering if it was because of my awesome prize?). 

Feast your eyes on this:

You can see the sketch in the middle.  Isn't it fabulous to see how each lady adapted the sketch.  The cards are fantabulous!

My blog prize goes to Kelly:

Her comment:
Thanks so much for your part in this HUGE hop! Truly appreciated! I like card sample A best because of the red background...beautiful! Card B is also really nice ;)

Congrats Kelly!