Emily Jones

Easy Leprechaun Craft

This morning has been stressful.

Jim had to work today, and that leaves three stir-crazy kiddos with me all day with nothing to do.

I asked the kids if they wanted to maybe do a craft and Joey said: "Can we do a Leprechaun craft?!" 

I thought for a minute and said, "Hang on, I'll see what I can come up with."  So I went to my little Cloffice pulled out some supplies and in about five minutes had a craft for the kids.  I am super proud of myself because I am not an on the fly kind of thinker, so yay me!

I don't know about you, but the worst part about making crafts with the kids is the prep time.  Cutting and tracing and measuring, it just sucks the fun out of it, at least for me.  So let me tell you with great happiness that this little craft takes around  two minutes to prep.

 

Here is my little Leprechaun creation, isn't he cute?!

Here are the materials you will need: 

A square punch

A large circle punch

A larger scalloped circle punch

A heart punch

Cardstock

And scissors or a trimmer, and glue.

You will need to punch: 

Two large circles of the green (my green cardstock was double sided dark and light green, so you may want to grab two different colors of green, but all one color is fine too!)

One large scalloped circle of orange

One large circle of peach

One green square

Two green hearts. 

Then you will cut a small strip of black cardstock for the belt and a small square of yellow for the buckle.

Your supplies should look like this:

You can use white cardstock or construction paper for the base of your project.

 

Using Elmer's glue or a glue stick, adhere the peach circle to the orange scalloped beard, set aside.

Glue your large green circle (the belly) to your paper base, leaving room at the top of your paper for the head and hat.

Next, glue your head to the body, overlapping the two circles just a bit.

Next you will glue your black belt to your Leprechaun's belly.

Then add the buckle.

Use the other green circle, cut it in half, and adhere one half to the top of the leprechaun's head, overlapping just a bit again.

Next, use your green square and place it flush against the half circle.

Grab your two green hearts, dab a bit of glue on the backside of one, and place it over the top of the other, creating a four leaf clover.

Add some glue to the back of your clover and adhere to the leprechauns hat.

Once he is all put together, you can use a black pen to add a face, or legs and arms, and that's it!  Easy peasy! 

Joey made his say "Yay!"  And told me that this craft was "Sooo much fun!"  So there ya go.  A craft that is pleasing to a Second grader, Kindergartner, and a three year old!  Woohoo!

Clean up was a breeze, there was virtually no mess! 

Now on to the other things on today's agenda....LAUNDRY.  (BOO!)

XOXO,

Em

Loving Hands

The other day I got upset over something so stupid.  Something that was not worth crying about, but I did. I heaved heavy, loud, wracking sobs into Jim's chest. 

I sat on the top stair, of the two stair decent that leads into the garage from the kitchen.  Jim knelt in front of me, as he would any of our children, and he held out his arms for me to collapse into.  We sat like this for a few minutes, as tears of frustration, tears of anger, tears of pain, rolled down my cheeks.

It felt good.

Until I felt a tiny hand on my shoulder.  It was Jake.  And my stomach dropped.

I hate to cry like this in front of my kids.  hate.

I know that they should see me cry once in awhile, and they do.  Maybe they see me wipe away tears, okay SOBS, at the end of Toy Story 3, because OMG it's so sad, Andy leaves for college! 

But I never want them to see me like this.  Wallowing in self-pity, crying because I'm pissed.  Not using my words, and basically, having a tantrum.  You know, the same thing I tell them not to do.

Jake asked me, "What's wrong mommy, why are you sad?"  And I didn't know what to tell him.  I paused, and finally just said:

"I'm crying because I'm mad.  Because I'm frustrated.  Isn't that silly?" 

And Jake bent forward, locked his arms around my neck and said, "I love you mommy."

Which made me cry even harder.

And then I heard the tiny pad of Lily's footsteps running into the kitchen.  She was decked out in full princess gear, head to toe, which made me smile.  And Lily stopped, looked at me and asked:

"You sad Momma?"

She came over, put her face in mine, gave me a kiss and rubbed my back, murmuring, "It's okay mommy, it's okay.  Don't cry."

And we sat like this, the four of us in the kitchen.  Jake and Lily were, by this time, both in my lap.  And we rocked back and forth. 

And I began to cry once more.

But this time, I was crying tears of happiness, tears of gratitude.

I am so blessed.

These kids are my everything.

Later that night, after the kids were asleep, and we lay in bed reminiscing about the scene in the kitchen earlier, I marveled at how sweet the kids had been to comfort me the way the did.  How they seemed to know just what I needed in that moment.

I said: "Lily is such a little mommy."

And Jim looked at me, smiled and said:

"And where do you think she learned that?  She learned it from her mommy.  You teach the kids compassion, you show them what kindness is.  She is only imitating the example you set.  You are an awesome mom, and they are so lucky to have you."

You know what?  Sometimes Jim knows exactly what I need to hear too.

My day started off with anger, and frustration and wanting to punch things, but it took one simple act, the act of being surrounded by loving hands, sitting on a kitchen floor, to change my perspective on everything.

All I know is I'm going to do my best to show my children the compassion and comfort they showed me.  The next time one of them is crying because they are frustrated or angry (which happens a lot)  I will not send them to their room for having a tantrum.  I will place loving hands on them and murmur.   "I'm here."

"It's Okay."

 

 

 

 

 

No-Cost Living Room Redo

 

So, I'm back with another "redo". :)

Ever since we got these vintage chairs, I have been obsessed with rearranging the living room to show them off.. They took a little fixing, okay, A LOT of fixing.  Jim worked very hard to restore them, they are literally vintage, not just vintage looking.  The insides are burlap and horse hair, people.

Once they were sturdy and ready to go in the house, I knew what I wanted to do.  This is once again, A zero cost makeover that was achieved by switching things around and pulling pieces from one place to another.

 

Before:

It was a perfectly nice living room, but too much couch.   The plaid couch was given to us by my parents, and we kept it because it's a hide-a-bed, which can be handy, but eventually we just decided to donate it because it was taking up room and wasn't really our style.

The treadmill that you see next the the couch is now in it's new home, the garage.  We cleaned out the garage and now there is a "man space" office and workout area.  :)

 

After:

Oh how I love the after.

By switching our glass table behind the couch for the Ikea expedit in the dining room, we created a separate living/dining area.  I love how the books are now part of the room.  We are avid readers in this house and the books are a must. 

Don't my vintage chairs look pretty?!  I love them so much.  Eventually we will recover them, but for now the tan corduroy works fine in the space.  The new rug was bought with a Home Depot gift card, so it was technically free.  So even the only new piece added to room was no cost.  And if you notice the new pillows, I made those with fabric and pillow forms I had on hand.

The next thing on the list for this room is paint.  I want to paint the wall that has the couch and mirror a pretty marigold color to match the rug.  Slowly but surely this room will be the yellow+grey+black that I am envisioning.

Once the walls are painted, I of course, will post pictures.

 

Hope you're having a great weekend!

XOXO,

Em

December Ramblings

It's definitely starting to feel like Christmas!

We've had our tree up since the second of December, and the lights too, but I'm getting so excited now that Christmas is only a few days away!

We finsihed up our shopping yesterday afternoon, and I cannot wait for the kids to open their gifts.  Also, remember that guitar that Jake asked Santa for?  I'm pretty sure Santa is briging Jake his very own Toy Story guitar. 

Just like every year Joey is getting a TON of books, which I'm sure he'll have read by January 1st.  ;)  That boy is such a voracious reader.  He is getting a ton of Goosebumps books, Diary of A Wimpy Kid 4, 5, and the Do-It-Yourself Journal, Animorphs, various Science related books, and my favorite?  The Baby Sitter's Club Mysteries.  Yep, you read that right.  My boy likes the Baby Sitters Club!  Just don't tell his friends. hehehe.  I am so excited that he enjoys those books, as they were my absolute favorites as a kid.  I had the whole series, including the mysteries and super specials, and I wanted to be Stacy.  So, I am pretty stoked that Joey likes them, though he tells me he likes the mystery ones because I think that makes him feel better about liking such an overtly girlish series. ;)

The present I am most excited about this year?  My novel.  It is a Middle Grade (meaning for middle grade elementary kids) fantasy.  The best part is that Joey is the protagonist in the book, and I wrote it for him.  I finished editing it a couple weeks ago and ordered it through lulu.com, and I got notice yesterday that it should be here sometime this week.  I cannot wait to give it to him.  He has NO idea that I did this. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics from around the house and what we've been up to the last 21 days of December.  I am participating in Ali Edwards' December Daily project, but I'm waiting to put the album together until after the Holidays because I am getting the photos printed and shipped next week.  So here is a bit of our December:

 

My vintage glass bulb lights, LOVE them!

My Christmas Village.

Stockings were hung by the (pictures) with care.

Tis the season for Christmas themed homework!

Our pretty wreath.

The tree has been trimmed. (And re-trimmed by little fingers that like to move ornaments around.) ;)

Taking pictures of ornaments that mean something to me.  This particular one was given to me by my Grandmother when I was a young teen.

Baking and decorating sugar cookies.

Hanging the ornaments on our advent tree.

Tearing off links on our Christmas Countdown chain.

Just a few short days until Christmas!  Unfortunately Joey is having an MRI tomorrow, (more on that later) so I am looking forward to tomorrow being over quickly, and then beginning the joyous festivities. 

Christmas is and will always be my favorite time of the year.

XO,

Em

Month in Review...

It's been a little over a month since I've updated, and I don't know why I feel so guilty about that, but I do...so here's what's been keeping me away....

Field-trip to a super fun Local Museum with Joey's class:

A delightful 78th Birthday Tea Party for Grandma Betty at my mom's house....

This handsome boy of mine had his 29th birthday, and we celebrated with a BBQ and poker night:

And of course Easter, which we shared with Grandma Betty and Aunt Becky:

And lots of fun times in between:

(How to Train Your Dragon in 3D)

Needless to say, I haven't had much time to scrap....I'm still working on layouts for my goal of going through Liz Kartchner's 52 Scrapbooking Challenges...and you can even find one of my layouts on her blog Dear Lizzy {and I was told there are more of mine that will be featured. :-)}   I plan on updating with some new layouts very soon...

Tomorrow I will be back with another post, on a topic that I hope to make a weekly feature....In the meantime, if you've made it this far in this loooooongg post, thanks for reading! 

Season of Change...

Hi friends,

As you may have noticed, I have been having trouble keeping my blog updated.  It's not that I don't want to blog, in fact, a lot of the time I write entries in my head while in line waiting for Joey to get out of school.  But I seem to have fallen into the trap of, "well, it's been so long since I last blogged, how do I recap?" Or, "I have other things to do."  But, I am reminding myself that the reason I started this blog was for me.  For my family, for my kids. 

I don't expect a lot of people to read or comment, I don't want to HAVE to blog in order to make a living, (and kudos to anyone who has to keep up with THAT!) I just want to have a small place in the Internet world that I can call my own, somewhere my memories are written down and easily recalled.

So, I'm making an early resolution this year, well, more of a goal really.  I want to blog from the heart.  I want to tell my stories, even if it's just with pictures, and I want to share more of me.  I don't want to worry about what people think of the post, wonder if it's "okay" to post an entry without pictures or layouts.  I'm just going to do this for me.  I'm going to invite my family to read here, and let them know when it's updated.  They are my true audience, and the ones that most look forward to updates.

So, I would love it if you wanted to continue reading and being a part of my life, even if I don't know you.  My blog is most likely going to involve scrapbooking a lot less and focus on life a lot more, and if that's not your thing, no worries, my feelings aren't hurt if you don't want to read anymore.

Thanks to those people who I call my "online friends" who comment, who email me, who care about what I'm up to, I love that I get to share my world with you, and I hope you will delight in my journeys as I make changes in my life. 

Love to all,

Em

My Little Shoebox May Projects!

Hey there!

Thought I'd share my MLS projects for May....this month we were lucky enough to partner with Hambly Studios and use some of their products in conjunction with our MLS product!  I LOVE Hambly, so this was extra fun for me!

Also, this month at My Little Shoebox, we are focusing on showing different techniques with our transparencies and chipboard, so I have added those techniques in my descriptions.  You can find the rest of the MLS DT's techniques and projects here starting May 1st!

Playing Ponies

Journaling:

This was the best $2.99 I ever spent!  I found this My Little Pony house at the goodwill and you fell in love!  You now have4 ponies and love to bounce them around their house!

Technique: I used a nail file on the chipboard letters to create a cross-hatched pattern.

Love Birds

Journaling:

We are totally snuggly lovebirds!  Even after all these years, you still make me weak in the knees!  I am so lucky to have  found you and made a life with you.  I love our beautiful family and I love you! April 2009

Happy Lily

Journaling:

You are always smiling!

Technique: One of my favorite things to do with chipboard titles is to layer the letter for extra depth.  I also ran out of the letter "P" and used letter "a" turned upside down with the tails cut off!

Another technique here is creating personalized embellishments with the transparencies.  I used the "Who's There" flowers and stickled them so they popped right off the page! 

Beach Baby (MLS and Hambly)

J0urnaling:

Lily, I think your fave part of our beach vacation was sitting on the beach in your baby bikini!  Although I don't think you liked the sand too much after you figured out what it tasted like!

Expecting You (MLS and Hambly)

I used my square punch to punch out the MLS patterned paper and the Hambly Overlays!  I didn't know if you could punch through an overlay, but surprise! You can!  I then stitched the squares with my sewing machine and embellished!

Budding Artist (MLS and Hambly)

Journaling:

Lily you loved painting at the Children's Museum!  You were very excited to try it by yourself, and even though you got it EVERYWHERE it was great fun!  You painted such a pretty picture!

I created this paintbrush my free hand drawing the base and stem and used a die cut heart turned upside down for the brush!  I then flicked pink paint on the top and bottom of the overlay for added texture.

Congrats Card (MLS and Hambly)

So there they are!

Also, if you get a chance stop on over to Bella Blvd, where I am featured!

And oh yeah.....It's my birthday! ;-) Happy 25 to me!

-Em

Update

Hey!  I've fallen off the face of the earth!  Sorry!

My laptop is once again (DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT AGAIN) is in the shop.  Possibly from me throwing it off a 14 story building.  Okay, so maybe only in my fantasies. hehee...I hate that thing!
I am writing from J's computer, which is hard to get onto between him and the boys fighting over it! 

Not much to share today, lots of stuff going on at Joey's school, a couple projects and oh yea!  Joey's teacher finally got him tested for the gifted program and surprised us all by placing out of Kindergarten and into Second Grade!  How cool is that?!  He is such a smart cookie and we are so proud of him.  He is going to get some special work in the classroom and more one on one time with his teacher until the end of the school year and then next year will be a part of the gifted program that starts in first grade.  We made a decision a couple years back when we realized that he was very smart that we wouldn't want him to skip a grade.  I have known and heard people say that it did more damage than good to their child emotionally and socially to have them skip.  Do you have any experience in this?

What else have we been up to?  Hmmmm....well Sunday we went to the zoo with our friends John, Jana and baby Burton and had a great time!  Then Monday I babysat little Burton for John while he worked.  It was so fun (and exhausting!) to have another little baby in the house!  It was like a glimpse of what life would be like if Lily had been a twin!  Burton was great though, and ended up really clicking with Jake!  It was so cute, he kept climbing on Jake's back and hugging him.  At one point they snuggled up together under Jake's blankey and Burton almost fell asleep!  So cute!

Oh!  I also forgot to share that I got two layouts picked up for Scrapbook Trends!  One is for the September Issue and the other is for their Holiday Idea Book!  I'm so psyched! 

So, Monday is my birthday, the big 25!  LOL!  We are planning on celebrating on Friday at weekly poker night with my friend Jana, who's birthday is the day before mine, so we'll have a double celebration....then Sunday we're heading over to my parents house for my bday dinner.  I feel old this year.  LOL....I always feel older than my birthday though.  I feel like this year should be 35 not 25!  I think it's just because a lot has happened in the last 7 years! 

So that's what's up with me!  I am knee deep in my May projects for My Little Shoebox, and they are turning out CUTE!  I can't wait to share them! 

Oh!  And I hope you are voting for my boyfriend on American Idol!  He's gonna win!! I just know it!

Have a great day!
-Em

Just a quick one....

So, tomorrow we start the big move!
My parents took the kids for the weekend so we could get in some quality packing time, and I think we did pretty well! 
We sign the papers tomorrow night and get the keys, so as soon as we are done I'm gonna take pics of the new place and post them here!

I'm so excited for tomorrow I may not be able to sleep!!

I'm BAAAAAACKKK!!

Sorry, I have been a badddd blogger...but I promise to do better!!!

Things have been all kinds of crazy up in here...we've been showing our house constantly, and FINALLY got an offer!!! WOOOT!  Hopefully their financing will work out and we'll get this baby sold!

ALSO, this past weekend was National Scrapbooking Day, and I participated in a bunch of challenges over at AMM...

Here are a couple of my fav Lo's from the weekend...

Diggin' the bright colors lately!  Can you tell?!

AlSO, in some ridiculously fantastic news;

Making Memories has asked me to design a LO for their blog!  Ahh!! I am so beyond stoked about this I may faint! 
AND, Rusty Pickle requested one of my layots for their newsletter! 

WOO HOO!!!

ALSO:  Challenge 8 is up at TDX!  LOVE all the layouts this week, soooo fabulous!!  We are still having our DT call, and you have until May 16th to get your submission in!

And last but most def. NOT least, Lily got her first Exersaucer!!!  She is totally in love with it!  It's a Pink Princess Tea Party Saucer...LOVE!

Okay, worlds most random post is done!  Hope everyone had an awesome NSD Weekend!!!