Sneak Peek

So, I'm super impatient, and I couldn't wait to give a little sneak peek as to what's been a-shakin' in our bedroom this last weekend. In my last post, I mentioned a little something about Man Cave grey and a game room... Well... Here is a little look at what's been done so far:

It's definitely nowhere near completion, but it's so stinkin' awesome to have gotten this much done!! We both absolutely LOVE the grey {sorry, think I mentioned that one or seven times in my last post!!}, and Jon is stoked to be able to display his growing Nintendo/gaming collection.

Sorry for the not-so-stellar pic quality; I got the shelf up around 9:45 tonight. After sending Jon a pic at work, I had to take a couple for my own documentation purposes... ;)

I really want to make some gaming themed art for our room, and we've been keeping our eyes peeled for some awesome Mountain Dew art/signange that's affordable, but that's not working out so well. So, I had a brainy idea on Sunday... I could make a mini quilt using the design on the arcade's side panel for inspiration{see pic below}. I'm planning to trace the letters and applique them, with a green border and bright green binding. I'm hoping to match up fabric colors to the machine's colors as best as I possibly can... I think it'll be awesome. Now I just have to find time to do it.

I'm also thinking some pixelated Space Invaders artwork will be in the works, also. I've got a plan utilizing my Cricut and some blank canvases...

There you have it. A poor glimpse at an unfinished room. But we love it. =)

Before I sign off and go clean like a crazy woman, here are two kiddo side stories:

I was outside with Jack and June on Tuesday while Jon was mowing the lawn, and a big, fat earthworm was lazily making his way across the sidewalk. June spotted him and immediately scooped him up. She named him 'Snakey' and was delighted that he was squirming around in her little hand. At one point he must've tickled her... "Oh, Snakey," she giggled, "that tickles!!" A minute or so later, I caught her ripping a piece from one of poor Snakey's ends, so I quickly stopped her and we chatted about being nice to living critters. Well, the very next thing I know, her little knuckles were white and there were worm bits all over her hand. Poor Snakey had been dismembered. Will quickly found the bright side {from his perspective} by stating that now we would have even more worms to dig up for fishing.

Jon had to work tonight, and we were TOTALLY out of food. Like totally OUT OF FOOD. My poor children thought they were starving, so we made our way to the store. Taking the kids to the store by myself is not one of my favorite things to do. Call me chicken, coward, whatever, it's simply much easier to take one or none. Between rowdy discussions of the 'proper' way to say bologna {bo-lag-ney or bo-logg-naa}, a spontaneous funny face competition, and a minor dispute over whether or not to buy Lunchables, we were well entertained. The best moment, however, came while we were in the raw chicken isle. I was scoping out the whole chickens when I noticed Jack out of the corner of my eye... He was seriously studying a package of chicken wings that still had their bones/skins, and very delicately poking at them... "Whoooaaaa.... Look, mom!! Brains!!" It took some serious convincing on my part to get him to believe that it was chicken, not brains. I still can't figure out where on earth he would've come up with that. Oy.

Anyway, enough of that. Thanks for reading. It truly is super exciting to think that somebody actually reads my ramblings. Stay tuned... I've got some big plans for the future that include re-opening my Etsy shop and a giveaway... The giveaway will only be for those subscribing or following my blog, so if you haven't started following Jennie's Jewels yet, be sure to do so!! More details on that coming very, very soon!

In all seriousness, if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or any other form of communication you wish to share, feel free to send it my way. It might take me a day or two to respond, but I promise I will. =)

Thanks again, and Happy Almost-Friday ya'll!

Jennie

Life.

Life has not been particularly kind the last couple of weeks, but time will help heal the hurt. I've been reminded, yet again, just how blessed I am to have married into such a wonderful family. Their unwavering love and support for one another is amazing, and I'm honored to be a part of it.

This weekend has been non-stop. I decided on a whim to paint our bedroom, because it's gotten pretty much no attention at all since we moved into our house three years ago. So, Saturday morning, I made my way into Lowe's. I knew I wanted to paint it grey, but I wasn't sure about shade, darkness, etc. I was looking through the samples and knew I had the right shade as soon as I saw the name: Man Cave {grey}.                 [Insert lengthy, yet explanetory, backstory here.] My husband loves 'vintage' games. We have all manner of systems, and piles of games to go along with them. I am not complaining - I love his collection and think he could totally have way worse obsessions that old video games and systems. He works super hard, and I'm thrilled to indulge him as a very small thanks for all he does. We've also got a super duper arcade machine that I won a few years back, and thought this might be a perfect opportunity to make him an awesome 'game room'. [End of backstory.]                      On a whim, I checked out the 'mistint' shelves and discovered two gallons of paint that were the same shade for $5 each. I've by DYING to paint my kitchen, but have been having a heck of a time trying to figure out what color I wanted. For $10, I figured I could live with it as I'm absolutely sick of the color it is now {a burnt orange, courtesy of the previous homeowners} and chucked it in my cart.

So, that was Saturday. Now we're at Monday. How far did I get? Well, our bedroom is completely painted {with the exception of the ceiling, but that'll come sometime....} and we ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! I couldn't have found a better shade at all. It compliments the furniture well, and isn't too dark as I feared it might've been. Thankfully, Jon loves it as much as I do! We've moved the arcade machine in, and picked up a media storage unit to house all of his Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. I've got shelves to put up, and a few other things to take care of before I share pictures, but stay tuned. I thought I'd tell the story now so I squeeze in a few extra pics when the time comes. =)

Also, the mistint turned out to be a total homerun! I've only gotten one full wall and part of another done, but it looks AWESOME! I've been 'deep cleaning' while prepping/painting, so it's been a lengthy process, but I feel so very accomplished this weekend! And I am totally thrilled at the idea of a 'new' kitchen for $10!! =)

We even got to squeeze in time at the cabin with some of Jon's family, and bonfires and water balloons fights are being planned by the kiddos for this afternoon and evening. But, for now, time to get back to work. I'm hoping to get a little more painting done, as I'm super impatient to finish up the kitchen.

Sorry for all the words! Since it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, I suppose I'm feeling a bit chatty. Here's some pics from our hijinks at the cabin yesterday:

Oh, Wacky Jacky... I love the faces he makes. =)

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day!! Thanks to all the men and women that have and continue to serve our country. Thank you {and your loved ones} for your service and great sacrifice for our freedom and our country.

Jennie

Ten things I know about my mom....

I cringed with fear when I saw this heading on a page I pulled from Will's backpack. It was one of those 'come to Jesus' moments where my brief life as a mother flashed in front of my eyes and I pondered what sort of terrible scars I had imparted upon this poor child in his ten years on this earth. Oh dear Lord, what did he write?!? Well, here it is...

1. My mom is a very kind person.
2. My mom works at the hospital.
3. My mom is a very good cook.
4. My mom worked at A&W before her new job.
5. My mom own's a Jeep.
6. My mom plays Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies with me.**
7. My mom takes me to school when Jack is sick.
8. My mom likes her job.
9. My mom likes to play Jak and Daxter.
10. My mom also likes to play Sly Cooper.

**{in case you're wondering, we turn the voices off} =)

What a hoot!!

He's a good kid. They all are. All three of our kids are similar, yet very unique in their own way. They've all got their challenges and strengths, but all three of them are consistently loving and tenderhearted, which makes this mama very happy and proud. I love my little family, our homestead, our lives. It's such a great blessing to be their mother.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Jennie

Things 'N Stuff

Happy Friday, ya'll!  =)

As I mentioned last week, this is Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm a horrid parent and am only doing one gift, as my bank account hasn't learned the art of self-replenishment yet. I would LOVE to do all sorts of awesome things for the wonderful people that give so much of themselves to educate our children. I'm still waiting for the day when I'm independently wealthy....

Anyway, before I get to my teacher gifts, I wanted to quickly share the camera strap I made a week or so ago. I made it using a tutorial by Vanessa over at LBG Studio. The tutorial was detailed and super easy to follow. I whumped this little puppy up in no time flat. It was lots of fun and I actually managed to do some pretty straight stitching, which is no small feat for me!

I've been putting it to good use, and I absolutely love it!! I definitely will be making more of these!

Alrighty, on to the teacher's gifts. I absolutely loved the 'Sharpies' and 'Smarties' jars that Jessica shared over at little pumpkin grace. She has all sorts of lovely ideas that could keep a person busy for quite some time. Very inspiring!

I wanted to do my own little thing with the jars, and the following pics show what I came up with. Will gave it his seal of approval, so I figure that if he's happy, it's gotta be relatively okay. Right?!

Funny story about the safety pins: I was planning to punch a hole in the little cards and attach them with ribbon, but I couldn't find my hole punch for ANYTHING!! I was so stinkin' frustrated, because I knew it was lurking about somewhere, but I just couldn't remember where. I always hide items like that in a 'safe' place, so the kids don't get a hold of them and I know where they are whenever I might need them next. *snorts*  Yeah, right. I can never find it when I want to. So, I improvised and used safety pins to attach the cards to the ribbon. Guess what?! When I put June to bed tonight, I saw the hole punch on a shelf in her room. Why? My best guess is that one of the kids had it and I snatched it up in a hurry and put in the first place I thought was relatively safe. Make sense? No, not really, but it's the way things go in this crazy house. Oh well, at least it's been found!  =)

Honestly, I'm quite happy with how they turned out. I think they're super cute, and I always dig it when I can give a gift I've made.

Another project done! Time for bed! =)

Jennie

Finished It!!

I LOVE finishing a project - especially when I LOVE the outcome!!   =) For the first part of this project, complete with lots of pics {sorry!} click here.

I think my mom will love it!! =)

Jennie

Sunday Sewing

I managed to get a substantial amount of cleaning done yesterday, so I felt like I deserved a day of sewing. I was super excited to get started on my mom's gift for Mother's Day... =) The only problem with getting ahead is that I have a hard time being patient until it's gifting time!

Mom and I stopped at stopped into Goodwill the other day, and I picked up two vintage hand-embroidered linen arm chair covers for $.50 each. Seriously. I couldn't pass that up {never mind that I have a stash of these at home already}. So, I did some searching to see what might speak to me, and I found a lovely tutorial for a paper-pieced heart that was reverse appliqued. I raided my stash of fabric and this is what I've come up with...

{so pretty!}

{i used the home accents cartridge for my cricut to make the heart}

{used a ruler to draw the pattern based upon Craft Couture by T.C.'s tutorial}

{picked out my fabrics}

{traced my pattern onto freezer paper and started sewing}

{oops!! time to rip out some stitches!}

{yay! getting closer!}

{i was sure i was going to mess this up!}

{so amazed that i somehow managed to line it up almost exactly- that'll never happen again!}

{cut the excess linen out and phase I is complete!!!}

It's not done yet!! Just finished sewing some vintage buttons on it, and I've got to make and attach some backing... Stay tuned! =)

Jennie

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week runs from Monday, May 7, to Friday, May 11. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out something inexpensive, yet adequate to give to all of the teachers my boys interact with on a weekly basis.

After searching the web (and re-visiting my 'Holidays' board on Pinterest), I've found some cheap, quick, and easy things I'm going to try and drum up for this week:

little pumpkin grace put together these sweet little containers...



and I especially loved these...



Maryann over at Domestically Speaking made these fun jars with M&M's...

I found these jazzed up bottles of hand sanitizer at Simply This & That...


And last, but not least, Landee See, Landee Do offers a free printable for this great idea....

There are so many great ideas out there! Thank goodness for the internet - it picks up where my creativity leaves off... =)

Hope this helps any of you that are struggling to find last minute gift ideas for the teachers in your life! I'm off to the store to start gathering supplies!!

Happy Crafting! =)

Jennie