2011 November | Plum Adorable

“spring” cleaning in the fall

There is something about this time of year that makes me want to clean out closets, drawers, cubby holes, and cabinets. I don’t know what it is but I have been on a mean cleaning and organizing kick lately! And apparently I am not alone! I had to laugh when I saw Sunny Side Up’s blog this week because it was the same thing that Jenny and I had both been doing too!

There is just something so therapeutic for me in cleaning and organizing! I got to clean up my office, my spice and baking cabinets, my hall closet and even organize our games/crafts/arts &crafts bins/and puzzles!!!

Jenny sent me the link to this blog yesterday because she could totally relate! And so could I! Especially and specifically where our office/craft/exercise room is concerned. And this is the WORST room to contain the mess because this is where I need to go to be creative and crafty but it is SO HARD when it looks like this……

UGGHHHH!! I can actually see part of the desk which is an improvement from the previous day. But SERIOUSLY! Look at all that stuff! I LOATHE piles of junk and this was seriously cramming my style (and as you can see above cramming my desk, the cubby holes, etc….)

SO I decided to remedy this situation today. I bought really cute little blue bins from Target, (only $1 a piece right now ladies!) and got all the cubby holes organized again! Then I started going through the PILES and got rid of those too!! And now I feel like I can breathe as I sit at my desk!!

See… it’s better now!!

And I really like the blue bins I found! The hubby did think they were a “little girly” but then he was thrilled that they were only $1 each!

SO I totally forgot to take BEFORE pictures of the rest but I was so excited to just get this stuff cleaned up! So here are my AFTER photos- I feel so much better just looking at them!

My spice cabinet!! This cabinet is an odd shape and I finally broke down and bought a 3 tiered organizer for my spices and I am kicking myself for not doing that 6 years ago when I moved in! Notice my GINORMOUS Taco Seasoning jar from Costco, I have made a LOT of chicken tacos with that over the past 10 years! (Okay, really it is NOT that old but it has lasted FOREVER!!)

These cabinets hold most of my small baking supplies and are super skinny and tiny so I am always trying to shove as much as I possibly can into them! But they look so neat now!!!!

And I also got to spend some time on our large hall closet right in front of our front door! I always try to make sure it looks fairly put together since you can see right into it as you walk into our home if the door isn’t shut and since our kids games/puzzles/art supplies are stored there, they ALWAYS leave it open (Pet peeve alert!) .

We got out ALL our kids puzzles and put them ALL together to make sure we had all the pieces and chucked the ones that were missing pieces! It was great, the kids were totally helpful on this one!

All in all, it has been a productive week! And it feels so GOOD to have things organized!!

SOOOOOO……..what are you gonna go clean out now?? (Or not, you could just find another fun blog to read too!!)

~JESS

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Filed Under: Misc.

We are thankful tree {free 8×10 printable}

8 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

This thankful tree is a fun idea to get the whole family involved in. The tree is sized for an 8×10 inch frame. Print out the leaves and cut them out. Write on the leaves things that you are thankful for. I plan to set it out with the leaves next to it and let the kids add more leaves whenever they want! I suggest you find a good pen before you write. All my brown pens were dried up! But, I decided I liked it just the way it was since the girls wrote on their own leaves! Notice my nine year old is thankful for art supplies. I guess the ‘leaf’ doesn’t fall too far from the tree…ha!

Click on the pictures below to download prints.

For best results print on a premium presentation paper.

Enjoy

~Jenny

Linking up with…

Nothing But Country Skip To My Lou Naptime Crafters

Chef In Training Dittle Dattle Tip Junkie

Todays Creative Blog Not Just A Housewife

One Artsy Momma Yesterday On Tuesday

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Tip Junkie

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Filed Under: Fall, Free Printables, Kids

Thankful pinning

7 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

November is in full swing which means that Thanksgiving is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

I am loving what I am seeing on Facebook lately. Have you noticed it too? SO many of my friends are posting each day what they are thankful for this month. I LOVE this idea!!! I haven’t been doing it on Facebook because I kept forgetting and I am LAME! (I really did mean to do it!)

Luckily, I (we) have a blog so I get to share with you my first 7 days of Thankfulness! (And then I will be making a special list of all the things for the month, including what my family is thankful for and then we’ll add that to our scrapbook!)

Here are my first 7 days of Thankfulness!

1. For a God that loves me, forgives me, and sent His son to die for me!

2. A husband who is truly my best friend and the LOVE of my LIFE!!!

3. 2 Adorable children whom I love more than ever I knew it was possible to love another being!

4. A family that accepts me and loves me (and sometimes mocks me too!)

5. Friends who are close enough to be family!! I have some AMAZING friends in my life!! True story folks!!!

6. A home that I love!

7. Chocolate! (Really, I am VERY thankful for chocolate!)

Day 8 will be how THANKFUL I am for this BLOG!!! (it was a toss-up between the chocolate and the blog!)

I was also inspired in my “Thankfulness” by Pinterest this week! Here are a few of my favorite Thankful Pins!

And all that I can say for this first one is, “Amen to that!” ALWAYS!!!

This one is kind of heavy to think about…. what would you have left???

This one is for Jenny and all the ladies at the retreat!!

And this one I REALLY like, I need this reminder often! I even have part of it on my wall in my kitchen!

Here is a picture of my wall art!! Smile It is in my kitchen!

This is my little family that I am SO VERY THANKFUL FOR!!!

(This picture was from last Christmas, definitely time for a new one! )

What are you thankful for??

~JESS

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Filed Under: 'Pin'talicious, Misc.

Thanksgiving printable (8×10)

4 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

Here is a fun Thanksgiving printable to get you in the mood for the holidays. Once you download and print it out, find a favorite 4×6 picture and adhere it to the middle of the print.

We just had our family pictures taken by our friend Arlene. We’ve been friends with Arlene and her husband long before either of us had kids. She is an amazing photographer. You can check out her website at www.arlenechambers.com. I realize this is a silly picture, but it sort of goes along with the feel of this printable!

I wish I would have printed it as a sepia toned picture to go along with the brown, but it’s still cute! Frame it and set it out to enjoy!

Click here or on the actual print below to download. I print on a premium presentation paper, but you could order an 8×10 photo of it as well.

Happy Friday!

~Jenny

Linking Up With…

Tip Junkie

A Glimpse Inside

Blue Cricket Design

Today’s Creative Blog

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Filed Under: Fall, Free Printables

Burlap Pumpkin Placemats

3 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

On Halloween night our neighborhood gets together for a pre-trick or treating party at my friend Sara’s house. We have lots of food and she puts together fun games for the kids. She had the kids pass around a bag of different foods and they had to eat whatever was in the bag or they were out! Some bags had things like marshmallows or candy in them but some had green olives or lemons. The kids loved it! She also had a donut eating contest.

Those two cuties below are our gypsy girls. They were so excited to be twins! Notice SARA’S daughter (on the left) is cheating…ha ha…

And here is my little spiderman. He tried so hard to get that donut. Hands behind his back, he was determined! I just noticed my hubby in the background cheering him on and my other daughter with a donut in her mouth! She probably just grabbed it off the table!

I think he worked on that thing for at least 10 minutes. Finally I snapped this picture. He wanted that donut!

After the party we end up all going out in a big group to trick or treat. Most of us just leave a big bowl of candy on the porch since we are all together. Then we end the night at our neighbor Jen’s house. You know for desserts. Since we haven’t had enough sweets.

I told Sara I would come up with a craft for the kids. The one thing that bugs me about doing halloween crafts ON halloween is that the next day is November and we are moving on to Thanksgving. I decided to make a craft that had a pumpkin on it, but could also be used for Thanksgiving. I made it very simple because I knew they would be hyper! And hyper they were. The ones that made them were cute!

I saw this from Bloesem Kids and decided they would be cute as pumpkins too!

What you’ll need:

-10×11 inch piece of burlap (or size of your choice)

-Pumpkin Stencil-cut on freezer paper (you can download my outline here)

-Iron

-Brown pen

-Brown Paint (I just used acrylic)

-Orange Paint

-Green Fabric of your choice for the leaves

-T-shirt Vinyl for ‘Happy Fall’ (optional)

I have a cricut so I used that to cut out my stencil, but you can use my pattern and trace it on freezer paper. Make sure the shiny side is on the back. Place your stencil on the burlap and iron the stencil down to the burlap so that the paint won’t get through. Take a brown pen and draw where the stem will be. Then paint the stem brown first. Tell the kiddos it’s ok to get paint on the freezer paper! And like we always tell our kids, ‘It doesn’t have to be perfect!’

Of course mine does, but that’s a different story.

Then paint the pumpkin orange and peel off the freezer paper.

Take your green fabric and cut out two leaves.

Glue them down with tacky glue.

For those of you that have a cricut machine or a silhouette then you can add a cute little saying like ‘Happy Fall’. I buy most of my vinyl from expressions vinyl because there are lots of different colors you can choose without buying a whole roll of vinyl. The t-shirt vinyl is a favorite of mine. I just cut out my saying and ironed it on.

Side Note: The silhouette machine is on my Christmas list. I know it’s on Jess’ list as well. Take note family ;) Apparently it is even more amazing than the cricut. And my family knows how much I love my cricut. We are good friends. But, I can always make room for new ones.

If you’d like to use my pumpkin template you can download it here or click on the image below. Print on 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

~Enjoy

Jenny

Linking up with…

Today’s Creative Blog

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Filed Under: Crafts, Fall, Free Printables, Kids, Kids

PLUM TALENTED!

2 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

When Jenny and I were talking about starting our blog, we talked about all the cool things that our friends make and do that we could feature and show on our blog. We have some really awesome friends if we do say so ourselves and they are pretty dang talented too!

I have always wanted to be an AWESOME baker! I even worked in the Bakery for a bit when I worked at Safeway through High School and some of college (that is where I met my husband actually, truly in the produce section at Safeway!). I can write VERY nicely on a cake for you but that about sums up my expertise in the bakery dept. I wanted to be able to make those perfect buttercream icing roses but they never turned out that great! But it is one of those things for me that I “someday” want to master!

I happen to know a few gals from our MOPS group who have TOTALLY MASTERED the whole bakery thang though! These gals can whip up some beautiful and amazing creations using flour, sugar, eggs and some fondant!

One of these amazingly talented gals is Sadie and she makes “Sadie Cakes!” and does a PHENOMINAL job! Sadie started working with fondant in 2007 for her twin sister’s wedding and now they are her favorite thing to do. She is a stay at home mom and does cakes for friends and family since she can do it at home with her kiddos (especially after they go to bed at 8), while her hubby is busy busy as a software engineer and part-time firefighter!

Check out these beautiful cakes!!! I want to be able to create something this beautiful someday!!!

Aren’t those amazing?? If you are looking for someone to create a beautiful cake for you, let us know! We’ll get you Sadie’s contact info! I am all about plugging businesses for my friends! We will also be highlighting other amazing bakers, photographers, crafters, sewers, bloggers, etc. We would love for you to get to see some of these amazing women in action, they inspire us, we hope that they can inspire you too!

And now that you know that I have always wanted to be an amazing baker (and a photographer, and many many many other things), I want to know what it is that you want to “Master” in your life?

~JESS

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Filed Under: Misc.