2012 February | Plum Adorable

Blue Skies and Butterflies Giveaway

There are two posts today! Scroll down to see the winner of this Subway Art Sign and a message to all of our GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT followers!

I am excited to share with you my friend Kerri and her beautiful accessories. She is giving away a cute bundle of three flowers, a headband and alligator clips.

I personally think these would make the perfect alternative to real flower corsages given at prom. How fun would it be to be able to keep the corsage you wore at prom! Scroll down to enter on Rafflecopter.

My name is Kerri. I am a wife and a stay-at-home mom who has a passion for crafting! I decided to use my passion to earn some extra money for my family, so began my new adventure in making and selling hair accessories among many other things.

I recently changed the name of my “business” to Blue Skies & Butterflies…..Blue Skies is a song written by Willie Nelson. My dad who passed away 4+ years ago used to play this song on his guitar and it was the song we played at his memorial service to say good-bye. It will always have special meaning for me. I love butterflies….they represent a transformation of the ordinary to the extraordinary, like from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly…or like ordinary crafting supplies transformed into something really beautiful.

I am really excited about my hair accessories. They are all handmade by me out of all different kinds of fabric. They are fitted on the back with a strip of elastic which makes them very versatile.

They can be worn as a pin, barrette, headband, and even slipped onto a length of ribbon and worn as a wrist corsage. They make great gifts too! They are available in a wide range of colors and can be custom made to match pretty much anything!

I am happy to be giving away this bundle to one of you!

~Kerri

Only one mandatory vote to enter.

You just need to ‘like’ Blue Skies & Butterflies on Facebook.

Additional entry is to like Plum Adorable on Facebook.

If you already ‘like’ both of us then you can just enter below.

Good Luck!

Contest will end at 9pm Thursday, March 1st.

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Filed Under: Crafts, Fabric, Gift Ideas, Giveaway, Kids, Misc.

Subway art winner & a message to all of our Google friend Connect followers

29 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

Congratulations Krystle! You are the winner of the Subway Art Wood Sign. We have notified you by email.

~ATTENTION~

ALL GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT FOLLOWERS

We wanted to let you know that if you are following Plum Adorable through Google Friend Connect, you will no longer be receiving our posts as of March 1st.

That is TOMORROW. Sad smile

Because we are a WordPress blog you will no longer be able to follow us this way.

BUT, lucky for you, we are now signed up with Linky Followers (located on the right hand sidebar). You can sign up there to continue reading our posts.

Of course you can always follow us…

Via Email

Via RSS

On Facebook

We don’t want to lose any of our readers!

~Jenny & Jess

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Filed Under: Giveaway, Misc.

Print on burlap & citrus filled jars {free Printables}

28 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

Last day to sign up for the giveaway! Click HERE to enter!

Doesn’t that just make you smile?

It’s so ‘springy’ I love it!

I went through a coffee stand the other day and someone brought the barista these adorable mason jars filled with tulips.

LOVE. THEM.

The barista and I started talking about all the fun ideas you could do with these. Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits…hmm, what else?

Since St. Patty’s Day is coming up I decided to make one with limes. I’m pretty sure whoever made the ones above just stuffed the lemons in them and then put the flowers in between. But I thought, what if you put a piece of pvc pipe in your jar first?

I actually made this printable last year and put it out around St. Patty’s Day, but now that we have this blog I can share it with you.

For something a little different I thought it would be fun to print it on burlap. Did you know you could print on burlap? It’s really easy.

Of course it’s just as cute on paper.

I know you love the limes as much as I do.

I’ve made two sizes for you to choose from.

For best results print on a quality matte paper on an ink jet printer.

Click on the image below to download the 5×7 print.

Click on the image below to download the 8×10 print.

I will be back in a few days with a free St. Patty’s Day printable for your 2 inch blocks!

~Jenny

Linking up with… Tip Junkie Todays Creative Blog

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Filed Under: burlap, Crafts, Fabric, Free Printables, St. Patty's Day

I Love You & You Make Me Happy Free Printables

27 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

First, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for this sign going on here!

This is one of those projects that I was hoping to share with you BEFORE Valentine’s Day but simply ran out of time! And really, we should be spreading the love on more than one day a year. so now you can just extend your mushy gushy sentimental feelings on into March!

I have seen a couple of these floating around on Pinterest so I asked Jenny if she would whip up a couple for our Plum Adorable friends and she got right on it! She is awesome like that!

For years, I have written on our bathroom mirror in lipstick when I wanted to leave my hubby a cute little note or left a post it note on the door or wrote with soap on our shower door- I like to leave little notes! Probably because I REALLY like to GET little notes!

These are great because all you need are:

A Frame

Our Adorable Printable

A Dry Erase Marker

Your Imagination!!

I found my frame for $3 at Wal-Mart and added some rosettes that were left over from my Valentine Wreaths, here and here. And I even had left over pearls from Christmas time to embellish with too! I downloaded and printed out our printable and here you go!

Once you print off your own and frame it, you can add a personalized message each day!

Jenny even made some super Adorable ones for your kiddos too!!! Thanks Jenny!

To print out this image click HERE.

~JESS

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Filed Under: Crafts, Free Printables, Gift Ideas, Paper, Valentine's Day

500 likes on facebook equals a giveaway for you!

26 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

We thought it would be fun to have a giveaway once we reached 500 likes on Facebook andlucky for you that happened today!

Remember this sign we sold on Groopdealz last month? Well, we are giving one away to one of you lucky readers!

All you need to do is enter on Rafflecopter below. Rafflecopter will do all the work for us to pick a winner!

A mandatory entry is to ‘like’ us on Facebook.

You’ve already done that? Great!

All you need to do is click on the +1 to enter your vote.

If you would like extra entries then subscribe via email or RSS feed and click on the extra entries.

This giveaway will end at 9pm Tuesday, February 28th.

We are going to be doing another giveaway soon from a very cute boutique, so stay tuned!

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Filed Under: Giveaway

Personalize your vinyl on coffee mugs

25 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

These mugs make the perfect gift.

Cut out initials, names or images using a piece of outdoor vinyl. I buy all my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl. I made mugs for my kids Christmas 2010 using the outdoor vinyl. I put their names on them and we have put them in the dishwasher almost every day for over a year now and the vinyl has not budged. (I admit, I drink my coffee out of their mugs.)

I made this mug for my daughter’s teacher for her birthday which also happens to be on Valentine’s Day. Her last name, of course, starts with a ‘V’, but it was also fun because it happened to be Valentines Day. We added a Starbucks card with a little crinkle paper and it was as cute as can be.

These make fun gifts for kids with hot chocolate mix in them as well. If you don’t have a cutting machine at home, you could take your vinyl to a local craft store that does. I know that Ben Franklin has one and they will cut out your vinyl for you. Or just find a crafty friend that has a Cricut or Silohuette to cut it out. That’s what friends are for right?

~Jenny

Linking up with… Tip Junkie Positively Splendid

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Filed Under: Crafts, Gift Ideas, Kids, vinyl

St. patrick’s Day Bleach Pen t-shirt {2 free Svg’s}

24 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

Since our ‘love’ bleach pen t-shirts were such a big hit, I thought it would be fun to make an ‘svg’ for St. Patty’s Day. Below are two ‘svg’s for you to choose from. ‘Lucky Me Lucky You.’ and ‘Pinch Proof’. Scroll to the very bottom to download each one.

I basically made these shirts the same way that I did here. Only this time I added some paint and glitter to the shamrock. Update: I originally saw this last year on Skip To My Lou. I could not for the life of me remember where I had found the idea for ‘pinch proof’ t-shirts when I posted this, but I saw it on Pinterest today. I had created my own svg with different font and my own shamrocks, but it is very similar and credit needs to be given where credit is due! So, thank you Skip To My Lou!

1. Cut out your ‘svg’ on contact paper and stick it on your shirt where you’d like it to be. Place a piece of cardboard under your shirt where the words will be. Then take your bleach pen and ‘color in’ the negative part of the saying. Let sit for anywhere from 5-30 minutes. It will depend on the fabric. It should be long enough that you can see it has started to bleach through. Also check after a few minutes to make sure the bleach made it on all the open areas. When ready, run under cold water to get off all bleach. Carefully peel off the contact paper.

2. At this point you can wash it and leave it as is or you can add some fabric paint and glitter onto the shamrock.

I mixed together Americana’s Foliage Green and Martha Stewart’s ‘Artichoke’ to make the color green I wanted. I added some ‘Textile Medium’ since I will be washing the shirts. Follow the directions on the bottle. Basically it’s two parts medium to one part paint.

3. Place your shamrock on your shirt where you want it. Paint inside the shamrock. If you’d like to add glitter then sprinkle a little bit of ‘glamour dust’ right on top of the wet paint. Let it dry for a bit then shake off the excess glitter and peel off the contact paper. If you add the glitter I recommend letting it dry overnight before you wash the shirt.

We did this same technique with the paint and glitter when we made these cute burlap pillows during Christmas.

If you wanted to skip the bleach pen you could make the shirt using just paint and glitter. I actually made ‘Pinch Proof’ t-shirts this way last year. I can’t believe I don’t have a better pic than this, but this pic was pre-blog. The kids were in the middle of a scavenger hunt a leprechuan left them, so I was not focused on taking pics of the their shirts. I think you can sort of get the idea from below.

I also made an 8×10 printable with this same saying that I will be posting for you in the next couple of days.

Lucky You!

Click on either image below to download the svg files.

~Jenny

Linking up with… Toys in the Dryer Tip Junkie Positively Splendid

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Filed Under: Crafts, Fabric, Free Printables, Free SVG's, Kids, St. Patty's Day

Scrabble Tile Pendant tutorial {Free Initial Printable}

22 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

I originally started making these for Valentine’s Day, but things got so busy that week that I never got around to posting this. So, I decided to create something fun to wear on St. Patrick’s Day.

These are very simple to make. And you can print these initials I designed and use whatever one you’d like.

What you need:

~Free ‘Initials’ printable (below)

~Glossy Accents/Diamond Glaze (found at craft stores)

~Glitter Glue (optional)

~Scrabble Tiles (can buy in bulk at craft stores)

~E-6000 Glue or Superglue

~Glue Tape Runner or Tacky Glue

~Mod Podge

~Silver Bail (found in the jewelry section at craft stores)

How to make:

1. Download and print the free printable initials below. Cut out the initials you would like to use.

2. Take a scrabble tile and line it up with the initial. You will need to cut it a bit to match it completely to the scrabble tile as they are all slightly different sizes.

3. Glue the paper onto the tile with a glue runner or tacky glue. Press it down hard so that it sticks on well.

4. If you’d like to add some glitter at this point, dab some glitter glue to embellish the shamrock or hearts.

5. Once the glitter is dry then you could Mod Podge over the paper to seal it. (I actually skipped this step.)

6. When everything is completely dry then take your glossy accents (or Diamond Glaze) and follow the directions on the bottle by putting a layer on the tile. It should not run over the edges even thought it seems like it might.

7. Once it’s dried completely add the silver bail to the back. Put it on a chain for your kiddos to wear on St. Patty’s Day or whenever they’d like!

Click here or on the picture below to download and print.

This is sized to be printed on 8.5 x11 inch paper.

For best results we recommend using a quality matte paper and printing it on an ink jet printer.

~Jenny

Hey guys! This is Jess! When I saw Jenny’s adorable Scrabble Tile Necklaces, I got really excited because I have done these before in the past and REALLY LOVE this craft! It is super easy and really cute. When I made my first one, it was at MOPS and the necklace I made was for my daughter Kaylee, she was 4 at the time. She STILL has it and treasures it (She is only 5 now, it’s not like YEARS have passed in between but for a 4 year old to hold onto something, especially my daughter who loses EVERYTHING, it is surprising that this necklace is still being worn and in its original form!). So I thought I would share it with you. And the great thing is, you can not only use Jenny’s stinkin’ ADORABLE initials that she provided but you can also use photos (granted they would have to be small, like the little proof print sheets you get at Costco or Shutterfly when you order your prints) or just use scrapbook paper and cut out a design you like! This is Kaylee’s Necklace below, I did the same steps as Jenny, just used a scrap of scrapbook paper for the butterfly and cut it to size.

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Filed Under: Crafts, Free Printables, Kids, Kids, Paper, Valentine's Day, Valentines Day

Pumpkin roll

21 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

My friend Nichole asked me to design a print for her. In exchange she made me this delicious pumpkin roll. I think it’s obvious from last fall how much I love pumpkin recipes. And who says we can’t eat pumpkin in February? Not me!

She even took pictures so we could share it! Seems easy enough to me. Although I appreciate having one delivered and ready to eat.

Thank you Nichole. Love my friends!

Full recipe is below.

Bake Cake and cool for 15 minutes.

Place cake on clean towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10-inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling.

Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake.

Roll up cake (without the towel).

Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Slice before serving. Keep leftover slices refrigerated.

The best part is that it freezes well.

So delicious…

Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Pumpkin
1 teaspoon Lemon juice
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt
.
Filling:
8 ounces Cream cheese — softened
4 tablespoons Butter — or margarine
1 cup Powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation:

In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating with an electric mixer until thick and light yellow in color. Add pumpkin and lemon juice, mixing until blended.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Spread batter into greased and waxed-paper lined 10-by-15-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350 ° for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Place cake on clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 10- inch side, roll cake up in towel. Set aside.

While cake is cooling in towel, prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.
Unroll cake. Evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up cake (without the towel). Wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Slice before serving. Keep leftover slices refrigerated. This pumpkin roll freezes well.

~Jenny

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Filed Under: Fall, Misc., Recipes, Sweets

Just a Cold!

20 Feb posted by Plum Adorable

UGGGGGGGHHHHHHH……..

So I managed to get sick this weekend. You would think that being around all that throw up from my little Kaylee girl earlier in the week would have given me her stomach bug, but NO, I was lucky enough to avoid that! (Thank you Jesus!) but instead I got…a COLD! No big deal right? Put on my big girl pants, grab some Kleenex and Sudafed and get on with the day right?! SO WRONG!

This is the WORST cold!! And I feel like such a WHINER for complaining about a cold. But here I am! Whining about it…a COLD!! SO LAME! I have been lying on our couch for almost 3 days with this stupid cold. My husband finally looked at me yesterday and said, “Man, when you get a cold, you REALLY get a cold.”

It started out with me thinking that I did have the flu Saturday morning- cold sweats, dizzy, racing pulse, nausea and just feeling “off”. So I stayed home on the couch for the day. I never did throw up (even though I really wanted to in hopes that the other stuff would go away). Then about mid day that stuff subsided and I started feeling the dreaded cold symptoms. And that night, only 3 hours of sleep, I was so stuffy, so drippy, and so TIRED. And then yesterday was just a day full of sneezing and my eyes watering and then NOT being able to sneeze no matter how badly I wanted to. And I just feel exhausted! And now I feel it in my chest. STUPID COLD!

So I obviously have NOTHING crafty to share with you today (since my bum was firmly planted on the couch for the past 48ish hours), instead I thought I would give you a thrilling look into my glamourous life these past couple days in dealing with this LOVELY cold! (This is what blogging is all about folks- me being real- sharing my ideas, my life and my COLD- only not REALLY sharing my cold!)

So since I have had this lovely cold, this is what I have been up to!

In the past 3 days, I have-

Become VERY familiar with my couch and found my favorite lounging position

Read 3 books (And I was SO MAD at the end of one, I read 4 HUGE books in this series to get to the end and find out that they DO NOT INDEED END UP TOGETHER! WHAT!?!)

Watched a full season of DC Cupcakes on Netflix

Watched a cheesy 90’s Teen flick on late night Canadian TV (Don’t even know the name of it!)

Slept about 4 hours TOTAL each night

Gone through a roll and a half of toilet paper and a box of Kleenex (just make the dripping stop!)

Put a TON of books on hold at the library

Read a TON of Facebook Status Updates and comments

Texted my lovely younger sister (who works as an ER Nurse) for info on which meds I can take while on other meds for headache issues

Googled ALL the new upcoming movie releases (and their trailers) so I know what to look forward to in the coming months- The Hunger Games, The Lucky One, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider Man, Snow White and the Huntsmen, The Hobbit- just to name a few!

In the past 3 days, I have NOT-

Done my hair

Put on ANY makeup

Put on any clothing other than Yoga pants and a sweatshirt (CLASSY!)

Vacuumed (Killing me!)

Cleaned my bathroom or any other part of my house other than trying to clean the downstairs bathroom and feeling like death afterwards.

Left my house

Done any grocery shopping and I am about ready to send my hubby out on an emergency run!

Done anything remotely crafty

Cooked dinner (or breakfast or lunch)

Done anything remotely productive- my poor family!

Luckily, I have a pretty amazing hubby who is taking care of everything while I am down! He is special like that. He even brought me some roses when he ran to Costco yesterday. And right now he is taking the kiddos out to lunch since there is pretty much nothing much left in this house!

Jenny shared this hilarious video with some of us gals a couple months ago and we HAD to laugh because we ALL knew someone who had experienced this when a certain man in their life got a cold, the dreaded MAN COLD!!