2012 December | Plum Adorable

last minute gift ideas with free printable tags

I’m sure you have been just as busy as we have with the holidays fast approaching. Jess and I have some fun ideas to share with you, but finding the time to blog it is a different story. I am going to share with you a few last minute gift ideas that I have done this year.

Glitter Ornaments

The first idea are these DIY glitter ornaments.

By now, I’m sure everyone has seen these ornaments I made last year.

This year, I put the glitter on the outside. It can be a bit more messy, but I think they turned out cute. The kids had fun making them too.

What you need:

- Clear Ornament

- The negative part of stickers or cut out contact paper using your Silhouette or Cricut.

- Glue (I used Martha Stewart roll on glue, but I also made them with the Pledge Floor Cleaner like last years ornaments.)

- Glitter

- ‘Fake Snow’ for inside the ornament.

Put your shape onto your ornament. Put some glue or floor cleaner on the area where you want the glitter. Pour glitter onto it and shake it off. Peel of ‘sticker’ and you will have a glittery shape. I added some fake snow inside the clear ornament to give it more of a wintery effect. Below is a picture of the ‘sticker’ before adding glue and glitter.

Soup in a Jar with Free Printable

The second idea is soup in a jar.

I’m sure you have seen lots of ‘soup in a jar’ ideas. This is just another one. But, everyone likes soup right? And when it is all prepared for you, it’s even better! I am going to direct you to the blog that I got the recipe from for the directions… Ma What’s For Dinner

I liked this one because you add crushed tomatoes, which just makes it even yummier (I know Jess would disagree, but that is ok).

I also bought a soup mug from the dollar store and added an initial in vinyl onto the mug. Sort of like I did here. Of course these mugs would also make great gifts.

I created these printable tags for you to add to your soup in a jar.

Click on the image below to download and print.

Scent of Christmas Bags and Christmas Tiered Platter With Printable Tags

*Update-At the time I made these platters I did not realize that it says on the bottom ‘for decorative use only’. So, these may not be safe for food. Sorry!

This last one is my favorite. I don’t know if it’s the tiered platter or the ‘Scent of Christmas’ bags that I like most!

Remember the tiered platters I made last summer here?

When I saw the blue, silver and red Christmas platters at Target for only $1.99, I knew I had to make some more platters. I still used the glass candlesticks from Walmart, but I only used one on these. I also couldn’t find a bowl to match the blue, so I bought a clear bowl and I love it!

I saw these ‘Scent of Christmas’ Bags on I heart Naptime. I thought they were so cute and think they will make great neighbor gifts. Basically you are putting in oranges, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cranberries. The tags tell you how to ‘cook’ it on the stove to get the scent of Christmas in your house.

To get the recipe click here. Landee See Landee Do actually created these bags with free tags. But, there were a lot of people having problems downloading the tags. So, I created some for you.

Click on the image below to download and print.

Aren’t these so cute inside the tiered platter?I do believe they are.

Hope these ideas help some of you looking for last minute gifts.

Merry Christmas~

Jenny

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Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas, Crafts, Free Printables, Gift Ideas, Gifts, Misc., vinyl, Winter, Winter

my favorite peanut butter balls

10 Dec posted by Plum Adorable

These peanut butter balls are the best.

My friend Caryn has been making them for years. Last year she shared how to make these frosted glass bottles.

I don’t know if it’s the Rice Chex Cereal or marshmallow cream that makes these better than other peanut butter balls. I guess it doesn’t matter. They are my favorite and I think you would agree.

Plus, they are super easy to make.

Wrap them up in a cute bag and they make great gifts for neighbors or teachers.

Or just eat them yourself.

Yum!

Recipe: Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

7 oz. marshmallow cream

1.5 cups Rice Chex

1.5 cups chocolate chips

4 tsp. shortening

Combine peanut butter and marshmallow cream. Add the Rice Chex.

Roll the mixture into balls. (I like to use my pampered chef scoop)

Melt the chocolate chips and shortening together gradually in the microwave.

Dip balls in chocolate.

Refrigerate the balls until they harden.

Enjoy~

Jenny

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Filed Under: Christmas, Gift Ideas, Gifts, Recipes, Sweets, Winter, Winter

Our “Buddy” Elves

3 Dec posted by Plum Adorable

Well Folks, it’s that time of year again! The most Wonderful time of the year! Time to decorate the tree, put up the Christmas lights, sip on some hot cocoa, hope and pray for a snow day or two and celebrate the reason for the season!! Also a time when I can FINALLY listen to my Justin Bieber Christmas Cd without judgment!!?? (Well, not sure that will EVER happen!) Jenny is interrupting this post to say that I love the Bieber Christmas CD too! Little Drummer Boy. Love it.

And guess what?! Our Elf friend, Buddy is back!!! (You can read all about Buddy in this post here and here.) And even better, he now has a blogging buddy Elf friend!

Jenny’s family welcomed their own Elf on the Shelf this year! And you’ll never guess what they named him?! BUDDY!! We do lead parallel lives after all! OF COURSE, we would name our elves the same thing! OR perhaps, our families both just REALLY love the movie ELF!

Here is a picture of how Jenny’s Buddy arrived! There was a letter from Santa explaining that his elves can be a bit naughty. He told her kiddos that because they know Jesus, they may need to give him a little grace, just like Jesus does for them!

Originally our Buddy would have arrived on Thanksgiving, that is our tradition, but when we realized how early Thanksgiving was and how much more creative that meant we had to be, we decided to wait until December 1st!

For our Buddy’s first morning, he arrived with a jar full of sugar, kisses, magic sprinkles and special directions!

SO after planting their kisses in the sugar, adding the magical sprinkles, the kids woke up to this!

Meanwhile, Jenny’s Buddy was up to a WHOLE lot of FUN at their house!!! In true Buddy the Elf, style!!

‘We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup!’

This morning we found our Buddy reading the story of Jesus’ birth to a few of the kid’s toy friends- the Ninjago and Rapunzel seem to be really into it!!!

His buddy, Buddy, was having a good ole’ time getting into Jenny’s craft supplies and making a Christmas Chain!

We’ll continue you to keep you updated on all of our Elves’ shenanigans! Well…that is when we remember to actually make them happen!! The first two nights I was scrambling out of bed at midnight and then again at 11 because I forgot to take care of our little Elf friend!!

Especially for my friend Dawn, it’s not easy being an overachieving Elf on the Shelf Mommy!!

~JESS

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Filed Under: Christmas, Misc., Winter