Plum Adorable | Plum Adorable

Boo to you!!!

For the past couple of years we have been lucky enough to have great friends who have shared in the fabulous fall/Halloween tradition of Booing our family. We were then able to return the favor by Booing other neighbors and friends. Have you heard of this super fun tradition? Are you wondering what I am talking about?

We were first introduced to the Boo tradition 2 years ago when we came home to find a plastic pumpkin shaped bowl filled with all kinds of fun goodies on our porch with a simple note that said, “You’ve been Booed! Hang this sign on your door and pass the Boo blessing on to 2 other families! And try to keep your identity a secret!”

My kids were THRILLED to say the least and we jumped right on the Boo bandwagon! We got Booed again last year and were then able to pass it on again. This year, my kids and I didn’t want to wait for someone to Boo us before we started, so once October began, we gathered all of our supplies and chose 2 new families who we knew hadn’t been Booed yet (at least not by us) and got to planning our Boo surprise!!

And there really are about 100 different ways you can choose to Boo! Make homemade cookies, wrap up some candy bars, make a Boo basket, wrap up the family’s favorite soda or chips or popcorn or choose the family’s favorite fruit- whatever you want really! Just gather something fun for the families you are going to Boo, attach a cute note (I’ve linked up some super cute ones for you below) or make your own and plan your super secret drop off time! Then let the Booing begin!!

Here are our two buckets that we Booed with this year!

I found almost everything for our buckets from the Dollar store too! So you don’t have to spend a TON of money to make it fun or to fill a bucket! Each bucket includes, 2 bags of Halloween candy, glow in the dark bracelets, a puzzle (each family has 2 kids) and two different wall decorations (one Fall themed and one Halloween themed so they can display them at different times or places!). And the last thing you add to your bucket is your sign!

I chose to use 2 different signs because I liked them both SO MUCH! And they were both FREE PRINTABLES (WOOHOO!!) from two different sites!

The first one is this ghostly Printable from Organized Christmas (Organized Home). And they have LOTS to choose from on the site, not just the ghost BOO!

And my next favorite was this adorable BOO Printable from Mom’s Crafty Space.

One of the friends that we Booed did find out pretty quick it was us, which was bound to happen since she is a loyal Plum Adorable blog reader and she was SO EXCITED to be Booed! Her girls were THRILLED! They got their Boo sign up right away so we ran over after soccer practice and got a picture of the Boo sign on their door! Now we hope to see them spreading throughout the neighborhood!

So the only question is, Who are you going to BOO!!!!??????

~JESS

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Fall, Fall, Free Printables, Kids

Blessing Bags & FRee printable

4 Oct posted by Plum Adorable

I think most of us feel that twinge of guilt when we drive by someone on the street holding a sign out for food or money. Well, for me it’s compassion until I drive by without giving them anything, then it’s guilt. I am well aware of the people that do it for a living and that can be frustrating. Especially when you see that same person buying a flat screen TV the next day (true story). But, does this mean we should never give to anyone again because there are some that are not honest? I’ve always had a hard time with people that think this way. Who are we to judge others circumstances? I think it’s important that our children learn to give even if it’s not easy or fair.

Our kids are very blessed. We are doing our best to instill in them the importance of serving others. A few years ago we used to wrap up socks and mittens and keep them in our car to give out when we saw somebody in need. This summer our kids brought home a bag from VBS that had water and a granola bar to keep in our car. We gave them out and my oldest has been asking to make up more bags, so we decided to do both food and socks this time. We also added a note with a poem we really like.

In our bags we put:

Cup of Noodles (They can find hot water at gas stations or grocery stores)

Juice Box

Applesauce (with a spoon)

Granola Bar

We also added a napkin and some socks.

This Free Printable

This is a horrible picture below. I took it with my phone to show you the note I designed to put in the bags if you choose. Also, I realized I put Matthew 19:25 instead of 19:26. I printed this set before I realized it! So, yes, I know the picture below shows the wrong verse…I’m sorry ;)

I love this saying about a pumpkin and being made new. I thought it was the perfect reminder to put in these bags. As Christians we believe there is hope in the Lord and He is able to make us all new. The pumpkin goes along with the season as well. I asked my daughter which verse she thought we should add to the note and she chose Matthew 19:26. It couldn’t have fit with the poem any more perfectly.

To download this print click on the image below.

I also wanted to share this video with you. We had planned to prepare the bags after church on Sunday and during the service our Pastor played this video below. I kept thinking, I wish we could put this video in the blessing bag somehow. I just want everyone to know they too can be free!

Hopefully everyone can see this video. If not click here to watch it.

~Jenny

1 Comment
Filed Under: Everyday, Free Printables, Kids, Misc.

Fall Decorations, recipes & Free Printables

29 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

The beginning of this school year has been busier than normal for me. I am chairing a fundraiser at my daughters’ school which has taken up all of my extra time. So, while I have a made a few new things for the fall, I thought I would first share some of the things we created last year. We have quite a few new followers. So, for those of you that missed them, here you go. Enjoy…

Pumpkin Bread & Free Printable Tags

I actually can’t believe I haven’t made pumpkin bread yet this year. I may have to make this today. Yum. We have new 2012 printable tags for you too!

Fall Decoration Ideas & Free Printable

Click here or the images below to download these free printables.

Count Down to Candy

Candy Corn Pudding &I Free Printable Candy Corn Tags

Recycle your tin cans to decorate.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Muffins

Burlap Pumpkin Placemats

Frosted Pumpkin Cake

We do love the Fall!

~Jenny & Jess

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, burlap, Crafts, Everyday, Fabric, Fall, Free Printables, Gift Ideas, Gifts, Kids, paint, Recipes, Sweets, Teachers, vinyl

Floral Pens

28 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

After sharing my new fall pen holder with you yesterday, I had a couple of people ask me, “so how exactly do you make those floral pens?” And OH MY GOSH… it is SUPER DUPER EASY!!!

So I whipped up a quick tutorial for you! And the best part, they look super cute on your desk at work and they really do stop people from walking away with your pens!!! I even made a bunch to have at home and I keep them by my phone with a cute notepad for jotting quick notes and I change them out with the seasons. Here is a photo of my pens at home!

To make these super cute, fall floral pens, you’ll need the following:

Fake flowers

Your favorite pens (Paper mate honestly seem to be one of the easiest and are usually pretty cheap!)

Scissors or wire cutters (I used an old pair of scissors that are so messed up from years of crafting abuse that wire cutting won’t hurt them!)

Green floral tape (I found mine at Wal-Mart for $2 or less, I have heard you can find it at the dollar store too!)

*Okay, I am going to give a big disclaimer here for 2 reasons! 1. I am fairly lame at the whole tutorial thing, so please don’t expect anything grand! AND 2. There are seriously about 10 (or more) different ways you can actually make these flower pens! This just happens to be the way that I have adopted from way back in the day when I was shown at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). So if you Google it, you will find many other ways to do it and a way that you might find easier (or more likely better) than mine!

Your first step will be to measure your flower to your pen and cut it off your bunch. Here is the rough height that I like mine to be. (And this is totally subjective, you can make it as long or short as you want!)

Next, step is to start wrapping your floral tape around the pen. The tape is sticky and self adhesive but pulling on it slightly as you wind helps it to stick. I wrap it around the pen a couple of times before I place the bottom stem of my flower on the pen, like so.

Next, you add your flower to the pen and start wrapping the tape around the stem and the pen. And just keep wrapping, until you are almost to the top of your pen!

To finish off your flower, tear off the end of your floral tape and smooth out onto pen. The tape is sticky and self adhesive. I have found that sometimes, it doesn’t always stay closed at the end (this is 50/50 –some do and some don’t) so if yours isn’t staying closed, add a drop of glue to the end piece or a glue dot to seal it off.

Then you can make a WHOLE BUNCH of them to fill your vase that you are going to make from yesterday’s post and it will look something like this!!

Hopefully, that all made sense and you are all on your way to making some SUPER CUTE pens right about now!!!

~JESS

Fall Inspired Décor

27 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been helping two of the lovely ladies at our church office re-do our office space and get it decorated for fall! We have been doing some painting, deep cleaning, moving furniture, tossing out old furniture, and lots of FUN stuff! And I when I say “WE” I really mean mostly THEY with a dash of me! And I really do mean FUN, I honestly really enjoy the cleaning and purging and painting and decorating process!! I especially LOVE the end result.

And yes Heather, by now, you TOTALLY know this post is coming from Jess! We recently had an email discussion where she told me she could always tell it was me posting (rather than Jenny) by the number of exclamation points and the number of times I capitalize words!!!!!

So back to our office décor, I mainly focused on making our reception area look “pretty”. The gals really wanted it to look more like fall and told me that my spring inspired pencil holder was the first thing that had to go! I originally shared how to make this one here.

SO I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do!! I decided to make a fall version of this vase!

I originally shared the instructions for making this vase/pen holder here. But I have since then refined/ changed how I do this process. And the new way is just as easy BUT it makes the glitter actually stick and STAY on the cup!!! When I first decided to make the above vase in blue, I was using Jenny’s method for making Christmas ornaments as seen here. THEN, after making my glitter shoe re-do for Kaylee, I found the same method works AWESOME for making these vases/pen holders!!! (Sorry for all the link references, but I wanted to explain the changes and let you see the differences for yourself and how you can do the different projects! )

So here are the supplies I needed:

I found the vase at the dollar store! (SCORE!!) I had the Mod Podge on hand and the Glitter I got for 50% off with a Jo-Ann’s coupon so it was about $2 so this project only cost me a little over $3.

In a plastic cup, mix together Mod Podge and glitter. I didn’t measure anything, just did a very generous amount of glitter to a good 1/4 cup or so of Podge. If in doubt, add more glitter I say!!

Then begin painting! I used a foam brush and painted away! Just make sure you can’t see through the vase when you hold it up to the light. You will see white from the glue, it won’t look as though it is completely covered in glitter but believe me, it is!

Here is what mine looked like as it was drying. I let it sit overnight to dry!

This is what it looked like in the morning. I just added a ribbon!

And here it is on the reception counter, doing it’s job holding our Fall floral pens! And since the glitter actually stays put, you could use it as a small vase! I haven’t tested what water does to the glue and glitter base but you can slide a clear plastic cup right inside this size vase for added protection if you wanted to use real flowers!

I’ll be sharing a different part of our Fall décor on the blog with you so stay tuned!

~JESS

DIY Personalized Headboard

11 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

One of the things that I had told my seven year old I would do this summer was redecorate the guest room so that she could have her own room. The girls have shared a room for a few years and Ella has been asking for quite some time if she could have her own room. I gave in.

I think I’ve mentioned a few times how much Ella loves fashion. She actually has a really good eye. She spent weeks on Pinterest looking for ideas and colors. Yes, she’s seven. We had thought of a few ideas. At first my sister (this one) was going to make a fabric headboard. But, because Ella had her opinions on what style of bedspread she wanted, I finally decided to create a plain white headboard so she could pick out her bedspread. It was so simple to make and I think it turned out really cute!

DIY Headboard:

I bought 7 pieces of wood at Lowes. The width is 7 inches and because she has a full bed I cut them to be 53.5 inches long. If you don’t have a saw then Lowe’s or Home Depot will cut your wood for you.

After they were cut, I sanded the edges down so that they were smooth. Then I stained them with some dark stain that I had on hand. It’s up to you whether or not you want to stain them. After I painted them white I sanded them again to give it a weathered or distressed look. The stain helped it to show up darker than the actual wood that I bought. It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but it does look good.

I have to apologize I did not take pictures of me actually putting up the headboard. I was in sort of a hurry that day and actually forgot! But, it was very simple. First, find where the studs are in the wall. Starting at the bottom, put your board on the wall and measure where you are going to screw it into the wall. I made small dots on the board and screwed it in with 8 x 2 flat head Phillips wood screws. Once the first board was in it was easy to just measure where the other screws went on the following boards.

Then we decided to personalize it with her name. I basically used the exact same steps as I when I made these faux mini pallet signs. The only difference was that I had to cut each individual letter out one at a time because I only have a small Cricut. I also used contact paper instead of vinyl. It’s sort of hard to see the white on white, but it’s there.

Once you line up the name and are happy with how it is centered then paint away!

Then comes the fun part. Peel off the contact paper and lightly sand over the name again to make it look a bit weathered like the boards.

*Those two purples are really the same color. I took the pictures at different times during the day. Funny how a little less light changes things.

I also forgot to take a picture of the old guest room. I remembered right before I started painting and had removed everything out of the room and off the walls. For all of my family members that are wondering where they are going to sleep when they come visit, don’t worry. We made it very clear that if we let Ella have the guest room, she had to give it up to ‘guests’ and go sleep with her sister while they are here.

I also spray painted her old lamp with a purple color that matched her bedding. Luckily I had that perfect color on hand. She also needed a side table, so I bought a cheap one ($12) at Walmart, but it was black, so I painted it white. We also thought it was cool that her Bible totally matched her bedding. Ha!

It is such a cozy room and Ella LOVES it. We have a few more things we’d like to do, like hang pictures and possibly make a fabric banner she liked from Pinterest. But, for now she is happy. And so am I.

~Jenny

Linking up with…

Tip Junkie Chef In Training The 36th Avenue Todays Creative Blog Yesterday On Tuesday

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Crafts, Furniture, Kids, paint, vinyl

Cutest 1st birthday party. ever.

6 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

I had to share this birthday party with all of you. This adorable little girl belongs to Jussi, a friend of both of my sisters. My sisters had stopped by my house after the party and I was ooohing and ahhing over the cuteness. So, I begged Jussi to let me show off her sweet little girl. Jussi was at my wedding 12 years ago. I was tempted to post a picture of her from it, but decided I would be nice since she is so kindly letting me post about her little one.

Let’s start with her name. Ruby Mae. Does it get any cuter than that? ‘Ruby’ was Jussi’s husband’s great great aunt who passed away last May. And ‘Mae’ was Jussi’s great aunt that she was very close to. She passed away two years ago this month. I think it’s very precious that she is carrying on their names.

The pictures in this post were taken by Jussi’s friends.

You will love the way Jussi decorated for Ruby’s 1st birthday. The burlap ‘ONE’ in front of her high chair and the banner for her cake (see above) make it so unique. And the tied fabric on the back of the high chair completes it.

Look at those gorgeous tables.

She strung pictures on the fence of Ruby’s first year.

The frame below was hung from a tree in between the tables. The pictures are of both Ruby and Mae who she was named after. Adorable.

She set up a photo both with props. Love.

Those pretty girls on each end are my sisters.

That is Jussi on the left with Ruby, Ruby’s Aunt and Grandma.

Seriously. Stop. The. Cuteness.

I think Ruby was quite pleased with her party. Well, at least her cake.

She can’t wait to see what her Mommy has planned for her 2nd birthday.

I can’t wait either.

Happy 1st Birthday Ruby Mae.

~Jenny

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Birthdays, burlap, Crafts, Fabric, Kids

First Day of School {Free Printable}

5 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

Yesterday Jess shared some ideas for first day of school pictures. I hadn’t told her that I was actually working on a printable to share, but clearly I am too late to get it to you. There is always next year though, so I am going to share them anyway! You can pin it and save it for next year. :)

I can’t believe my baby girl is in 5th grade this year. I remember being in 5th grade. I’m old. It’s crazy.

And my other baby girl is in 2nd grade. How do you stop time?

Look at all of my babies. My little guy starts pre-k next week.

Oh, and as I’m taking a picture of my second grader standing like that below she says…

‘It’s all about the learning.’

Uh…for those that know her, this comment was very funny because she has had that outfit laid out for three weeks. No joke.

Aren’t they cute? I’m just a tad biased, I know.

Ok, back to the printables.

I’ve sized each print to be 5×7. There are two 5×7 prints on 8.5×11 inch paper. I took an old frame and spray painted it with some purple paint to spice it up a bit.

Click on the image below to download and print.

I only created the prints up to 7th Grade. I wasn’t sure if 8th grade and above would still think it’s cool to hold the sign while they got their picture taken. Let me know if you’d like me to make any for the higher grades!

Happy First Day of School!

~Jenny

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Fall, Free Printables, Kids

Back To School (P)Inspiration

4 Sep posted by Plum Adorable

I know for many of you, the back to school rush is already in full force and your kiddos are now back into the swing of school and have been for a couple of weeks. Here in Western Washington, we start pretty late, (which can be nice BUT it also means our kids are still going to school in mid-June). The BIG day for us is tomorrow, the 5th! Hard to believe my babies are now going to be a second grader and a Kindergartener!

As I was getting all their supplies ready, their new clothes washed, doing the “school lunch” shopping, I started to think of all the fun things I wanted to make sure that I did for them on their first day. Of course you have the obligatory first day pictures and picking out their outfit for the first day of school! And I always try to make them something special for breakfast- chocolate chip pancakes are the request and I also want to put something small in their lunches that is a special first day treat. My husband always kind of laughs at me but I think its important to make a big deal out of it for them. Firsts and lasts are always fun to celebrate!

So of course when I was trying to think of some new, fun ideas, the first place I went was Pinterest! And all I had to do was type in “back to school printable” under the search tab and I had a TON of fun ideas at my fingertips! And don’t worry if your kids have already started back to school, a lot of these ideas can be done at any time during the year. Seriously, one of my friends forgot the whole first day picture so about a week later, she had her kids put on their first day outfits and recreated the morning for a photo! (Now you have a funny memory to go along with that photo!) And I really like the idea that I have seen floating around Pinterest where you take a photo on their first day with the sign and then again on the last day of school and put them side by side in an album to see how much they have grown/changed in that one year.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the different FREE Printable signs you can find out there for the first day photo!! Here is one of my favorites! You can find this one on Pinterest or at Nest of Posies.

Or this one, I can’t decide which one I like more! This one comes from I Heart Nap Time!

Here are some SUPER cute printables for the kid’s lunch box from Paper & Pomegranates.

Really any type of cute little paper works great for notes in the lunch box! I have some adorable little cards leftover from scrapbooking that I plan on using!

Another thing I plan on using for their first day (and through out the year) are the kid’s mailboxes that I got them for Valentines Day.

We have kept them up on our mantle and every so often we stick a special note or treat in their boxes for them. My hubby is much better at doing this than me. I always forget about it (even though I stare at the mailboxes on my mantle half the day in my living room!)

Amy from Living Locurto has these awesome printables that would be great to add onto a lunch box or backpack or inside a book! And they are customizable too!! (FOR FREE!)

Here is one more FAV of mine for treats in their lunch on the first day! From ISharePrintables.

There are ALL kinds of great ideas out there on Pinterest and tons of GREAT blogs featured too! I am getting pretty excited for their first day tomorrow, I think they might be too!

~JESS

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: 'Pin'talicious, Free Printables, Kids, Kids

Yes…We are Still Alive!

27 Aug posted by Plum Adorable

I know… I know! It’s been a day or two or maybe 20 (TRULY, 20 DAYS!!) since our last post! Sorry about that folks! Things have been a little crazy here in the Northwest. I don’t know if you have heard or not, but we actually finally have SUMMER! YEP! It has consistently been over 70 degrees for DAYS (maybe even weeks) now! And for a few days there, we were going all crazy and record breaking and it was actually mid 90’s for like 2 WHOLE DAYS!!! And get this, we have gone like 30 something days WITHOUT RAIN! I know there are folks in the Midwest who are in desperate need of some of that and I wish we could have just sent the month of June down to you guys, for real!

So as you can imagine, Jenny and I have taken some liberty with this weather and our Plum Adorable Blog has suffered a bit for it. Sorry friends! But seriously, I haven’t sat down to craft anything in WEEKS (withdrawal has seriously set in!) and I think I have shared pretty much all my regular recipes for now. Plus, we have been camping and hiking and playing and pretty much doing EVERYTHING BUT getting any work done on our blog. Sorry again friends!

So today I will just be sharing a few quick favorites, some things that I am seriously loving right now because I am obviously spending a LOT of time playing and NOT much time on crafting or cooking or coming up with BRILLIANT new blog ideas (OBVIOUSLY!).

So I did a quick count in my head and was a bit shocked to realize that the kiddos are starting school in only 8 more wake ups! YIKES!! We had better start getting back into the swing of the early morning wake up routine. I am freaking out a little as my youngest is starting Kindergarten this year! Also a little nervous that we still don’t have any idea who her teacher will be. We are super blessed that my son Cole’s first grade teacher is looping this year- so she will just move up her entire first grade class from last year and teach them all this year as second graders. We LOVED her so that is a really good thing!

Speaking of kids…which leads to parenting… have you seen this bit of genius yet?? LOVE it!!

The Parent Rap

And speaking of that back-to-school routine and schedule? This is my FAVORITE calendar EVER! It fits right in my purse and I bring it everywhere. I don’t like using my phone at all so I needed something large enough to actually be able to see my schedule on a daily basis but small enough to fit in my purse. My good friend Bri introduced me to this baby a few years ago and I have NOT gone back! AND I just found out that they sell them at my husband’s work so I don’t even have to order them online anymore (but you totally can!). You can order them from Mixed Role Productions or check their list of stores!

I love how much space you get for your daily schedule! And it does have a monthly layout too!

Another newly discovered favorite of mine is a surprise for those who actually know me because it involves something I don’t normally like- coffee! That’s right, I am usually that 31 year old ordering a HOT CHOCOLATE when anyone wants to go out for coffee. But now, I have found a coffee drink I can get behind and actually kind of love!!!

And I have found out it is kind of a secret drink at Starbucks too! (Well, aren’t MOST of them, really?!) I swear there are like 6 drinks on their menu but like 50 they actually make! That’s the fun of Starbucks and places like In and Out, knowing the secret stuff to order!

Anyways, my favorite new drink is an Iced Black and White Mocha, also known as a Tuxedo Mocha. Seriously- so good!!!

And those are just a few of my favorite things this Monday! What is your favorite today? What have you been up to this summer? Hope you guys are having a good day today! Glad to be back in the blogosphere!!

~JESS