Fall | 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

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Filed Under: Fall, Fall, Free Printables, Kids

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

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

Boo to you!!!

Floral Pens

Fall Inspired Décor