Let it Snow Decorations and Centerpiece Inspirations

Along with the pom pom garland, here are a few centerpiece and decoration ideas to set the mood and jazz up the party decor.

Jenn from Hostess with the Mostess shares the tutorial for this fun snowman centerpiece made of styrofoam balls and yarn pom poms. How stinking cute is this snowman couple?! Love the bright colors too!

(Photo courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess)

Chris from Celebrations at Home created this adorable snowman centerpiece using 2 stacked fishbowl glass vases filled with faux snow flakes. So simple and precious!

(Photo courtesy of Celebrations at Home)

This smiling paper snowman from Bettter Homes and Garden is made by fan-folding papers and then adding colorful facial pieces and accessories.

(Photo courtesy of Better Homes and Garden)

Do you have any favorite snowman decoration ideas or crafts? Feel free to post a link!

Pom Pom Snow Garland

I am in LOVE with this snow pom pom garland!! It has popped up in several of my favorite party gals parties! A little fishing line, paper circles, pom poms, and ...Voila... precious inexpensive garland. Check out a few of the pics of these faux snow showers...

(Photo courtesy of Setting the Mood)

(Photo courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess)

I am filing away this version of pom pom garland away for future parties too. Change the colors of the pom poms and it can match any party color scheme.

A Snowman that will NEVER melt!!

Val from Crafty Go Lucky, shares this precious craft tutorial with Pluff Mudd readers! I was lucky enough to stumble across Val's blog when I was planning Cate's first birthday party. She has given me lots of fabulous ideas, inspiration, and great advice! Thanks Val!

Of course, we need a snowman theme craft for our winter play date party!!! Here is a fun creative way to make your own snowman that will never melt!

You will need a few basic ingredients to make your snowman. For my

example I used two bars of Ivory soap and 2/3 of a cup of borax. You

will also need water, the amount will depend on the consistency that

you want of your "snow."

Shred your Ivory bars with a cheese shredder. Looks like snow already!

Now, add the Borax. Add small amounts of water until you get a thick

consistency that will be moldable. Go ahead, get your hands in there

mixing! Now, make your snowballs and build your snowman.

Here comes the fun part, decorating your snowman. I used the tip of an

orange crayon for the nose. Buttons, brads, ribbon are all great

decorations for your creation. Pipe cleaners make the arms. Let the

snowman dry overnight.

Thank you for joining me and Val in this fun snowman craft tutorial.

Be sure to check out Crafty Go Lucky for more fun ideas!!

Snowmen Face Fun!!

I have an addiction to stationery, especially personalized stationery. I think it is classy and I am a big believer in writing thank you notes. One of my favorite paper Esty gals is Lindy from Itsy Bitsy Paper. I love the heavy weight of her cards and cute designs. Of course, I could not resist this precious snowmen face note card!

Itsy Bitsy Paper has made a couple of custom designed stationery to coordinate with Cate's themed parties. Pluff Mudd Studio has blessed me with the opportunity to work with some amazingly talented women and Lindy is no exception!

So....Here is something super sweet for Pluff Mudd Studio readers.........

you can win your own set of snowmen theme note cards.

You know the drill...

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER TO WIN........

There are lots of chances to win this giveaway!

You can enter lots of times by doing any of the following

or....

You can do just ONE entry!

Just remember the more times you enter, the more chances to win.

Make sure to leave a separate comment for each action that you complete, so you have a better chance of winning! The more entries increases your odds!!! PLEASE LEAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR COMMENTS, SO I CAN CONTACT THE WINNER!!!!

Good Luck!!

1. Hop over to Itsy Bitsy Paper & leave your e-mail address here with a comment about your favorite paper design!

2. Become a Facebook fan of Itsy Bitsy Paper & leave your e-mail address here with a comment that you are a follower (or already are!)

3. Become a fan of Pluff Mudd Studio on Facebook

& leave your e-mail address here with a comment here that you are a fan (or already are!)

4. Become a blog follower of Pluff Mudd Studio & leave a comment here that you are a follower (or already are!)

5. Post about this giveaway on your own Blog, Facebook Page and/or Tweet about it & comment here with the links! (up to 3 entries for posting)

Winner will be chosen on Friday, January 7th at 11:00pm (EST).

Any entries received after this time will not be considered. Open to US residents only.

Winner will be chosen using random.org

Baby It's Cold Outside!

A few mornings ago, I woke up with a dusting of snow on the ground! Yippee!

It is not often that it snows in Charleston. It has been really cold and perfect for a snowman theme! There are so many fun festive ideas for the holidays that I am always on the hunt for cute things to keep the spirit going in January. Cate is having a "winter" theme party at her little school at the end of January, so I decided that snowmen fit perfectly for her next play date party too! Here are a few ideas from Better Homes and Garden that originally inspired my snowman theme!!

I LOVE the pull apart cupcake cakes for quick school parties! I took the picture to my local Publix and they are going to copy this design for me. Yippee! I think this would be really easy to make, but we have a very busy month so I am going semi-homemade with this party. There is a little Sandra Lee in me after all! :)

These tall glasses of milk are precious! Wouldn't you smile if you were served milk that was this cute?!?! They are served in glass milk bottles which if you can find them can be kind of pricey. I am going to use my recycled Starbuck's Frappuccino glass jars (peel the label off and sanitize in the dishwasher of course). The body is a doughnut hole, with a piece of yarn wrapped for the scarf, and finished off with a scrapbook snowflake.

These snowmen straws are from an entire snowmen theme party showcased over at Hostess with the Mostess. I love the candy corn as a nose and black sprinkles as eyes.

The next two weeks Pluff Mudd will be celebrating winter with a snowmen theme! Feel free to e-mail any pictures or ideas of your snowmen goodies to share. We would love to see them! pluffmuddstudio@gmail.com

Hint... We have some really adorable giveaways for this theme too!!!

Be sure to follow along for your chance to win.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse......

Not a creature was stirring, not even a Christmas mouse.... Last year, one of my friends introduced me to these adorable cookies! We had a ladies night and whipped up a batch for our work cookie exchange and for Cate's "school" of course.

Here are the directions!!

Christmas Mice

1 jar maraschino cherries with stems
1 package Hershey's kisses

1 package of Oreos
1 tube red decorating gel
1 tube green decorating gel
Slivered almonds
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons shortening

Drain cherries well and count them. Unwrap an equal amount of chocolate kisses.

Separate the Oreo cookies keeping the cream filled side for the mice cookies.

Melt the chocolate chips and shortening in the microwave and stir till smooth. Dip the cherries in the chocolate, shake to remove excess. Position the cherries on the cream filling of the Oreo, slightly off center with the stem hanging over the edge. Dip the flat bottom of the Hershey Kiss in the melted chocolate and attach to the front of the cherry.

Position 2 slivered almonds for ears in between the cherry and the Hershey Kiss. It took me a mouse or two to figure out to place the rounded side up instead of the pointed side. The pointed ears were just not as cute. :)

Use red gel for eyes. Use the green gel to draw 2 holly leaves slightly apart, put a red berry in the center with the red gel.

Now a few things I learned! I kept the chocolate warm by setting it in a bowl of warm water, it made it easier to dip the cherries. If you can find the larger size cherries, use those. The ones I got were kind of small and didn't fit quite right. I took a toothpick, and used some of the slightly set chocolate from the side of the bowl to fill in any holes in the cherries and to make the head and body look more connected.

If you let them set a few minutes before adding the ears, the almonds will stay in place better. I tried putting them on right away and they kept falling over.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper to set the mice on as you put them together. When you get them all done, let them set for a few minutes before decorating.

After I took the photos, I realized I did not really "clean" up the white cream filling. These are perfect!

I also stumbled across this idea of placing them on white chocolate covered Oreos, which would save the time separating and create a perfect white base.

After finishing a few and getting our system in place, they were really easy and required NO BAKING! Just time to put them together. I promise these will be a hit! Happy Holidays!

Reindeer Cookies for Santa!!!

I could not resist making the adorable red-nosed reindeer cookies that were in the December 2010 Parents Magazine!! I sent these cookies with Cate to her "school" party, our office cookie exchange, and a white elephant gift exchange and they were a HUGE hit. The best part was that they not only looked cute, but they tasted delicious.

Here is the VERY easy recipe:

Ingredients:

Pillsbury's Simply Peanut Butter cookie dough

Chocolate covered mini-pretzels (I used Flipz.)

white cookie icing

mini baking chocolate morsels (The original recipe called for M&M minis, but I could not find them anywhere in brown. They were all red and green.)

Red M&Ms

Directions:

1. Shape the cookie dough into triangles.

2. Bake according to the package directions.

3. While the cookies are still warm push the chocolate covered mini-pretzels on the top of each side to resemble the antlers.

4. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.

5. To make the reindeer face attach the brown chocolate morsels for eyes and a red M&M for the nose with cookie icing. I pushed the pointed tip of the chocolate morsel into the icing and cookie, so the flat part was facing up for the eye. (I think that I would use red cookie icing for the nose next time.)

Enjoy!!!!!