Food

DIH (Do it Herself) Drink Station

3 · Jun 13, 2016 · 4 Comments

+ This DIH Drink Station post brought to you by the lovely folks at Home Depot +

You guys, I’m so excited about this project. No, really!

See that drink station above? I BUILT IT MYSELF!!!

Not bad for a girl who used to be afraid of power tools. Now I feel like I can conquer the world! Or build a table or something. I’m no Ana White yet, but I totally have the confidence now to try my hand at this building thing. I owe it all to Home Depot and their DIH (Do it Herself) challenge. The cool thing is that YOU can do this at your local Home Depot too!

This months DIH Workshop in your area will be on Thursday, June 16th at 6:30. Click HERE to register. If you have never been to a DIH workshop, you should go! This one is so fun, it’s FREE and you’ll learn how to make a beverage stations just like this one. Plus, to get to build on your skills and become truly handy around the house.

I was asked to be a part of a blogger challenge with 24 other bloggers. We all had to build the same beverage station from the Home Depot instructions and then give it our own special touches.

I decided to give mine a classic look… I love everything clean and white right now but I want to distress through to a darker brown so, my first layer of paint was brown and then I painted the top an off-white and then distressed down a little bit.

I added a decorative trim piece around the top to give it a more elegant look and then added these fabulous hooks on the side to give it a little more character. Of course I had to spray paint the bucket gold as well.

I can not even tell you how awesome it feels to know that I built this myself!! This is what I started with…

Just some basic plywood and some common boards, with some fabulous directions and that’s it! I now have a beverage station that I can be truly proud of.

Isn’t it cute! I’ve teamed up with 24 other bloggers who have created the very same thing and then personalized it for their taste. Won’t it be fun to see everyone’s different styles? Before you head out to check out the other drink stations, make sure you register to attend the DIH Beverage Station Workshop at your Home Depot. It’s FREE, it’s fun, grab a friend and learn how to BUILD!

Click on over and check out the other beverage stations…

The Casual Craftlete Blog

Domestically Speaking

Disclaimer // This post was sponsored by the Home Depot. I received product in order to complete my assigned task. Remember, I will only share what I truly love, and believe in!

DIH Beverage Station

3 · Jun 8, 2016 · Leave a Comment

You guys!! I’m so excited… I’m joining in on a really fun project through Home Depot this month. Have you been following along with their fabulous DIH (Do it Herself) workshops? Aren’t they fabulous?! If you aren’t familiar with the program, Home Depot hosts DIH workshops for women all over the country. It’s typically a great beginner level project that helps you get comfortable with using power tools and such. I think they are fabulous because I’m a beginner builder as well and I’ve become so much more proficient at working with power tools and I LOVE it!! No longer am I stuck waiting around for my sweet husband’s help.

This month’s DIH project is this fun beverage station…

The DIH workshop in your area will be on Thursday, June 16th at 6:30. Click HERE to register. If you have never been to a DIH workshop, you should go! They are so much fun.

I’ve already been working on my beverage station and can’t wait to show off my interpretation of the project. I’ve teamed up with some other creative friends for a virtual party coming up this coming Monday, June 13th. I can’t wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Don’t forget to register to make one of your very own!

Dreamy Backyard Summer Birthday Party

2 · Jun 1, 2016 · Leave a Comment

There is nothing more magical than a summer birthday party when you’re turning 12…

Ok, well maybe 16 and 18… Oh well, you get the idea. Birthdays are pretty special. We’re big fans at our house.

I’m not one of those Mom’s that throws over the top parties every year for each child. We like to alternate years. Some years we do something special with the just family and other years we like to create a simple yet fun party for friends.

This months Michael’s Makers Challenge was timed absolutely perfect! The challenge is…

…And my sweet Emily just happened to turn 12!

We are a family of summer birthdays so it seems like summer is always the time that we party the most. The cool thing is, with Michaels… Parties are a snap!

My first stop was at the Michael’s Party section where we found the perfect little accessories for our event. Some canvas flags to make a banner. Some gold letters that would go with Emily’s color choice; black, white & gold. They had the cute berry baskets that are perfect for party favors and black and white straws that were perfect to add to the color of the night.

The center piece was our favorite Heidi Swapp Light Box that is perfect to add a little pizzaz to you summer party.

Another little Heidi Swapp gem… Her fun Light Star Lanterns that you can find at Michaels.

We bought a few of these guys and placed them throughout the tree to add a little dreamy air to the night.

We scoured the store and found all kinds of fun goodies in gold and black to add to our favor baskets. They turned out so cute. We have some notebooks, some Heidi Swapp stickers, cute pencils, some washi tape, little clipboards. They were perfect!

The girls had a ball playing with another Michaels gem, our Fujifilm Instax™ Mini 8 Camera

I grabbed some film and let the girls go nuts taking photos…

Duck Lips anyone? A must at a 12 year old’s birthday!

It was so fun to place the photos on the buffet to add to the memories of the night.

I even found these great Happy Birthday balloons at Michaels along with the ever popular tassels AND the helium tank to blow them up! SCORE!!

So many fun ways to dress up your backyard and turn it into a dreamy scene, perfect for a fabulous party! I have a few more details that I’ll share tomorrow.

For now… Here are even more amazing ideas from the rest of the Michael’s Makers.

An InLinkz Link-up

Disclosure // I am a member of the Michaels Makers Crew and receive product in order to complete my challenge assignment.

Tomato Tart Recipe

537 · May 27, 2016 · 7 Comments

+ This Tomato Tart Recipe brought to you by the folks at Bushel Boy Farms™ +

One of the first things that I think of when it comes to summer cooking is my favorite TOMATO!

I think I’ve said this before, but I LOVE tomatoes!

A few weeks ago, I shared a lovely Tomato Jam recipe that is perfect for those BLT’s, burgers, wraps… Pretty much anything that you want to add a little kick of tomato to.

The key is getting really good tomatoes!

Because of that, I was thrilled to find out about Bushel Boy Tomatoes™ grown right here in the USA, in Minnesota to be exact.

The crew at Bushel Boy has developed a fabulous greenhouse system that helps them grow tomatoes year-round. Yep, even in January they have beautiful red, vine ripened tomatoes ready for us to add to our salads and sandwiches. I don’t know about you, but a nice good tomato in January is pretty awesome!

The Bushel Boy Tomatoes are pollinated with bees… the natural way. They also limit the amount of pesticides used and have eliminated herbicides all together. You can find all kinds of tasty ideas at the Bushel Boy Facebook.

Today, I’m sharing a fantastic Tomato Tart that is perfect for a light lunch or dinner. Paired with a nice garden salad, it’s the perfect summer meal!

You can make them as individual tarts or make one large tart for everyone to share.

Here is a quick video to show you how I make them…

Tomato Tart from WhipperBerry from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

Tomato Tart Recipe

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

This scrumptious tomato tart is the perfect light summer meal!

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Light Meal

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

2-3 Bushel Boy Tomatoes
1 store bought pie crust
1 egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup chive cream cheese
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
chives

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450˚
Line your tart pan or baking pan with the pie crust, gently press down on the top of the pan to remove excess dough.
Pierce the the dough with a fork and place in a 450˚ oven for 8 minutes.
Remove tart shell from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg then combine the ricotta cheese, chive cream cheese, ½ of the parmesan cheese, salt & pepper.
Fill tart or tarts with the cheese mixture.
Top the tart or tarts with fresh sliced tomatoes.
Season the tomatoes with salt & pepper and then top with parmesan cheese.
Place in a 400˚ oven for 30 minutes for a large tart and 20 minutes for small tarts.
Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes, then serve with a nice garden salad.

Peaches and Cream Iced Tea

5 · May 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

+ This Peaches and Cream Iced Tea recipe is brought to you by International Delight +

Spring is in full bloom here in Lincoln. I’ve been having fun tending all of my new plants for this season. I’m a fairly novice gardener but, I’m giving it a good go. For years I’ve killed everything that I get my hands on. My husband will say when I walk in the door with new plants, “Are these this years victims?” NICE! This year I am determined to develop a green thumb! I will have fresh home grown tomatoes darn it!!

To me when I’m working out in the yard in the warm Spring and Summer sun the first thing that comes to mind is… “What refreshing drink shall we have!”

I grew up with a Father who loved peaches and let’s just say the peach didn’t fall too far from the tree. I’ve become a bit obsessed with peach lately. A few weeks ago I told you about a fun little concoction that I came up with for a Peach Melba Italian Soda and today, I want to share my Peaches and Cream Iced Tea.

When I was a kid, every once in a while when we would have a bunch of really good summer peaches, my Dad would cut up a couple of the juicy gems and put them in a bowl. Then he would pour a little bit of cream over the top and share this treat with me. It didn’t happen often, but when it did… My oh my, I was in heaven!

Now we are not currently in the hight of peach season BUT, I thought it would be fun to brew-up some herbal peach tea and create my own peaches and cream treat with the help of International Delight French Vanilla creamer…

All you need is your favorite peach tea, I like Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion and a tall glass of ice.

Fill your glass with the tea and then add a generous splash of International Delight French Vanilla Creamer.

Stir and enjoy! The I.D. gives the peach tea a little sweet pick me up with a smooth creamy finish. It’s lovely!

Perfect for those days of wrestling with Mother Nature… I will tame this garden this year!

For more great I.D. recipes and ideas sign-up for their newsletter or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

Food

Tomato Tart Recipe

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