But this time, we decided it would be fun to share the instructions with you so you can make your own. And since it was time to do a little Summer Front Porch Decorating, it was perfect timing.

The construction on the Wooden Firecrackers is not difficult, and with a few standard tools you can make your own, but they did take some time.

I love how the Front Porch looks with the pop of Red, White & Blue. We used the Patriotic Shutter that Doug painted last year, the pillow on the chair received a little update with a red and white checkered napkin for the cover. The Vintage Red Coleman Cooler is fun too, and screams Summertime to me. And the galvanized double bucket is full of annual flowers.

I added some grapevine and wide burlap ribbon that was left over from the Spring Mantel to break up the edges of the shutter a bit.

So let’s get busy making some Wooden Firecrackers…

First you will need to get a 6 1/2 foot by 3 1/2 inch wooden fence post, they can be found at most farm supply stores or stores that sell lumber. Cut it into 3 lengths – 30 inch, 22 inch and 14 inches.

Then using a 1 inch wood boring bit, drill out a hole about 1 1/4″ deep.

Then give them a good coat of white primer. We left them unsanded, because we wanted the Firecrackers to look rustic.

Tip – set the poles on top of large nails to raise them off the surface a bit so the paint brush can reach the bottom easily.

After the primer dries, it’s time to paint. After painting the Garden Art Shutters, Doug has fallen in love with Krylon ColorMaster, so he bought some for this project as well. He used Bright White Satin, Navy Blue Gloss and Cherry Red Gloss.

Then using Frog Tape he covered the entire pole.

Then mark each of the areas that will be painted, the stars and the stripes. The largest Firecracker is marked 9 inches from the top, the middle size 7 inches and the shortest one is 5 inches from the top. The stripes are each 2 inches wide and the pattern for the star was printed from an internet search.

After the red paint is dry, now it’s time to add the stars and blue paint. Trace around a star template.

Then he cut and remove the Frog Tape from the areas for the red stripes, spray the edges with white paint to seal them down.

Then spray paint each of the poles with red, you may need several coats, let dry in between and then over night.

Cut out around the star where the blue paint will go, leaving the star covered with tape.

Spray with blue paint, you may need several coats, let it dry in between coats.

After the paint is completely dry, peel away the tape where the star is.

Touch up using a small foam brush. Doug used the same spray paint, and just spray it into a container and then touched up around the edges, that way the color of the paint is the same.

Then cut pieces of rope and push into the holes for the wick.

Celebrate 4th of July on Hoosier Homemade!

Be sure to use #SummerHunt on your social media channels  so everyone can follow along. You can also add photos to Hoosier Homemade’s Facebook page! Here are the Summer Scavenger Hunt details…

• Begins Monday, June 10th. – runs for 10 weeks
• Every Sunday evening I will post 5 items to find during the week for the Hunt, and there will be a printable for you also
• Follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram with hashtag #SummerHunt
• Tag your photos on any social media with the hashtag so everyone can follow along with the fun
• Feel free to share them on my Facebook page and @HoosierHomemade on Twitter so I can see what you have found

Last week we found…a red car, yellow flower, black dog, pinwheel and bird feeder!

Once again, I made a very simple printable for you too, if you would like to print it and follow along.

Click HERE to download the Summer Scavenger Hunt Printable - it will open to a PDF, save and print

Have fun!

We have 4 Easy Table Decorations to share with you today…No Sew Table Runner, Paper Snack Bowls, Pinwheels and Cupcake Toppers. There is lots to cover but first I wanted to tell you about a fun evening I have coming up. Next Tuesday, June 18th at 8 p.m. EST, I will be hosting a Facebook chat for Elmer’s Craft it and we will be sharing Summer Entertaining ideas. So mark your calendars, it will be lots of fun and there will be a prize too! I know how much you all love Elmer’s products!

Now, let’s get crafting! I used a Red, White & Blue theme for this Fourth of July table, but you can certainly change the colors to whatever theme you would like. Perhaps you are hosting a bridal shower or birthday party, just swap out the colors for whatever matches the occasion.

Let’s start with the table runner. We used ordinary bandannas that we bought at Walmart for $1 each, and then glued the edges together to create a seam.

No Sew Table Runner Supplies

• Bandannas
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Fabric & Leather Adhesive

Just simply run a bead of the Elmer’s Craft Bond Fabric & Leather Adhesive down the edge of the bandanna, being sure it’s on the right side. You will be putting right sides together to create a seam.

Then press the seams together, and let dry at least 5 minutes.

Then we just laid the Table Runner down the center of the picnic table.

Next let’s make these cute little Paper Snack Bowls. Thanks to Our Best Bites for the idea.

Paper Snack Bowls Supplies

• Paper plates
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots {my favorite product}
• Scissors
• Ribbon

Step 1

Lay a 3 inch square piece of paper in the center of the plate

Step 2

Mark all corners with a pen or pencil

Step 3

Then cut from the outside of the plate up to each mark

Step 4

Crease the plate on each corner

Step 5

Use the glue spots to secure each of the corners down

Step 6

Then secure the ribbon around the bowl with glue spots

Step 7

Fill your snack bowls with peanuts or any other snack you like.

Down the center of the table we have mason jars that are holding pinwheels.

In each of the jars, we added a glow necklace and then filled it with tulle. Then in each jar we added the pinwheels and sparklers. Last year I showed you how to make pinwheels and have a video showing you step-by-step directions. After the pinwheels were done, I used Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots to attach them onto the lollipop stick.

And finishing off our table decorations are the Fourth of July Cupcake Toppers. These are available to Cupcake Chronicles Subscribers, read all about it and sign up, it’s FREE!

Each of the round toppers were cut with a 2 inch hole punch, then I used Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots to attach the short lollipop stick onto the back. And then pushed them into the cupcakes.

We had a blast putting together these Easy Table Decorations! I hope that you will join me on Tuesday for the Summer Entertaining chat at 8 p.m. EST on the Elmer’s Craft it Facebook Page.

Disclosure:  Products for review were provided by Elmer’s Craft Bond.  I received a free sample of the products for the purpose of this review.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Elmer’s Craft Bond.

They have been a constant presence in my tool box since I can remember and are my tool of choice for many projects around the house. Whether it’s repairing a leaky pipe or working on a craft project for Liz.

So, just in time for Father’s Day, we have a great Giveaway for you to enter!

They are always reliable and have never let me down. I’ve not found a job they can’t complete, how about you? What would your dad fix with a CHANNELLOCK^® plier?

I love these pliers so much that we have partnered with them to bring you a Giveaway to start or add to your dads’ toolbox with a CHANNELLOCK^® 440® Straight Jaw Plier, E336 XLT Diagonal Cutting Pliers and  E326 XLT Long Nose Pliers.

Want to win? Here’s what you need to do… Everything is covered in the Rafflecopter widget but let me explain a little more in depth.

Twitter:  Leave a Comment and Tweet an answer or photo to the following question: “What would your dad fix with a CHANNELLOCK^® plier?” Use the hashtag #440FixIt

FOLLOW CHANNELLOCK^® on Pinterest

LIKE the CHANNELLOCK^® Facebook page

FOLLOW CHANNELLOCK^®  on Twitter
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: CHANNELLOCK^® provided me with a duplicate set of pliers for my review. All opinions are my own.

BACARDI Classic Cocktails Light Strawberry Daiquiri is the newest drink made with Bacardi Rum, it’s under 95 calories and made with natural flavors, real lime juice and cane sugar. It can be made into a frozen drink or simply poured over ice like I did.

Whether you are hosting a family cook out or just an evening with the girls, the BACARDI Classic Cocktails Light Strawberry Daiquiri is quick, easy and delicious! Check out the other flavors Bacardi Classic Cocktails on their Facebook Page.

Here I have added some snacks to the tray, chips with Pico de gallo, pretzels and Ranch Dip in the bottom of a glass votive served with carrots.

When it comes to at-home entertaining, we want to have our cocktail and drink it too. With BACARDI Classic Cocktails Light, you don’t need to choose between serving great cocktails or socializing with friends. Enjoy the best of everything – the convenience of ready-to-serve cocktails and the confidence of natural ingredients mixed with the world’s most awarded spirit. BACARDI Classic Cocktails Light allow you to serve the best, naturally!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BACARDI. The opinions and text are all mine. Sweepstakes Rules.

Just like many of you, our family is stretched for time but serving healthy meals is important to me. Would you like to know how to save time in the kitchen but still serve your family a delicious, healthy meal? Let me show you the Power Cooker; a 6 quart Digital Pressure Cooker and the Soup Express!

There have been many appliances over the years that have come and gone in my kitchen. Some staying a bit longer than others, but honestly my friends, these two appliances are definitely going to stick around!

We have a fairly large kitchen, but even if we didn’t, we would be making room on the counter for these…they are that good!

We used the Power Cooker to make these Honey Hoisin Chicken Sandwiches. (Grab the Recipe) The chicken cooked in 30 minutes, and was nice and juicy too. We just place the chicken and sauce in the Power Cooker, turned it on and let it do it’s job. The flavor was similar to a slow cooker, but in much less time.

Like most cooks, I was a little hesitant of a Pressure Cooker. I had heard horror stories of people getting burned, but thankfully I didn’t need to worry about it with this product. Here are some of the details…

Power Cooker 6 quart Pressure Cooker Product Details

• Built-in safety features
• Fully automated
• Retains moisture, nutrients and vitamins
• Automatic keep warm function
• Dishwasher-safe cooking pot
• Saves energy and time
• Frozen to done in 20 minutes
• Slow-cooked flavor in minutes

The Power Cooker is available at Walmart for $79.

I don’t know about you, but we love Homemade Popsicles and Smoothies, especially during the Summer months. So we also gave the Soup Express a try with a couple different recipes.

The Soup Express makes amazing soup, and yes it also makes drinks and blends fruit and vegetables amazingly! We blended the fruit with a little sugar for the Popsicles, and I couldn’t believe how well it worked. Really, I’ve had many different blenders, and not one has worked any where near as well as this Soup Express does.

We also made these delicious Watermelon Strawberry Refreshers for FoodFanatic.com, watch for the recipe coming tomorrow (Friday). In about 2 minutes we had a drink that was not only delicious but good for us too.

Soup Express Product Details

• Stainless Steel 4-Blade Cutting System
  
• 3-Blending Speeds
• Preset Temperature Control
• Stir Function
• BPA-Free Glass Pitcher
• Lid & Removable Measuring Cap
• Timer Display/Control
• Non-Stick Teflon Pro Coating

The Soup Express is available for around $100. Watch the video about Soup Express for more information.

If you have a chance to try either of these products, let me know what you think.

With Father’s Day coming up, I decided it would be a great time to work with the boys and get the garage organized and fixed up a bit in preparation for turning it into a Man Cave.

Let me give you a little peak into this Garage Slob’s domain…

Oh yes…not pretty, I know! So I rounded up some helpers and we went straight to work.

There was lots to clear out before we could begin the job of painting and organizing. So like most projects around here, once we get started, we end up making it a huge project, but in the end it turns out amazing. We had purchased paint for the walls, and the peg board, but when we took a close look at them after everything was cleared away, we decided it could really use some new dry wall.

And well…dry wall isn’t something that the boys or I had experience with, so we brought Doug on board to help. After all, it will be his Man Cave so he probably should have some say into how it turns out. Doug used his Allway Taping Knife he purchased at Walmart to apply the ProForm All Purpose joint Compound over the Duck Brand Drywall Joint Tape. Did you know they have a nice selection of DIY tools and supplies to get the job done!

The whole wall was taped and mudded twice, with drying time in between. The experienced diy-ers out there will probably notice that instead of hanging the drywall vertically like you normally would, Doug hung the drywall horizontally.

When you’re dealing with remodeling an old building you can run into the problem we had, 21″ and 24″ centered studs, which makes hanging the drywall a real pain. Luckily Doug spent some time working with my father before he passed away and one of the things he learned was when you come across this problem there are two possible solutions. Add in new studs every 16 inches or hang the drywall sheets horizontally. Just realize the vertical joints are going to be more difficult to get smooth. (Maybe I can get him to share how he does this)

This photo shows you the before wall on the left, which will soon be covered as well.

Now it was time to start painting. We bought just everyday paint at Walmart, nothing fancy since it was going in the garage. It was less than $10 per gallon but Color Place Interior Paint still has a 15 year warranty. And let’s face it the walls are going to get dirty and marked up so we’ll probably be painting again long before the warranty expires.We used only one gallon to cover an 8′ by 20′ wall.

Time for the boys to start helping again, the paint was rolled on…

And the window frame that Doug trimmed with some molding from the local molding outlet, was painted with leftover Disney paint from when we painted our son’s bedroom a couple months ago.

While the paint was drying, we put together the Garden Tool Organizer. Let me tell you my friends, this is a great product!

It went together in snap, in fact it took longer to get everything out of the package and read the directions than it did to put it together. I’m guessing that there’s a reason the yellow sticker is here.

The top holds all of the tools nicely and it doesn’t feel like they are overcrowded. All your gardening tools fit, long handled, short handle, there’s even a spot to store your weed wacker.

And the wheels are a genius idea! Doug used to have one of those Garden Tool Organizers that fit into the corner, it was difficult to move around and even get the tools out when you needed something.

In about 5 minutes the Tool Rack was together and ready to organize the tools.

Organization makes my heart sing…how about you?

There was even room for the Small Garden Tools and an extension cord.

I think it all turned out fabulous and Doug couldn’t be more happy! Now…onto the rest of the garage! I have turned my Garage Slob into a Garage Organizer and he is ready to tackle the rest. It will be so beautiful and organized when we are done, I might even get a corner to turn into a studio for shooting photos. Wouldn’t that be fun?