Summer Recipe: Fresh Corn Salad

summer corn salad

We daydream about good thymes in the garden every summer. 🙂 Although we haven’t mastered many garden skills yet, we’re trying. Jenna has a strong showing of tomatoes and zucchini’s most summers. Jessica has had moderate success with spinach, herbs and radishes. Oh, and mint has multiplied everywhere. We are happy to report this year’s garden is growing, and fingers crossed we produce some actual food for our families, and the animals don’t grub on it all before we do.

With gardens, come more garden salads, and entertaining in the backyard. We hope to share more recipes with you, and heres’s the first one.

Fresh Summer Corn Salad
Recipe adapted by Cookie and Kate
serves 5-7 people as a side salad

Salad Ingredients:

  • 9 cherry tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 Yellow pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, with seeds removed and finely chopped
  • 5 Green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta
  • 4 cobs fresh corn, either grilled or boiled and then sliced off the cob
  • 1/2 english cucumber, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Dressing Ingredients:

  • Red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons
  • Garlic, 2 cloves pressed
  • Olive oil, 1/4 cup
  • Sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon
  • Black pepper to taste

fresh corn salad from the garden

fresh corn salad for summer entertaining

New Craft We Love – DIY Tie-Dye Coffee Filter Art

diy coffee filter art for kids-tie dye butterfly

Coffee filters don’t just come to the rescue every morning as you make your cup (or two, or three) of coffee. They can be the inspiration for DIY art projects, too. We made beautiful DIY butterflies with tie-dye coffee filters. We all loved this project – literally it was fun for my 7-year-old all to my 30-something self (and all the ages in-between). It’s so therapeutic to color various patterns and squiggles on the filters, and then watch it magically create a tie-dye pattern with water.

We shared all the details with Momtastic. Check it out here.

 

DIY LaCroix Baby Shower Favors That Sparkle

lacroix cans make the cutest diy baby shower planter

We know you aren’t actually hosting a baby shower in the next month or so during stay-at-home orders, but we do know baby showers are going to happen again when we make it through this historic, difficult time. When COVID-19 does pass, and a baby shower is on the calendar, you will be ready with the cutest baby shower favors ever!! With this DIY favor, the colors pop (so it’s a decor piece as well) , you can drink ALL THE cans of LaCroix to make these DIY planters, and everyone loves a little “baby” succulent they can grow at home, too! It’s a win/win for the host and guest, and also for the mom-to-be because they can be gender-specific or neutral.

All the details are here at Momtastic.

 

DIY Perler Bead Art & Happy Snail Mail During COVID-19 2020

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

Easter is going to be one for the books this year. Due to COVID-19, we may or may not have eggs due to store shortages, we will not be doing an egg hunt with all our families, we won’t be drinking our aunt’s famous bloody mary’s or mimosas as we catch up with our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and we won’t be at mass with our faith communities. COVID-19 has brought all kinds of emotions, fears and also a personal challenges to be grateful for the simple blessings in life we often take for granted. We are beyond blessed that we can stay-at-home with our little families, and although this Easter will be hard, we pray it also brings hope. Hope in humanity. Hope that things will get better. Hope because He is risen. Hope that good things are on the horizon.

We are doing out best to get creative with the art supplies we have on-hand during these long days at home, and since we miss our family and friends so much, we wanted to send happy snail mail to remind them how much we love them. If you don’t have perler beads, we highly suggest that you buy them from Amazon. After all, we have 4 more weeks (at least) at home. The tiny beads provide hours of fun and creativity. If Easter is not feasible for DIY perler bead art, then do whatever designs you want, and glue them on cards to send through the mail. It will add sunshine to someone’s day, and right now, it’s the small things and acts of kindness that make a BIG difference.

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

This is so simple, it doesn’t require official steps. First, buy the beads (or use the beads you already have). Next, design something small that can fit on a card. You can find designs online, or create your own. Follow directions for ironing so the beads fuse together. Lastly, with a hot glue gun, glue it to a blank card, and write a sweet note inside. You can do this DIY perler bead craft year-round. For the words on the front, you can use a label machine, stamps, or write the words.

We hope you find the silver lining during these uncertain times, or something to be hopeful for in the coming months. Happy Easter. We are sending love and hope to everyone right now.

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids

DIY perler bead art for easter-happy snail mail for kids-sunshine during COVID-19

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DIY Surprise Ball Twist: DIY Surprise Carrots With Trolls

diy surprise ball carrot-spring-and-easter-craftWe just can’t stop that happy feeling when we think of Trolls. We loved those crazy and colorful-haired toys when we were younger, and then a couple years ago, Dreamworks introduced a whole new family of Trolls, and our kids fell in love, too. The happy, glittery and music-loving Trolls are the source of inspiration for our latest DIY spring project, DIY surprise carrots with Trolls.

We’ve seen creative DIY surprise balls where kids unwrap, unwrap and then unwrap some more to unveil a special gift in the center of the ball. We made a modern and spring (Easter) twist on the DIY surprise balls with these DIY surprise carrots. The stem of a carrot has never looked for bright with hues of pink, teal and black Troll hair; however, the fun of unwrapping remains solid!

We can’t wait to see Trolls World Tour. And, we’re thrilled it’s (almost) Spring! Celebrate with these surprise gifts.

DIY Surprise Carrots with Trolls

Materials:

  • Orange crepe paper streamer, WalMart
  • mini Trolls (these, or these)
  • Mod Podge
  • Paintbrush

Directions:

Step 1: Begin by unraveling a bit of the orange crepe paper streamer. Place the mini Troll on the end of the orange paper, and begin to roll and wrap, and wrap and wrap.

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper

 

Step 2: Continue to wrap tightly (don’t pull too tight to rip the crepe streamer), as you form the shape of a carrot. No carrot is perfect, so there will be lumps and bumps. Wrap the crepe paper around the Troll, and then wrap it below the Troll. Make this part thicker since there is no “base”.

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

Step 3: Once the crepe paper looks like a carrot, cut the end, add a dab of Mod Podge, and stick it to the bottom of the carrot. Then, top it off with a brush of Mod Podge, so it stays in place.

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

Step 4: You now have the cutest little garden of DIY carrots that have a surprise inside!

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

DIY trolls surprise carrots with crepe paper-dreamworks trolls world tour

 

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