DIY Red, White and Blue Ice Bucket

red-white-blue-ice-bucket-july-4th-wine-cooler

It’s about that time when red, white and blue are just about the only colors on our minds. Yes, one of our favorite holidays, July 4th, is coming up, and this year we’re adding a DIY fruit ice bucket to our party to do’s.

A DIY patriotic ice bucket is the perfect July 4th accessory, and it’s so easy and cheap to do. Guests will love the extra touch of red, white and blue, and they will enjoy their chilled beverage.

red-white-blue-diy-ice-bucket-fruit-diy-july-fourth-wine-cooler

red-white-blue-ice-bucket-july-4th-wine-cooler

Materials:

  • water
  • large bucket, we used a plastic one from Party City
  • small buckets {small enough to fit inside large bucket and large enough to fit a wine bottle or beer can}
  • blueberries, fresh or frozen, at least 2 cups
  • strawberries, fresh or frozen, sliced, 2-3 cups
  • weight, such as a rock
  • wine or beer

Directions:

Fill about 1/3 of the large bucket full of water, then drop in all the strawberries. Freeze for at least 5-8 hours.

strawberries-in-a-bucket

Place 2 small buckets on top of first layer of ice, add weight inside {we used a rock}, and fill another 1/3 of the bucket with water. Do not get water inside the small bucket because it will be more difficult to remove the buckets from the ice. Freeze for about 5-8 hours.

buckets

For the final layer, fill the remaining 1/3 of the container fill of water, and then drop in blueberries. Freeze for 8 hours.

blueberries-in-a-bucket

Remove from the freezer. Pour boiling water inside the small buckets and gently twist to remove from the ice. Additionally, run the outside of the large bucket with  hot water from the sink faucet. After about 15 seconds on each side, the ice cooler will be easily removed, and the layers should look like this.

red-white-blue-diy-ice-bucket-july-fourth-party

Carefully flip the ice cooler out from the bucket with your hands and set on a tray. Fill the holes with wine or beer. We couldn’t decide because beer, well, it’s all-American and those Budweiser cans are so patriotic and awesome. But, the vino lovers that we are couldn’t resist the taste and look of the red and blue Relax Wine bottles of wine.

budweiser-beer-red-white-blue-ice-bucket-diy-fourth-of-july-beer-cooler

 

relax-wines-red-white-blue-ice-bucket-wine-cooler

red-white-blue-ice-bucket-budweiser-beer-diy-cooler

 

relax-wines-red-white-blue

Cheers!

Important Note: We took photos of this DIY ice bucket with wine we had in the liquor cabinet, and after review of photos, while the wine was good, for the ultimate patriotic post, the wine bottle {and beer} needed to be more festive in color. Enter, Relax Wines and Budweiser beer! However, the ice bucket had to be re-frozen during a several hour photo shoot intermission, and a thin ‘film’ of ice formed over every layer, so the color of the DIY ice bucket was dulled, and the lines of the red, white and blue blurred. You win some, you lose some. Either way, we love our bucket, but honestly, it will be more vibrant than our photos if you have the right alcohol the first time around. 

happy birthday

COLORADO

Today, our home state that we love, Colorado, turns 137! Colorado became the 38th state to join the union on Aug. 1, 1876. In honor of this special day, we’re shopping all things Colorado. If you’ve ever lived here, call the Rocky Mountain state home, or just love good ‘ole Colorado, splurge to represent!

CHEERS

Colorado Native Beer
Colorado Flag Bike Crate: Colorado Joes via Etsy 

WEAR IT WITH PRIDE

Colorado Flag Crocheted Hat: Jessie Hull via Etsy
Colorado Shirt: The Home T
The Colorado Hat: Delicate Limited
Colorado Flag Custom Hoodies: FrozenKiss via Etsy

IN THE HOME

Colorado State Pillow: Seasons Gifts and Home
Colorado Home State Print: Homeland Tees via Etsy
Colorado State License Plate Bookends by Joonia via Etsy

CLOSE TO YOUR HEART

 I heart Colorado Necklace: Tru.che on Etsy

ACCESSORIZE

 Colorado Flag Gold Head Cover: Old Man Granola
Colorado Flag iPhone Case: Zazzle

{images via Seasons Gifts and Home, Joonia, The Home T, Tru.che, Old Man Granola, Delicate Brand, Frozen Kiss, Zazzle, Homeland Tees, Colorado Joes, Jessie Hull}

to: dad

We found some great gifts for the men in our lives, as we celebrate them on Sunday, Father’s Day. Cheers to dad! I know we have the best dad in the world, and I know my kids are blessed to have my hubby as a dad too.

Billy Jealousy Shave Cream, Nordstrom
{my husbands fave}

The Mantry
sold in one month, 3 month and 6 month subscriptions. Each Mantry includes 6 full size artisan food products delivered to your door and packed in a handmade wooden crate, along with a custom manual detailing product stories and recipes.

Corkcicle Chillsner
Corkcicle impressed us with the wine Corkcicle, and now they are pleasing the men too, the first in-bottle, drink-through beer chiller. Perfect for those hot summer days where no one wants a warm beer in hand.

Cigar of the Month Club
For $24.95 a month, plus $5 shipping, your dad will receive five hand-rolled premium cigars from the world’s top producers, along with a newsletter with tasting notes, cigar profiles and alcohol pairings. Shipments will be sent monthly, every other month or every 3 months.

Horseshoe Set, LL Bean {$69}

Brew2Go, The Product Farm
Hopefully you bought mom a Vino2Go for Mother’s Day, so now Dad can be a part of the cocktail action too with a Brew2Go.

Star Trek Wine, VinPort
If your dad is a cool Trekky like ours, he will love this bottle of wine that celebrates the series.

Men’s Santa Cruz, Crocs {$55}
my dad loves these

{image via Corkcicle, The Mantry, Cigar of the Month Club, Crocs, LL Bean, VinPort, The Product Farm}

beer birthday cake


My hubby turned 30 recently…and I must say, he’s hotter and more amazing than ever. He seems to get better with age…good for me! He had a wonderful dinner celebration with friends and family at his favorite steakhouse, received most of the things on his list and the ultimate gift for us to enjoy is a trip together {maybe Nashville or Cali wine country} without the kiddos to celebrate our 30th birthdays. {Now I just have to get over my fear of flying…working on it but it’s not going so well as the flight is not yet booked}.

Being a DIYer, I wanted to create something fun for him from the kiddos and me that included some of his favorite things and the number 30. The end result was a beer, sparkling water and ice cream cake, topped off with cigar candles.

Ingredients
12 Stella Cans of Beer
4 Guinness Cans of Beer
7 glasses of Pellegrino Sparkling Water
1 Dreyers Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
2 spotify gift cards
1 pair of designer glasses
3 cigars
= 30 gifts

And, to make it more special, the kids and I listed all the reasons why we love daddy/Tommy, and the kids wrote special notes too.

How To
Enlist adorable and priceless help from your kiddos

Write love notes/reasons why we love you notes on small pieces of paper, punch a hole in the corner of each one and use twine to attach to each beer/gift on your ‘cake’


Find the spot where you want to display your cake because once you make/layer it’s really hard to move {i did have to hide it for a little bit in a big box, so if you need to do that, just make sure each layer is on a separate base}.
Place the beer, or bottom layer of your cake in the shape you want – I created a circle with each beer next to each other.
Find a cake pan or strong base for your second/middle layer. I used a small metal cake pan base {the kind where the side can be removed}.
Add your second layer, which in my case was bottled water. Because my hubby likes the bottles, I used 2 cans of the Pellegrino Sparkling Water on the inside of the circle so top layer {half-gallon of ice cream} would fit snugly in between the bottles.


I used a hot glue gun to securely place the bottles exactly where I wanted them to be, with the base of each bottle ‘hanging’ of the edge of the cake pan {the hot glue was easily removed from the cake pan post celebration}.
Empty the ice cream half-gallon in another frozen-friendly container or buy 2 and eat one before you make the ‘cake’ so the ice cream doesn’t melt.
Use a knife to slit 3 x’s on the lid of the gallon ice cream container to tightly fit the cigars.
Add the cigars.

Wrap each cake layer with thick burlap or rope

Place other gifts, such as gift cards, glasses, etc around the cake
Get your vocal cords ready to sing ‘happy birthday’ to your loved one

{images via Tutto Bella}

vday love for the men too

Now that we covered the females, its time to share some ideas for the men in our lives. Let’s be honest, what men really want may not be appropriate for this blog…but these gifts are!

1. Ticket Stub Diary, Uncommon Goods {$11}
2. Beer Buckle or BevBuckle, The Beer Buckle {$34}
3. Ray-Ban Aviators, Sunglass Hut {$144,95}
4. Keurig Mini-Plus Personal Coffee Maker, Bed, Bath & Beyond {$99}
5. Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones, Target {$199}
6. Lucky Night Bottle of Wine, Swanson Vineyards

{images via Sunglass Hut, Swanson Vineyards, Uncommon Goods, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, The Beer Buckle}