Sugar Shop

Hey Kool-Aid!! New title: Are artificial sweeteners safe for children?

Remember those commercials? Life was so simple back then. Our parents didn't know that a ton of sugar was not so good. But then again we probably just burned it all off because we ran around outside all day every day. 

We don't drink soda in our house. I used to be a Diet Pepsi girl but I finally gave that up because I had a friend of a friend who had breast cancer said that her oncologist (spelled right? not sure, anyway...) told her that the aspartame and something else in the D.P. are a extremely bad for you. Yikes. Even if this is a small chance, why would I want to put this stuff in my body every day. 

Steve just has never liked soda. Beer yes. Soda no. And we have never given it to Jumpy Kid. We always gave him Milk or water and then Juice as a treat.  But when it's a hot summer we all wanted something cool and refreshing to drink so I started buying Gatorade. But that's got a lot of sugar too. So then I started buying Propel. Yay! No aspartame, no or little sugar, hardly any calories and we all loved it..... then after consuming tons of propel over most of the summer Steve looks at the label and says did you know that High Fructose Corn Syrup is the FIRST ingredient in this stuff? WHAT?? ugggh. 

Now I am not a crazy organic/whole food/fanatic by any means and I believe that everything is fine in moderation. A propel, Diet Pepsi or Gatorade every now and then will not hurt you but we were not drinking the propels moderately. I realized Big Daddy and Jumpy kid would drink two or three on a hot day. 

So then I started looking at the stores and seriously try finding a flavored water type beverage that does not contain aspartame,high fructose corn syrup,tons of sugar and calories . I know what some of you may be thinking. Just drink water. We do but it's still nice to have something else. 

So I started buying Kool aid packets and using Splenda.... and I only use half the amount of Splenda called for. 

 

I bought the 1 Gallon Mixer Mate Pitcher from Walmart and some Kool-aid packets. The are 22 cents a piece at Walmart. So it costs 44 cents (two packets) plus a cup of splenda for a GALLON. I realize that Splenda may not be all that good for you and there must be some freaky dyes in the Kool-aid since I can't seem to make the stuff with out staining my finger tips but for good lord it's the best I can do. And it's been fun making it and choosing the flavas with Jumpy Kid.

So... I have decided Hot pink is the new black for this fall

.... and I'm kicken it old school and bring'en Kool-Aid back. Holla!

Who's with me?

anyone.... anyone

*******EDITED************

After reading  Jenna Lou's comment I decided to further research Splenda. I knew it wasn't the best choice but thinking it was a lesser evil. It's not. I will no longer be using Splenda or any other artificial sweetener. Even Stevia has some issues. Some say it's safe and it  has finally been FDA approved but some are also saying that the big cola companies will be using it and re-processing it. So I have decided that I will use regular old sugar. Why? because we don't do much sugar at all in this house, my child does not have a weight issue, we eat over all pretty darn healthy with out a ton of processed stuff. So I will make Kool-aid with half the amount of sugar it calls for. Please google "Are artificial Sweetners safe for children" it's scary. That's what I love about these posts when they open up discussions that we can learn from. It seriously FRYS me that this stuff is on the market without warnings. I guess that's why it's best to just stay as close to whole foods as you can.

Leave a comment if you have thoughts on the subject. Also what do you give your children to drink besides water, milk or juice. 

Thanks Jenna Lou for your comment. I wouldn't have looked it up otherwise. 

Now I am off to get a bowl of KIX for Jumpy Kid for breakfast.... please no one tell me there is anything wrong with Kix. :)

Google Reader and the NEXT button

Let me say it again GOOGLE READER. The other day I read this post on Heather Bailey's site about Google reader. Now, I have been using Bloglines forever. I'm sure most of you all know about these services but in case you haven't they are simply free services where you can put all your fave blogs in one spot . Saves you from clicking on a blog everyday. Well I have like a hundred and fifty something blogs listed in Bloglines. If you are familiar with bloglines you know that you can click on the blog name in your list of blogs and it will show the contents of that latest post in a white screen without actually opening the blog. I always thought it wasn't really necessary to go to the site since you are reading their latest and greatest news.

But, I decided to sign up for Google Reader (it's free so why not I figured) and then  I went in to the preferences on G.R. and clicked the button too install the "Next" button in to my bookmarks bar. Super easy. Now I just click on the Next button and it opens the actual blog from my list in all it's intended glory. I still thought this not a big deal to open the actual blog but holy cow, I was wrong! Over the last few days when I have a moment (usually as my boys are watching an episode of MythBusters for the 900th time) I have been "hitting" my next button. OMG! It's such a better experience to visit the blogs. It's.... so much more personal. Some may have some really cool info in the sidebars that I have been missing out on... or their "about me" photo! I have added so many blogs directly into Bloglines that I never knew what some of you looked like. Hello Gorgeous! And the blogs we design have so much personality, I find my self commenting more. So people sign up if you haven't already you'll be so happy you did or if you already are make sure you install the "Next" button. 

Oh, because there is just no possible way for me to do a post without a pic or two: Here are a couple I took at our Easter Bash

This is my dad... the most amazing, inspiring, hilarious and cool man I know and he's turning 70 this Saturday. He's wearing the ear thingys because we should skeet at our ranch on Easter (yes I said we) but I looked at this photo and thought if this is was 70 looks like, I'm in!

Happy Tuesday Love monkeys!

Dear V8 People.....

I would like to get down on my knees and bow to your greatness, and then I would like to hug every person that was involved with making a beverage that has a full serving of vegetables AND a full serving of fruit in a tiny 8oz serving while making it taste like fruit punch/juice! 

Oh, and if that wasn't enough... you did this without adding the evil high fructose corn syrup...with out adding additional sugar.... and you put in NO artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Seriously???

and as if that wasn't enough you care about my intelligence. Knowing that I would otherwise walk around pronouncing our favorite flavor (Acai Mixed Berry) UH-Kigh, you put the correct pronunciation on the bottle for me. Acai is actually a-sigh-ee. 

You are rock stars and geniuses

 

Love, 

the mom of the worlds pickiest eater

It's Time!

The title for this post is so perfect in so many ways!

It's time.....to announce the winner of the give away.

It's time..... to reveal what I've been up to.

It's time...... is the name of the Hospital bag that I designed for a major baby product company The Peanut Shell!

So it started with a random meeting. Actually Steve and I were signing up Jumpy Kid for baseball early one morning in the spring and I met a mom about my age (Hi Jill!) and she asked where I got my bag. (The black and white Nanny Bag) when she said that she loved it Steve actually gave me a shove and rolled his eyes because I had been getting the same response everywhere we went and I kept procrastinating about opening a shop. I told her that I had made it and we started talking and I was telling her my story and she said it sounded very similar to how this friend of hers started her company only she was selling baby slings and that if I wrote down my blog address she would pass it on.

I wrote down the address and never thought about it again. About a month later I received and email from Alicia the owner The Peanut Shell and she mentioned that she was interested in my designing a diaper bag for her company and possibly photographing her upcoming catalog.

I thought Oooh fun! I get to combine my two loves. Photography and fabric! I checked out her website and Loved the baby slings she had designed and thought this will be a fun little project.

This is Alicia in a shot that I did for the catalog....

We instantly clicked and after talking we realized we HAD to work together. She was taking her company in a new direction and was looking for someone to add to the team that shared her same vision from a design perspective. With both of us being business owners and designers we could have sat for hours talking about new ideas!

Oh, and after she mentioned something about her Babies R Us account in an email. I think I stared at the screen, cocked my head to one side and thought... Huh? Wuh? and so I Googled The Peanut Shell and realized that The Peanut Shell was sold in oh.... just
Babies R Us, Target, Nordstrom, Macy's and a million high end baby boutiques. I kind of realized then that this wasn't going to be a fun LITTLE project. This was going to be a Big Ass fun Amazing opportunity project. And it has been let me tell you!

We are currently collaborating on a collection of baby products that I am designing that will be manufactured! We leave on Saturday for the ABC trade show in Vegas where I will go as her new designer. The ABC show is the show for the entire baby product industry. We are being taken by limo to the airport and tomorrow we have a Pedicure meeting! Working with her will not suck at all.

Oh and the super hot mama in the photos holding my bags is of course my foot model and BFF Tara. Let me just share with you what an amazing friend and support system she is for me. Oh, and she is wearing a fake baby bump for the shoot. THAT is a true friend!

There is so much more to share and I will if you are interested. Let me just tell you all how amazing and inspiring you all have been to me and how FUN this little contest has been. I won't get too sappy because if I do then I'll have to punch you in the arm or something...but.... THANK YOU. So many of you guessed that I was pregnant and while sadly I'm not.....yet. It touched me that so many of you would be excited for me if that would have been my news! Thank you for that and now I know that if that becomes the case I will be so sharing it with my homegirls here! I loved how some of you got silly with your guesses (I would totally have done that too) one of my favorites was that I was designing a bag for the Queen! lol.

Ok Ok....the winner. I did the Random.org thing and..........

Giabella Designs!

Woohoooooo!

So now my coming soon shop button is replaced with the Peanut shell button on the top right!

Thanks for playing along!

xoxo
Dena

Butterfly Release, Big ($75 Fabric Gift Cert!!!) Giveaway, Blogversary!

Jumpy kid loves bugs. Not just finding and watching them but he loves to learn about them. We have books and watch the discovery channel and he is enthralled and will then tell everyone what he knows. The last couple of years we have raised silk worms in a shoe box in his bedroom. It's amazing and so simple!

This year we decided to do butterflies and ladybugs. We ordered everything we needed from Here . The catterpillars come in a jar and once they form their chrysalis then you move them to the butterfly treehouse (the thing that jumpy kid has on the lawn). Then once the butterflies emerge from their cocoons you feed them fresh flowers and sugar water for a few days and then it's time to release!

Ready...

Set...

Giggle....Set....

Go!

Goodbye butterflies, take care of our flowers...we love you! Good lord this child can pull my heart strings.

We also raised lady bugs which I have to say was a way more interesting. Only because we all know the cycle of the caterpillar to the butterfly but do you know the cycle of the lady bug? Who knew these beloved little creatures have an amazing life-cycle too. Please go google it or better yet order your larva and habitat from the link above. As soon as Steve and I saw the larva we both said "Oh my god, I didn't know those turn in to lady bugs. We have seen the little alligator like bugs through out the years and never knew that those little suckers were baby lady bugs. Huh! I'm still shocked and feel the urge to contact every kindergarten teacher on the planet and beg them to teach the little ones about their favorite little beetles.

Lady Bug Larvae (or as we like to say baby lady bug)

OK, so on to some seriously fun business! It's my one year blogversary! And I want to say how much I appreciate every single one of you who leave comments or just stop by to read, or ask about my bags. And thank you so much for your patience in my shop opening.

So to show my appreciation I am giving away a $50 $75 gift certificate from one of my favorite on-line fabric stores Over The Rainbow. I have been ordering fabric there for the last few years. You must sign up for her newsletter. It's like a blog post. She links to all the fabric lines as they come in her store. She does lots of pre-orders so if there is a line that you know you want just pre-order from her and then forget about it. When it comes in she'll charge your card and send it to you. You also get lots of fun updates about her farm life and family. I think (correct me if I'm wrong Laura) she used to be a fashion designer and now runs her fabric store from her beautiful farm. Oh and...her prices are always the lowest per yard!

Edit: Ok, I just checked my email and Laura the owner of Over the Rainbow emailed me to say that she has kicked in an extra $25.00. How awesome is that?? That's why this is one of my very fave shops. Thanks Laura!! So now one of you lucky ducks will win a $75.00 gift cert

Ok, so here is what you have to do to enter:

Just leave a comment telling me what you would like to see more of on this site. Or ask me anything you want to know. Do you want to see more bags and sewing stuff, craft projects, recipes (ok they will be Tara's recipes because I get them all from her...but they are good... really good) Do you want to see more photography or know more about photography equipment (I get asked often about that). Do you wanna know how I met Big Daddy? Anything, there are no wrong requests. Feel free to ask goofy stuff, I'm all about goofy.

Let's spread this awesome give-away around (thanks again Laura, I can't stop thanking her, that was just such a random act of coolness to kick in $25!!!). If you mention this giveaway on your blog with a link to me blog (email me to let me know you have done so or mention it in your comment) and I will enter your name in the drawing twice!

The drawing will end at 8 p.m. pacific time this Thursday July 3rd. I will randomly pick a winner and announce the winner on Friday.

Only one entry per person please.

Oh and the cool thing is that Laura has already given me the code. So all I have to do is email the winner and you are ready to shop baby! You know its a good thing I discovered the whole blog thing a year ago...because before I was the only one I knew that got so excited about fabric, I started to think I was like those weird hoarder people only instead of odd junk it was pretty piles of neatly folded fabric that I collected. Now thanks to blog land I know I'm not alone. You're all crazy just like me. Thanks Man!

Dena out....
sorry, I just can't stop with the bad Ryan Seacreast impersonations lately

I know, I know what your thinking...she needs help! ... Please don't remove me from your blogroll, please.

Edit: TIME'S UP!!! Wow this has been so amazingly fun!! Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments and suggestions and requests. The winner will be announced tomorrow! Woohoo.

Ginger Blossom

I'm a lucky girl, my favorite quiltshop In Between Stitches
ordered the entire line of Sandi Henderson's fabric line Ginger Blossom.

The owners Melissa and Leslie are so wonderful! The Jumpy Kid and I have been going there since he was a baby in a carrier. As he's grown up they have been soooo sweet to him. They call him by name, let him help fold fabric and patiently answer all his questions. When I tell him we have to go to the fabric store he says "Oh, the place where the ladies love me mom?" Talk about good customer service! Melissa had my cell number and had a note to call me as soon as Ginger blossom came in so I could come running. I know it's going to sell fast. She called me as they were unpacking. Yay!

This fabric is so yummy I seriously want to take a picture of each fabric and post it. I almost could too. There are 19 pieces and I have 17 (I must have missed getting 1 and the other hadn't come it yet). But then again you can see them on them all here at the Michael Miller Site See the bigger stacks on the bottom...I bought a lot of those. If you haven't ordered yours yet, go get some! Thanks Sandi for creating such a bright and cheery line!

Lego Love

Just a quick pop in to show some Lego Love. We bought this Lego Advent Calendar at the lego store at Disney world and every morning the little guy (5 yrs old) flys out of bed to open the new day. Each day so far has been a little package of something that must be put together. We placed one of those green lego boards in front so that we can attach all the pieces as the come out. So if your like me and ran out of time to make a cool homemade this is a great option. Even if you don't have one, get one now and I bet your little one would have fun "catching up" by opening the December days that have already past (5 already can you believe it?). They also have a Girly version! That's it! That's the post. I am working on a new bag though. That'll be next! Hope you all are taking time to enjoy Christmas. My little man has pronounced that December is Christmas. Not December 25th. Who am I to argue? I'm down! I'm in! Every day he wakes up...it's still Christmas mom? Sure baby. For 20 more days. So Merry Christmas!

Singer Futura Ce-250 review update

Since I get asked frequently if I'm still happy with my machine I thought periodically I would throw out some updates. So here goes.

First let me make this statement:
Hi my name is Dena and I'm a complete dork.
Ok, now that you have no illusions about me I can go on.

I actually emailed Singer that I couldn't sew a straight line, what's wrong with this thing? yep, seriously. Now, I'm sure Singer thought "here's another one of those".

Now I'm normally not "one of those" I run a business and get plenty of "those" calls. In fact the latest "one of those" was a mother who called to complain that we made her sons ears look huge in his senior portraits. Huh? Well , you never know, angles can do weird things to peoples faces. So the girls in my office checked to see which of my photographers shot it and then very concerned pulled up his images. Now if you could read thoughts I believe all at the same time you would have seen the same words floating above their heads..."Is she serious?" This senior had the rings in his ears that stretch the earlobes into circus tent sized holes. They were huge and yes they were the first thing you notice in a 16x20 wall portrait, not much we could do with that sadly but feel bad for mommy.

So the moral is that I'm sure Singer was thinking... not their problem I can't sew a straight line, maybe her mommy should have taught her better. LOL. In all seriousness (or maybe in all dorkness) The needle on this machine has a lot of play, and I thought it was weird that it seemed jumpy. I was actually very good at sewing a straight line on my old machine. So why did it look crappy? Well since it would be 24-48 hours until Singer returned my email I started to think, yah, imagine that. For those of you who actually know what you're doing please turn away now... I was using the wrong needle. I was sewing on deco weight fabric with thick interfacing.Duh. After getting the proper needle I could sew a straight line. Whew I panicked for a moment that I should have spent the extra money for a Big girl machine. But nope, I'm at the moment very happy.

Good thing to know:
Make sure it is threaded correctly. Sounds silly but if you just quickly look at the diagram it's easy to miss that the thread goes under this little metal plate and if you put it over instead, the machine will keeping beeping at you that your thread is broken. Once I realized what I was doing...no beeping and again I love her.

Now on the embroidery side, I am going to wait and do another update on that end. It's very easy to use that is for sure but the machine only comes with I think 5 fonts (none of which I love). So when I tried to embroider some small Sugar Shop labels I first created one in photoshop, saved it and brought into the software and used the autopuch (which digitizes your image) and the quality was not very good. But I knew this was not recommended to begin with. I'm going to purchase the HyperFont software which allows you use any True Type font. So I'll report after I get that and after I do a little more embroidering.

Now I have that song stuck in my head from when I was a kid.....Do your ear hang low...do they wobble to and fro...can you tie'em in a knot...can you tie'em in a bow...can you throw'em over your shoulder like a continental soldier....Do...your...ears....hang...low?

Sewing Machine Review Singer Futura CE-250

I thought I would share about my new sewing machine. Keep in mind that I have been sewing on a very basic $199 machine who's fanciest stitch was the zigzag. Lol! My husband has been telling me I should get a fancy machine for years, you know the whole "the right tool for the job thing". But I saw no reason. I have never used my machine for any decorative sewing ever. All my sewing has been purely for construction so my little Kenmore had never posed a problem. In fact it was a great little workhorse. It wasn't until recently that I had a project that I couldn't do on this machine. So I went to my DH and said "....it's time" he looked at me with a scrunched face and said "huh?" so I explained. I had decided that I wanted to put the baby's name on the blanket then I designed something in photoshop to go around her name. I printed it out on transfer paper and then ironed on to fabric but it didn't fly. Nope not at all what I was going for.

So here was my criteria when I set out for my new machine:
* I want to be able to design something in photoshop and then embroider it.

That's it. Simple right?
Oh Noooo.

My dh's only requirement was that I make sure I get what I want. Woohoo. So I set off to the Sewing Center. This is a local store who retails all the big names... Baby Lock , Husqvarna etc.. Well I found out that the Bernina that I had been looking at was in the $5,000 range. I knew that was out. Seriously can't justify that price, if it was my business then of course, since it's not I had to move on. So... I moved on and explained to the nice lady what it was that I wanted to be able to do. Now she kept starting to say something and then she would stop and look at me with a look that tells me she's thinking...and thinking...which causes me to stare blankley back at her wondering if I have just asked something really stupid. She would eventually give me an answer that causes me more confusion because the answer seems to really not be an answer at all but radom information that makes me think she doen't really get what I'm asking. This goes on for a while and it boiled down to the least expensive Baby Lock at about $1800 and the next Baby lock up would also do she said and it was $2300. I asked what the difference between the two was she answered "not much". Uh huh, yah, well there has got to be $500 dollars worth of something more on that machine. Oh, she says "yes, that one you can connect directly to your computer and the cheaper one you can't" Ugggghhh.

Now, had I had a really good sales person I could have easily busted out the checkbook. I was a prime customer, I was in the moment, excited and wanting to create my own stuff, I just needed someone to tell me that they had a machine that was exactly what I needed and that I couldn't live with out it. But here I am, I know nothing about these machines other than most "real" sewers have one of these big names but I have not been convinced, in fact about the only thing I was sure of was that this sweet lady and I were not on the same planet and I could easily be sent home with a machine that I didn't really need. So I grabbed my mom and the little guy (who is not digging the sewing machine store) and tell the lady I'm going to think about it and get back to her. So I say to my mom we should go by Joanns and see what they have. Even though I new that they wouldn't have anything I just needed to get some perspective.

So I run in leaving my mom and son in the car and I see this stack of big boxes with a "new" sign on top. I read the price $899, hmm, didn't think they'd even sell machines over a couple hundred. It embroiders..hmm...it includes Auto Puch (which is the software that digitizes your designs) hmmmmm it connects directly to your computer...are you serious? I'm thinking there is no way this machine does everything that the $2300 machine did at the other place. I ask a manager if she could answer some questions for me..." I'm so sorry" she says " we don't know anything more than what it says on the box" Ok , "what is your return policy?" (I am sooo done at this point)..."90 day's" she says.... Done, I'll take it.

So I bring the machine home and Steve unpacks it for me and, more than once, asks me if I'm sure this is the one I want...am I sure this one will do everything I want. I had prepped him that I would be spending quite a bit more money. I explained the 90 day return policy and how it may be too good to be true but I just didn't feel confident about spending $2300 on a machine that supposedly does everything this one does. So I'm giving it a try.

Steve sets this thing up and I set a PC ( I had an extra PC from work thankfully since we are a Mac family) and I set myself down on the couch with all the manuals and instructions and I'm kind of dreading figuring this thing out...it's probably going to take a while and I hate reading manuals, I wish I had someone to just show me so that I can start creating. Let me just tell you. I just went for it. I already had my design that I created in photoshop saved as a jpeg, I loaded the sewing machine software on to the computer, connected the computer to the sewing machine. Opened the software, imported my design, clicked on the auto punch icon which digitizes the design and voila! There on the screen is my design ready to go.

Apparently Singer just came out with this machine and I could find no reviews on it. When I mentioned the machine to a lady that has been selling Berninas and Baby Locks for years about this Singer and what it does she was shocked..."it comes with the software?....it connects directly to your computer?....It was how much?" Oh boy she said, this could give us a run for our money. Now I'm not sure if this is true and I know Singer is not the brand that generally comes to mind when one is setting out to buy a "Big Girl" machine but I am feeling like I got a deal. So far so good. So there you go. I hope this might be helpful.

There is also some additional software that you can purchase. I will definately be purchasing the Hyperfont Software
The machine only comes with five fonts and this software allows you to use any true type font. This also looks fun. It's PhotoStitch which converts photos into embroidery.
and Auto Cross Stitch which converts images to cross stitch designs So there you have it. Let me just say this is not a recommendation. I certainly do not know enough about machine embroidery and I have only just barely used this machine. I just thought it might be helpful since this machine is so new. What machine do you have? Do you love it? Are you ready for a new one?

Little Ballerina

Things have been really crazy lately. No time to make anything. I don't know if I mentioned before but I run a photography company that my father started 36 years ago. We contract high schools all over the bay. So this is BUSY time for me. We have been heavy into Senior portraits, school pictures and ID cards.... and the little guy started Kindergarten yesterday...and we decided to remodel our kitchen this weekend...and we have been gone for the last two weekends before that. So needless to say no sewing for me for a bit. I'm also a bit behind on responding to all the wonderful comments and emails. Promise, I'll get to those too!

So I thought I would post some other fun things for a while. I really appreciate all of you that stop by so I'll try to post a bit more often so there will be something new to look at. Maybe I'll post things I have made in the past. I also thought about posting some favorite things even if they don't pertain to sewing or crafting. You know how Oprah does her favorite things every year? Of course any of my faves will be far less extravagant! LOL. I love hearing about a new product that a friend has found. I don't know let me know what you think.

Here is my favorite childhood book. I beleive it was first printed in the early 50's. I fell in love with this book at my aunts house when I was little and thankfully my cousing still has that original book. I on the other hand have searched ebay and now own two. The first one is a smaller version. It's a Rand McNally Tip Top Elf Book. I recently came across the one I really wanted which was the Rand McNally Giant Book which is the one I had as a child. So if you have a little girl or if your like me and are hoping to have one someday see if you can find this book. It's adorable!