Posts from — November 2008

I hope you all had fun looking around at Belle Aroma and will do some Christmas shopping there!  And now, I’d like to announce the winner, who will also be contacted by email.  The winner is…

Comment #14, LisaW., who said “The Australian Bamboo Grass sounds very nice. And French Lavender–who can go wrong with lavender?”

Thanks to all who participated! I hope you had fun!

Winner choosen with Random.org.

FDA Finds Traces of Melamine in US Infant Formula and FDA Draws Fire Over Chemicals in Baby Formula  
These are must reads, especially if you’re currently buying formula.  “When the FDA claims there isn’t any reason to worry, that’s exactly what the consumer should do,” said Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group. “The once-revered public health agency has morphed into a taxpayer-funded public relations arm for the very industries it was created to oversee.”

Timeline:  BPA from Invention to Phase-Out
This is a very interesting timeline of BPA.  I can’t believe it’s been around SO long! 

Pass Up the Poison Plastic – the PVC-Free Guide for Your Family and Home
This guide lists the most common consumer products made out of PVC and safer PVC-free products. PVC, also known as vinyl, is the worst plastic for our health and environment, releasing dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer, from their manufacture to their disposal.

Happy Thanksgiving a day late!  We switch years between my family and Johnny’s, and this was his year.  So, we spent yesterday with his family and had a wonderful time.  I took a fruit salad and deviled eggs to share.  Are deviled eggs a Southern thing?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, they are yummy, and kind of one of my holiday specialties.  My Mom is the deviled egg lady in my family, so I have self-designated myself as the deviled egg lady in Johnny’s family.  Everyone seems to be happy about it though.

I thought I’d share my deviled egg recipe with you and then share some pictures from our day yesterday.

Deviled Eggs
Boil a dozen eggs.  In food processor mix Miracle Whip, mustard, sweet pickle relish, salt, and pepper with the yokes from all of the boiled eggs.  (I just make this to taste without measuring.  It’s probably something like 5-6 tablespoons of Miracle Whip, 2 T mustard, 2 T relish, but you can play around with it.)  Then I fill an icing bag that I’ve already put a star tip on, with this egg yolk mixture.  Arrange the eggs on a serving plate, and pipe the yolk mixture into each egg.  Sprinkle with a little paprika!

I’m not going to ignore the fact that it IS “Black Friday”.  Maybe I’ll find some good sales on line, but I am definetly not going to brave shopping in person anywhere!!  Baby Cheapskate has some info on good deals, so head over there and check them out!  Mom4Life is having a great sale, and don’t forget to check out Amazon’s toy deals!

After my post about digital scrapbooking, I was contacted about trying out this new software, Digital Scrapbook Artist.  Have you seen it or heard about it yet?  Well, it is a really great software program that seems to have everything you need for digital scrapbooking!




Here are some of the features:

• High Quality Embellishments
• Page Size Selection
• Crafting Tools
• Photo Paintbrushes
• Shadows & Effects
• Built-in Digital Photo Editing
• One Click Share

Without further adieu, here is my take on Digital Scrapbook Artist….

Installation
I installed this program myself, and it was a piece of cake.  I just put in the CD and followed the instructions on the setup wizard and had no problems at all.  I also installed in the included DaisyTrail digikit which had 10 VERY cute design packs.  The design packs include coordinating backgrounds, materials, alphabets, brushes, frames, and embellishments.  Everything you need to complete a page or album with the same theme.

Using the Program
The first thing you see upon opening the program is this Startup Wizard…

I began by clicking “Start with a Theme”, and all of the included DaisyTrail digikits were right there for me to work with.  I made a 12×12 practice page, and chose a page  layout that I liked.  What’s really cool is that even though this is a pre-created page layout, you can still move anything or add anything you want!

Here is the page I created:

Next I created a page from scratch.  I started with a blank page and chose everything I wanted to add. The left side bar had everything I needed; backgrounds, frames, pictures, embellishments, etc.  The only difficulty I ran into was with cropping and then framing a photo.  I had to email and ask for help on that one.  I found out that if you crop a photo, you have to make a frame from scratch to fit.  Which would be easy to do with either the shapes tool, or use some of the very cool brushes.  I added some embellishments and a little journaling, and my page was done.  Here it is:

Some of the other cool features that really impressed me were the glitter dust and that you can cut free form shapes with all sort of cool scissors – think pinking shears, zigzag, wavy and many, many more.  You can even use your existing digital scrapbook supplies, (backgrounds, embellishments, etc.),  with this program!  If you’d like to save your file differently than the default, you have to export it as the file type you want, which is a little bit of a pain, but it is possible.

What I Think
I thought this program was very user friendly.  I had the User Guide handy and it was pretty easy to figure it all out.  There are lots and lots of fun options to choose from for making pages, and I can even use all of my other digital scrapbooking kits.  I love that I can create pages with this program that can be saved as a JPEG, TIFF, or HD photo, or as a PDF and then burned to a CD, printed or shared online.  So I can still upload my pages for printing a photobook at Shutterfly, or anywhere else,  when I’m done. If you have a digital scrapbooker on your shopping list for Christmas, I think this would be a great gift idea!  It’s available for purchase at Serif.

I’ve never really mentioned parabens here before, and since a lot of products carry the “paraben-free” label these days, I thought I’d give you a little information about them.

Parabens are a group of chemicals widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bacteriocidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, deodorants, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.

As you can see from this definition, parabens are in many, many products.  When I was pregnant with Gabriel, I began to do some research on parabens and began to throw out my main-stream beauty products.  You see, parabens have been linked to metabolic, developmental, hormonal, and neurological disorders, as well as various cancers.  The Environmental Protection Agency states that ALL parabens have been proved to interfere with the function of the endocrine system, and these endocrine disruptors are stored in our body’s fat tissues.  Endocrine disruptors have been suspected of contributing to reproductive and developmental disorders, learning problems, and immune system dysfunction in children. I didn’t want to put anything potentially harmful on my body, especially while I was pregnant.

Dr. Mercola suggests that if you wouldn’t eat your beauty products, you probably shouldn’t put it on your body either.  He says to seek out products that are so pure that you could actually eat them.  When you put anything on your skin, it gets absorbed into your bloodstream and becomes integrated with your body tissue.  Scary, huh?

How can you avoid these?  Read your labels and check out products at Skin Deep before you buy to find out if they’re safe.  According to the Safe Cosmetics Campaign, we should avoid the following chemicals, whenever possible:

Butyl acetate

Butylated hydroxytoluene

Coal tar

Cocamide DEA/lauramide DEA

Diazolidinyl urea

Ethyl acetate

Formaldehyde

Parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl)

Petrolatum

Phthalates

Propylene glycol

Sodium laureth/sodium laurel sulfate

Talc

Toluene

Triethanolamine

I hope this is helpful information that you’ve been seeking.  I think Skin Deep is invaluable, and I highly encourage you to use it, espcially if all this seems really overwhelming to you.

Which of Your Household Products Contain Mercury?
Searchable database…better go look up your stuff!

Blow to Image of ‘Green’ Reusable Diapers
Seems cloth diapers may not be so ‘green’ afterall.

Chemicals in Many Cosmetics Detrimental to Your Unborn Son
One more reason to avoid phthalates….if you needed one.

Seven Medicines You Shouldn’t Give Your Child
An must read article at Babycenter on medicines you should not give your preschooler.

Have you tried out a reed diffuser yet?  I love mine!  I love the way it looks, and I love the subtle, safe scent that is always lingering in my living room area without the fire hazard.  So when I needed to get a refill, I decided to do a little research and find a phthalate-free version.  (Read about phthalates here, if you’re wondering about them.)  I went to one of my favorite places – Etsy, to look around.

I emailed a few different sellers that had reed diffuser refills, and Dee at Belle Aroma emailed me back with the most variety.  When I saw “Pumpkin Crunch Cake”, I knew that was just the scent I was looking for.  I received it in my mail box very quickly, along with some fresh new reeds, which were included.  I LOVE this scent!  It’s not too strong, but it is noticeable, and I’ve gotten several compliments on it.  The only problem is that it makes me want to eat pumpkin bread all the time.

So are you thinkin’ you’d like to have one to?  Well, here is my first giveaway!!  I’m going to give one lucky reader his or her very own phthalate-free reed diffuser kit!  The kit includes one glass bottle, reeds, and your favorite phthalate-free scent!  Here’s what you gotta do to win:

• visit Dee’s store, Belle Aroma, and find your favorite phthalate-free scent
• come back here and make a comment on this post telling me which one you’d love to try
• be sure to leave an email address (will not be displayed, and only used for prize notification)

Contest ends at midnight, November 28th.  I’ll use a random number generator (random.org) to choose the winner.  One entry per person.  Get an extra entry for subscribing to my feed, and let me know you did that in another comment.

Good luck! Have fun choosing your favorite scent!

Beet recipe?  Okay, it’s not exactly on everyone’s most-wanted-recipe list, but I stumbled upon an amazing way to eat this purple produce.  First, why beets?  Well, we recently joined a fresh organic produce co-op and we get a large crate full of various organic fruits and veggies every other week.  It’s a surprise what’s inside each time we get it and we often find ourselves with veggies we would not normally buy.  I’ve been looking at it as a sort of challenge.  It helps us try new things and new recipes!  I’ve not been a big beet fan in the past, but I did a little research and found that they are incredibly healthy.

Just look at all the health benefits of beets!

• lowers blood pressure
• effective in lowering LDL and total serum cholesterol, and triglyceride levels
• raises antioxidant enzyme levels in the liver and may promote detoxification in the intestines, blood, and liver
• may increase CD8 cells, which detect and remove abnormal cells in your colon
• help prevent stomach and colon cancer
• very high in folate = great for preventing birth defects during pregnancy
• high in magnesium = preventing osteoporosis
• lowers the level of free radical in your body, which are responsible for cell damage

There is something else about beets that can make them appealing…they’re sweet!  I remembered that I frequently see them as an ingredient in some of the freshly made juices at a grocery store we like.  So, I decided to throw some beets into our morning smoothie.  Here is what I did…

“We Got the Beet” Smoothie
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup milk
1 pkg. frozen strawberries
1 banana
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 beet, cut into large chunks

Throw it all in the blender and give it a whirl!  Makes about 4 cups.

OK, so if you don’t believe that this could actually be drinkable, here is the proof!

Ok, so go for it!  Try this out and let me know what you think.  Or, I’d love to hear about your very own beet creation!!

Did you see that super cute turkey in the November issue of Parents Magazine?  I’m always looking for ways to make Thanksgiving a bigger deal, you know, like a more memorable holiday?  I want our home to have a spirit and culture of thankfulness.

So anyway, when I saw this turkey, I knew we had to make it!  I thought I’d share our step-by-step in photos to inspire and help you along.  I wanted to go ahead and make it now so that I could ask Gabriel what he was thankful for everyday and stick a feather in, instead of doing them all on Thanksgiving day.

Also important to note, this project was a little time consuming and uninteresting for my 3 year old.  He’s happy with the end result, and he had fun making the eyes, but there wasn’t much else he could do.  If you want to make one, here is how we did it!

What you’ll need:
9″ polystyrene ball
dark-brown yarn
light-brown yarn
felt; white, red, and orange
pompoms
craft sticks
construction or craft paper

1. Cut a 1″ sliver off the bottom of a 9″ polystyrene ball.
2. Wrap sphere neatly in dark-brown yarn, covering surface completely; knot on bottom.
   
3. Make a 4″ ball from light-brown yarn and attach to body with a wooden craft stick.
   
   
4. Create simple facial features using the felt: white circles (the size of a quarter), with 1/8″ pompoms for pupils make the eyes, orange triangles for beak, long red tear-drop shapes for the wattle.
   
5. Cut feather shapes from construction paper and write “I’m thankful for…” on each one.  (We made our feathers 6″ long and 2″ wide in the middle.)  Bend in half lengthwise to create seam, and glue wooden craft stick to the bottom third of the feather. (I made one feather and used it as a pattern for the rest.  I also wrote “I’m thankful for…” on each one before creasing and gluing on the craft sticks.)
   
   
6. Then we asked Gabriel what he was thankful for that day and stuck in a couple of feathers.  (Insert in a fan shape on turkey body.)  Here is a picture of our turkey a week later.

By Thanksgiving, he should have a full set of tail feathers!  I think this is going to be a great tradition for our family.  It cost me about $20 to make, but I think I’ll be able to reuse it for a few years, and just make new feathers every year.  I’d love to hear some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions!

The Making of a Green Mom
An encouraging article for those of you on the same journey!

SafeMama’s 2008 Safer Toy Guide
Great, great safer toy guide!! Lots of wonderful ideas just in time for your Christmas shopping!

Lovely SafeMama
Check out this great site for a “one-stop safe beauty, health, and eco-gorgeous resource.”

Corn Syrup’s New Disguise
Yet again, the Corn Refiner’s Association is trying to fool you!  If you haven’t read it yet, check out this post, as well.