Beansoup - Magic Cape Review

Do you believe in magic?

Beansoup does!

I certainly think it is fun to make things disappear and appear again!

Beansoup is a company that is filled with imagination.

They sell aprons, magic capes and a few accessories. They have products for both boys and girls.

We were lucky to get a Magic Cape and a set of Magic Silkies to review! Our youngest son has been wearing the Magic Cape around the house.

I love how the material feels! The cape is hand sewn with high quality polyester and silk. It is easy to put on. My 5 year old puts it on by himself, while the 2 year old need a little assistance. It has a Velcro neck closure. 

Sometimes my son Isaak will stash things away in the hidden pockets that are meant for his 3 10.5"x11.5" silkies and a wand.

The Magic Cape is not too long for my 2 1/2 year old. The cape is 38" wide and 24" long. It fits up to age 10.

My 5 year old loves wearing this cape around as well. I didn't use him as a model because he likes to fling the cape around so much that I can not get good pictures.

Beansoup is a wonderful company! Every part of the product we received had excellent attention to detail.

They even sent with the package temporary tattoos.

The next gift my boys will receive is a magic set {a wand, magic cards and more} to go along with their Magic Cape from Beansoup!

I'm thinking that one of Beansoup's aprons is on my Mom's {to get list}.

Disclaimer:
The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out.
If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com

CSN | Stores Product Review

I was contacted by CSN | Stores once again. I was up for anther product review! I've done a few other reviews and giveaways for them.

CSN | Stores has so much to choose from. I could seriously find just about anything for my house or work at one of their stores.

This time I picked out a juicer. I want to knock out as much sugar out of my diet as possible. I know, I have a blog full of sugar. Much of the stuff shown on here gets shared with many people.

I spent some time picking out a juicer. It was not an easy task. I ended up getting the Total Chef Juicin Juicer. 

It was on sale from the original price of $129.99 marked down to $96.86.

I looked up many sites to check out reviews before it was purchased. Every place I looked rated it high.

I love the recipe guide that it comes with!

The recipe I tried out is: Carrot, Apple, Lemon and Parsley:
Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

• 2 Carrots, trimmed
• 1 apple, peeled and cored  
• 1/2 lemon, peeled
• 1 cup packed parsley leaves

We really didn't have to put much pressure on the juicer to push the veggies and fruit down. The machine took care of that!

My top five favorite features of this juicer are:

1. 700-Watt motor base
2. Dual speed selector
3. Dishwasher safe parts
4. Surgical steel juicing blade
5. Removable pulp container

 A couple things that were missing from the product:

1. It was supposed to come with a lid, we didn't get one
2. It was also supposed to come with a cleaning brush, we didn't get one

Overall we were pleased with this product. I like that we can make our own juice!

My son Isaak said, "More please!"

Please take some time to visit CSN | Stores! They do have such a great selection.

Disclaimer:
The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out.
If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com

1 Cookie Plate

I made about 3 of these.
I made less then last year since I'm trying to watch what I consume.
In the middle are cake pops. I made the cake pops with chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and ground up peppermint. Then I dipped them in chocolate almond bark.

Oh Christmas Tree. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree! How are thy leaves so verdant!

I had to look up what verdant means?!? Verdant means: Green with grass or other rich vegetation.

Here are my verdant trees {one with green grass, one with snow flakes and one with snow}:

The Reindeers Food Left Out at My House

We leave a couple of these carrot cookies out for Santa's reindeers.
They also look good on a plate of cookies with snowmen. Carrots are usually used for their noses.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Raindeer

I just used a heart cookie cutter, and a chocolate roll out cookie recipe.
His details include almond bark pretzel antlers and m&m eye's and nose.

Frosty the Snowmen

I used some cereal to decorate cookies this year.

I Heart Epson!

One Savvy Mom! is hosting a great giveaway! Epson is giving away a ALL IN ONE Printer!
One lucky reader will receive a Epson NX625 All-In-One Printer!

I use Epson both at work and at home. I love to scan in my cookies to put on here! My scanner and printer is getting up there in age. I wouldn't mind winning this!

Gourmet Gift Baskets – Christmas Gift Basket Premium $79.99

My Wee View is hosting a yummy giveaway!

Gourmet Gift Baskets  is giving away a Christmas Gift Basket Premium $79.99.

I'd love to win this to give to my uncle!

Glee Glum Chocolate

I won a Glee Glum make your own Chocolate Kit.  I thought this would be a perfect teacher gift! I made mini loaves of bread as well.

I set my son Mica up in the kitchen. He separated the chocolate liners with my help.  I gave him things to put in the liners. There was chopped up pretzels, walnuts, cherry chips, Reese's Peanut Butter Chips, Toffee sprinkles, crunched up peppermint and crunched up pistachio's. 


Mica got to sample everything.


When Daddy got home, he made the chocolate with Mica. Mica helped for awhile, but was giddy because he didn't have a nap. 


He's super excited to give these chocolate's to his teachers! 
Glee Glum puts two coco beans in the packaging. Isaak got to try one and Mica the other. Daddy and I were into the history story that came with the kit.

Gingerbread Train

I bought a Gingerbread Train at Target for Mica to work on. These type of projects are perfect for preschoolers!

My son Mica sticks his tongue out just like Daddy when he's concentrating.  

Mica studied the box to examine how it was decorated. He placed all the candies in the same spots as the box showed. 

Daddy said, "Mica you forgot to decorate this part of the train". Mica said, "But I can't see that spot on the box". Daddy said, "Use your imagination". Mica looked at Daddy like he was crazy.

My youngest son Isaak and I read books, took a shower. When we were done, Isaak saw what Mica was doing. He wanted to eat the train in the worst way.

Pretzel's

I won a homemade Auntie Anne's Pretzel mix, so Daddy helped our son Mica make pretzel's for Mica's preschool snacks.

They had a pizza dough recipe on the back of the Auntie Anne's Pretzel mix box. I thought I was the first to create a Pretzel Pizza {nope}.

With all the dinner, cookie and cake pop making I'm not in the mood to be in the kitchen with other things.

This time of year I'm so tired that unfamiliar instructions do not stick in my head!

Not to mention that school is super busy with final projects, review sheets and a test. The second to last week of school is just as busy as the last!

Lots of Cookies

I need to shoot photo's of my cookies! Over a week ago we had a cookie decorating party at my younger sister's house.
I clean out my youngest son {Isaak's} huge flat toy storage bin, so that the cookies are stored nice and flat. 

My older sister makes fun of me because I'm super anal about my cookie decorating.

I have so many sprinkles! I use a pill cutter to cut m&m's in half for Frosty the Snowman's nose. This year I used colored cereal for his button's.

I know I'm anal!

It was disappointing that my chocolate roll out cookies had broken! That's the sucky part of those. I haven't figured out how to stack softer cookies. If anyone has any tips I'm open!

Everything went well except my son Isaak was a royal crab. He wanted me to hold him, then would fuss some more. Of course he wouldn't tell me what was bothering him, so it was indeed frustrating! By the end of that week I was exhausted and ready to be at work. I never am ready to be at work!

Art - Thought of You

Sometimes I like to post things that are just art. This is one of those posts.

An inspirational video!

Thought of You from Ryan Woodward on Vimeo.

Stylish Blog Award!

Thank you soo much Canadian Coupon Mom for awarding my blog with the Stylish Blogger Award! This is my second award for this blog.

In order to accept this award you must:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award

Okay so seven things about myself.

1. I like to decorate cookies.
2. I grew up with all sister's.
3. Now my sister's and I have mostly all boy's. There's one girl in the mix, but she's almost 16. Time flies! My youngest sister is pregnant. We'll know if it's a girl in a few weeks.
4. I blog a lot. I have four on going blogs.
5. My favorite color is red orange.
6. My house has bright colored walls and neutral furniture.
7. I went to college at Kansas City Art Institute for my BFA, Savannah College of Art and Design for my MFA and teach at The Creative Center {a graphic design school}.

Okay so now on to the newest blogs I have read:

1. les rêves d'une boulangère
2. Songberries
3. Our Kids Mom
4. My Baby's Green
5. Sugar Pop Ribbons
6. Design it Chic
7. Butter Hearts Sugar
8. Flying Giggles and Lollipops
9. Musing Mainiac
10. 5 Minutes Just For Me
11. New Vulcan Journal
12. Allotment 2 Kitchen
13. Bouffe e Bambini
14. Colies Kitchen
15. Ashley Petite Baby Boutique

HUGE Wilton Giveaway at Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House!

Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House! is host a HUGE Wilton Giveaway. One winner will win all of the below items.

If you like to bake you have a chance to score BIG!

Want to Win One of These Plates?

Olive Kids has a contest going on right now where 5 winners will win one of these plates.
Just enter here!
I'm a sucker for cute plates and tins for this time of year.

Do You Let Your Kids Watch TV While Eating?

We only let our kids watch TV when they are eating a snack. Very rarely do our kids watch TV while eating a meal. When we do have TV time it's nice to enjoy a full setup. Check out the TV Tables at CSN|Stores.

This is the time of year where I coat every table in the house with cookies that I'm decorating. A few weeks ago I made Chocolate Cherry Chip Cookies. This past weekend I made Chocolate Roll Out Cookies and next weekend it's time to make Sugar Cookies. It's a lot of fun!

Vanilla is My Favorite Things When I Bake

Vanilla is truly one of my most favorite things when I bake. I sometimes add more then what the recipe calls for.

Songberries is hosting a giveaway where one person will win a bottle of Madagascar Vanilla from Nielsen Massey.

Lone Star Gift Baskets Product Review and Giveaway!

Colies Kitchen is hosting a giveaway to win a Lone Star Gift Basket!

Nordic Ware

Moms Review 4 You! has an awesome giveaway going on right now! One winner is going to win a Nordic Ware Holiday Mini Loaves Pan, Holiday Wreath Cake Pan, Holiday Tree Bundt Pan and a Christmas/Winter Cookie Cutter Plaque.

My holiday creative juices are flowing!

I Want to Share

I found this site I want to share with you! It's called Fairy Tale Jewels.

I simply love their cute Bottle Cap Pendant's! Check out this Jumbo Cake Bottle Cap Pendant:

Then there is this set that is called, It's My Party Birthday Bottle Cap Necklace Set:

They look yummy enough to eat! I love the graphics. The fact that they smooth down the edges, so that they are not sharp rocks!


Disclaimer:


The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
These photo's were not taken by me. These photo's belong to Fairy Tale Jewels.
If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tropical Traditions gave me a jar of Gold Label Extra Virgin Coconut Oil to try out.

I have to be honest at first I had never heard of Coconut Oil. I didn't know how to cook with it. I had to figure out if it was even healthy to use in the kitchen.

Luckily I have a sister that works in health and nutrition. She told me that it is healthy. I also read up on Coconut oil before it arrived to me. This is straight from Tropical Traditions website:

As a cooking oil, its chemical structure is kept in tact and therefore is resistant to mutations of fatty acid chains even when used in higher cooking temperatures, unlike most vegetable oils. Research shows that the medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil boosts the body’s metabolism, raises body temperatures, and helps provide greater energy which can lead to weight loss. For hundreds of tasty recipes from people who use coconut oil, visit FreeCoconutRecipes.com.

I used it on the boy's skin after a bath. I love how it smells and melts into their skin! Isaak always tries to eat the lotion. This is perfect for him because he can eat it.

I plan on using it to make a stir fry. Tofu is one of my newer loves.

We also made healthier cookies! I'm a baker. Even though I'm trying to loose weight I still love to bake around this time of year. I've been trying to bake using healthier things in the mix.

The Recipe I Use for Chocolate Chip, Cherry Chip Cookies 

I love that these cookies contain oatmeal! 
Coconut Oil can replace butter!

Start:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees.

Cream the following together:

1. 1 cup Coconut Oil
2. 1 cup white sugar
3. 1 cup brown sugar

Add:

1. 1 teaspoon vanilla
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1 teaspoon baking powder

Blend in:

1. 2 cups flour
2. 2 1/2 cups oatmeal
3. 6 ounces chocolate chips, 6 ounces cherry chips.
4. 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Finish:

1. Spray a pan well. 
2. I used a medium Pampered Chef Scoop. 
3. Bake until light brown.
4. Place on a cooling rack when they've hardened up a little.
5. They taste good warm (straight out of the oven), room temperature and cold (we sometimes freeze them).
6. This made 55 cookies. We had a few and the rest went in the freezer for Christmas time. They tasted better then with using butter!

Disclaimer:


The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.
I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out.
If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustration@hotmail.com