How to Take Prenatal Vitamins When You Can't Swallow Pills and a Premama Prenatal Supplement Review! #DrinkPremama #IC #ad

This post was sponsored by Premama as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

When I was young I couldn't swallow pills. And I also have always wanted to have children. I don't remember exactly when I realized that those things didn't work together, but I am pretty sure it involved a movie or commercial talking about how gigantic prenatal vitamins were. I was shocked, in order to have a healthy baby I would have to swallow huge pills?  I couldn't even swallow a tictac. What was I going to do? Fortunately I did learn to swallow pills. But for those who share in the conundrum of wanting to take prenatal vitamins but not being able to take pills there are now great alternatives!

Premama is a multivitamin supplement line that offers complete maternity wellness in drinkable and chewable forms!

Premama's drink mix line includes Fertility Reproductive Support, Essentials Prenatal Vitamins, Essentials + DHA Prenatal Vitamins, and Lactation Support. The Fertility and Essentials drink mixes are unflavored so you can mix them into any cold flavored drink you enjoy (do not heat or warm the drink mixes). They can be mixed into juice, cider, ice tea, smoothies, etc. The Essentials + DHA mix is citrus flavored and the Lactation mix is mixed berry flavored. They can be mixed into a flavored drink or into water. The drink mixes are gluten free, vegetarian or vegan, and non-gmo. Their folic acid levels are similar to prescription prenatal vitamins and as good as or better than other OTC brands (Premama is OTC). They also have Omega-3 fatty acids and non-constipation causing iron that are usually only found in prescription prenatals. These products are formulated to help before, during, and after pregnancy. If you are trying to conceive, currently pregnant, or nursing a baby they have a product for you!

Premama's also has Digestive Aid Prenatal Fiber & Probiotic Chews. They are vanilla caramel flavored, vegetarian, and naturally flavored. They are formulated to help ease constipation and bloating, and support a healthy immune system. I really wanted to try the chews because they look so yummy, but the contain soy and I am intolerant to soy :(.

My Experience

I tried the Essentials and Lactation drink mixes. I tried Essentials mixed in Apple Cider and I couldn't even tell it was there. I was amazed! I am enjoying drinking these every day. I tried Lactation with water to see how it tastes by itself because it is berry flavor. If you are used to supplement drinks it is pretty good, and it is not chalky! If you don't like supplement drinks it would be good mixed in with juice, ice tea, or smoothies. It would be really amazing in smoothies! I will be saving the rest of the Lactation mixes for after I deliver in 4-6 weeks :).


I got my Premama products at Meijers, they are in the vitamin section. I found them with the other prenatal supplements. The Meijer I went to had a great selection! Oh and they are on sale at Meijer through September 25! Go in right now and get $3-5 off depending on the product. Get it on sale now!

Find Premama at a store near you using their store locator.

You can also get a free sample of Lactation or Fertility through September 29th on their facebook giveaway! Enter to win by completing two social media actions.

Premama Facebook Sampling

You can find more info on any of these links:

• Premama Website: http://www.drinkpremama.com
• Premama Store Locator: www.drinkpremama.com/find
• Premama Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/drinkpremama
• Premama Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/drinkpremama
• Premama Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/drinkpremama

DIY Sugar Cubes (partial fail)

I made a lot of stuff for my sister's shower. A lot of stuff. And most of it turned out good, really good, or fabulous. But a few things did not turn out as I expected. This was one of them. I am sharing it with you because that is just the way I am. I like to share my failings as well as my accomplishments (well some of them :) .

I found this recipe for DIY sugar cubes. They are absolutely adorable and I thought I would make them for the shower. They were super simple to put together. Less than 5 minutes!

Ingredients:
1c Sugar
1 1/2 T Water
Flexible ice/candy tray (fun shapes recommended)


Directions:

Mix sugar and water. Start with less water and add to it until it is the right consistency. You want it to still be grainy but wet enough to manipulate.

 Press into molds

Let dry. This is the part where my project failed. The original post said theirs dried overnight. Mine were nowhere near dry. I was curious so I left them sitting out to see how long it took them to dry. Two weeks later they were still wet. Well the white sugar ones were still wet. The brown sugar ones had dried after a couple days or a week I think. I used 2 T water for the white sugar cubes and 1 1/2 T water in the brown sugar cubes. That is part of it I think. Also the trays I used were technically candy molds and they were not flexible enough to get the sugar cubes out until they were completely dry. I now have a silicone ice cube tray. I am thinking about trying this again. If I do I'll let you know how it turns out.

The brown sugar ones turned out pretty cool!








What do you think? Are you going to give it a try?

Linking up to:
Nap Time Crafters, While He Was Napping, Cornerstone Confessions, A Pinch of Joy, Addicted to Recipes, Serendipity and Spice, My Favorite Finds,

DIY Flavored Water (Strawberry Watermelon and Three Citrus Water)

I did a lot of blog browsing to find great recipes to use for the bridal shower. One of the recipes I found was for flavored water. I thought that this was a genius idea that I had to try. It is so unique and pretty. I thought it added an extra touch of fanciness to the shower.
I am not super into flavored water. I actually like the taste of plain water (I love well water, yes I know I am weird). I prefer either full flavor drinks or plain water. I don't really care for watered down drinks. But for flavored water this is pretty good. I enjoyed it.
I made two types of flavored water Strawberry Watermelon and Three Citrus. You could make whatever flavors sound good to you. You could recreate your favorite flavored water with just a few ingredients!

DIY Flavored Water

Ingredients:
Fruit (1-2 c per container whatever type is in season or that you like)
Ice
Water
Glass Jars or pitchers
Utensil to press on the fruit


Directions:

Cut Strawberries up, put in glass container and press a little with utensil.

 Add watermelon and repeat

 Add ice

 Add water

 For the citrus water put in the fruit and press.

 Again add fruit and water.

Refrigerate overnight.The next day strain out the fruit. Taste and see if it is to your taste.

I thought the waters were a little strong so I watered them down. I sweetened the citrus water with honey and sugar because it was a little bitter.

They came out looking beautiful and tasting good. I personally preferred he strawberry watermelon water because it was naturally sweet and I find the rinds of the citrus fruits to add a little too much bitterness.


What type of flavored water do you like?



Linking up to:
Nap Time Crafters, While He Was Napping, Cornerstone Confessions, A Pinch of Joy, Addicted to Recipes, Serendipity and Spice, My Favorite Finds, Claiming our Space,

Coffee Themed Present on a budget

This present actually fell together completely separately from the shower theme, it just so happened that they fit together very well! Since I have so many things to pay for around the wedding (shower, dress, beauty treatments, multiple presents, bachelorette party, etc.) I have been watching store sales, garage sales, and good will for things that my sister would like that would go well in presents for her. She loves coffee so when I found these items at various sales I snatched them up!

Items to include

I included:
A set of espresso cups and saucers    (garage sale)
2 bags of starbucks coffee    (cvs sale w/ coupon)
Small book about coffee    (good will)
Rolled wafers    (dollar tree)

You can include coffee mugs, biscotti, chocolates, or anything else that you find that would go well in a coffee themed present.


Wrapping
I arranged all the items in a basket (also bought at good will) and wrapped 2 pieces of tissue paper (dollar tree) around them. I got tissue paper that matched the shower color theme so my present matched the decorations :). I also found this really cool shrink wrap bags at dollar tree and placed the present in that. The bag shrinks down when you blow hot air on it with a blow dryer (it is really cool to watch!).

It takes a little while and you have to go over each area several times. I put the card inside the bag before I shrunk it. I put a bow on the outside of the bag.

I think it turned out pretty cool! What do you think? What would you put in a coffee themed present?




Linked Up To:
A Pinch of Joy, Serendipity and Spice, Uncommon, Cornerstone Confessions, Summer BBQ Party, While He Was Napping, Clean and Scentsible, My Favorite Finds, Naptime Crafters, Frugal Girls, Shaken Together,

Coffee Punch

Ok, first of all I have to say, I am not a coffee drinker. I actually cannot stand the taste of coffee. So normally I do not look up recipes for coffee and I don't know what to look for in coffee or what all needs to go with it. But I was hosting a bridal shower for my sister and after tossing around several ideas we landed on a coffeeshop theme. So once I had that theme I ran with it. I researched every combination of coffee shop and bridal shower that you could think of and found lots of great ideas. One of my favorite finds was the recipe for Coffee Punch. We were serving coffee but since it is June and really hot out I thought it might be nice to have a cold coffee drink (we also had several other cold drink options, but it in nice to have a cold and hot coffee option). Also I had never heard of this idea before and had never seen it at any shower or party I had been to, so I knew it was something that the guests would not have had all the time (It's always fun to have something new :) When I first told my mom about this idea she said I shouldn't serve it at the party without trying it first so I was going to make a sample for her to try (since I would not be a good guinea pig for a coffee recipe) but when I described the ingredients to her we decided that there was pretty much no way that we could go wrong with this. And we were right, it was a huge hit! Anyways, here is the recipe.

Coffee Punch
I found the recipe here. I only adapted it slightly.
This recipe is doubled because we were expecting 30 people. If you are having a smaller party you can cut it down . The original recipe has a convenient calculator that you put in the # of people you are making for and it calculates how much of each ingredient you need.

Ingredients:
2 quart cold coffee (should be stronger rather than weaker)
1/2 gallon Vitamin D milk
1 quart half and half
1 24 ounce container of chocolate syrup
1 1/2 quart heavy whipping cream (whip, but does not have to be completely solid)
Optional: Kahlua, Vanilla Ice Cream, Ice

Directions:
In a large punch bowl mix together the ice cream, coffee, milk, half and half, and chocolate syrup (save a little bit of chocolate syrup to decorate the top). Pour the whipped cream on top. Decorate the top with the last of the chocolate syrup. The original recipe says you can also add Kahlua but we are not alcohol drinkers in general so we did not do that. The original recipe also calls for 1 gallon of vanilla ice cream, which I actually bought, but I totally forgot to take it to the shower so it didn't get put in the punch. It is still sitting in my freezer (I didn't even notice I forgot it until I saw it in my freezer). The punch is great without it, but if you can remember to take it, it would probably be a good addition. I think my aunts were serving this over ice (they were helping me serve), probably because I forgot the ice cream, and it looked like a good idea.

The cream can be whipped ahead of time (I whipped it the day before and it was perfectly fine) which means that all you have to do the day of is mix the ingredients together. I whipped the cream in a stand mixer (unfortunately not kitchenaid, just an off brand type that the bowl moves, but it works :) and just let it whip while I was working on other stuff for the shower.

Verdict:
Sorry I don't have more pictures, I was slightly busy hosting the shower :) One of my sister's friends was photographing the shower so if there are any other good photos I will put them on here. This turned out amazing! I got so many complements on it! We made a huge bowl of it and it was almost completely gone by the end of the shower (I'm a little surprised that people weren't more hyper (Oh shoot, I just realized I forgot to offer a decaf option for coffee)) Anyways this was a well loved item. One of my cousins asked for the recipe for her graduation party, so I think this recipe may become a staple at future family events. Here you go Random Cousin!

Linked Up To:
Clean and Scentsible, Uncommon, Nap Time Crafters, Frugal Girls, While He Was Napping, Addicted to Recipes, A Pinch of Joy, Serendipity and Spice, Simply Klassic Home, Cornerstone Confessions, Summer BBQ Party, My Favorite Finds, Shaken Together,

Guest Post: Glass Etched Lemonade Pitcher

Hi Everyone! Just Wanted to let you know that I am participating in the Grow.Swap.Share Blog Swap today. You can find my post about a DIY Chalkboard Tray over on Jill's blog Create.Craft.Love. But for now check out this awesome Glass Etched Lemonade Pitcher that Jill has so graciously shared with us!



Hi everybody!  Big thanks to Randomly Fascinated for having me guest post today!  A little about me...

My name is Jill and I blog over at Create.Craft.Love.  I am a working mother and wife who finds comfort and solace in creating.  

I have a great summer tutorial for you today!  What do you make when life hands you lemons??

Some lemonade!  Or in this case, a lemonade pitcher!

I found this awesome glass pitcher at Hobby Lobby - ON CLEARANCE!  I've been wanting to glass etch a pitcher for cookouts and such but couldn't justify spending $25 - $30 on the pitcher.  {Especially since my Little Guy would probably break it anyway!}  So when I spotted this, I knew I could finally do it!

 Here's what you need:
Cameo
Vinyl stencil
Armour Glass Etch
Sponge brush
Glass pitcher

Glass etching is SUPER easy!  I used my Cameo to cut out a vinyl stencil for the pitcher.

My pitcher was 3.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall.  So I made sure to keep the font and picture within those limits.  I chose Bodoni MT for the font.  And the cheery, fresh lemon image is Dear Lizzy Lemons C00023_27175.

Once the vinyl was cut, I carefully removed all the letters and the inside of the lemon with my Silhouette hook.

Carefully, detach the vinyl from the backing and place on the pitcher.  (You can move the "middles" once you have the rest of it well-placed.)

Some of the middles have been replaced and some have not.

Make sure you get all the bubbles out of the vinyl so the Armour Etch doesn't bleed into areas other than that which you want to stencil.

Glop on the Armour Etch.  I usually let mine sit for about ten minutes after it has been applied.

After it has sat for ten minutes, rinse off the etching cream under warm water.  (It will look like it didn't work until you take off the stencil.)

Dry thoroughly so the etching shows up well and that's it!

I took some pictures with lemonade in the pitcher but you couldn't see the etching.  Looks refreshing though!

Before you even ask, I do not have a special lemonade recipe.  This is just Crystal Light!!  =)
Does anyone have a good homemade lemonade recipe?  I would love to hear it!

Thanks so much to Randomly Fascinated for letting me post today!  I have really enjoyed the Grow.Swap.Share. Blog Swap!  Hope you stop by Create.Craft.Love. for a visit!

Thanks Jill for such a great idea, I think I need to try out this glass etching stuff!

Super Yummy Healthy Smoothie

The other day I was looking in the fridge trying to find something for lunch and all that looked good was string cheese and pretzels. I knew that I needed to add a little bit more protein so I decided to make a smoothie with a protein shake. It turned out absolutely yummy so I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys!

Ingredients:

1 serving protein shake (I used Arbonne Figure 8 Go Easy Ready to Drink Vanilla Protein Shake because that is what I had on hand, you can use what you have or ask me if you are interested in more info on Arbonne's protein shake, I believe they are vegan and gluten free)

Frozen Fruit of your choice (The ammount you use depends on how much smoothie you want. I filled the blender because I think it is still yummy the when it is no longer frozen, so I make a big batch and drink it for a couple days. I used strawberries and peaches because I love that particular flavor combination. I freeze my own fruit and stock up when it it is fresh and on sale. This way I know exactly what is going in my food and it is actually cheaper than buying the same fruit pre-frozen)

Orange Juice (I just use a little bit to make the smoothie thin enough for the blender to mix it)

Sugar (to taste, I think I used about 2/3 c, forgot to put in picture :) )

Bananas (I used 2 pretty ripe bananas, they aren't in the picture because I took the picture after I was done and the bananas I used were the last ones I had in the house)

Optional: Fiber Supplement Powder, Flax Seed Powder, Wheat Germ (I didn't use any of these this time, but ma next time to make it even healthier)



Process

Dump the protein shake, fruit, and orange juice in the blender. If your protein shake is powdered add some water, juice, or milk to thin it down enough to blend. I have never had a blender that could just puree frozen fruit without some liquid. If yours can you don't need as much liquid but you may want to add a little.
Blend until smooth.
Add sugar and blend until smooth again, repeat until you like the taste.
Enjoy!

Verdict:

Yummy!! I absolutely love smoothies and have for years, but I usually don't add protein shake. Using the protein shake makes it a more viable option for lunch instead of a snack. I had 2 cups of this, a string cheese, and some pretzels for lunch, then I had some more that night and the next day. I thought that the bananas successfully hid the protein shake. If I had used a powdered shake I would have wanted a few more bananas.

 

Yum! 

Linked Up To:

Simply Klassic Home,