Where to Shop - sparkleshinylove

Roxymandy September 2, 2014

How To Look Like The Put Together Mom With You Name It Baby!

This morning I dropped my son off for his first day of Montessori school, and I think we were both pretty excited. He had gone to daycare previously and liked that too, but we thought he might be ready to try something else out. So I’m not the handiest of Mom’s….yesterday he wanted his tractor to pull another car so I grabbed a roll of scotch tape to stick the car to the tractor. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I think I’d describe my sewing skills similarly. I ordered a large number of labels with my son’s name on them online, and when it came to sewing them into all of his gear for school, it wasn’t pretty. I used a travel sewing kit (it’s all I had!) and my stitching skills were so bad that I tried to find obscure places to place the labels. So I’m not Martha Stewart exactly, but I do try to put in a bit of effort.

Next time I think I should save the sewing for someone else. I refuse to ask my Mom as technically I am one of those too, so I think I might hit up this new online store I’ve discovered called You Name It Baby!.

Yes there is an exclamation mark as part of their name (it’s hard to tell I’m sure because I use a lot of them in my writing! See?), and they will literally personalize anything in their store.

The store was created in 2005 by two women who were new mothers who had a hard time finding places who did personalizing for their children’s items.

They focus on baby, toddler and kid products, but you can find all sorts other products on their website as well for adults.

They offer the option of colour matching if you have a swatch you can send them, and they offer free gift wrapping and delivery to the recipients address (without including the actual receipt).

I really like all of the camo gear they have. There are some great style options, and their prices are great as well.

The Pint of PJs Sweet Dreams Sleep Set is my favourite item on the website. It includes a cute ice cream tub with a matching onesie and a hat that has sprinkles and a cherry on top! So adorable.

These Personalizable Sports Pillows are pretty awesome too!

They ship to the US and Canada, and their website has a huge selection so give yourself some time to browse through their online shop!

You can visit them at www.younameitbaby.com.

Check out more of my favourite finds below!

Roxymandy September 1, 2014

Patterned Knits for Fall

Pattern play is a big fall trend, and there are sweaters launched this fall that not only serve the purpose of keeping you warm, but keeping you looking trendy as well. I’ve been known to sacrifice practicality for a good looking outfit, and that includes being freezing cold for the sake of a cuteness. Luckily I won’t need to sacrifice much when it comes to cozy sweaters – they can’t help but be practical.

Since I sort of hate the whole dressing practically side to fashion, when I’m dressed for a casual lunch or play date, it’s important to avoid wearing comfortable workout gear all the time and opting for something like one of these patterned sweaters. I’m guilty of it all the time – wearing Lululemon’s or Nike workout gear when not planning to work out at all and instead to do errands or hang out. Sometimes I look around and see everyone wearing the same thing – Lycra, running shoes, and more Lycra. It’s easy to get comfortable (literally) with wearing workout gear for everyday life minus actually working out, so wearing this easy and comfortable trend in the fall substitutes fashion and comfort into the place of just comfort period.

Nordstrom Woven Heart Print Open Cardigan

Victoria’s Secret Bateau Sweater

Aritzia Gambler Sweater

Aritzia Sea to Sky Sweater

Ralph Lauren American Flag Cardigan

Forever 21 Shredded Star Sweater

Zara Jacquard Sweater

Billabong Sea Voyage Sweater

Billabong Late for Luv Sweater

Billabong Loosen Up Sweater

American Eagle Star Sweater

Aritzia Alpert Sweater

Victoria’s Secret One Button Cardigan Sweater

Nordstrom Woven Heart Geo Pattern Cardigan

Nordstrom Print Tassel Trim Poncho

Roxymandy August 27, 2014

Little Monkey Designs Giveaway!

I love having things created just for me. I’m a bit of a diva that way. Something one-of-a-kind is always better than picking up something else that is one-of-a-million copies. Especially since I had my son I’ve wanted to have everything personalized for him so it can be a keepsake later in life just to show him how special he is. And how much he rocks. I know, I will totally need to work on the whole humility thing, because I don’t want to send him into the world thinking that wherever he goes a sippy cup will magically show up with his name etched into it because there’s ALWAYS something just for him.

When it comes to these all so important keepsakes and personalized treasures, it’s best to trust a professional who can design exactly what you want and how you want it.

Little Monkey Designs is a one-stop shop for all things unique, trendy, and personalized with some serious polish! They offer personalized wall art, birth announcement prints, invitations, party printables, personalized growth charts, family tree wall art, and much more.

The options are endless! You can choose how to tweak almost all of the products in the Little Monkey Designs shop, but some of them are so perfect already you may want to purchase them as they are. The wall art is so bright and cheerful. It’s totally the spot where you can find all of your favourite Pins from Pinterest!

Dream Big Little One Wall Art

Little Monkey Designs offers colour match free of charge. You can upload a colour swatch and they will match your design colour to the swatch so it will blend in with your decor perfectly.

Their growth charts are awesome because they can be personalized with not only your child’s name, but their photo can be included as well. I feel like one of these would work much better than the Sharpie lines I have been adding to the closet doorframe in my sons room.

The growth charts are printed on either premium matte vinyl or artist grade canvas, and they come finished with wooden dowels placed through the hems on each end for a finished look, and a matching ribbon as well so hanging them is easy.

Growth Chart

I slacked on making an imprint of my sons hands and feet when he was a baby (I even had the kit – there was really no excuse) and I regretted not doing it so much. If you haven’t done it yourself, another great way to commemorate how incredibly small those tiny feet and hands are is with the Little Monkey Designs Hand & Footprint Wall Art.

The wall art that Little Monkey Designs offers can come in a print or canvas. Some of the designs are so freaking adorable! You an even take care of the printing yourself if you would like, which is a great option for all of you control freaks out there.

Little Monkey Designs can also take your images and have them printed for you on premium gallery wrapped canvases.

My favourite idea is the World Travel Map. You can customize your travel map to show everywhere you have lived and traveled in the world. It’s a really polished way to reflect where you have been!

Little Monkey Designs also offers wedding prints where you can either choose a pre-deisgned print, or have a custom one created to match your wedding theme.

You can choose to have a birth announcement customised or pre-designed with their typographic, photo or illustrative options. Another awesome idea is the chalkboard print! I think these are a great way to commemorate a milestone with personal information posted in a creative way – it’s a great keepsake.

Their invitations are pretty awesome. Much better than the standard ones you can buy in a box, and the cost of customizing them is very reasonable and comparable to buying generic ones in a store. Little Monkey Designs offers custom designed invites as well which I will totally be taking advantage of. It’s really hard to find invitations for a gossip/wine drinking/food binging/no boys allowed party.

Printable birthday decorations can be hard to find, and once you find them they can be very expensive! Little Monkey Designs has quite a few to choose from, and what I love is that they can customize for your event as well.

I think the best part about Little Monkey Designs is their creative services. Many online shops aren’t willing to change or personalize their work. What you see is what you get. Little Monkey Designs will not only give you the option of customizing the products they offer, but they provide branding solutions to companies from the ground up. They are willing to work with you to learn about the marketplace your company is in, your goals, your vision for the brand, and about your competitors to create the product you need to bring your vision to life. They can create logos, brochures, custom graphics, and anything else you need to give your company a boost creatively.

To learn more about Little Monkey Designs, and more importantly to shop the Little Monkey Designs store, check them out at www.littlemonkeydesigns.ca, or click here for their Facebook page!

You can now find Little Monkey Designs products in store at Melissa’s Bowtique in Port Hope, and in Baby World of Stoney Creek in Stoney Creek. Coming soon you will find Little Monkey Designs in a few other local shops – keep checking their Facebook page for announcements!

Now for the fun part – a giveaway! Little Monkey Designs is offering one lucky sparkleshinylove reader a $30 gift card!

To enter all you need to do is like the sparkleshinylove Facebook page here (you are still eligible if you have already liked the page – it just shows you already have great taste!), and comment below this post with what you would use the giftcard for from Little Monkey Designs.

The contest begins now, Wednesday, August 27th, 2014 at 9:00am EST, and will end on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 at 9:00am EST. The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada.

Good luck to everyone who enters! I will announce the winner on the blog next Wednesday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Roxymandy August 25, 2014

Clinique High Impact Waterproof Mascara Review

To keep up my rep of being a total beauty junkie I picked up a new mascara last week that I totally didn’t need. Well, at the time I thought I might need it since it said it was High Impact mascara. Those couple of words reminded me that I totally needed some High Impact lashes in my life, and I thought I would give it a try.

At $19 it didn’t totally break the bank either, so I spent the week willing it to replace my favourite Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara. The mascara only comes in Black or Black/Brown, so it’s really all business and no fun (usually there are a few other colour options with mascara, but it’s not like I have bought a blue or a green one lately anyway).

The claims? Instant volume and length that resists flaking, clumping, smudging. They said it could stand up to heat, humidity, and an active day.

The first thing I noticed was how smooth it went on. The consistency is a little watery so it easily smoothed onto my lashes and was easy to apply. The tips Clinique gave for the mascara was to start at the base of my lashes and then wiggle the brush up to the tip of my lashes. It said to repeat this step, and to prevent clumping to let the mascara dry between coats. I am all about following instructions so I did exactly as told. I didn’t notice any clumping at all which was great, but what I did notice was that the consistency of the mascara was so watery I had to build over and over and over again to get any “Impact”. It went on so smoothly I didn’t really see a lot of volume, and to create the volume I wanted I had to put a lot of this stuff on.

I also found that it didn’t separate my lashes as nicely as I would have liked. I had to use another want to separate my lashes the way I like them to be. It seemed to clump them together, and I think it was all the brushes fault.

It really doesn’t like it when your lashes curl. It seemed to want to straighten my lashes out which was sort of annoying. The formula just didn’t seem to be thick enough to bend your lashes in the shape you want.

Towards the end of my day, the mascara would start to flake. I find I have this issue with all of my mascara’s (probably because I like to put it on very thick!) so I wasn’t overly surprised at this. I had a very hard time getting this mascara off! It is definitely waterproof. It was hard to even smudge it. Apply this mascara very carefully since you are going to be stuck with it for a while.

So the funny thing was that after I tried this mascara for a week, I found out Clinique not only has this mascara in a non-waterproof version (not surprising), but a lash curling version, and they have a mascara just for your lower lashes as well! So they really want you to buy two mascaras – one for your upper lashes and one for your lower lashes? It seems really wasteful to me. Wouldn’t it make sense for everything to be in one mascara? I guess that is why this mascara is a little cheaper than most of the mascara’s at Sephora – technically you need two of them.

Overall I think I am done with this mascara. I gave it a week and it didn’t really work for me, and I did not feel like it lived up to it’s “High Impact” claims. I thought it worked just fine on my lower lashes (I can’t imagine buying a mascara just for those few lashes, which says a lot because I buy useless stuff all the time), but other than it being waterproof it didn’t live up to it’s claims of being “High Impact” for me.

My favourite mascara continues to be Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara! If you have one that you absolutely love and thing I should try, let me know if the comments and I will add it to my arsenal!

Roxymandy August 22, 2014

Top Riding Boot Picks for Fall

The equestrian trend is going to be big this fall, and I think the easiest and most comfortable way to wear it is by having a great riding boot in your wardrobe. Not only are they extremely comfortable, but they go with basically everything. A great boot can make any outfit look a bit more polished, and so just adding them to your day to day wardrobe can dress things up a bit.

When I think of a great riding boot, images of a Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren campaign come to mind. Who doesn’t want to look like they just stepped off an upscale ranch looking impeccable for a lunch date with the girls? Well I think most people want to look as easily stylish as that, but while doing actual day-to-day errands like grabbing groceries or picking up the kids from school. It’s nice to look stylish, and feel comfortable at the same time.

Below are some of my favourite riding boots out for fall now!