sparkleshinylove - A lifestyle blog for girls who love a little sparkle!

Roxymandy October 20, 2014

It’s sparkleshinylove’s 1st Birthday! Plus a Sweet Kate Spade Handbag Giveaway!

This month marks the 1st anniversary of sparkleshinylove!

It’s been a really fun year and I’ve learned a lot along the way. There have been some really late nights, grammar mistakes that have haunted me, and technical issues that have dumbfounded me, but somehow I made it to this point.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog this year – I appreciate it more than you know!

I love writing this blog, and I hope that you enjoyed visiting the site over the past year.

Hopefully the next year will be even better!

To celebrate I’m giving away a fabulous Kate Spade handbag! It’s pretty, pink, and I really want to keep it.

It retails for $398.00. CDN, and you can enter below via the Rafflecopter App.

This contest begins today, Monday, October 20th, at 8:00am EST 2014, and ends Saturday, October 26th, 2014 at 12:00am EST. This contest is open to all residents of the US and Canada.

Good luck to everyone who everyone who enters!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Roxymandy October 17, 2014

What to Expect at This Weekend’s Delicious Food Show

This morning I was lucky enough to attend the media tour, breakfast, and press conference for the Delicious Food Show. I previously posted about the show and what to expect, but now I’ve experienced it first hand and I can tell you what not to miss.

This morning we met with Chef Chuck Hughes as he was prepping in the kitchen for a workshop he would be doing with a small group of people who purchased tickets for the Exclusive Chef Series. He was super nice, and very animated! It made me wish I had signed up for that workshop!

We did a tour of the show, and I got a great overview of which booths were there. We were treated with breakfast done by one of my favourite restaurants, BUCA. Everyone was raving about breakfast – it was amazing! I had a caprese-style breakfast sandwich, fresh cheeses and cured meats, and lots of their baked treats.

Next up we had the press conference featuring Chef Mario Batali, Tyler Florence, Chuck Hughes and BUCA’s Rob Gentile.

One of the most interesting topics for me was what the chefs feed their children. They were saying they didn’t have kids menus at their restaurants because they though kids should be able to enjoy their regular menu items. Mario and Tyler were saying that they thought if you offer you kids chicken fingers and fries all the time, that is setting the course for how they may want to eat in the future. I found this so interesting! I always thought if restaurants didn’t have kids menu’s, then kids weren’t welcome. I may have been totally wrong!

If you are planning to go to the Delicious Food show today, Saturday or Sunday then make sure you visit some of my favourite booths!

Jacqueline Poirier creates custom ceramic art, and the plates she had on display at the show were really pieces of art! I loved the pizza plate!

I couldn’t help but stop at the booth of Sophia Saunders because I loved her prints! She can put any of her designs on tea towels as well, and I thought the Toronto-themed ones would make a great gift! Everything is hand-printed, and no two pieces are the same.

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I seriously don’t think I’ve had a good cannoli since my vacation in Italy, but the one I tried today may have changed all of that. Holy Cannoli makes fresh Sicilian cannoli’s that are totally delish. At the show you can purchase fresh cannoli’s, or they have cute little packs of cannoli pieces with dip as well. What I really loved were their take-home kits! You would get a packages of shells, and the filling separately so you can make them fresh in time for a party.

I’ve blogged about one of my trips to Rock Lobster before (which I loved), and their booth at the Delicious Food Show was one of my favourites today! They are serving up some of their signature food on one side, and their is a bar serving Samuel Adams on the other side.

I really liked the art by Hanna V. for the kitchen! Hanna and her husband actually make the frames themselves too.

The prettiest booth has to go to Anet Gesualdi Macarons! It looked like a cute little boutique, and it was very busy! I sort of just wanted to hang out there all day because it was so cute.

My favourite doughnut of the show had to be from Von Doughnuts! I had an amazing monster doughnut that pretty much made my day!

The Delicious Food Show runs from Friday, October 17th from 10am – 9pm, Saturday, October 18th from 10am – 8pm, and Sunday, October 19th from 10am – 6pm at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto (Direct Energy Centre, Hall A, 100 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto).

For more information on the Delicious Food Show, check out these links below:

www.facebook.com/deliciousfoodshow
www.twitter.com/deliciousshow
www.instagram.com/deliciousfoodshow
www.pinterest.com/deliciousshow

Roxymandy October 16, 2014

A Pirate Themed Bathroom With A Little DIY

The most difficult room in a house to decorate HAS to be the bathroom. They are usually small, strangely-shaped, and since the focus of the room is normally cleanliness, it’s not like you can make it more comfortable than it is with some throw pillows.

What’s worse than decorating a bathroom? Decorating a kid’s bathroom! Kids are messy. Things are unavoidably going to be destroyed, so things they can reach need to be durable and practical. Wow, who would have ever thought I would ever use those words – durable and practical! How boring.

Winter is when I work on those home projects I have left by the wayside in favour of summer weather and drinks on the patio. My first project when summer ended was to finish up my son’s bathroom. This bathroom is all his to use, so I could get away with a theme he would like. I asked him what he thought, and he said “Pirates!”. If I asked him today what he would want his bathroom to have he would say “Cars!”, so I’m just not going to ask him for a while.

It wasn’t very Pinteresty of me, but I started out at Target! They had a really cute pirate set of a shower curtain, hooded towel, garbage pail, soap and toothbrush dispenser, bath mat, and matching washcloths and towels.

When I showed my husband my haul (it took me a while – I love Target but they never seem to have a lot of stock so I probably went to three stores) and what I had done with it, he said he was glad it was finished! He felt like the room was done, and it could have been, but I felt like I had to do a few other things to make it a bit more personal.

I picked up these great rope knots from Homesense for $4.99 each which was a steal!

For wall art I went to Etsy to find some cute prints that I could frame myself. I found these first two at the Only Printable Art store here. The prints were only $5.57 CDN each!

The next two prints I chose were from different stores on Etsy. The lobster print was from Digital Art Downloads by Jonathan who’s store can be found here.

The octopus print was from The Artsy Type Shop found here.

I picked up the frames at Walmart for two for $12.00.

I wasn’t overly happy with the mirror in the bathroom – I wanted something more nautical. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find anything! I had an image in my head of what I wanted, so I decided to do it myself.

I wanted to incorporate rope into the mirror, so I went looking for materials. Do you know how hard it is to find rope? I thought I could just to one of those obscure isles at Home Depot and find the rope I wanted. Not so easy! I went to Home Depot, Lowes, Canadian Tire and Walmart and couldn’t find what I wanted. Finally Michaels had what I was looking for.

Each package was $9.99, so I made a few trips to the store with one of those 40% off coupons you can find online. I grabbed my pink glue gun (obviously it’s pink, right?), and got to work!

I glued the rope right to the mirror frame, covering the border completely. It was easier than I thought it would be!

Before I knew it, I was done and pretty proud of myself! I did a DIY project! I don’t usually get too crafty, so this was a big deal. The good news is my son loves his bathroom. For now. Just don’t ask him what theme he wants in there next, because I don’t feel like glueing cars to the mirror instead.

Roxymandy October 14, 2014

My Fall Fashion Picks From Turquoise Boutiques

One of my favourite shopping haunts is Turquoise Boutique. My little sis worked at a couple of their locations, and introduced me to their awesomeness. Whenever I’m looking for a dress for a wedding or event I stop by one of their stores to pick something up because they ALWAYS have a dress that fits perfectly with what I had in mind. Fall is my favourite season to shop there because I love their cozy sweaters and jackets.

The Turquoise Boutique Facebook page is super active with updated stock at their locations as well so you can keep an eye on what is coming into their stores. They also run lots of contests and giveaways on their Facebook page as well, so you should become a fan here!

I usually shop at their Whitby location the most, but they also have locations in Bowmanville, Port Perry and Toronto.

Their staff is always super sweet and helpful with finding sizes, helping you organize your giant haul in the dressing room, and with giving honest opinions on how you look in their clothing.

I paid a visit to the Whitby store last week, and I spotted this awesome jacket in the window that is to die for. How perfect would this jacket look for an outdoor engagement shoot, or just for an everyday fabulous look? It’s almost out of stock so if you love it like I do, you may want to get to a store soon.

Turquoise has lots of new fall and winter jackets in stock right now as well. I know, you don’t want to think about the cold, or snow, or keeping warm with that whole polar vortex thing going on, but now is the time to shop for a winter jacket so you have your pick of the cutest one’s before they are gone. When you are in the middle of a blizzard trying to walk from the mall to your car, you want people to be thinking “where did she get that fabulous jacket”, and not “wow, that girl looks like a hot mess”!

Turquoise carries a wall full of Guess handbags from their latest a lines to match the seasonal wardrobe they carry as well.

The sweaters they have in store right now are pretty cute and fabulous. Here are a few of my favourites. I’m loving the faux leather accents on some of these!

I obviously had a to buy one of these fab sweaters, and the one I picked had the cutest detail on the back! I styled it for a casual dinner night with friends.

Some of the other fun items in store were of course their dresses (my favourite!), and tops you could dress up or down depending on what your adventure is that day.

There were so many items I liked, but I couldn’t take photos of them all so you will need to check out one of the locations yourself.

Turquoise Boutique Whitby is located at 143 Brock St S, Whitby, On, and to get details on the rest of their locations check out their Facebook page here.

Roxymandy October 13, 2014

Easy Braided Hair Tutorials

Usually around this time of year I tone my hair colour down to something warmer, I start to use more product because I’m noticing it’s getting full of static, and I’m feeling a little bored with my style in general. I usually keep my hair long, so something drastic like cutting it is out of the question, but if feel like I need to do so something more for my everyday style. I think because summer hair is so simple for me is why in the fall I start to feel this boredom – in the summer my everyday hair is either straight, in beachy waves, or tied up tight on top of my head when it’s hot outside.

I love to experiment with braids, and I’ve included some of my favourites below!

Although it would be lovely to have as much gorgeous hair as this girl has, this side braid would also look great for anyone with a medium length hair and longer! Wonder Forest includes photos and instructions on how to achieve this braid at the link below.

Bohemian Side Braid

I love a good top knot when I just don’t feel like dealing doing my hair. For some reason I feel like the higher my knot is, the dressier it is! My new go-to has been this messy knotted bun with a braided band. It just looks a bit more romantic for fall with a cozy sweater!

Messy Knotted Bun with Braided Band

The crown braid is the hardest for me for some reason. The steps don’t look very complicated, but if feel like it all ends up looking like a mess in the end. Event when messy, it still looks pretty cool. Hopefully you have better luck!

Blushing Basics Crown Braid

Twist Me Pretty has an awesome step-by-step guide to doing a celtic knot. This one took me lots of tries, and I had to look at the photos over and over. Once I was done I was pretty impressed with myself.

Celtic Knot

Every week I use a headband braid just because it’s such an easy way to wear your hair down but look like you tried to put some effort into it. Missy Sue explains four different ways to master a different version of the headband braid at the link below.

Headband Braids

Monochrome Burgundy

Winter White

Holiday Plaid

Updating a Favourite

It’s sparkleshinylove’s 1st Birthday! Plus a Sweet Kate Spade Handbag Giveaway!

What to Expect at This Weekend’s Delicious Food Show

A Pirate Themed Bathroom With A Little DIY

My Fall Fashion Picks From Turquoise Boutiques

Easy Braided Hair Tutorials