Sunday, 26 November 2017

Gift Guide: For the Mom(s)


Honestly, out of all the people I shop for my mom is my favourite person hands down. I just feel like Christmas to her is super special, so she pretends to love it even if she hates. I definitely think Christmas is the perfect time to give her something to relax with. I decided to share some of the greatest relaxing gifts today that you can give your mom – from wine glasses to eye creams to slippers. Who wouldn’t love all of that?

Because mom’s deserve to relax and why not let her relax with a nice, big cardigan. Don’t worry though – it doesn’t look like the ones she always complains about looking too oversized.

These slippers would also look super adorable with the cardigan (especially the chestnut), or on their own with some cozy pajamas!

Honestly, I love my idiom bracelet. They’re so fun and quirky, but spice up any outfit. I always wear mine with my gold watches. Although there’s so many adorable bracelets, “heart of gold” is definitely suitable for mom. It reaches that meaningful mom gift without starting to look a bit tacky.

Candles are also so relaxing and calm. Plus, don’t deny it – we’ve all seen that meme “when you wish you could buy your mom an island but all you can afford is a candle”. Now, you could get her candle but an amazing smelling candle that she would love!
I’m personally dying to try lavender + linen, grapefruit + fig and balsam!

Raise your hand if you love wine and rose gold! Your mom probably does, too. This customizable wine glass is super cute and super thoughtful. Since it’s customizable, you can add your mom’s name or even “#1 mom” to the glass. To really go over the top, you could find out what her favourite wine is and give her a bottle with the glass.

Let’s be real – we’re likely the reason our moms have bags under their eyes, dry skin, grey hair. You name it, our rebellious teenage years likely caused it. Now, we can provide her with the help she may need to fix it. Help Me is an anti-aging cream that helps reduce wrinkles and discoloration while boosting firmness and colour tone.

This kind of goes with the Philosophy Help Me, but Lotus Eye Gel is an eye gel that helps with puffiness and dark circles. Again, our moms deserve some pampering after dealing with us ages 12-17.

Honestly, I am obsessed with this perfume. I’ve tried many and always end up going back to Marc Jacobs Daisy. It smells so nice, and it’s a classic smell too. Definitely a great perfume for all age groups.

Raise your hand if you grew up eating homemade chocolate chip cookies. Probably most did and most likely got them from their mom. Make her recipe or try a twist on a classic (see link). It’s a homemade, thoughtful yet inexpensive gift.

To make them next level, you could put them in one of these adorable cookie jars.  

Saturday, 25 November 2017

50 Gluten-Free Christmas Treats

I had a mom gift guide 90% done, then I went away for the night and left it sitting on my desktop without finishing it. I’m sitting here on my laptop now and I don’t have photoshop and have yet to connect my PC to Cloud, so I’m here with nothing.
I’m staying at the guy who I’m dating’s house right now. I remembered that I forgot my 2 litre bottle of Diet Pepsi at home and had a pop craving. So at 9:30 last night we went to Wal-Mart. It worked out because there were still tons of Black Friday deals, but it was dead. There were so many things I wanted to buy, but couldn’t think where I would use them at my house or who I could gift them for. They a Keurig for $47, regular $98. They also had an Actifry for $118, regular $228. I’m so disappointed that I didn’t get either. Both were such great deals. My “man friend” got a Wilton Baking Set with 2 cookie sheets, a cake pan, a muffin tin, measuring spoons and measuring cups for $19.88. He bought them because I kept complaining about not having them at his house, haha!

As someone with Celiac disease, there’s so many Christmas goodies that I want to bake but find that I struggle with finding stuff I can actually eat. Plus, Christmas cookies are the cutest, simple gift ideas. If you have someone with Celiac disease, gluten intolerant or simply prefer to eat gluten free, it’s always nice to have some sweets they can eat.

Gluten Free, Vegan Cinnamon Orange Christmas Cookies (use oat flour to make them gluten free!)
Gluten Free, Sugar Free Cranberry Bliss Cookies (great Starbucks copycat recipe)
Gluten Free Cranberry Bliss Bars (another great Starbucks copycat recipe)
Gluten Free Chocolate Fudge Crumb Bars (another great Starbucks copycat recipe)

Friday, 24 November 2017

Gift Guide: Handmade Gifts for Home Owners Under $50!


Happy Black Friday everyone! I was going to do a post sharing all the Black Friday sales, but I thought I would just share some of the ones that my favourite bloggers did instead.

Today, I decided I would share some of my favourite gifts handmade by Canadians. I love Etsy, so I decided it would be awesome to highlight some of the home products I’m loving from it.

First off – I love everything at AllyBeth Design Co., and it was extremely hard to just pick one thing to showcase! This gift is so great for the boss babe in your life, or in an office for a hard working girl who just needs a bit more motivation. Plus it’s under $20, which you can’t go wrong with!

I am loving Aspen Blue Co.’s products. The doormats are so cute. Some are cheeky, some are simple, and some have landscapes. What’s not to love? The fact that they’re $40 and under makes it even better.

I am loving the signs from William Rae Designs. They’re a little pricier, but the quality of them look impeccable. I love the baby signs (my favourite).

I think sometimes the best gifts are unexpected, fun and cheeky. Cross stitches with fun sayings are all of those! For $30 and under, CaralynneDesign has some really great cross stitches. Definitely worth a look!

I think one of the cutest home trends this year are stamped spoons. You can make feel so personal, yet they’re so simple. The great thing about And Then Again Designs, is that they literally have over 100 spoons and they’re all around $20.
Also love from And Then Again Designs: Count Colours not Calories spoon, Fork Off fork and You’re my Person spoon

I just had to share the designs from Share The Love Designs. Mainly because her shop lists as Oshawa, which is near me! Plus her graphics are adorable. It was genuinely so hard for me to pick just four options to share.  All her graphics are under $10 and printable, therefore you can choose the frame to put them in!

Thursday, 23 November 2017

Beauty Gifts Under $25 From Sephora!










With Christmas coming up, and Black Friday tomorrow, there are so many gifts to be bought! To me, Sephora is always a great place to spend money on some great, high quality gifts. However, I can’t justify spending $102 on an eye shadow palette, no matter how much I love the person. Therefore, today, I decided to share some great options that are $25 or less!

How cute is this! It may just be a mini, but it is so cute you can’t say no. I love little gifts like this to throw on the outside of a box. It doubles as a gift tag, so it’s great if you still have a bit of money remaining in your budget for someone.

For $15, you really can’t go wrong! Colourpop is a great brand and honestly, I got so excited when I found out they were partnering with Sephora. This palette comes with six colours – five matte and one metallic. Over the past few months, I have been obsessed with the Sephora Collection Classic Double Ended brush, which would make an excellent pairing with this palette and would still be under $50.  

This hands down has to be one of the cutest Sephora Collection gifts I have seen in years. For $23, you get three sponges which is a steal too. I know some people prefer Beauty Blender sponges, but honestly I still to this day can’t find a huge comparison in products except for the price. It’s definitely one of the cuter beauty gift set packages I’ve seen this year, and definitely worth the money.

I feel like no Sephora gift guide is complete without a Philosophy bubble bath. This is on sale for $15 for Black Friday, too! Definitely a steal. If you’re interested in a Philosophy Christmas gift set, the peppermint stick set and the snow angel set are great gift options as well.  

Honestly, FAB is in my top five favourite skincare brands. I love this set though! Of course they’re minis, but for $15, this is a great set to trial FAB.

There are many other FAB beauty sets this Christmas! Honestly, I have spent way too much looking at them in store. If you’re interested, you can find them and other products here

Monday, 20 November 2017

Links and Loves

Wow! It’s been a while. The last post that I actually published was in April. After many months of not blogging, I have decided to come back because I realized how much I truly missed it.

In October, I adopted a second cat, Oliver. He’s a little Russian Blue, who I’m convinced is a munchkin cat. His legs haven’t grown since he came home! The other morning he was sitting in the Christmas tree (sorry mom) and I couldn’t help but pull out my phone to take a few pictures of him while he was in it.

Today, I decided to do one of my all-time favourite types of posts – Links and Loves. It’s been so long that I just wanted to create a pile of different things I’m loving.

Now onto the fun stuff…

Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Office. Buzzfeed released a hilarious article this week, 24 Jokes From “The Office” That Never Get Old.

Growing up, it felt like everyone and their cousin had a Gap logo sweater. I’ve noticed over the years that the factory stores carried them, but they always looked so outdated. This year, Gap has some super cute logo sweaters. I’m especially loving the Logo Crop Crewneck Sweater and Logo Raglan Pullover

My skin absolutely sucks. I have however, fallen in love with this Dr. Jart sheet mask. I bought one in September and have been obsessed with it since. It’s only $10 so it makes for a great stocking stuffer! 

On the discussion of stocking stuffers, I love Allison of But What Should I Wear's stocking stuffer gift guide. I also love Kait of Communikait's stocking stuffer guide as well.

Last but certainly not least, as a cat mom, I have fallen in love with this customizable cat mom wine glass! Plus it's under $15!