Category Archives: Sponsored

Holiday Dining || Simple Decor Ideas with @Thebrick #AD

Server || Dining Set || Rug || Wall Scones ( In store find from The Brick) It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I simple love the holidays. Since posting our dining set up on my IG stories I’ve gotten quite a few questions about our minimalist take on decorations. Honestly, I’m loving it. Not only is it cost efficent, I still feel like we’ve captured that festive feel without breaking the bank. The key to my Modern Minimalist Christmas style: great furniture to begin with! You don’t need tons of seasonal decorations to get a room looking great when it already looks amazing. We went with dining set from The Brick mainly because I loved the look of it. But also, the padded leather chairs are comfortable and wipeable for the kids. The Bari set is so stylish and clearly became the focal point of our room. We added fresh greenery to our Jade Server for that festive look and unreal smell. For more of a festive scent to the room, I added seasonal candles to those mazing black honey comb candle holders I found in store from The Brick. To keep with the minimalist theme, I stored away our table clothe, running and napkins in the Jade Server for a decluttered look. Simple and chic without breaking the bank on an over the top tablescape.

Lastly, I added a sparse garland to the picture and some geo shaped decorations to the light fixture. It only took me a few minutes to get so much visual impact with just a handful of seasonal decorations.

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Getting ready for the holidays || Cleaning with Dyson & @TheBrick #AD

Starting this week our home will be invaded by guests right and left for the holidays. From planned festive dinners to surprise drop-in visits; our home is a hub of activity this time of year. With two little people and a big dog, you can imagine that our house isn’t always guest ready in the clean department. So over the years I’ve become a vacuum connoisseur so to speak. We’ve gone through quite a few in the last 6 years so I’ve developed quite the opinion on the subject. By far I love a Dyson over any other brand. I tried a robot vacuum this year, you obviously didn’t get to hear about it on the blog for good reason… I didn’t love it at all! It didn’t clean anything and was constantly getting stuck under furniture. So my little piece of cleaning advice, commit to a Dyson, they have amazing suction and so far I haven’t broken one either!

Introducing our holiday helper the Dyson V8 Absolute cordless stick vacuum. With a powerful V8 motor, two-tier Radial™ cyclones and whole machine HEPA filtration, fine dust and allergens don’t stand a chance. I love how light weight it is and how fast I can get through a room without a cord in the way. A soft-roller cleaner head picks up debris while being gentle on our hard floors because the dogs claws are enough damage on those guys. Thanks to its cordless design and ability to convert to a handheld model I can easily clean hard to reach places like my curtains in minutes. Plus, the hygienic dirt ejector makes it easy to empty the vacuum’s canister. That’s right, no more buying disposable vacuum bags.

The Dyson V8 Absolute helps us quickly get holiday ready in minutes. I don’t think we could ever go back now that we’ve joined the Dyson family a few years ago. Have you tried a Dyson?

Disclaimer: This post was paid by The Brick but my thoughts and opinions remain my own.

#LifesSimpleIngredient || The easiest bread recipe just in time for the holidays…

With the holidays fast approaching our home becomes a revolving door for guests. Believe me, surprise visits warm my heart but they also keep me on my hostess toes! One of our favourite snacks to eat our guests is fresh warm french bread and assorted cheese. So over the years, we’ve found this easy and fast recipe we use throughout the week to keep the delicious bread coming hot out of the oven.

So I’ve joined the Life’s Simple Ingredient movement to showcase my favourite Alberta Wheat Commission product this season: bread! Our secret, we make the dough ahead of time. Let it rise and shape it into whatever you would like it to be… for us, the long and narrow french baguette. I slash it. Then freeze solid for a few hours on a pan. Remove from pan and cover in plastic. Use it within a few weeks for freshness. It’s so simple and convenient. The moment you have a guest walk through that door, start the oven, fresh warm bread is sure to wow your guests. And that smell! Heavenly.

1 cup warm tap water

1.5 tablespoons sugar

2½ teaspoons store bought starter yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ teaspoons ground sea salt

3 cups wheat flour

Spoon full of melted butter for brushing

In a large mixing bowl add sugar and warm water. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add Yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Stir in your oil, sea salt and half of the flour. Knead into a ball. Lightly grease pan or I like to use parchment paper. Cover and allow to rise for over an hour. (You can freeze portions now) Pop the dough ball, shape as desire, and allow to rise one last time for 20 minutes. Place on greased pan or parchment paper. Slash top, brush with butter and I like to sprinkle with a touch of salt. Bake at 375 for 25- 27 minutes.

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The Mealtime Toddler Struggle || Want to know my nutritious secret?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Enfagrow A+® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Getting a toddler tornado to eat is not an easy task in our household. I swear it feels like Alastair is on a food strike most of the time, leaving me feeling worried about balanced meals and the nutrients he’s getting throughout the day. At least for me, he’s always on the move and doesn’t seem to have time for structured meal time. We struggle as a family to all sit and eat a meal for even 15 minutes because he just wants to play. The mom meal time struggle is so real for us. Because he just seems to happily snack throughout the day, I sometimes worry he’s missing out on balance nutritious meals. As a mommy of two, I know how important it is to give your child the best head start possible, and that includes nutrition. We have had success with Enfagrow A+ nutritional toddler nutria beverage as a great nutritious snack to get some extra nutrients into your toddler, including the ever so important DHA. If you visit www.enfagrow.ca, you can Sign up for FREE Samples. And the website is a great resource, with the informative Your Toddler Magazine and new video series designed to provide you with advice and pertinent information about life with your toddler. My favourite episode included some great tricks to help ensure your child is receiving important vitamins and minerals and how these nutrients (DHA is not a vitamin) contribute to your toddler’s growth like DHA and iron. They had menu ideas too!

As I mentioned previously this year, Enfagrow A+ has partnered with United Way. The initiative is simply, when you use the hashtag #EnfagrowMomsKnow on Instagram and Twitter to share your toddler stories, pictures, or advice with other moms and they will donate $1 per submission up to $5000 to United Way until November 30, 2017! It’s such an easy way to connect with real parents online and give back to a cause that matters.

Why not see if your toddler likes it? I love this easy, fast and nutritious snack.

Beauty || My Monthly @RockyMtnSoap Product Picks || Polish, Restore & Brighten #AD

I’m so excited to share three 100% natural beauty products that will polish, restore and brighten your skin. I find as I transition into winter my skin needs some extra help. It can get dry in patches and dull in appearance overall. Come November I start using a facial polish to exfoliate that dry dull skin. A weekly treatment to target my challenge areas on my face. And an intensive serum to restore the skin’s surface. Here are my top picks from Rocky Mountain Soap Co. to get you winter ready:

The Bamboo Brightening Face Polish: This toxin-FREE polish uses Bamboo and Sugar to give an invigorating scrub for normal and oily skin types. I love that it has a natural exfoliate, none of those nasty micro beads here. It contains Tea Tree Oil to help with my acne prone areas. It’s a must try if you are looking for a deep scrub.

Restorative Face Mask: For a weekly intensive treatment I turn to this Spirulina and Ginseng face mask to help soften my skin and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

Restorative Face Serum: To target dry spots and get an overall radiant complexion I love this intensive facial serum. Antioxidant-rich Pomegranate oil protects dry and mature skin against the elements, reducing the appearance of aging to reveal your youthful glow. This serum does double duty for me, I love to apply it to the tops of my hands at night to transform that dry skin over night.

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