Tuesday's OOTW - We're Can-eh-dian!

Today is Halloween! We always dress up as a family and to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday this year we thought we would choose some Canadian costumes. These costumes are super easy so if you’re running around looking for something last minute, then look no further. Just throw on some faded jeans, a buffalo plaid shirt, a knit beanie, and whatever boots you have. A pair of suspenders don’t hurt as well as a toy ax. The cute moose is optional but pretty darn awesome! I have linked where we got some of our stuff to help you out. 

Joelle’s Look – Hat // Shirt // Suspenders // Jeans

Tim’s Look – Hat // Shirt // Suspenders // Jeans

James is being anonymoose. 😀

The tables have turned on our lumberjack friends. To be continued…

From our family to yours, may you have a fun and safe Halloween. Time to get candy!!!

 

Monday's Meme

Just so you know what to do with them when you trick or treat tomorrow night…

Friday's Faux Paw

I really am not a fan of people who commit this faux paw – wearing “PINK” across your bum. We have Victoria’s Secret to blame for this phenomenon. They make beautiful lingerie, however they also make lounge wear/workout wear that sports “PINK” across the bum of the pants. It’s bad enough to wear these pants for what they are intended for which would be working out or staying at home. However the real problem begins when I am out for a walk and have to see you out in public wearing these atrocities. Please see my past blog entry for how I feel about outfits that belong in a gym being worn outside of the gym here. And to make matters worse many of the people wearing these pants do not need to be drawing further attention to their plump, jiggly, untoned bottom. Just a heads up, these pants were in style years ago so not only are you guys being sheep, you are also way behind the times.

The Launch Of Our New Business - The Rear Gunner Clothing Company

What’s that off in the horizon? Is it a bird? Is it plane? Nope. It’s our new business The Rear Gunner Clothing Company which started July 1st (Canada Day)!! Our squad consists of General Tim, myself Lieutenant Joelle, and Sargent James.

Now for the history of why we decided to start our company. Tim (my husband) loved BMW’s. He loved them so much in fact, that he got a friend to custom make a leather and wool varsity jacket with a wicked BMW Motorsport Logo embroidered on the back. Unfortunately his older brother borrowed said jacket without asking and lost it. So many years later Tim decided he would like another jacket and set to work designing one. As he toiled away he thought it would be great for our toddler James to have a cool jacket too. But for James he wanted to create an aviator style jacket. After much research, Tim realized that a leather aviator jacket with custom artwork on the back would set him back $1000 to $2000 US! So he came up with the idea to take a varsity jacket like his BMW one, and get it embroidered on the back with nose-art from WWII. Taking his love for WWII nose art, Tim designed a jacket for James called Swappy’s Sting (“Swappy” is our son’s nickname). He even put a “J” for James on the sleeve as well as James’ birth date. Pleased with his work he got a sample made of the Swappy’s Sting jacket. When it arrived and Tim tried it on, he thought that everyone should be allowed to own a wicked cool jacket with WWII nose art on the back. So now anyone can have a aviator type jacket with cool nose-art on the back for $150 Canadian which is way more affordable.

Our first trade show was at Etsy Made In Canada here in Edmonton. Even Cherry Bomb made an appearance!

Here’s a couple of the designs of the Men’s Varsity Jackets we carry:

The redhead on the bomb is supposed to be yours truly. And my birth date and initial is on this jacket as well.

Being added to our website soon are Toddler and Youth Varsity Bomber Jackets as well. We also carry Men’s, Youth, and Toddler T-shirts. Here are some of our creations:

At last but certainly not least here are a couple of our Adult Baseball Caps:

According to Tim, this cap was also inspired by me and displays my birth date and initial. :-O

We truly enjoy working together on designing – after James goes to bed of course! We hope you find something for you or for a unique gift for someone on your Christmas list. And all you gals out there are not left out! A small or medium men’s varsity jacket might fit you just right. Same with our men’s t-shirts. And our baseball caps? I have a small head and I can fit our caps just fine. Because we also carry toddler and kid sizes in some of our t-shirts and jackets, both you and your mini can be twins when you head out on the town.

These two are definitely winning at twinning!

And now for the best part! To celebrate our launch the first Canadian who places an order of our site will be getting their order shipped for FREE! 

Step One: Head to our site at The Rear Gunner Clothing Company

Step Two: Pick out as many items as you like.

Step Three: Do not check out but send us an email with what you’d like.

Step Four: Pay the invoice we send you.

Step Five: Sit back and wait for your awesome stuff to land at your pad.

Now I don’t want to forget all of my American buddies. Here’s what we’re going to do for you. The first American to order over $90 US gets a code for $10 US off!

Step One: Head to our site at The Rear Gunner Clothing Company amd 

Step Two: Pick out as many items as you like.

Step Three: Check out and use the code 

Step Four: Sit back and wait for your awesome stuff to land at your pad.

And when we head to the post office to ship your items and it’s less to ship than we charged you, we’ll refund the difference to you as soon as possible. It’s our guarantee.

Want to see our clothing in person? For all our Edmonton and surrounding area friends, feel free to email us to schedule an appointment to check out our showroom. See something on our website you gotta have? Send us an email with items you want, we’ll let you know if they’re in stock, and we’ll schedule a time for you to come by and pay for them when you pick them up. We take cash and VISA, Mastercard, and AMEX.

We hope you’ll fly by and see us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Tuesday's OOTW - Girl Boss

I love this look so much that I’m posing like a boss. Like a boss? Nah. I am the boss. At least in my own mind. Here’s to all the women out there who are getting s**t done. Whether you are a mama, working at home, working out of the home, working on your fitness, or a combination of all of these things, let’s all give each other a pat on the back. Go us!!

I finally got a great deal on my wine moto jacket from Old Navy. I waited so long for it to go on sale and now it is! As for my jeans, I took $5 thrifted jeans and did the fringed hem myself. If you don’t want to go that route, (it took me two hours) I linked a similar pair that is fringetastic. And my pink quilted cap toe shoes are under $40! I am really crushing on pairing pink with wine these days. I’ve included links to my whole outfit below.

Cap // Sunglasses // Choker: Similar // Jacket // Shirt: Similar // Jeans: Thrifted And Fringed by Me (Similar) // Shoes

And this is the insanity that is one of my OOTW photo shoots:

So, where are all my Girl Bosses? Shout yourselves out in the comments below.

Monday's Meme

Friday's Faux Paw

 

This is not the most horrendous faux pas I will ever discuss, but it needs to be brought to everyone’s attention. Once again men are mostly the ones who commit this fashion crime. They put on a nice pair of black pants and black shoes only to defile the look with white sport socks! There was only one person who could pull this off and he’s gone to the kennel in the sky. I’m talking about Michael Jackson. The rest of you sadly are not Michael Jackson and need to dress accordingly. Buy some black socks – extra points if they are dress socks. If you continue with this look then  you receive this rating:

– A little bit of Michael Jackson humour here.

Pretty Whimsical - Handcrafted Soaps And Bath Bombs

This is a sponsored post, however all opinions are my own.

I had the privilege of meeting Debbie, the owner of Pretty Whimsical at The Etsy Made In Canada Show back in September. I just had to check out her booth because everything was so pretty. I mean it was a blogger’s dream with all the unicorn and mermaid bath bombs, soaps that look like cupcakes and cake, and the poop emoji soaps. And these are just a few of the lovely bath items she sells. Her items are all paraben, phthalate, and detergent free and tested on people not animals.

I was one lucky gal because she picked out some of her cutest items for me to try and to share with you on my blog. Eeeeeek! Aren’t these just adorable? This is one time I truly wish you could smell each of these through whatever device you are reading this on.

First I’m going to write about the bath bombs I got to try. The Mermaid Tail Bath Bomb Cupcake has Bubble Frosting. The bottom of the bath bomb is your traditional style bath bomb but it also includes buttermilk and kaolin clay. The frosting is a mix of bath bomb ingredients whipped with cocoa butter. Debbie even airbrushed pink on the white frosting. There are silver sparkles on the light purple mermaid tail which is a handcrafted soap. I was so sad to part with it because it was truly a work of art! The bath bomb fizzes and the frosting foams and bubbles under the running water. My skin was so soft afterwards and the smell was divine! To me it smelled like how I remember Fruit Loops smelling.

My little guy loved his Shark Cupcake Bath Bomb With Bubble Frosting. Trying to get him to take a bath can be a struggle but he hopped right in when he saw this. He loved the fizzing and playing with the shark fin soap. The best part (other than getting him to take a bath) was there was no clean up for me as everything went down the drain.

And if you’re wanting a cool gift for yourself or someone else for Hallowe’en look no further. Why not try a Pumpkin Brew Bath Bomb or a Witches Brew Cauldron Bath Bomb? These bath bombs come in cute re-useable containers that you just drop in the tub. You can have extra fun once the water hits the bath bomb by pulling the container out and dumping it into your tub while it foams and bubbles. And the best part? No calories like Hallowe’en candy.

The Cocoa Butter Donut Bomb definitely smells like Fruit Loops. I never wanted my bath to end. Thanks to this creation I got so relaxed in the tub, I almost fell asleep. If you know me well, you’ll understand how amazing that is. They come in a bunch of different colours and scents but all of them have that amazing cocoa butter “icing” sandwiched between the bath bomb donuts. Buy them by the dozen. Your skin will thank me.

Now for the handcrafted, gorgeous soaps. This may look like a piece of cake but it instead a sweet smelling soap. It leaves your skin feeling clean with a nice apple scent. Once again the details on this cake slice soap are incredible down to the sparkly apple on top of icing to the hunks of soap that look like cheesecake bits in the cake.

Fancy a cupcake that has no calories? Then this Strawberry Cupcake Soap is for you. Complete with a soap strawberry and sparkles on top, this cupcake with be your best friend in the tub.

 I just love the poop emoji because it’s so cute. Well it just got cuter! Enter the original and fun crazy Poop Emoji Soap. Each one has a different expression in the eyes because Debbie has to hand drop the soap on each eyeball. I laughed hard when she gave me one neatly tied up in its own poop bag. Dog owners will definitely get a kick out of this packaging! But don’t worry this poop smells great with its vanilla or chocolate scent.

So if you’re looking for the perfect gift for Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, or something to treat yourself, then head to Pretty Whimsical on her website, Facebook, and Instagram.

This is a sponsored post, however all opinions are my own.

Tuesday's OOTW - Pumpkin Spice Is Life!

Like pretty much everyone else, I love pumpkin spice lattes. Up until recently I have had two problems:

1. I do not like Starbucks coffee. It tastes burnt to me.
2.  I do not like paying $5+ for a coffee. WTH?!? It’s not made of gold.

So I went to Tim Hortons and got a decaf coffee (I’m allergic to caffeine) and added cream, sugar, and a pumpkin spice flavour shot. I was quite happy with it even though it’s not considered a latte. An no this post is not sponsored by Tim Hortons. I just really like Tim Hortons coffee.

So with my somewhat PSL in hand, I thought it was a great time to take some shots of my outfit while on vacation in sunny Comox, British Columbia. I got the shirt at a clearance rack at Winners last year so I’ll link a similar shirt with the same message. And if you don’t own these shoes, get yourself a pair. They are stylish, so darn comfortable, and on sale! And as for the jeans, I pretty much live in them. They are a mid-waist so they sit on the perfect spot on the body for those of us who don’t have perfectly flat tummies.

So what are you going to be buying to update your fall wardrobe? Let me know in the comments below.

Sunglasses: Similar // Scarf: Similar // Shirt: Similar // Jeans // Shoes

And one last one because James wanted to say “Hi!”.

Monday's Meme

Friday's Faux Paw

I see this faux paw often and it’s a shame as it’s really something easy to not do. I’m talking about women over forty wearing frosted/shiny/sparkly/glittery eye shadow. When you’re in your twenties you can pretty much get away with any type of eye shadow. As women get older, it’s best to use only matte eye shadow because it stays on better, and it won’t amplify every wrinkle making you look older than you actually are. If you find that you have wrinkly eye lids before you are forty, the same rule applies. If you insist on using a frosted eye shadow, only apply it on your brow bone as a highlighter because there usually aren’t many wrinkles there. Over forty and blessed with wrinkle-free lids? Then hats off to you! Please write Joelle and let her know your secret because she’d love to talk to you. If this is indeed the case, then go for a frosted or satin shadow, but do skip the outright sparkly glittery options unless you are modelling, acting, pole-dancing, or rockstarring. Yes I just made up a word. Because if you don’t, I’ll give you this rating:

 

World Of Handcraft - Cute Knitted Items!

Back in September, my husband and I were at the Etsy Made In Canada Show to launch our new business The Rear Gunner Clothing Company. The booth next to us World Of Handcraft was full of cute knitted things from gloves to hats. I particularly fell in love with a pair of cute mermaid gloves and the owner Alejandra and I got chatting. I found out that she had no pattern for these mermaid fingerless gloves and she just watches Netflix and makes them. I told her I wish I were that talented and that her hats were so cute. Then she just gave me the gloves! I asked her if she was sure and she said that I had said so many nice things about her work that I could keep them. 

I was in shock at how sweet she was. I told her that I’m a fashion blogger and that I would love to share her adorable gloves with my readers. So here they are, with an outfit of course!

Hat: H&M (Similar) // Sunglasses: Coach (Similar) // Scarf: Walmart (Similar) // Fingerless Gloves: World Of Handcraft // Tank Top: Giant Tiger (Similar) // Cardigan: Walmart (Similar) // Pants: Smart Set (Similar) // Boots: Old Navy

 

Tuesday's OOTW - Digging My Trench

The air is crisp, super windy and cold in my little part of the world. So glad I could get these lovely shots done before all the leaves blew off the trees. I live for bright colours and patterns, but there is something beautiful in simplicity. So I thought a basic outfit of a sweet two-tone trench, black hat, faux leather leggings, and one of my favourite pairs of boots would do nicely. I know my Phillip Lim For Target bag is outdated but if I love something I wear it. I have a really tough time letting go of clothes and accessories just because they are out of style. Seems kinda wasteful. I do update my wardrobe often and give away a lot of clothes, but the only reason I give away an item is because I no longer love it or it doesn’t fit me. Writing this just reminded me that I really need to go through my closet again and get rid of things ASAP. I do this at least twice a year.

So, what are your favourite basic pieces? Let me know in the comments below.

Hat: Similar // Trench: Similar // Bag : Phillip Lim For Target (Similar) // Leggings // Boots: Similar

 

Monday's Meme

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving my Canadian friends!

Friday's Faux Paw

You bought a wool coat? It sure looks great on you. The reason I and everybody else knows that it’s wool is because you didn’t remove the tag stating that it’s “100% Wool” from your sleeve. When purchased, many coats and suits (yes male humans this includes you) will have a tag stitched to the sleeve stating that it is made of wool or saying where it was made or by whom. It is your job after you buy it and bring it home to take scissors or seam rippers and remove the tag or you look rather silly. We don’t really need to know that your coat is made of wool as long as you look good while wearing it. Don’t make me jump up on you and remove the tag with my teeth because I feel like doing that every time I see this faux paw. Not cool.

 

How To Kill It On Instagram

I get asked a few times a month why I have so many followers on Instagram. I thought it’s time to create a post so I can just send a link when someone asks as it’s a lot to keep typing out.

So here’s what has worked for me. Hope you can find things off this list that will work for you.

1. Find People Who Genuinely Interest You And Follow Them.

To me Instagram is the most fickle form of social media. But I have been blessed to find people who I love their style and their personality. When someone takes the time to comment on more than one of my photos with well thought out comments, I will comment back and follow them. Comments like “Pretty!” or random emojis are lame and not worth a follow back. Often the people I follow will follow me back and a comment relationship and possible friendship begins. It’s a beautiful thing!

2. Create Awesome Content.

I find it sad that I have to say this, but post great content. There are plenty of articles on the Internet to read about how to create a great Instagram page. I have read many of them and it has truly helped me.

3. Be Consistent With Your Posting.

It drives me nuts when someone I follow doesn’t post for a few days then bombards my feed with three or more posts in a row. The bottom line is set a posting schedule for yourself and be realistic. I only post once in 24 hours because that’s all I have time for. If you can realistically do more than that, then go ahead. Just be consistent.

4. Run Great Giveaways.

I have gained many followers by running giveaways pretty much every three weeks. I run these giveaways by myself or I team up with one other company. I don’t like loop giveaways and probably will never do one. I think they are too time consuming for my followers and due to the high volume of entries a chance of winning are extremely low. I don’t enter them either.

5. Get Yourself A Blog.

I have been blogging off and on since 2013. Many of my followers read my blog and then decide to follow me on Instagram. The most successful Instagram accounts I have seen almost always have a blog or website attached to them. I view Instagram as an added benefit to my blog and not a stand alone business. Not everyone wants to just look at pretty photos because they want to know you and see content. Many people want an actual article to go with those photos. And no, writing a long dialogue to post with your Instagram photo doesn’t work. Most people don’t read the write-ups that accompany Instagram photos. Instagram is not the forum for blog posts. Get an actual blog.

I hope these suggestions help you to become the Instagram superstar you want to be. Did I miss something? Have a comment or question? Feel free to comment below.

Tuesday's OOTW - Breaking The Rules

The whole “don’t wear white after Labour Day” thing is so over. Personally, a pair of white jeans is a great piece to jazz up a fall outfit. Because I live where there is snow close to eight months of the year, I rarely get to wear open-toed booties. This fall happens to have gorgeous weather so here are my only pair of open-toed booties! And I love plaid and green so this shirt was a perfect addition to my wardrobe. These photos were shot while wandering the stunning University of Saskatchewan campus in Canada. If you’ve never seen it before, you really need to check it out. It is truly a beautiful place! And no, my bag is not a Minkoff, but a very convincing replica. Check out my links below on where to buy it and everything else. Do you wear white after Labour Day? Please let me know in the comments below.

Shirt: Similar // Bag: Smart Set (Couldn’t find my bag so here is the real thing.) // Jeans: Similar // Booties: Similar

 

Monday's Meme