Swap thoughts

1. all wrapped, 2. Package for Damjana, 3. Untitled, 4. pretties, 5. diy packaging., 6. 3/365 ~ pretty packages, 7. Pretty packages for clients :), 8. DIY Fancy Clothespins - gift adornment, 9. Photographic Life With ♥

Thanks for the swap interest. I've been gathering my thoughts and have some details for you. I won't open the swap yet but you can leave a comment here of your interest if you would like.

This is the information so you can think about it. I'll try and have a swap button ready for next week as well. I've got two swap ideas and either I can have both of them and you decide which one you prefer or just have one of the swaps for everyone.

So far the details are...

Swap: A few of my favourite things

Basically you put together a swap package of your favourite things. It's up to you what you would like to send....it can be books, movies, music, stationery, beauty products, food etc. If you are interested in adding a book I will try and match you up with someone who also wants to add a favourite book. Just let me know when you sign up.

OR

A just because you're lovely swap

This one basically centres around your swap partner. You will send a sweet package that you think they will like. This swap will require a profile to be filled out.

Sign ups: Wednesday 4th August - Wednesday 18th August

You have two weeks to sign up. You can gather ideas on what you want to swap.

Oh and be aware that I live in Australia so the 18th here is most likely the 17th in USA, UK etc. Anyone on the other side of the world.

Partners Assigned: Monday 23rd August

I should be emailing you the details about who your partner is on this day.

Swap to be sent out: Wednesday 8th September

I know it's a pretty long swap but I needed to give about 2 weeks for each part because life can get busy and so you have plenty of time to think about your package and put it together. And I know there are a few people who are interested and prefer September.

These dates maybe not be definite yet. I would love to get to some feedback from those who would like to participate. If the dates are really bad, I can change them.

Cost: I say around $15-$20.

It can be more but you could decide that with your partner if you would like. * Plus Postage would be extra of course

Other details: Let me know if you prefer to swap within your country (although it all depends on who participates so I will try and match you with someone who also wants to swap within their country).

It would be really great if you could package it up all lovely too :) Who doesn't like to receive pretty packages??

Also just a note, please only sign up if you know that you are able to commit to the swap. I would hate for anyone to miss out. I done swaps where I don't receive anything and it can be the biggest let down.

And to make it easy, whoever you send to will be sending back to you.

I hope that wasn't too confusing. You can always email me (gracienne.nancy@gmail.com) if you have any questions. Remember to let me know in the comments if you are wanting to swap so I can at least start a list on who is interested.

If there is anything you would like to add let me know.

Thanks for being interested :) Have a beautiful weekend!

P.S. I tried to make this look more interesting with colours :)

Mail and swap thinking

I haven't done a mail post in awhile. I've been a bit lazy with mail so there's just a bit of incoming from awhile back.

Incoming

This is from Joana. She's my long letter pen pal :) I love all the extras that she included. Like that sweet brooch.

I received this gorgeous package from Julia ages ago. Plus I have met up with her which will be in another post.

I love these little bow earrings she gave me.

These are some sweet little Polaroids she added.

A lovely first letter from Ingrid.

I got this from Lauren's etsy shop. She packaged it up so beautifully. And when I opened it the most lovely scent wafted out.

A lovely letter from Megan.

Inside the letter. I really love the stationery she uses for letters.

Outgoing

This was for Belen. She had already received it so I can show what's inside.

This was for Micaela. The print is an engagement present for her. She has also received this so I can show it.

For a journal swap on Swap-bot.

This was for Nicole. A birthday present that I hoped she has received.

A really late letter to Melody.

My return letter to Ingrid.

My first letter to Lauren.

This is for Joana. I forgot to take a photo of the envelope so I thought I would do a sneak peak photo of what I gave her.

So I'm finally up date with my letters. I have a few others to write that aren't bloggers and I have put together a few packages that need to be sent out too.

My other idea is I want to do a swap on here but I can't quite decide what to do. Either a book swap or some type of package swap like 'A few of my favourite things.' Let me know. What type of swap you would be interested in??? And I have a few projects in mind too.

Have a wonderful week!

Randomness

Aww you guys are so lovely. Thanks for your comments. We had a great weekend! We watched Inception on Friday night and loved it!! How I love you Leo and I think I have a new crush on Joseph Gordan Levitt.

On Saturday, the 6 month anniversary we had a really lazy day. But we had dinner with Jason's mum, brother, his brother's gf and some friends. We then went off to watch Australia play South Africa in the Rugby Union Tri nations tournament (also includes New Zealand). We won. Yay! Though I don't really watch Rugby union so I didn't know all the rules.

Here's an action shot, as some of you may not be be familiar with rugby. We had really great seats. Australia is yellow and green.

I even wore a yellow cardigan to get into the spirit. The best bit is the atmosphere, the worst bit is trying to get out and catching the bus home.

And because it's Monday, it's a bit of randomness, I thought I would include my journal collection for the moment.

The red 365 Kikki.K journal I finally started on our 6 month wedding anniversary so I hope I can keep it up for a year; The black spiral is an organising notebook (based on the Paper Flow book); the tree spiral notebook is my list of books I'm reading and movies I've watched.

On the second row: The aqua journal is my list of books, movies, music I want to read, watch, download - just a place to list it all; the butterfly one is my new current personal journal; the black Moleskine is for all my creative ideas and craftiness; the one with big flowers is for all the creative endeavours I want to try, classes I want to take with details and wish lists and the last one is for the organising/decorating our home.

I thought I had no collections for anything but now I see that I have a journal/notebook collection. I think one day I will gather them all up and get a photo. I love them so much! (Though I prefer blank pages but lined pages always seem to be more dominant in shops).

A question for you though, do you prefer lined or blank journals???

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy 6 months (for tomorrow)

It is our 6 month wedding anniversary tomorrow :) To celebrate we are watching a rugby union game, Australia vs. South Africa. At the time of getting the tickets it didn't even occur to me the day it falls on. But that's alright tonight we are watching Inception (as it's the thing to do) and having dinner.

Anyway, I mentioned that I would share some wedding photos with you because there are quite a few of my bloggy friends who haven't seen them (saw my blog after wedding). So there might be a few repeats.

These photos were taken by Sharon Pappas. She was awesome! Absolutely loved her. So down to earth and lovely.

My fave photo of Jason

You could not guess my parents age (I can't say because mum would kill me)

My nephews in their Filipino Barongs.

We have a canvas print of this photo and we used this for our thank you cards.

Close up of our centre piece.

We had a very simple centre piece set up.

These next two were taken by me. lol

I took these so they would know how to do decorate at the venue. These photos are for Jasmine. She's gathering inspiration for her wedding. As you can see we had photos of us holding the table number.

I spent a whole night putting those butterflies on the lanterns.

Anyway, if there are any other photos that you want to see or even other wedding related questions, feel free to ask me here or email me and I will try and incorporate them into a blog post (or an email depending on what you want to know).

I'm so happy that I'm married and truly blessed to have Jason!! Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!

Much Love Monday (Real Living Magazine)

Today I love: My Real Living magazines. I'm subscribed to them (but they still go to my parents house) and I love it when they arrive. I've kept every one since I discovered them. It never fails to inspire me. It's helpful too as I gather ideas for our home.

Other things I love....

♥ Candle lit dinner with Laura and Josh with Laura cooking (from the weekend before) and Jason of course

♥ Helium balloons (from a family friend's birthday on the weekend)

♥ Drinking tea with pretty tea cups

♥ Jason with a disgusted look on his face while holding my tea cup with Japanese tea (He hates it)

♥ Anticipation with meeting a blog friend, Julia who is now in Brisbane to study. We will most likely be meeting sometime this week

♥ Having Dotti open a store at Carindale where I work. (We just need a Forever New, Kikki.K and Borders and I will be happy)

Via Dotti

♥ Making lists

♥ Filipino parties (always so much food it's great!)

♥ Jason preparing dinner

♥ Cloudy days when I get to be at home and get inspired

I have a dinner for work tonight. My team leader is moving and I don't usually go to these going away dinners but she's from my area so I thought I should go. It's Thai food which will be nice.

Have a fantastic week!

P.S. Check out more Much Love Monday at Anna's blog.

Get organised

I know I was going to do another lot of tagged questions but I thought I should put a different post in between. (P.S. I do recommend you all see Blood Diamond if you haven't already).

At the moment I'm thinking about our week of cleaning, organising and being creative. I'm making a list (of course) with everything that needs to be done in that week. I'm also playing around with my new site but I won't be moving until I have everything all worked out. Jason is helping me with all the technical aspects and design.

So anyway, I thought I would share my creative space and the mess it is in. I figure if I show you what it looks like at the moment, it will inspire me to organise and decorate it. Plus it will keep me accountable to you all.

My bookshelves. I would like to add one more.

The side of my desk. The actual desk is quite messy.

Part of the floor. There is a wedding dress in that white garment bag and it's not mine. I was meant to get my dress and Melly's dress dry cleaned but still haven't done it yet.

The wardrobe in that room. It's also an overflow of my clothes. Mainly my dresses.

So, that's what it looks like but here's some inspiration I've found via Designsponge.

Via DesignSponge

Via DesignSponge

Via DesignSponge

Via DesignSponge

Via DesignSponge

Via DesignSponge

I would like good organisation, personalisation and some colour. Too much of this house is monochrome.

I will get back to making my lists, getting inspiration and reading. Have a wonderful weekend!