A special thank you to Samantha for all the lovely gifts I received. It was so fun to play. I’m sad it’s over, but all good things come to an end. Thank you to Juanita and Chloe who organised this swop, you two are so hard working! It was a great first experience for me. 🙂

All 12 swop gifts I received

I will definitely participate in next year’s swop! I would be in Zurich then, perhaps I can find some interesting things to include. ^^

This is Day 8 and the swop is soon coming to a close.. That will be sad, because I really enjoy the process of taking photos and squealing at all the cool gifts I open.

Day 8: Twelve Days Xmas Swop

PEZ!

It’s PEZ!! I remember having one. I only had one as a child, because they were not available in Malaysia at that time. I got mine from New Zealand on a family holiday, but I can’t remember what character I bought. Just a few years ago, Michael bought me a Spongebob PEZ in Zurich. I hope he still kept it somewhere because I’d like to display this Strawberry Shortcake one along with Spongebob!

Strawberry Shortcake PEZ Strawberry Shortcake PEZ

I’m not familiar with Strawberry Shortcake, the character, even though the cartoons were supposedly running around the time I was a child. Not everything was easily available in Malaysia, so yeah, I didn’t know anything about her, sadly!

Strawberry Shortcake PEZ

Mmm I do like PEZ sweets, they’re so fun to dispense. I’ve cut down my sugar intake and sweets, but once in a while I like to indulge. 😀

Found the matching photo!

I found the corresponding photo! Oh if only I opened that envelope earlier, I could have taken a photo of each item and their clues. Hindsight… 😛

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe. I’m Chloe’s Santa! Check out her Wasted Fashion Facebook Page to see the gifts I gave her.

I’m so excited to blog about this one hehe… I picked a different wrapping paper for today. It’s very pretty too. I originally took a photo of it upside down, until I realised, wait.. those are baubles, and turned it around for another photo, haha.

Day 6: Twelve Days of Xmas Swop

Bead bracelet!

So it’s a bead bracelet! The shimmery mystic colours are very attractive on faceted beads. Can’t wait to put it on.

Lovely fit

It fits like a glove, OMG. My wrists are so skinny thin, most bracelets and bangles are just too big and flop around like no one’s business. I have given away all those bracelets because they just looked ridiculous on me. Don’t worry Samantha, I have to say that these are just the right fit! Most stretch bracelets out there are simply too big, but this one is perfect. The bracelet stops halfway up my arm, and that’s just right for me. 🙂

I like this bracelet

I love the chunky faceted mystic beads.. they go so well with the metal accents. I found myself wearing it all day as soon as I opened the package. Another fantastic gift from Samantha. Thank you!

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe. I’m Chloe’s Santa! Check out her Wasted Fashion Facebook Page to see the gifts I gave her. 😉

Almost halfway now! I’m trying to pick different wrapping papers each day so they don’t all look the same from post to post. Today’s gift:

Day 5: Twelve Days Xmas Swop

Manicure set. Super cute

Oh my, it’s a really cute manicure tool set! I’ve never seen such novel designs on manicure tools before (maybe I just do go searching enough :P). I love them! These will be very nice to keep on display on my dressing table. Usually these tools are kinda boring and plain, but they are boring no more! Now for some close up shots.

Pretty manicure tools

Manicure set close up How cute is that, they have backs!

I had not realised the backs of these three girls are also printed. That is TOO cute. I’ve already used the nail file, before painting my nails. Yay!

Nail clipper

In some way, they also remind me of Blythe dolls. 🙂 Thank you Samantha! I am having so much fun with all your thoughtful gifts. You are a lovely Santa!

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe.

I love how everything I have gotten so far, aren’t things I would have thought to buy for myself. I never even thought to buy these things for the swap partner I sent to (Chloe). That’s why swaps are so wonderful and surprising. I really feel humbled at all the goodies Samantha’s been spoiling me with. Almost every package so far contained more than one item.

Today’s piece:

Day 4: Twelve Days Xmas Swop

OMG Nail polish!

OMG nail polish, this is amazing! Just recently, while I was packing up my life, I had to throw away all my old nail polish bottles that were 9 years old that I rarely touched. They were all half dried and gross-looking, so they had to go. I didn’t replace them with any more, but now I have these two gorgeous colours to start off my new collection. And after browsing through Ally McBally’s blog, I must say I’m starting to feel the obsession with nail lacquer. 😀

Pretty purples Shades of purple

And here they are on my toes. I find that I rather like painting my toenails. Please excuse my ugly feet and poor paint job! I used the NYC In a Minute, 247 Prince Street.

Painted toenails

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe.

I hope Chloe, all the way in Singapore, likes the presents that I sent to her. I feel guilty about the quantity of stuff I’ve received, but I know I have given so little to my own swap partner… I’m truly sorry about that. I took the term “twelve items” too literally.

It’s day two, so another of Samantha’s packages gets opened up today. I chose this small one:

Day 2 swop package

The silver wrapping paper with snowflakes is lovely too!

It’s a magnet! Scenes from Texas maybe? I don’t know if a photo can be placed in there, I have no idea how to open it if that’s the case. I’ll be leaving it as is. I’ve even put it on my travel magnet board!

My magnet board

Most magnets are from Australia, some from Europe, New Zealand, and other places. The new one from Texas fits right in!

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe.

Let’s get rolling. Here is the amazing swop parcel from Samantha, opened up! So many different wrapping papers used, I love that. The Spongebob Christmas wrapping paper caught my eye instantly… 😀

And thus, I decided to open one of those first.

Spongebob wrapped package

Spongebob wrapped package

The wrapping paper is really cute, had to take photos of both sides. I do like Spongebob! Brace yourself… here is the unwrapped item:

Two bubble bath bottles

Bubble bath! It’s purple! They’re packaged in such cute Christmas-light-bulb-shaped bottles. The shape really reminds me of a Christmas prop in a PC game I used to play, Petz. But I digress…

I have to start taking bubble baths. Perfect timing, because it’s summer where I am! I’m actually amazed this could be posted by air since I wouldn’t be able to do the same from over here, liquids restrictions. Thanks Samantha! 😀

Two cute bottles of purple bubble bath

Close up of the sugar plum bubbly… <3

12 Days of Christmas Swop, hosted by Juanita and Chloe. Below is the list of everybody participating in this swap, and where packages were sent to. I copied the list… hope no one minds!

I’m done shopping for all the things I wanted to give to Chloe, my swap partner. 😀 It took longer than I thought, but I really hope she’ll like them. Today, I wrapped them all. The wrapping is a bit unimaginative. I recently packed away all my things for my move to Zurich, and I was left with no ribbons. I used paper and stickers that I’m not taking, they were from Christmases of the past.

Xmas swop presents 2012

All 12 items, wrapped. I had a lot of gold wrapping paper, as you can see.

I also found a box that would fit them all, without having to buy one. I’m on a tight budget right now, have to work with what I can find… plus, I get to reuse rather than dump this box in the bin. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

I’ll definitely pad these up before I post. Oh, I’m getting so excited! I have yet to hear from the swop partner that I will receive items from. I might drop her a line and give her my address. 😀