2014 Blogger Kris Kringle

Ah yes, the Blogger Kris Kringle tradition continues! For those who are unfamiliar, this lovely idea came from the wonderful Melody in 2011 and I've been co-hosting the Blogger KK ever since, except last year due to being away on my holiday. That didn't stop it from happening though - the sweet Jasmine stepped up to the role in 2013 and this year there's three of us hosting it, yay!

Clockwise from the right: Myself, Melody and Jasmine

Kris Kringle, also known as Secret Santa is all about exchanging Christmas gifts with someone - you know who you're giving your gift to, but that person doesn't know. And you don't know who's giving you a gift. Hehe it can be tricky to explain but hopefully everyone's participated in this activity through school and/or work. It's a lot of fun and my experience with doing this among the blogger community has been awesome! A really nice way to get to know new bloggers and have them get to know you too :)

Your KK will be selected at random and here are the rules:

1. You must be a blogger with a public blog.

2. The minimum you must spend is $10AUD with the maximum of $20AUD.

3. You must send the package by the latest, the 12th of December 2014.

4. Write your name/blog address on a card in the package as a way of introducing yourself :)

This is open to all public bloggers worldwide so if you'd like to join in, simply complete the form below. You only need to complete the form once - the same form is embedded in Jasmine's and Melody's posts.

Please note, the deadline to submit your form is the 30th of November 2014 and you will receive information on your KK on the 1st of December.

We hope that many of you decide to join us as it's a fantastic way to connect with other bloggers and spread the Christmas cheer! 

We'd also appreciate it if you could help spread the word to others who may be interested in participating by posting this image on your blog's side bar and/or social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, linking back to this post:

If you have any concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to contact myself, Jasmine or Melody :)

 

2012 Aus Blogger Kris Kringle!

Hi guys, I have an announcement to make... well the title pretty much gives it away haha but YES, after the success of last year's Blogger KK, we've brought it back this year :D

It is once again proudly hosted by yours truly and my good friend Melody (Melludee)!

We didn't feel the need to make any changes so it's exactly the same as last year. The rules and the details (please don't mind the copying and pasting from my post last year ^^).

I'm pretty sure that you're all aware of what Kris Kringle is, but if not here is a little explanation: It is also known as 'Secret Santa' and it usually involves many people i.e. work colleagues or school classmates etc. where each person randomly picks a name out and whoever they pick is their KK. That person will then anonymously give their KK a gift and in return they would receive an anonymous gift from the person that chose their name. And then everyone gets a chance to guess and find out who had them as a KK! It's a way of giving everyone a Christmas gift without excluding someone :)

Everyone who participates will have a KK, yay!

Here's how it works - an example provided by us hehe:

A gift from Melody to me

Part 2 of this comic strip is on Melody's blog here!

~~~

THE RULES:
(Please read before entering)

1. This is open to AUSTRALIAN blogger residents only, with a legitimate Australian postal address.
I have to make this clear to avoid confusion and invalid entry submissions. And sorry that it isn't international, it's just that it makes it more fair with shipping costs and package arrival times. Also, you must have your own blog!

2. There is a minimum and maximum spend for the KK present. It must be between $10-$20
Again, for fairness.

3. You MUST send out your package by the latest, December 16th 2012
This is to avoid delays, because during the Christmas period is where most packages are sent!

4. Have your name/blog address written on a card in the package to send off!
Just so they know who sent it!

Now that's all out of the way, below is the entry form. This is the exact same form on Melody's blog post so you only need to fill it out once~

Entries must be in by November 11.59PM (AEST) 25th of November 2012 so that we can sort out the KKs for everyone by the 26th of November.

Be sure to check your emails on the 26th of November to find out who your KK is, as either myself or Melody will be emailing you with your KK's details and what they would like to receive as their present.

DISCLAIMER: Your postal address will not be shared with anyone apart from the person buying the present for you.

Enjoy the Christmas festivities and I hope that many Aus bloggers will participate in this :D

If there are any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me or Melody via email/comment!

♥ Jen xx

  

Aus Bloggers Kris Kringle 2011

Hey guys! I have a little announcement to make - my blog friend Melody aka Melludee has a arranged a KK thing among Aus bloggers for Christmas this year :D This was entirely her idea so all credits go to her, woohoo :) She was kind enough to ask me to be a host for this with her and without a doubt I agreed ^^

I'm pretty sure that you're all aware of what Kris Kringle is, but if not here is a little explanation: It is also known as 'Secret Santa' and it usually involves many people i.e. work colleagues or school classmates etc. where each person randomly picks a name out and whoever they pick is their KK. That person will then anonymously give their KK a gift and in return they would receive an anonymous gift from the person that chose their name. And then everyone gets a chance to guess and find out who had them as a KK! It's a way of giving everyone a Christmas gift without excluding someone :)

For the first time, we've decided to do KK's through mail with amazing bloggers from all over Australia *_* Everyone who participates will have a KK, yay!

A basic summary of how it will work! Drawn by Melody n_n

THE RULES:
(Please read before entering)

1. This is open to AUSTRALIAN residents only, with a legitimate Australian postal address.
Sorry about the caps, I had to make this clear to avoid confusion and invalid entry submissions. And sorry that it isn't international, it's just that it makes it more fair with shipping costs and package arrival times.

2. There is a minimum and maximum spend for the KK present. It must be between $10-$20
Again, for fairness.

3. You MUST send out your package by the latest, December 16th 2011
This is to avoid delays, because during the Christmas period is where most packages are sent!

4. Have your name/blog address written on a card in the package to send off!
Just so they know who sent it!

Now that's all out of the way, below is the entry form. This is the exact same form on Melody's blog post so you only need to fill it out once~

Entries must be in by November 23rd 2011 so that we can sort out the KKs for everyone by the 24th of November.

I really hope this goes smoothly, especially since it's our first time doing something like this. If it does become successful then we'd be more than happy to host one again next year (actually I haven't mentioned to Melody about future blog KKs but because she's an absolute sweetie, I'm sure she'd be cool with it ;D)

Be sure to check your emails on the 24th of November to find out who your KK is, as either myself or Melody will be emailing you with your KK's details and what they would like to receive as their present.

DISCLAIMER: Your postal address will not be shared with anyone apart from the person buying the present for you.

Enjoy the Christmas festivities and I hope that many Aus bloggers will participate in this :D

If there are any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me or Melody via email/comment!

Recent Mail + Swap Package #2 With Marie

Hello guys, how are we all? The week has just started and I hope that everyone is well :)

This is going to be about some packages that I've received in the mail recently because two are from my dear blog friends of mine and I thought it'd be good to share what I've got from them.

I received a free sample of an Estee Lauder mascara which I got from the Estee Lauder Australia Facebook fan page. They were offering about 500 samples and now they're all gone! I was lucky enough to see their post on Facebook about it and so I entered my details and that was it, it came my way =)

Here is what it looks like:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Zero Smudge Lengthening Mascara

Ah sorry I don't have a close-up picture of the actual mascara

I've tried it and so far I'm liking this mascara. So great how Estee Lauder gave away so many samples of these ^^ I hope they have more promotions like these. If anyone wants a full review on this mascara then please let me know!

Blogging is extremely rewarding, and here is why:

Next is a package that I got from one of my close blog friends, Tezza. She is such a sweetie and here is what she sent me:

A letter J which she has partly decorated so that I can also decorate it

All nicely wrapped up

She also wrote me a lovely letter but I forgot to take a photo of it :/

In the letter she included a 20% off student discount card for the shop that she works at - Typo

Thanks so much Tezza ♥ I've started decorating my 'J' and it's been pretty fun. I might show you guys what it looks like when I'm done with my decorating. Something to do while I'm still on holidays hehe.

Last but certainly not the least is a package that I received today from Marie and this is our second time doing a package swap. You may remember the first time I had a swap with her last year here and just recently we decided to do another one :)

The second time swapping with her was much 'easier' for me in terms of finding things that she may like because we've gotten to know each other a whole lot better. I remember saying that we're almost complete opposites but we discovered that we're both VERY much into one thing - K-pop. And to narrow it down even further - the K-pop boy group SHINee.

So because of this, she sent me a whole bunch of SHINee stuff that I can't purchase in my city:

- Hangul Notebook

- Stickers

- Mouse pad

- Sticky note set

- Photos

and a note ♥

The hangul notebook actually teaches you the Korean hangul alphabet and the pronunciation, so maybe one day I'll be 'fluent' with reading Korean :)

Front

I can read what the large white writing says! 'Hangul Note(book)'

And the red writing just says 'SHINee'

Back

I love how SHINee is on the cover (back and front!) of the notebook, that'll be some great motivation for me to learn. This actually belonged to Marie but she's finished learning the characters and all so she was kind enough to send me hers (since this book was all sold out at the shop) ^^ I am very grateful for this!

These are all the stickers in the set *_*

Back and front of the sticky note cover

Inside the sticky note cover

The set of 4 sticky notes

My floor looks different because of the editing I did to the photo to make the watermarks on the sticky notes more visible... ha

I don't know if there are any other SHINee fans out there in the blogging world but if there are, let me know so we can spazz about them xD

I totally love this swap package Marie, thank you so so much! I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on any of this stuff if it wasn't for her lol. This time I received the swap package before her and I hope mine gets to Marie very soon even though I just sent it out last Friday. I hope she'll like the things that I included in her package :D

Well that's it for this post and I think I'll be receiving a few more packages pretty soon =)

If you follow me on Twitter you may already know this however I'll announce it here once again for my blog followers. I've been searching for a job since last November when I finished school and hadn't had much luck. I went to one specific place today and asked whether they needed anyone and to my surprise, they actually were looking for someone/people and it didn't matter about inexperience. So guess what, I'm employed now! Unfortunately handing our resumes and online applications were no use to me (and probably for the employers too) but now I'm extremely happy to be working for the very first time. I start my training this Thursday, wish me luck!

I'll blog again soon, I promise.

Swap Package from Chanel

Hey guys! So today I received a package from my lovely blog friend and follower Chanel, known as @CutieCocoChanel on Twitter :) She is such a sweetie and we've had great chats on Twitter and although I haven't known her for that long, we've gotten along really well. I'm so glad to have gotten to know her!

Chanel was planning to give out Christmas cards so instead of just giving Christmas cards, this turned into a package swap. We decided to do a swap because she's from the UK and I'm from Australia. The things are quite different in these places, especially cosmetic items. I've povided her with some Aus-branded cosmetics and she has done the same with UK items. I was eagerly waiting for her package to arrive and although I didn't receive it before Christmas, I'm just grateful for receiving it finally =]

So here it is:

Such a cute card! Hello Kitty ♥

Front

Back

I love the way she folded this mini letter!

More writing on the inside

- ELF Therapeutic Conditioning Balm in 8004 Blackberry Creme

- Barry M Nail Paint in 272 Shocking Pink

- My Beauty Diary Strawberry Yogurt Mask

- White Rabbit lollies (I haven't had these in ages!)

- Haribo Starmix Lollies

- Haribo Tangfastics Lollies

- Galaxy Bubbles Milk Chocolate

I love how Chanel provided me with an ELF product! I have never tried anything from ELF before and I was curious to know what they were like because they're quite inexpensive :)

Oops I didn't realise how shaky this picture was until I edited it after :S

I couldn't retake a picture because the sun already went down :(

It's so smooth and I can definitely see it doing wonders on my lips. I love the scent, I like how it's not too strong and quite subtle after I apply it. Never had a blackberry-scented product before:

Ahh so moisturising :D

You can finally see something of me - my lips!

I've had a red sty-like lump under my eye. Now it's fading and size has decreased. Thank goodness, I'll be able to show my face again hehe

Everything in the package is completely new for me to try and I have never had anything from Barry M before or a My Beauty Diary mask so thanks so much Chanel! Love you lots haha. I'm going to give this mask a try and perhaps do a review if I have a good experience. Hopefully my sensitive skin won't react to this *crosses fingers*

My chocolate is melted LOL! Of course, it's so hot here in Australia so the chocolate wouldn't have been able to withstand the heat x_x I can imagine Chanel packing the chocolate into the package with it being fine because it's apparently freezing in the UK with minus temperatures!! Completely opposite to here xP

So squishy and flat teehehe

I told Chanel that my favourite colour is pink, so I figured that she chose a pink nail polish for me hehe. Here's the swatch on my thumb:

1 coat only and I'm very pleased with it

I am a massive fan of lollies so I'm glad that she packed me some sweets from the UK :D I will try them soon and wait for the chocolate to set again haha.

Once again, thank you Chanel! We actually started talking via Twitter and I remember that she tweeted me first x) She's got a lovely blog and she's recently tagged me as a 'stylish blogger'

I hope you receive my package soon Chanel! I've provided a some Australian-branded products, hope you like them :)

Another thing that happened today was that I reached 400 blog followers =) Thanks so much to you all, it is always so overwhelming. My giveaway should be up and running next week so keep your eyes peeled for it!

P.S. Please vote for my blog domain's name on the top right hand corner of my sidebar. Voting ends in a few days and I will purchase my domain's name when when it does end and hopfully by then there will be a clear winner! It's been pretty neck-and-neck for the past few days eek, so go go go if you haven't voted yet ^_^

Package Swap with Marie

My dear blogger friend Marie and I had a small package swap and I received her package yesterday :) We had a limit of $20AUD to spend on each other as this was our first time swapping. This is what it looked like:

She got me:

♥ Rilakkuma paper cover

♥ Rilakkuma mini notebook

♥ Hello kitty puffy stickers

♥ Octopus ring

♥ Pink kitten socks

All very girlie and pink x) I admit that I'm not the most girlie girl but I'm happy with the things that she got me. Nothing that I didn't like or strongly dislike :) I'll definitely make use of all of these items.

Marie is a very sweet blogger from Perth, Australia and she has put in a lot of effort into making her blog appealing to her readers. She is very creative and has a passion for photography. We're almost totally opposite with our blogging style but we still enjoy reading each others' posts =]

You may have noticed that in the above picture, there was a little piece of the corner of the Rilakkuma paper holder that broke off.

I think it was my fault when I opened up the package D: Sorry Marie!

It's okay because it's just a little crack and it will still be able to hold paper perfectly fine :) Thank you Marie for your thoughtful items and it was very sweet of you agreeing to do this swap.

Anyway, Marie received my package a few weeks ago and you can check out her post about it (and see what I got for her) here: http://exuvalia.blogspot.com/search/label/Swap

Marie and I are both quite broke so there probably won't be another swap soon, but maybe in the future ^_^

xo Jen