Wednesday 6 January 2016

Twelve Days Of Christmas Reveal

Christmas is now well and truly over for another year. How do I know? I have no more gifts to open. The Twelve Days Of Christmas swap was great fun, I was opening gifts right in to the new year and I received some fabulous things. Would you like to see?

My swap partner was Marlene from Simple Living. These are the gifts I received.


I'll give you a closer look but please excuse the photos, it's been so dark and dismal around here lately so I took the photos in the conservatory where there's more light, but anything shiny tends to relect so the photos aren't very good.

Some lovely lavender napkins, a pretty Things To Do memo pad on a clipboard with a pen and a Ted Baker notebook. I do love nice notebooks and this one will be put to very good use.


Some yummy Thorntons Little Temptations chocolates, scrummy yoghurt, cranberry and pumpkin seed crumbles biscuits and some gorgeous fabric. There's lots of different designs in the pack which compliment each other so I think I'll have to try my hand at patchwork. I've been saying that I'm going to learn to sew for quite some time and this may just give me the inspiration I need.


A cute Christmas tin which contained a pretty brooch with all manner of gardening paraphernalia on, The Orange Tree orange blossom & neroli hand lotion and fabric preserve jar covers. I think my pots of jam are going to look very posh with these gorgeous covers, all different designs.


Rainwashed Berry and Christmas Baking Yankee Candles, a cute owl bookmark and a coaster sporting a picture of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. How cute is that? It looks just like Archie. There was also a yummy chocolate included with each day's gift.


Thank you, Marlene. You've obviously been reading my blog well as they're all things I would have chosen myself, I'm thrilled with everything.

These are the things I sent to Marlene.


A book about preserves, a butterfly writing set and a decorative heart.


A bauble filled with jelly beans, a pack of fancy tissues and a book of nailfiles to pop in a handbag and some bath fizzers.


A notebook and pencil, some scrummy Green & Blacks ginger chocolate and The Duchess DVD.


Some vegetable seeds, an owl suncatcher and a furry hippo bookmark.


The Twelve Days Of Christmas swap came about because my very good blog friend, Lisa from Jumble and Jelly, asked last Christmas if I would like to do a swap with her. We really enjoyed it and when I mentioned it on my blog, I had quite a few comments saying what a great idea it was so I thought I'd host a swap this year for anyone who wanted to join in. As well as the official swap, Lisa and I decided that we'd do a swap again between ourselves and these are the gifts I received.


A decorative wall plaque - Blue Skies & Happy Days, Liberty Silk by Kate Beaufoy, Home Sweet Home candle holder and a Christmas Spice candle in a tin and some pretty butterfly candles. I do love burning candles around the house, I'll be spoilt for choice which to use first.


A pack of Christmas tree sponge scourers and some Along Comes Betty Peachy Keen Hands That Do Wishes dry hands lotion, a bauble filled with chocolate coins and some beautiful snowflake earrings which I completely forgot to take a photo of and a cross stitch bookmark. I'm just getting started really with cross stitch but I know it's a hobby I'm going to love so I'm looking forward to getting started on this.


Some notecards, scrummy Green & Blacks chocolate and some cute Hair Clips paper clips. They're such fun and will look great in my Filofax.


Some gorgeous buttons and a pig purse filled with chocolate coins and a pig keyring. I've got a thing about pigs and love these. The keyring is one of those where the top of the key pushes up inside it.


Thank you, Lisa, I love everything. It's been such fun opening all the gifts again this year.

Here are the things I sent to Lisa.


A cute kitten jigsaw, a fox windchime (which I didn't take out of the box otherwise I'd never have got it back in again) and a tin of Danish cookies.


Green & Black's Treat Collection, two memo magnets, a compact mirror and a lip balm collection.


A heart suncatcher, bath fizzers, a fox lavender sachet, a furry elephant bookmark and a necklace and bracelet set.


I'm enjoying seeing what everyone else has sent and received in the swap so please leave a comment if you've done a post about your gifts so that I can pop over and see.

It's been a fun swap, something a little different with the gifts being opened gradually over a period of twelve days. Thank you to everyone who joined in with the swap, I do hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

46 comments:

  1. How lovely, all the gifts are so useful. What lovely little surprises everyday.

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    1. This is such a great swap. The gifts don't have to cost a fortune but they're lovely surprises to open once the main event is over.

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  2. Thankyou for all your gifts Jo, I loved them all and really pleased you like yours, Marlene x

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    1. You're very welcome. I'm really pleased you like the gifts I sent and I'm sure you can guage from this post how happy I am with everything you sent to me, I'm thrilled.

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  3. Lots of lovely fun gifts. Flighty xx

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    1. They are. It's such a wonderful swap with lots of lovely surprises.

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  4. It's lovely to see how everyone has considered each others hobbies, loves and interests. Will you do it again next year? Jx

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    1. I know. I don't think I could have received anything more suited to my likes and hobbies than everything I received. I think I probably will do it again this next Christmas. I hope you'll join in.

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  5. What wonderful swaps! I enjoyed taking part (and really must write up my blog post too). I received some lovely things. thank you so much for orgainsing.

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    1. I'm thrilled with everything I received. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed taking part, I can't wait to see the gifts you received.

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    1. I'm so pleased you thought so, you received some lovely things.

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  7. I love prolonging the enjoyment of opening gifts. I would often see children barrel through their gifts, opening & strewing the contents every which way and barely looking at one before moving on to another. I really wanted my kids to appreciate and enjoy the gifts they received at Christmas or their birthdays so when they were very young, I started the gift opening rule. The gifts were opened (i.e. unwrapped) but they were only allowed to "open" 2 or 3 each day (this related to toy type gifts, not things like clothes, treats, etc). The kids look forward to deciding what they will open each day and every gift is appreciated.

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    1. I do too. We take it in turns to open gifts on Christmas morning so that we can all take pleasure in what's being opened, even if it isn't our own gift. It does prolong the gift opening process but it's something we really enjoy.

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  8. Thank you again for organising this Jo. I've blogged about the gifts I received, and I'll do another post in a few days about the ones that I sent.

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    1. You're welcome. I shall pop over and read your post, it's exciting seeing what everyone sent and received.

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  9. Lots of lovely packages Jo, I really enjoyed taking part in this swap & have received some really lovely things from Susan. I'm hoping to do my swap post on Friday x

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    1. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the swap, it's such a lovely way to extend the Christmas gift experience. I'm looking forward to reading your post about the things you received.

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  10. Isn't that brooch just so sweet, all those gardening implements! And i love the jam jar covers, what a great gift that is. And the coaster with the Archie lookalike is another great one.
    I'm so pleased you liked your gifts, I've just put my post up about our swap. I thought the sentiment of blue skies and happy days on that heart was such a simple saying but summed up all you could wish for!
    My post is here at
    http://jumbleandjelly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/12-days-of-christmas-swap.html
    I shall visit others and see what they exchanged. I'm nosy like that!
    Thanks again for all my gifts, just perfect.
    Lisa x

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    1. I've been so lucky with everything I received, both from yourself and from Marlene, I've been thoroughly spoilt. I agree about the saying on the heart, if we had blue skies and happy days then we couldn't wish for much more. I'm loving seeing what everyone's sent and received because I'm nosey too.

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  11. Lovely gifts, both given and received. I certainly had fun with mine and Jo and I have become blogpals because of your swap. Thanks so much. Take care.

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    1. Aren't they just, I've been very lucky. These kind of swaps are lovely, but as you say, you can make some great friends through them too.

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  12. You gave and received lots of beautiful presents, Jo. :o)

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    1. It's amazing what you can find for a couple of pounds, it's not about the cost, it's the sentiment behind the gift.

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  13. Thank you so much for organising the swap Jo, it was such a good idea and so enjoyable,I had so many lovely things too xx

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    1. You're welcome. I'm so pleased you enjoyed joining in and that you got some lovely gifts too.

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  14. Sounds so wonderful. Must certainly be a great experience getting all these gifts.

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    1. It was so much fun having a gift to open right the way through the twelve days of Christmas, I think everyone enjoyed taking part.

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  15. what wonderful gifts. NZ post didn't deliver mine in time and I had it sent to school too - another 3 weeks till school starts and I hope it is there! Alison is being ever so kind in holding off opening her gifts from me.

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    1. Oh, how disappointing that you didn't receive your parcel. Still, at least you have something to look forward to when school starts again. That's so kind of Alison to hold off opening hers so that you can open them together. You must let us see what you received later in the month.

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  16. What wonderful things you sent and received. It was so good of you to organise this swap Jo, I really enjoyed it. Thank you!!! I have posted my swap items today. Thank you again! xx

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    1. You're welcome, I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the swap. I shall pop over and read your post, it's fun seeing what everyone sent and received.

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  17. Wow, so many lovely things! What a great idea they must have kept you busy in December!

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    1. I know, I was thoroughly spoilt. I think I was a little swapped out once December came, I took part in four swaps all together this year which took some serious organisation. Very enjoyable though.

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  18. Looks such a lovely selection Jo ... and I think you did very well to take part in four swaps.

    I will be popping over to other blogs to see their swaps too.

    Happy Thursday Wishes.

    Just wish the weather would improve a little!
    Still I suppose it is January.

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's been so much fun taking part in all the swaps this Christmas, I shall definitely take part in more this year. The weather's awful again here today, not only is it raining but the wind's getting up too.

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  19. What a lovely selection of goodies you gave and received. Thanks so much for organising this Jo. As Kimberly said above, I am waiting to open her parcel until she has received mine in NZ. I was so cheesed off despite posting on 15 Oct that it hadn't arrived before Christmas. xx

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    1. You're welcome, I enjoyed organising the swap and I shall probably do it again this year. I remember you posting the parcel really early so it's very disappointing that it hasn't yet been received. It's very good of you to wait to open your parcel, though I always get a bit down in the dumps in January and February with summer being so far away, so it will give you something to look forward to. I look forward to seeing what you both sent and received.

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  20. What lovely gifts you received Jo. Thank you so much for organising the swap...I really enjoyed it. I have posted about my wonderful swaps from Amy today. Take care. Debbie xx

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    1. You're welcome, I'm pleased you enjoyed taking part in the swap, I've had a great time with it and seeing what everyone's sent and received. I shall pop over to read your post.

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  21. It looks like you got and gave some great presents. What a wonderful swap idea :)

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    1. It was a great swap, I think everyone had fun with it and there were lots of amazing gifts both sent and received.

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  22. Looks like you've had fun with your swaps this Christmas and you have fully inspired me to join some swaps next Christmas. Hope 2016 is a fun and productive year for you.

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    1. I've loved taking part in all the swaps this Christmas, I'm definitely going to join more this year. Thank you, wishing you all the best for 2016 too.

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  23. Gosh, how fun! I love the idea of this, and all the gifts you surprised each other with.xxx

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    1. It was such a fun swap, and one which went on for ages after Christmas. Such a good idea.

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