Hey folks! I would love to offer to organize the second annual ornament exchange. I hope that you can join us!

Since living on my own the past few years, I have been slowly amassing home decor items. One of the items I sorely lacked was during Christmas--ornaments. This was even more apparent to me two years ago when I only had enough ornaments to decorate the front half of the Christmas tree. I have a few more this year than I did last year but still not enough to fill a whole tree. I thought maybe there would be others like me out there who have been slowly growing their ornament collection.  Hence, the Second Annual Ornament Exchange. (Bare with me while I use the graphics from last year…not much extra time equals no new graphics!)



Getting what you want:: The questionnaire includes a section for you to fill out to help your partner pick out or make an ornament that is sure to be something you'll like. So answer the questions thoroughly!

The sign-up:: If you wish to participate in this ornament exchange please fill out the questionnaire below. Please copy and paste the questions into a comment at the end this post or email them to me at jean (dot) emily (at) gmail (dot) com. Submitting the questionnaire is your commitment to follow the guidelines as they have been explained above.

::QUESTIONNAIRE::

Name: 

Email Address: 

Country in which you live: (as well as if you are willing to have an international partner or not)

Your interests in ornament type: (share some of your preferences to help your partner choose or make an ornament for you - i.e. colors, styles, specific item(s) you would like inside of the ornament, texture, a link or two to other ornaments you are interested in, etc.)

5 words to describe you or your style: 

Link to your blog/shop if you have one:

Anything else you'd like to ask/share:


Help spread the word about the Second Annual Ornament Exchange by posting a button to your blog, sharing on Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest and any other social media site you use. 
Best wishes and I cannot wait to see what we send each other!

 Before, this is what the outlet looked like. If you're a renter like me, you're stuck with a lot of these off-white or funny colored outlets. I was so tempted to replace them with white ones but I had two thoughts about that: 1. why should I pay the money if I'm just a renter and 2. the outlets themselves will still be that off-white color and I'm not sure my landlord would appreciate me painting them. However, I did not want to live with what I had, so what did I decide to do? Dress them up with washi tape, of course! If you're like me, you have rolls and rolls of this stuff hanging around, begging to be used.
 The supplies you need will include the wash tape of your choice (completely up to you what kind and how much you will use of each. This is what I had narrowed it down to.) and a flat-head screwdriver. Oh, and your faceplate too. Oh, and an exacto knife. I'll get better at this DIY thing…promise.
 Once you unscrew the plate off the wall, you can start placing the tape. I started at the top and worked my way down. I liked having one different colored/patterned piece to start off and the rest was uniform. You can cut off the ends of the washi tape that are too long and/or you can tuck them around the back of the plate. Then with an exacto-knife, cut out the holes for the outlets and the screw hole.
 Last, but not least, screw the faceplate work of art back over the outlets. Isn't that so much better? I look forward to working on the rest of the apartment now. (And when you're ready to move, you can simply unscrew the faceplate, peel off all the wash tape and screw the faceplate back on. So simple!)
If you try this DIY, let me know how it turned out!

Today I realized that my Bloglovin' feed wasn't updating for you all. After some hair pulling Googling, I found out why and fixed it. Now all of you lovely people who have been following my blog on there can actually read my new posts (why yes, I HAVE updated since March!). I feel a little sheepish to have found this out just now, months later. Nevertheless, better now than never. Happy reading, folks!

I love how bright my new apartment is during the day. Last week, Tater basked in the sun while looking out one of her favorite windows. She has now settled into the routine of the new place and she will finally go into her crate without me chasing her around the apartment first. It's nice to be in a routine again.

I have been inspired lately in the area of dessert decorating. Not in the frosting, fondant sense but more of the garland, flag sense. I had started making them for cupcake toppers for my coworkers' birthdays. They loved them so much that I am thinking of starting another online shop just for them! Aren't they adorable?!