New Years Blog Party Gift Swap

I was stoked to be participating in my first Blogging Party!

Hosted by: Casey, Alycia & Danielle

All we had to do was submit our email address and then were randomly paired up with another blogger to swap homemade gifts with. I totally loved this idea and getting to meet someone new out there in the blogosphere. And now I'm happy to say I have a new blog pal. She is super fun and totally sweet. Like I would travel to Louisiana tomorrow and show up at her doorstep unexpected and she'd welcome me kind of sweet. She is my kind of gal and I'm blessed to now know her.

Meet Emily the author of The Dashboard Diaries. 

You can visit her blog below. Trust me you'll want to.

I totally did a happy dance upon receiving her package. I opened the manilla package only to be blasted with a Mardi Gras Explosion! Obviously I was too excited to open my gift to even think about taking pictures of it and instead tore through those purple, gold and green necklaces and tissue paper to discover this.

How rad is this?

Love this rustic frame and the French quote she has hanging inside of it. I took pictures against different backdrops to show how it really can go anywhere in the house and it just flows.

I will just type word for word her sweet note to me.

When preparing for this gift exchange, so many ideas went through my mind! I mostly wanted to give you a little taste of Louisiana, but most of those options would involve food.. and crawfish doesn't ship well! Since Mardi Gras season has officially begun. I reaaaalllly wanted to make you a King Cake (terrible idea) so instead, I was left with making you a gift incorporating the greatest quote of the Mardi Gras Season, "Laissez les bon temps rouler" which means "Let the good times roll" in French. I hope this quote encourages you and your family to enjoy the happy times you have together, and to live every day to the fullest! (In case you get bred with it, I included extra letters and rope so that you can change the quote throughout the year)

Ummm, hello how thoughtful is she! Love this gift and the fact that I can change out the letters for a new quote. It's the gift that keeps on giving. 

If you have the opportunity for a blog swap party I highly recommend you jumping on it! So much fun!

Thanks Emily for this rad gift! Oh and to see what I gave her hop on over to her blog and check it out. Click Below