November!

Hey guys! The October Package Swap is almost over! We're all slowly receiving our packages and I am just too excited to see all of the posts showing what they got! I got mine a week or two ago and I am still in love. 

So this is the official call for the November Package Swap! 

Send me an email at nicole.franson1@gmail.com, tweet me @nicloemax, or simply comment on this post! If you'd like to participate, please respond before November 2, 2012!

What IS a package swap?

Basically, some bloggers agree to join and they send packages to each other. I throw everyone's name in to a basket and randomly pick out who is sending to whom. You can see the reaping process here! It's such a wonderful feeling to receive snail mail (especially a package!) and then open it all up and see your fellow blogger put in so much effort and tailor each item to your personality (based on what you've shown/told on your blog, of course)!

I'll make sure to do a follow up post from the October Swap with all the links to what everyone got!

xo. Nicole

It's Here!

IT'S HERE!!

I don't even remember when we found my dress, but it can't have been more than 4 months ago. My wedding dress has arrived, people! I am beyond excited to go down to New Westminister and try on my gown. When I called, the lady said I could even wear it while my bridesmaids try on their dresses. Three out of five of them are coming down there with me on November 8 to find their dresses, and The Bridal Gallery had an opening for me to come down!

Another thing that made me happy about this letter is that it started with, "We are pleased to inform you..." It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter and when he received his letter to Hogwarts. (I'm stiiiilll waiting for mine..) Haha!

I just get more and more excited for the wedding every day! Today, I went over to Shelby's house to pick up some of the stuff she didn't use for her wedding. I haven't gone through it yet, but I'm pretty excited to....(and uhm, she has a new recipe up for Pumpkin Apple Chocolate Chunk Muffins that sounds amazingly delicious)

xo. Nicole

Sponsor A Broke Bride!

I made the switch over to Passionfruit Ads a couple months ago, and I am absolutely in love! They're super easy to use and a huge help. It really beats emailing and sending attachments and waiting for email replies about sponsoring, so this way it's a few simple steps. 

I would like to say thank you to all of my super amazing blogger friends and sponsors who have helped me and my little blog be where it's at today. Some fellow bloggers have helped me out in ways I couldn't imagine and participated in things that make my heart smile, like the October Package Swap (stay tuned for November!), and A Broke Bride's first EVER giveaway! 

When you become a sponsor of A Broke Bride, you get:

• A guest post!
• TWO whole months of sponsorship
• To participate in giveaways
• A Twitter shout out every Friday!

So whaddia say?

Since the last sponsor call, A Broke Bride has gained 100+ page views a day, and 35 followers (via GFC and Bloglovin)! To me, that's crazy!

xo. Nicole

Nails and Some Random Stuff

I've come to take advantage of the fact that I can paint my nails on the weekends, as this job doesn't care about my nails. During the week, I'm not allowed nail polish at Starbucks, so I'm forced to live with plain ol' nails for 4 days. I always enjoy having them painted as it can sometimes make an outfit! It's fun to try and be more stylish throughout the weekend even though I'm usually in a hoodie and sweatpants.

I'm also wearing out all the items Nicole sent me from the October Package Swap! I have one more pair of earrings to wear and I'm thinking tomorrow will be a good day for that.

Some new boots for work :)

It's officially Wednesday here and it's my work day seven of seven! Today just includes a staff meeting in North Vancouver and then dinner at in-laws for the Mr's birthday (which was on the 12th...)

What are you getting up to today?

Do you have any pictures of your nail polish adventures?

xo. Nicole

Instagram'd

The past couple days have been filled with work, Pinterest, Mario Kart drunk driving, and more work. Not a whole lot went on, but it's sure to pick up soon as I'm breaking down and getting a Crock Pot tomorrow. I can NOT wait to try out all those amazing recipes that have been floating around on Pinterest. Stay tuned! xo

1/ Finding a ribbon = Koshka gets bow'd 2/ The iOS6 update is crap. My battery dies so fast now

3/ Wearin' the awesome headband Nicole sent me 4/ Rockin' the flower she sent me as well

5/ I guess my laptop was warm 6/ Seductive poses are seductive

7/ Family night when she decided to lay on my face 8/ Relaxing when she decided to lay on my shoulder

That was basically just a bunch of Instagrams of my cat. You're welcome.

xo. Nicole

Glitter Garland + Giveaway Winner!

We're slowly but surely decorating our apartment, even though we won't be here forever. I still had Mod Podge and glitter, so I whipped up a pretty garland for above our kitchen sink :) When I worked at Ardene, these little foam pieces would come in the sandals before we hung them up to be bought. I kept a bag of them because they were in the shape of hearts and I knew there was SOMETHING I could do with them. 

A Broke Bride's First Ever Giveaway, Ever is closed!

The Winner is: 

#25 Shelby!

Congratulations Shelby :) We'll all be in touch soon. I hope you enjoy your new dress, jewelry, and british sweets. I can't wait to see what you get with your Forever 21 gift card. Thanks to everyone for participating! This definitely won't be the last giveaway to happen here. 

xo. Nicole

Rob's Birthday Gift

On Friday, October 12th, Rob turned 24! I stayed up until 1:30am on Thursday night with my maid of honor, blowing up balloons and such while he was at work. I was up again at 4 to finish getting ready for Kelowna and to pick Rob up from work at 5:00am...

These are pretty crappy pictures because it was super late at night. I bought him some of his favorite beer and we made him a cake :) 

When we got home from Kelowna yesterday, all of the balloons were still hanging so Rob made a game of it and started punching them all down. It was really fun! Now that there were a bunch of balloons laying around the floor, I didn't know what to do with them. No way was I popping them all, I hate the sound.

Hanging the balloons in the middle of the living room was such a good idea (good one, Nicole). My mom said it adds color to our lives, which is true. It also adds some color to our living room ;)

xo. Nicole

Heyoooo

Oh wow, what a weekend! Rob and I went up to Kelowna on Friday for his birthday, our 2 year anniversary, and to visit his sister. It was such a nice weekend. I've got a post coming up that includes all the details of our weekend like some mountain climbing and good bbq, but I'm most excited about the fact that I came home to 2 packages for me! I LOVE mail :) One package was for the wedding decorations and one was from the October Package Swap! I'm seriously in love with everything that Nicole sent me from Jasper.

 The card she put on the top seriously made me smile so big!

 Nicole sent me a bunch of stuff that she hand made from her shop! So cute.

This has got to be the cutest magnet I've come across. 

I am so so happy with everything that Nicole so awesomely put together and sent me. Today is a perfect day to drink the hot chocolate that she sent. That headband is going to come in handy, too! It's making me even more excited to see what everyone else is receiving :)

November package swap is so definitely happening. If any bloggers out there are interested, tweet me @nicloemax or send me an email at nicole.franson1@gmail.com!

xo. Nicole

A Giveaway!

Are you guys excited for A Broke Bride's first EVER giveaway?

I mean, how could you not be? A Broke Bride has reached 30 GFC followers, 7 Bloglovin, and gets around 200 page views a day. I didn't really think this blog would get that many readers, so I (we) want to say Thank You! I requested that some of my sponsors be involved and they were super excited to be a part of it.

Prize #1

Nicole (hey, that's me!) is giving away a super stylin' dress! Never worn! Now that it's Fall, it can be worn with some tights and a cute sweater.

Prize #2

Adriana from Horses of Ares is excited to participate with a $10 gift card to Forever 21! I can just imagine all the accessories or tights you could buy to match the dress ;)

Prize #3

Megan from Mind Wide Open has a beautiful jewelry set that she wants to give to our followers :)

Prize #4

Jennifer from Sail The Ship will be giving the lucky winner a little box of British goodies! Yum! I wish I could enter now...

One person will win all 4 of these items!

All that needs to be done is that you follow each of the lovely sponsors and myself on their blogs and Twitter. A lovely tweet about the giveaway wouldn't hurt either ;)

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, October 17th! Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xo. Nicole
Adriana
and Megan

[ps. This is my first time hosting a giveaway and using Rafflecopter! All feedback is helpful :)]

DIY Glitter Keys

So you guys know how I did a post on personalizing your keys with nail polish? Well, nail polish is a thing of the past. Say hello to Mod Podge and glitter! I came across a store that had Mod Podge for sale, so I scooped some up and then there was glitter right beside it. I don't think I've ever been more excited to use glue. 

1/ Grab a key, any old key. (I highly suggest something underneath to catch the glitter)

2/ Using a foam brush, paint on the Mod Podge to where you want glitter. 3/ Sprinkle glitter all over where you brushed the Mod Podge on.

4/ After it has dried, DAB a thin layer of Mod Podge over the glitter. This helps to seal it so the glitter doesn't come off. 

5/ There you go! You have your very own glittered key to use for whatever you use it for. 

None of the glitter has come off of it yet, so Mod Podge really works. I tried brushing it over the glitter the first time, and it all came off. Dabbing works a LOT better.

You may see more DIY's involving glitter and Mod Podge. I'm not done yet. I mean, there's a perfectly white Kettle sitting on my counter right now. It looks so boring...I'm just hoping Mr. doesn't notice if things suddenly go sparkly.

xo. Nicole

DIY Glitter Chalkboard

Rob and I went to the thrift store yesterday and came back with this mirror that really, I'm not sure why I bought it. I still had the chalkboard paint that I bought a loooonnngg time ago, so I figured, "why not make a chalkboard?!" I was also torn between what to do with the border. I accidentally painted it a couple times, so I was torn between lace or glitter. Glitter it was.

This is a really simple DIY that basically anyone can do. All you need is a mirror, chalkboard paint, Mod Podge, glitter, and a paint brush. (A paint roller would work better, though).

Follow the directions on the chalkboard paint. It's one coat, let dry for a minimum of an hour, and then put the second coat on top. Let it cure for 24 hours.

After the chalkboard paint is dry, put a layer of Mod Podge and sprinkle the glitter on top.

Let the glitter dry for about 20 minutes and then shake off the excess. After the excess glitter has been taken off, dab Mod Podge on top to seal the glitter. 

Your chalkboard is ready to be used!

Seriously, do not do this in your living room, on the floor, with a curious cat. It's like a fairy exploded here. 

I'm not sure where to hang it yet. I used the wrong kind of brush, so it may just be for home. I plan on making another one for the wedding!

xo. Nicole

October Package Swap - The Reaping

Hey guys! This month, I decided to get things rolling on the blog and I asked a few other bloggers if they'd be interested in a package swap. They all said yes so today, we figured out who would send to who! 

Our participants for the month of October are:

Megan from 

Mind Wide Open

Adriana from 

Horses of Ares

Rebecca from

 Revkah

Sam from 

My Latest Obsession

Shelby from

 Ankkuri

Nicole from 

Gypsy in Jasper

Jennifer from 

Sail The Ship

Nicole from 

A Broke Bride

In the basket they go...

The first one!

Allll finished :)

Megan will be sending a package to Jennifer

Adriana will be sending a package to Megan

Rebecca will be sending a package to Shelby

Sam will be sending a package to Rebecca

Shelby will be sending a package to Adriana

Nicole V will be sending a package to Nicole F

Nicole F will be sending a package to Sam

Jennifer will be sending a package to Nicole V

Packages will be sent out by October 10th!

There we go, ladies! I'll also tweet you guys the pickings.

Everyone has twitter and their emails can be found on their blogs as linked above :)

I also had a little helper who decided she liked the basket when I was done ;)

<center> <a href="http://abrokebride.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s424/nicloefran/OctoberPackageSwap.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center>

xo. Nicole