surfs up!

Here are just a few iPhone shots I took during my road trip to Cornwall with Free People last weekend!

I kinda rued never getting my driver's license because the minute I saw the turquoise VW camper the girls had rented I wanted to hop behind the wheel and drive it straight into the sunset! What an awesome set of wheels!!

The trip was a total blast and I had such a great time making lots of memories, sunburnt noses and shoulders, and a few awesome new friends along the way.

Full guest post coming very soon over on the BLDG blog.

I'll keep you posted >.<

I'm so glad that you're here! Why not hitch your wagon to Stars in Jars?
>.<

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mail swaps

My love for all things sealed inside an envelope and found hidden inside letterboxes is no secret around these parts and today I wanted to give you a little peek inside one of my received envelopes ^^

I had the sweetest gift waiting for me in my mail box last week... a package swap from the beautiful Nicole from Gypsy in Jasper.

Nicole is from the Canadian Rockies and she put together the loveliest little treasures for me to discover in her package including stickers, cute woven bracelets, a scarf, wooden beads and this adorable crochet envelope that she hand-made herself.

Everything was so thoughtful and put together with love and attention, right down to the sweet message inside the card.

Thank you so much Nicole, I was delighted with every last thing and can't wait to send a treasure or two over to your part of the world!

If you are interested in taking part in snail mail or package swaps with me see this post for how to get in touch.

I love connecting with people the world over through this little internet pocket I have or through all things handwritten and lovely!

Also, why don't you pop over to Abhaya today where I am guest posting for Sondra while she gypsy steps her way around India (lucky thing). 

You can discover my second Korean love beside the paper goods...cute cosmetics!

threads & kicks

One of my favorite parts of winter is getting to layer up snug against the chill for an outing.

Usually I don't have the right figure to carry off current "trends" but I'm all over layering this year.

Wooly knee socks, leggings, cable knit tights and chunky woolen knits are the order of the day...

and I am head over heels for this pair of dark brown faux suede Tugo boots that Blowfish sent me.

They are unbelievably comfortable, have a flattering little wedge in the heel and they just suit my style to an absolute tee~ I love my boots to be belted and buckled like a pirates ~.^

I wore this outfit out to eat Vietnamese with Dallas on Sunday and paired with the Tugo booties it was just the right combo of style, comfort and warmth.

I think I'm going to be living in these till Spring starts singing her song and my toes can come out to play again!

Thank you Blowfish!

Outfit details//

Boots: c/o Blowfish

Navajo cardigan: Hellhound Vintage

Cream Knit Sweater: GMarket

Moon necklace: Free People

Black dress: American Apparel

Leggings: Uniqlo

Wool socks: Uniqlo

3 little things

One week, three tiny joys.

1. Free shoes!!

When Blowfish offered to send me a free pair of their new Spring season shoes to showcase on my blog I said "HELL YEAH!"

They arrived last week and they are beautiful.

Keep your eyes peeled for my first ever style post next week. 

 (not a direction I ever thought of taking on this blog but what girl can turn down a  free pair of shoes? 

"Not I", said the cat.)

2. Breakfast of champions

Lately this chilly season has me reaching for the kind of tasty comfort foods that are usually bad but oh... so good!

I've been treating myself these cold winter mornings to a breakfast of creamy chocolate milk and tuna and mayonnaise samgak kimbap, or triangle kimbap, which is basically rice wrapped in dried seaweed with a tuna and mayonnaise centre.

I know everything about this breakfast sounds wrong, but trust me, it's delicious!

3. Baby Wig Wams for my baby matryoshkas

I found the template for these adorable paper craft teepees on the same site I found the printable feathers for my cupid's arrow diy post.

Just so happens they are the perfect size to house my ceramic matryoshka beads.

Tiny joys, friends, tiny joys.

~.^ 

group giveaway//cute korean stationary

It's no secret around here that I am a certified stationary junkie and it just so happens I am living in the creme de la creme of paper slinging countries.

Korea has the cutest, most decorative and affordable paper goods for all of your journaling, snail mailin' and crafty needs.

If you would like to get your hands on ALL of the hand-selected Korean stationary items shown above then please take part in this super group giveaway I am taking part in hosted by the cutest (and, incidentally Korean-American) gal Sarah over at Love Sarah K.

She is hosting a huge giveaway featuring myself and 6 other contributing bloggers with prizes including free premium ad space for your blog, a Stila palette, Hobby Lobby goodies and Amazon vouchers.

You can choose if you want to enter for one or all of the giveaways in the Rafflecopter on her blog post.

My Dad always says if you ain't in you can't win, so why not? ~.^

Scroll down for more details on my Korean cuties waiting for a new home...

~ flower stamp

~animal book marks

~ 2 sets of decorative washi tape

~ pencil set

~ 2 ink pens

~ recyclable bottle caps

 ~ mini hug cat cards

~ matryoshka doll card

~ vintage stamp stickers

~ scandinavian index label stickers

~ day planner

~ geometric notebook

If you win, ALL of these items will be sent to you!

For entries all you have to so is follow my blog through GFC, follow me on Bloglovin or on Pinterest.

Each follow will gain you one entry.

Head over and get you entries in now...x

the two sides of the coin

I'm arriving a bit late to the February party, I know.

The end of last month and the start of this one have been a blizzard of emotional events that I haven't the energy to delve into right now.

It's taken some deep digging right into the reserves of my heart just to gain the strength to gather up my skirts, slap a smile on it and move on with this new month.

This space has become such a dear place for me to come and hide out in, to document all the wonderful happenings in my life and I usually direct my focus on to all the positives when I sit down to write.

But there are, of course, two sides to every coin and this wouldn't be a well-rounded and honest document of my life if I didn't recount the bad as well as the good.

I'm trying right now to come up with the words to summarize the goings on of the last few weeks but my tongue freezes every time.

It's a story for later and in time I'm sure the words will thaw and fly from my mouth like birds.

For now the happiest way I can look at these events is by telling myself it's not a goodbye or an end, it's a hello and a new beginning.

On a lighter note:

I have a couple of happy announcements to make in this post.

First//

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first ever giveaway for the inspiring 'Intuitive Heart Sanctuary' e-book.

I am delighted to announce the winner was the wonderful travel blogger and coincidentally (I promise) a great bloggy friend of mine: the lovely Ashley Louise from Our Dear Lady Expatriate!

Congratulations Ash, the beautiful Lauren Luquin should email you your prize this week ^.^

Second//

 Last month I took part in Andrea from Mostly Happenstance's Ad Space giveaway and the lucky winner was Kenzie from Life According to Kenz. 

She has won a month long ad slot on my own and several other bloggers sidebars.

Please check her out and say hi!

Happy February friends... and here's to new beginnings.

▲giveaway// intuitive heart sanctuary e-book▲

Did any of you resolve to look inward in 2013? To purge and cleanse, to re-connect and nurture the most important person in your life...you?
 If you answered yes then I may have here the perfect giveaway just for you guys.

The luminous Lauren Luquin, creator of the free online retreat The Intuitive Heart Sanctuary, has offered up her new  e-book, 
'The Intuitive Heart Guide', an 84 page PDF worth $44.00, to one Stars in Jars reader for FREE!

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Registration for the The Intuitive Heart Sanctuary just recently became free and Lauren is a great councilor, sparkling with good intentional energy and warmth to share with her readers. The online space also contains a great forum, with space for storytelling, council and community, and the whole site offers a wonderful online social gathering designed to enhance self awareness and growth.

While the IHS is free for women, Lauren's e-book is designed to supplement your experience in the Sanctuary and is currently being sold for $44.00 to non-Sanctuary members or $37.40 if you are a registered IHS member.

The Intuitive Heart Guide offers:

In depth & thought-provoking essays bridging your mind, body and spirit connection
15 Engaging Activities to help you explore your True Self within Community and Nature
7 Photo Exercises that build self-awareness and reflect your inner soul-work journey
8 complimentary Journal Work prompts with instructions and examples
Enchanting Images to inspire and uplift you as you move through the pages
Gentle reminders to keep you centered and aligned
Direct links to IHS- to view videos, listen to podcasts/music, and read more, etc.
Inspirational storytelling, quotes, and poetry
Ideas and resources to utilize beyond this eBook and IHS
Motivational “Real Talk” about current social and spiritual trends happening globally
and much more!

If you would like to win 'The Intuitive Heart Guide' for free then simply do one or all of the following

and shoot me a comment in the comments box to let me know which one you did plus your email address~ each one counts as one entry so you can get your name entered up to three times to win

.

~follow Lauren's blog 

~Like Lauren's Facebook page 

~follow Lauren's Pinterest 

I will choose and email the winner on Tuesday, February 5th.

Best of luck!

merry and bright

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Gift wrapping is one of my favorite things to do. I love to gild the lily so to speak.

I think this goes way back in my memory to when my Mother would bring out her big box of endless papers and ribbons and bows and we would sit cross-legged on the living room floor each Christmas wrapping gifts surrounded by paper and scissors and odds and ends.

This year I don't have my Mom's big box of Christmas goodies so I've had to be more resourceful in my wrapping. I've been using brown paper, newspaper and old maps as wrapping paper and then tying the gifts up in twine. I love the clean and timeless look this gives them.

When it came to the gift tags I hopped online to see if there were any nice, free and printable Christmas tags available that I could download and use.

Turns out there is enough to fill Santa's sack.

Here is a round up of my favorite, beautifully illustrated, printable stickers and gifts tags by some very talented and artistic bloggers:

1. Oana Befort

2. Kelli Murray Art

3. Laura Birney

4. Swoon!

I hope you're all having a great week leading up to Christmas. Dallas and I are hosting another fancy pot luck dinner again this Saturday, this time for a Christmas dinner. We'll be giving Secret Santa gifts to each other so I've already been putting these lovely freebies to good use ^^

Happy gifting!