london trip// driftin'

A lunch made for one.

Cherry blossoms in the wind.

Cloud gazing.

Map reading and pavement pounding

The charm of the tube.

I had such a time in London. It's my birthplace, my old haunt, my history. 

Since I left it to roam and drift around I gave scarce thought to ever returning again. 

But in the warm, charming little bubble of my birthday visit I found myself falling back in love with the place, enjoying the crowds, the vibe, the unmistakable spirit of the big smoke. 

I felt home.

I love it when birthday gifts filter through long after the day has faded into history...

when I returned back to my parent's house in Ireland I had two lovely packages waiting for me.

Dallas sent me the sweetest bundle of Korean paper goods and a baby Totoro on a keychain.

A little baby Totoro!!! I can't even.

Also one of my best friends Jen runs a small print business and had my blog header printed on to a mug for me! It's shameless self promotion but hey, I love it!! hehe!

may flower

Hallo again friends!

I'm back from adventuring through my old haunts in London these past six days... and my Thirtieth birthday turned out to be my best yet! 

I have tons of photos of my trip to sift through before I start posting my escapades, but I can say that after such a long period away from my home city I kind of saw it anew, as if for the first time... and it sure made me swoon.

The weather was flirting with Spring, April cherry blossoms were putting on a show, the Tube smelt the same and there were plenty of fly by the wind opportunities for doing something completely random...like going to the circus!

The trip was a great salve for my ache for a change in scenery, and not only that, I feel a move back to the big smoke coming on!

But more on that later ^.~

I have returned to Ireland to welcome a fresh new month, sun spots on my bedroom wall, a half-grown pup, birthday card making and lots and lots of planning and scheming for my future....

{craft feather c/o Wholeport}

Oh how short, sweet escapes can do wonders for ones soul!

shepherd's delight

I love this time of year with her pink skies and dandelion fairies and seedlings putting on a show....

pulling the car over to the side of the road to pick wild primrose so my Mom can check they smell the same as she remembers from when she was a girl.

I love waking early and pulling up the blinds, enjoying a cup of strong tea while looking out at the morning clouds....wondering if today they will break and let the sun say hello or they'll churn up a rainstorm instead.

Such mornings call for stove top porridge with an extra spoonful of honey, Skype dates with Dallas and alone time at my desk writing pages to sweet friends across the seas.

The sting of losing our little friend is still present but losing myself in sweet moments and reminding myself she is no longer suffering is the tonic that works best for now.

This weekend I will celebrate my Thirtieth birthday with a trip to London!

I'm looking forward to bike rides and art exhibitions, good East London curry and a Jack the Ripper walk~ stay tuned ^.^

⋙⋙⋙currently⋙⋙⋙

⋙⋙⋙ reading⋙⋙⋙

I've been scavenging through old keepsake boxes, pulling out and reading through old letters from friends past and present. Reminiscing over old travel photos and more journals I kept during different travelling trips.

I'm so happy I kept these journals as they have brought back such beautiful memories that I hadn't remembered in years and years. It's a lot of fun to view the world through 23 year old Louise's eyes again ^.~

⋙⋙⋙ planning⋙⋙⋙

The wonderful folks at Wholeport sent me these magnificent feathers and an embroidery hoop last month.
I'm planning on fashioning a dreamctacher out of these beauties.
Keep your eye out for a DIY post very soon!

⋙⋙⋙ watching⋙⋙⋙

Lot's of antiques and wildlife shows with my parents and B-horror movies at night.
'Nude Nuns with Big Guns'.
I an't even kidding.

⋙⋙⋙ eating⋙⋙⋙

I posted yesterday about my clean eating regime and I'm still loving every bite, every nut, every berry, lots of green tea...and hot buttered toast with jam, of course!

⋙⋙⋙ writing⋙⋙⋙

No big surprises here, I'm still hooked on my letter writing and I get so excited when a new reader contacts me for a mail swap!

⋙⋙⋙ listening⋙⋙⋙

I'm hooked on Phosphorescent's new album Muchacho, particularly 'Song for Zula' is just heavenly. 

But I do always come back to this tried and true track 'Wolves' from 2007~ the lyrics are just so perfect. 

⋙⋙⋙ learning⋙⋙⋙

{{source}}

The truth

P.S// don't forget Stars in Jars has a new Facebook page~ let's be friends!

.. ▻▻▻◈◅◅◅ ..

pen + paper

It makes my heart so happy to know so many of my readers share my adoration for pretty handritten letter swaps and I've had such a wonderful time creating individual little pen and paper creations for everyone who has contacted me for mail and package swaps.

Since I will be relocating very soon to Ireland my return address for all those who I am currently pen-palling with will be different.

I have emailed everyone who I am actively involved in exchanges with right now to let them know my new mailing address but in case I have overlooked anyone and you haven't heard from me please email me at tremblingstarz {at} gmail {dot} com for my new address.

I don't want this move to affect any standing pen-pals I've already made, I'm forever happy when I'm sitting down surrounded by paper and pen and handmade envelopes connecting with mysterious people from faraway places.

If you want to become a pen-pal don't hesitate to email me.

I'd love to connect with you via mailbox!

heart sabbatical

This past year since I arrived back in Korea has been a full one, packed like a bulging suitcase with  extremes; extreme highs , extreme lows, landmarks and downfalls in both my personal and love life. Things of which I have alluded to on here but not given the full un-edited version.

Sadly, for the past few months the bad moments have overtaken the good, and while I could brush them off like raindrops before, now I feel as if I'm caught up in a full blown rainstorm. 

For these reasons I have made the difficult decision to cut my contract with my school early and take some time off to go home and be with my family. To give myself the time and space for my heart to recover, for wounds to heal.

Living in a foreign country has the most amazing benefits in terms of life experience and rich memories to treasure but when things turn sour it can be a lonely, lonely position to be in.

Right now I'm looking forward to returning to the familiar, the loved ones, the comfort of my real home.

I hope you guys keep following me while I'm on my healing heart sabbatical.

My parents live in the rural countryside of Ireland, the perfect place for relaxation and wound-licking!

And gosh how I can't wait to give my parents a big koala-bear hug! 

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!

the sunday slowdown

There's nothing a little tea and a sweet letter can't fix.

I love the peace and the quiet of a Sunday,

the way it bookends the week with a little pocket of solitude and wind-down time.

This day of the week keeps me sane and centered.

I dance to a slower melody.

Today I checked the mailbox and found the sweetest snail mail from a dear friend who knew exactly what I needed to lift me out of a little mood rut.

I made myself a hot cup of British tea to remind me of home, set out fresh roses and set aside an hour to slow sip, read over fond memories and just be.

I'm forever blessed to realize I have friendships that have survived time and distance and prolonged absence.

Swoony, cozy, cups of tea-filled Sundays are where it's at.

^^

the sunday slowdown

Is it almost Spring yet?

I have a hankering for flowering baby buds and warm window panes and

I'm tired of fending off colds that are coming for me left, front and back!

This morning I scooped up my book, pens and writing paper and escaped to the coziness of the coffee shop for a few hours of reading and writing therapy.

Works a charm on me every time.

My soul is craving some good outdoors time, but for now the snow and the frost have me running for cover every time I venture out of the apartment.

I have to remind myself the deeper we move in to February the closer we inch toward Spring and warm air and good changes.

When I think back to Spring last year, when I was home at my parents house in Ireland, taking long walks every day, spotting wild horses in the fields and taking photos of old churches, I realize now just how happy a time that was for me.

As much as there is a hermit in me (incidentally, The Hermit was one of the first cards I pulled at my Tarot reading) who loves the hibernation involved in Winter, there is another part of me that loves the freedom and call of the outdoors that Spring offers.

I hope that Old Man Winter is being sweet to you, he is a charming old wizard after all...but I am ready for a little bit of change ^^

the sunday slowdown

The weekend shaped up to be a pretty good one ^^

The weekend was a birthday celebratin', snail mail writin', stationary buyin' kind of a weekend.

It was a music + reading friday, a curry + good company saturday and a pajama + pizza sunday.

My yoga membership expired a couple of weeks ago and my muscles have been really missing it.
This morning I did some lovely deep lower back stretches and managed to set free some little pockets of bad energy that had snuck in and were just hanging out back there...
So long!

I bought a set of darling vintage postage stamp stickers yesterday which set my idle hands into action today and I sat and wrote reams of letters and crafted a string letter with pizza and netflix and a sleepy boy by my side.

There's something so sweet about a Sunday's pace don't you think?

handwritten + lovely

Most of you by now will be aware of my love affair with the written word.

I'm hooked on the thrill of spying a pretty hand-lettered envelope in my mail-box, the buzz of checking the stamp and postmark and guessing who it might be from. 

Who doesn't love unfolding page upon page of pretty folded paper and nuzzling down in a cozy spot to read words that were written with love, care and intention while sipping a cup of hot tea?

It makes me so sad to think that in this age of texts, emails and Skype that snail mail is a dying form of communication. That my children or grand-children may live in a world where letter writing is a forgotten art.

I get such a kick out of writing letters to friends and pen-pals and using it as an excuse to push my creativity and deliver to them something  they can not only smile at while reading but maybe pin on their fridge or keep in a keepsake box forever.

And how about you reader? Do you enjoy snail mail and mail art?

Do you like keeping up with old friends through letters or have pen-pals you have never even met?

I have found a wealth of lovely bloggers online who encourage their readers to strike up a written correspondence with them.

To name but a few:

1.The Suburban Pen Pal

2.Cassie Jene

3. A Peachy Life

4. Bodacious Thought

And now, me!

I would love to swap letters or packages with anyone who is a snail mail junkie like myself!

If you're interested in sending/receiving handwritten + lovely  letters contact me on

 tremblingstarz (at) gmail (dot) com

♡ 

3 little things

One week. Three little joys.

1. Christmas crafting

These fingers of mine have been working double and triple shifts to get the tree, apartment decorations and what felt like a million handmade Christmas card, gifts and envelopes ready for posting.

The floor to our apartment has been a mess of thread spools and pine cones and little pieces of paper for weeks!

But finally, almost, kind of, I'm done! ^^

Some of those cards will have to cross thousands of miles to wish their merry Christmases to my loved ones.

One card in particular was addressed to a lady who I have never even met but I hope to share a little bit of Christmas peace and hope to.

Her address is:

Betty Vogel
425 E. Coleman Rd.
Clare, MI 48617

If you have a spare Christmas card left in your box I urge you to write a Christmas greeting and your signature and post it to this deserving lady and here's why.

2. Duvets & books

I have fallen shamefully behind in my reading due to a combination of Christmas prepping and and a very distracting new iPhone full of wondrous Apps for me to play with ^^

I have been making an extra special effort this week to snuggle under the duvet for 30 minutes every day after work and get back into my reading groove.

3. Lots and lots of hot chocolate

Because on these icy, frosty, cold-finger-and-toe mornings nothing else will do!

Especially when they come packaged so cutely ^^

What tiny joy kept you going this week?

xo

Pocket Envelope Folder DIY

Morning campers,

Today's DIY was once more inspired by the Kawaii cute explosion that is Hello Sandwich, the Japanese based blog that was also responsible for this amazing string letter idea.

I am a self confessed ink and paper junkie and before I first departed for South K almost 3 years ago I asked a few of my closest friends to keep up our correspondence through snail mail. A tradition we have most valiantly stuck to and I cherish the mornings when my mailbox yields pretty envelopes with British stamps and postmarks on them. They're personal and romantic and something I can hold in my hand rather than keep saved in an inbox.

I also think it's a fun creative challenge to make something pretty my friends can pull out of the envelope and enjoy for longer than the time it takes to read an email and click close.

So, let's begin the crafty bit.

First, gather your supplies:

You will need:

1. A roll of card stock in your choice of color, I chose the traditional Manilla envelope color

2. Cute, bright colored envelopes in various sizes

3. Decorative string or twine

4. Vintage stamp stickers

5. Washi tape stickers

First, you will need to cut your card stock and measure off and fold your card stock to create the pocket envelope template.

My card stock was around 45cm in length, so I measured a short 5 cm fold (on the left)~ this would be  the lip of the envelope.

Next I measured 4 equal folds 10 cm apart. I had pre-measured my envelopes to make sure these folds were large enough to fit them.

When your folding, you should fold in a zig-zag type formation, like a map.

Next, grab your glue stick and attach your envelopes on to the folds in the card in any arrangement you want.

Decorate your pocket envelope folder with fun decorative tape, doodles, stickers and stamps.

Pop your cards, letters, trinkets, string letters or whatever you like into your pockets.

Fold up your pocket envelope and tie up with some decorative string or twine. 

You can embellish the outside with doily paper and vintage stamp stickers too if you like.

And your done~ just put this envelope in an envelope and give your friends something more beautiful and  exciting than a bill to look forward to from their post man's next visit.

 ♡