Mini Letter Set - Chirp

I just listed a new Mini Letter Set in my Etsy shop : Chirp!

I love the rounded corners.












You can click on any of the pictures to see the listing in my shop and read the description!

Julie xox

Ode to my family

I live in what used to be my grandparents' house. My grandma passed away when I was around 4 years old in the early 1980's and my grandpa died in 2002. A few months later, I moved here.

My grandma was born in France in 1921 and her name was Marguerite Jacq. She was an only child and her mom died when she was 14.

My grandpa was born in France in the early 1920's. His name was Yves Trévily and his family was bigger than my grandma's, but I'm not sure how many siblings he had. They all stayed in France so I only met them once or twice when I was a baby.

My grandparents got married in July 1943 in France. Wasn't my granpa handsome?! And I love my grandma's dress.

My mom is an only child and she was also born in France, in 1946. Her name is Annie Trévily and she was such a cute baby! She looks a bit sad in this picture though.

She moved to Québec with her parents when she was 4 years old. This was her passport photo.

Her crooked bangs on this picture make me smile. Very charming!

And here she is at 16 years old in the 1960's!

As some of you might know, my last name is Trévily-Pigeon, Pigeon being my dad's last name. My son's dad and I decided to give Trévily as a last name to our little guy when he was born.

As a tribute to my family, I made notecards with all the photos featured in this post. They should be available in my Etsy shop as a set in the coming weeks!

Julie xox

A family day!

I took a day off from work today, woohoo! I'm so proud! haha

I went to the zoo again with Louis-Justin and my mom. It was so crowded! We still managed to enjoy ourselves. I love spending time with my son and my mommy. I'm exhausted now though! It's time for bed! But first, here's my favorite photo of my mom, Louis-Justin & I. I already posted it on my blog in April, but I love it so much that I'm posting it again. It was taken last March in Mexico!

Good night,

Julie xox

A quiet afternoon

I'm drinking a cup of mango herbal tea. Up until about a year ago, I always said that tea of any kind tasted like soapy dish water. I've changed my mind a little. I mostly like jasmine tea and fruity herbal teas with honey. I'd like to try new things though - any suggestions?

Louis-Justin and I had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants today: Cambodiana. My little guy had imperial rolls with vegetables and rice and I had a big bowl of spicy Bangkok soup. All the waiters and waitresses who work there were born in Cambodia and have strong accents when they speak French. They're all lovely and always have a chat with Louis-Justin. One of the younger girls sometimes even kisses him!

I really should be working right now, but I thought that I'd procrastinate a little and write in my blog. Maybe the herbal tea will help and I'll feel more awake soon... I think I'll put some music on!

Back to work!

Julie xox

Night Treasuries

My Butterfly Fairytale letter set was on the front page of Etsy! Unfortunately, I was asleep so I didn't get to see it live, but I have this screenshot thanks to this great flickr group : Etsy Front Pagers- Treasury Screenshots.


My Chirp and Swirly Ivy letter sets also made it to the front page of Etsy last February, but I was asleep then too! I wonder why my items are always being featured in the middle of the night... I used to be a night owl, but was forced to change my habits after I had a baby. Which is not such a bad thing since I'm much more productive in the morning anyway!

Are you a night owl or an early bird?

Julie xox

Penpal of the Week #4

Hello dear readers! Today, let's welcome Marta from Italy!

1. Please tell us about you!

My name is Marta, I am 27 (born on March 28th 1982) and I live in central Italy. I still live at home with my parents and sister that can be a handful to deal with at times. I lately have been feeling the urge to move somewhere on my own, but it is not likely to happen for the moment because I am trying to save up as much as I can to get married to my one and only sometime soon.

My boyfriend Ricky and I have been together for 8 years and have gone through lots together. We were classmates at the high school so we've known each other for a lifetime! I am sure he is the one I want to spend my life with and to build my family with, the sooner the better!

Ricky and I. We take lots of photos together wherever we go and whenever we are with friends. But this is one of my favourites ever.

I am a social worker and have been working as an educator in a therapeutic community for teens since March this year. It's a tough job and I am not that happy with my working hours and staff I am working with. I am looking for something else to do and in the meantime I am sticking to this job. I plan to sit some exams to get a second degree in children education that would allow me to work in kindergartens in September, not sure about it yet.

I've got too little spare time left now that I work, but whenever I have got a moment off job I adore writing letters and reading. I am what you call a bookworm and really do miss reading tens of pages in one sitting! I read pretty anything that is fiction. Some of my favourites of all times are Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, but I fancy lots of contemporary literature also. I am a Harry Potter fan and have my favourite character in Hermione Granger of course (the nerd in me I bet!).

I have got a puppy, Rolly, who's my pride and joy and I spend lots of time with him taking him for long walks whenever I can! I also like to cook and bake, but having to do it for 12 people everyday at work I am sort of losing my interest in it.

I've got a thing for languages, even if I can speak English only as a foreign language. I took a Spanish course years ago and reached a basic level, but I have forgotten nearly anything in the years and haven't had the chance to take it on again, even if I have been planning to do it for ages!

I am a Catholic and am proud of my religion, still I never preach nor try to convert people, that I find extremely pushy and bothering to other people!

Last but not least about myself: I am utterly in love with England, I have always been and will always be! It's the place where my heart belongs to! I'd love to move up there, if only my boyfriend would like to, but I doubt it.

My InterPals profile


2. Describe your personality in 10 words!

It's not easy to put myself in 10 words, but I will give this one a try. I would first of all describe myself as sensitive, caring, a worrier, moody, stubborn, shy (that is something I am still working on to change for the better), talkative, picky (especially when it is about friendships), organized, friendly.

This is me, it's a recent picture of mine taken by Ricky during one of our short trips to a park nearby. I think I look younger than my real age, something that used to bother me years ago, but that will be useful as years pass by I bet!

3. How long have you been penpalling? How did you first start? Tell us about your first penpal!

I have been penpalling for some 14 years now. I remember being at school and fancying international penpalships. My English teacher found me an English pal via IPFS based in Finland. I still remember her first mail written on violet stationery, the girl's name was Beth. She ran away with my second letter, still... How can I blame her?! My English was nightmarish and I am not kidding!!!

I had to be happy with Italian pals for a while (those I found in teens mags) and when I was slightly better with my English knowledge (that was when I was at the high school, at 15 I think) I tried it again with international penpals. It worked well this time and I found some best friends (that I am no longer in touch with unluckily).

I got into FBs at 16 and found lots of pals back then, none of them lasted too long still. I am now happy with my few penfriends I found via Internet penpal sites, all of them long letter girls whose friendship counts lots to me!


4. How many penpals do you have now and where are they from?

I've got a few pals now. First of all there's my best friend of all times Nad, she is the one I can always count on and I'd not go through my days the way I do if she wasn't by my side with her emails and letters and odd chats on msn.

I have got another long term pal whom I've been writing to since 2001 and that I met in November last year. I have recently found some new pallies via InterPals mainly. They are from Finland, Sweden, Canada, UK, Germany and the USA. If they all became close friends to me (that is not 100% sure when you start with new friendships) I would have 9 pals.


5. What are your favorite topics to discuss in letters?

I've not got favourite topics to talk of, my letters to my pals are like real conversations with friends, I talk about anything that comes to my mind, from serious topics to chitchats. I usually talk of family life, work, books, my puppy, hobbies, sometimes about any important fact in the news.

This is a picture of my puppy Rolly, ain't he cute?! He's grown lots bigger now, weighing 11 Kg at 5 months only!!! He'll be a big dog I bet, something we're not that thrilled of, living in a flat... But he's adorable!!!

6. What are you looking for in a penpal?

I am looking for life long friends, someone I can count on, people I can tell my private things to and who would like to share their life's stories with me. Nothing more and nothing less.


7. What do you like the most about penpalling?

I must admit I have never had many friends here and what I like the most about penpalling is that I could make good friends with people living miles and miles away from me. Penpalling widens my horizon!


8. In what language(s) do you correspond?

I've been corresponding in English only for years and I admit I like it better to write in English than in my mother tongue. Still I've recently found a new pal in Finland who writes in Italian and I am enjoying writing my mails to her in Italian long after I've given up my Italian pals!


9. What are some of your habits in regards to letter writing?

I usually write my mails at my desk in my bedroom, that is where my penpal stuff is. It may take me up to 2-3 weeks to write back, especially because I am a slow writer and write my mails in pieces and may need a couple of days at least to write a mail. I usually write long letters, that is about 6-8 doubled a5 pages, sometimes they get longer than that, but it depends on my mood and my spare time of course.

I always write on stationery, mainly use Janet Store paper, but have recently got back to Diddl that I was keen on some years ago. I prefer lined or squared paper because I can't really write straight on plain paper!

I also bring my letters at work when I work the night shift, because you never know if you have enough time to write a couple paragraphs when the teens are asleep. But it hardly happens, so I carry letters and paper to and from home but they just stay in my bag.

This being a penpal of the week interview, how could I miss posting a photo of my letters?! These are the latest I got and I still have to reply to!!!

I rarely type my mails, mostly handwrite them, because I like it better. Still it is not a must that my pals have to handwrite their letters to me, I like them anyway, as long as they are personal and directly addressed to me.

I keep my pals letters in a folder, a different folder for each one of my pals, so that if I ever fancy to reread my mails they'd look like a book. I underline questions in the mails I write, something that I think both makes the letters more colorful and easier to go through for my pals when they reply. I add the odd items in my mails, sometimes, especially chocolate. With my friend Nad I also swap books.

I used to use gel pens and stickers also to embellish my mails but have lost interest in them and now don't use lots of them anymore. I once kept a notebook where I would write down what topic I touched in my letters but am no longer doing that, because of lack of time mainly. Furthermore with few pals I can well remember what I've told them and what not yet!


10. Has anything strange/funny ever happened to you since you've been penpalling?

Honest, none that I can think of. I am used to sending out books and gifts in the mail, as I said before, so I think nothing funny ever happened to me. Actually talking of funny deliveries, I can think of my last birthday gift from Nad, but it is not something I would share here... Sorry folks! I can just tell you all that it was something useful and absolutely original as a birthday gift!


11. Have you met any of your penpals?

I met my pal Eva from Hungary last November when she came to Italy to attend a collector fair in Verona. It was my first time in Verona and we spent a whole day together chatting and sightseeing, that was lots of fun. We'd some gifts to exchange, I had brought her some typical food of my region and she had a book about Hungary for me.

At first I was very anxious about this meeting because I was not sure of my English abilities and was worrying like never. I had also brought along an English dictionary but to my relief I never used it once during the day! It'd have been cool had the meeting lasted longer than those few hours, but she had to go back home the following morning. I'd like to meet all of my pals once of course.

The only photo I have of my meeting with Eva, last November. It is low quality because the lady we aksed for it was all but a photographer!!! If only we'd known, we would have asked someone else!!!

12. Are you currently looking for more penpals?

I am not actively looking for new pals at the moment, that doesn't mean I would not accept any pals' request I got! Of course with friends you never know and if I received a long interesting intro and friendship offer I would probably not refuse it, even if I think I would not accept too many people because with my little spare time 9 pals are a high enough number for me to keep in touch regularly with everyone.


Thank you for sharing your stories about penpalling with us, Marta!

If you'd like to be featured as the Penpal of the Week on my blog, reply to this post with your email address!

Julie xox

Free Shipping

To celebrate Canada Day and the Fourth of July, I'm offering FREE SHIPPING on all items in my store (except notepad and pen sets) if you make a purchase between July 4 and July 6. Free shipping only applies to Canadian and American orders, but our International friends still get a discount!

Visit We've Got Paper quickly - the free shipping offer ends on Monday!

Julie xox

Inspired by Etsy

My Chirp Letter Set was featured in a blog recently: Inspired by Etsy.

Click on the image to read the post and learn more about all the other great birdie stationery items!


I no longer buy commercial / industrial letter sets because I want to support handmade, so I always love discovering new fellow stationery designers!

Julie xox

O Canada...

To all my fellow Canadian friends... Happy Canada Day!

I mostly identify as a Quebecker (Quebecer- Quebecois?), so I've never really celebrated Canada Day, but I still like my country.


If you live outside of Canada, when is your country's birthday? Do you celebrate it? I know that Americans have the Fourth of July and that the French national holiday is on July 14, but I'm curious about other countries!

Julie xox

Penpal of the Week #3

This week, let's hear what Joana from Portugal has to say!

1. Please tell us about you!

Olá (Portuguese "Hello"). In two months I’ll be 21 years old and I live in Portugal, my tiny but historical country. I’m currently living in an ugly city named Marco de Canaveses, which is pretty far from the beauty of the other cities of Portugal, where I study. I was born in Leiria, central Portugal, and lived almost all my life with my family in a small village close to the sea.

I’m finishing my studies in archaeology and I plan to attend university next year and to work. I have two female cats, Shiva Maria and Maori. I like to enjoy my freedom, learn about everything and to think deeply about many issues.

Here's a recent photo of me and my lovely Shiva Maria, which makes me proud that she's such a good model, different from her mummy :)

I’m very spiritual and really interested in oriental philosophies which transmit to me peace and harmony. I dream of the perfect world, and I fight for it doing my part, I’m an ecologist. To me simple things can be great when they are meaningful, and quality is better than quantity. I’m proud to know what it is to be human and to be trustful and when I am fighting for something I do my best. The most important things to me are peace, love (which can be associated to many things, not just with the person we love), union and respect!

http://fairyserena.deviantart.com

http://www.interpals.net/noaguerra


2. Describe your personality in 10 words!

Genuine, honest, generous, friendly, very open-minded, spiritual, free, intuitive, observer, bookaholic.

This is my beloved Shiva Maria. Oh! She fell asleep when she was reading "The Europeans" by Henry James.

3. How long have you been penpalling? How did you first start? Tell us about your first penpal!

I started penpalling with foreign people when I was 13 years old, so almost for eight years. Once my French teacher asked to me and to my classmates to write a brief introcuction of ourselves, she wanted to send it to a French magazine dedicated to young students. Some months later I got a letter and felt a little confused because I didn’t knew why I was receiving a letter from France. I opened it and checked that it was from a girl from France who read my profile in that magazine and who liked it, she was young like me. Well, it was how I started, it was quite fun, who doesn’t remember the first letter? To me it was five times better because I wasn’t expecting it. We did it for a long time, then she moved to Lyon and we lost contact, I remember she told that she would go to study piano in the conservatory. Actually I remember almost everything she said in her letters, I can remember easily what everyone writes in their letters, which is really cool.

This is the little Maori, the cat teenager, who I can't take high quality photos of. This one I took at night, when she was preparing to sleep.

4. How many penpals do you have now and where are they from?

I have 14 penfriends, all girls, and no I don’t have anything against men, but now I don’t have anyone, actually I already met some nice guys, whom I enjoyed talking to a lot.

My penfriends are from Austria, Brazil, Finland, Germany (living in Finland), Iceland, Índia, Jamaica, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Taiwan, UK, US. They all mean a lot to me, some are old penfriends, the oldest are from almost five years ago, some aren’t so old but we match since the first moment and I feel incredibly happy when I see their letter inside my mailbox.

Some of my postcards. I have a collection and I adore to collect postcards with views of countries. Thanks to all of you!

5. What are your favorite topics to discuss in letters?

Oh I don’t have any favorite topic, actually I’m pretty happy with my letters and the letters from my penfriends. We talk about everything, our past, childhood, the present, what we want to do in the future, our likes and dislikes, history of our countries, we debate ideas about actual issues, books, films, religion, politic, trips, so much to tell here.

You all must know that you can't tell everything about you in one single letter and when you meet someone you have a whole life to tell to that person, without forgetting what you are doing in your daily life, feelings, the state of the world. The issue never ends, like it also never ends in your daily life with your friends.

Some of my passions: postcards, the world, books, penpalling, music... <3

6. What are you looking for in a penpal?

Honesty firstly, and in second the same will to do penpalling that I have. I like people who are really interested to know me better, who care, who are genuine, someone in who I can trust to tell everything, because I offer the same. Tolerance.


7. What do you like the most about penpalling?

In fact everything around this "world" fascinates me a lot. Since the moment I see a letter inside my mailbox until the day I send my reply and I see the letter man choosing the amazing stamps we have. Isn’t it great to see something that someone from the other side of the world sent you with so much care, making you a special person? I appreciate everything, the handwriting, the colors, the envelope and its decorations, the texture, the stamps, every word and every dream we share. It’s a beautiful world that not everyone knows yet, e-mails can’t give us a half of that.

My handwriting.

8. In what language(s) do you correspond?

Now only English and Portuguese, but I corresponded in French once and in Spanish. I would love to have that chance again, but I need to train it. English is a language of the world, the way to communicate with every nation. I always feel amazed to improve it, but I want to keep learning languages and improving others that I can’t use in daily life.


9. What are some of your habits in regards to letter writing?

When I get a letter soon I feel the excitement to reply, looks like everything is fresh in my mind, so at the end of the day I sit calmly in my sofa and start writing.

On other days I can’t stay in the sofa, I have so much to answer and to talk about that I need something plain: a table, to write, write and write! Normally I need two days to answer one letter and if I have the chance I send it within one week, but sometimes my school schedule makes me busy and I need to wait for an opportunity, but of course I always try to be quicker, that’s what I like.

I don’t like so much those letters which took months to arrive or when I need more time to send it, but who never had problems? I totally understand those problems when I trust in people who already trusted in me, that’s friendship!

I took this picture three years ago, I was going to a Christmas party.

I always write with pen with black ink. Once a teacher told me that she needed to write in black because the blue color tends to disappear with time, I was young and never forgot it.

I have a book to write when I send or receive a letter from someone, to see if some letters got lost or if I am not forgetting to answer to someone. I also write what I sent to that person, I also have addresses there, we never know if something horrible happens and I don’t want to loose anything.

I always write the place from where I am writing.


10. Has anything strange/funny ever happened to you since you've been penpalling?

I’m remembering something which surprised me a lot and I couldn’t shut my mouth. I guess I can tell this here because it was many years ago. I had a penfriend when I was younger (she was young too), I remember she used to talk about her boyfriend, then she stopped writing for long months. One day I got a letter from her, she started writing: "I have a son". It shocked me a bit but it made me laugh! :D


11. Have you met any of your penpals?

Not yet, but soon I plan to meet my Austrian friend and to meet my friend from Puerto Rico in Spain.

A friend of mine took this one when I was asleep in a café, it was late, I don't usually sleep in cafés!

12. Are you currently looking for more penpals?

No, I’m fine with those I have. It would be fine if we could say "yes" to everyone, but we can forget something: time, care and money. I think when we have too many it’s a little bit harder to pay the same attention to all, to send some beautiful things and to care about all in the same way.


Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us, Joana!

If you're interested in being featured as the Penpal of the Week on my blog, leave a comment with your email address and I'll contact you!

Julie xox

Québec Day

On June 24, it was Québec Day (Saint-Jean-Baptiste). I didn't really do anything to celebrate, but I went to see fireworks the previous Saturday with my boyfriend, his sister and her friends.

Louis-Justin had a fun day though! First, he got to put a lot of toys on the couch and play with them while Nicolas vacuumed the living room.

Notice the morning hair?!

Then, it got really hot and humid outside so Louis-Justin got to play with a water gun for the first time. He has no idea what a gun is, so to him this was just a fun toy to cool him off.


Later, Nicolas took him to a park where they had games for children and Louis-Justin got his first fake tattoo! He still has it 4 days later. He's so proud!

You probably can't tell, but they are dolphins.

Yesterday, I went swimming with Louis-Justin at the pool. He started swimming lessons last Friday and he's more advanced than the other 3 kids. He likes it so much that I'll try to go with him at least 2-3 times a week. It's good exercise for me too, so it's nice for my health. We just look kind of dumb with our swim caps (sorry, no photos!), but I guess I'll have to get used to it.

It's gorgeous outside today but I have to work! I might take the day off tomorrow...

Julie xox

Clearance

I recently decided to stop selling labels in my store because I want to focus on what I love the most: letter sets. I still have a few label listings in my shop, but once they expire I'm not going to renew them.

These 2 sets are going to expire in a couple of days, so they've been marked down from $10 to $6. Get them while you can because if they get sold, I'm not going to relist them.



Julie xox