jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Peonies and Honeysuckle

July 1, 2013 jennifer Gardening

Do you have things you’ve always wanted to master but haven’t yet? I remember as a girl hearing about an older cousin of mine who was learning how to arrange flowers and having my heart skip a beat as I thought “I want to do that!” Well, I haven’t accomplished it yet, but do enjoy pictures of fresh flower arrangements and playing with the flowers I grow at home. I have big dreams.

I enjoyed the article “Flower Arranging Made Easy” in my June issue of Country Living magazine. The arrangements spotlighted caught my eye because they were different, a little more bold and perhaps a bit wild in comparison with many that I see.

When I saw honeysuckle used in one of them it occurred to me that I could cut some of my own and experiment. Thus began a happy 30 minutes of cutting and arranging the last of my peonies and the first of my honeysuckle to see what might happen.

I love the way they look together! The scent of honeysuckle in the house was dreamy and it was a rewarding creative experience. It also made me want to read The Flower Recipe Book.

How about you? Are you a novice at something you’d love to master?

Hugs, Jennifer

Hello, Reader

June 30, 2013 jennifer Housekeeping

Like so many others, I’ve decided to use BlogLovin as my new reader with the demise of the Google Reader tomorrow.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Hope you’ll follow along!
Jennifer

Flags

June 28, 2013 jennifer 4th of July

The 4th of July has always been a favorite holiday of mine. I have a deep appreciation for the Revolutionary generation and the singularity of what they accomplished. Add to that a love of history (particularly biography) and a life long weakness for the colors red, white and blue and well, I suppose it’s no surprise.

As our family grows and gets busier all the time, I find myself wanting to decorate for holidays but having only a few minutes to do it. Every summer I look to my vintage tablecloth collection and my flags to bring a happy, patriotic feeling to our home but try to find a new way to use them. This year I put a flag holder in my scalloped bowl and surrounded it with the vintage paper flags that I scored a few years ago.

It got me thinking about decorating for a holiday. More and more I seem to prefer using everyday objects, grouped in new ways, over hauling a box out of the storage room to unpack. And every year there’s a DIY project or two that I’d like to try, thanks to pinterest, blogs, and now instagram. I’m also trending toward less decorating in general as I try to keep our daily lives running smoothly. Now I’m curious: what is your approach? Do you do any decorating for Independence Day?