Honeysuckle

On my morning walk the other day, I came around a corner at one part on the trail and this sweet fragrance overwhelmed me and stopped me in my tracks.  Vines and vines of HONEYSUCKLE were everywhere and the fragrance instantly took took me back to my childhood.  As kids we used to spend summer afternoons seeking these delicate flowers so we could enjoy their sweet nectar - such sweet memories of a simpler time!

When I came across these vines the other morning, I was instantly inspired and went on a search to find all the ways that I could enjoy the beauty, fragrance, and sweetness of HONEYSUCKLE all year long!  Here are a few of my favorite finds as well as a couple of ideas for how to use that sweet nectar if you're lucky enough to have a honeysuckle vine or bush in your reach - ENJOY:

Honeysuckle Flour Sack Towel | Barr-Co Apothecary Candle | Barr-Co Bar Soap | Lambert Press Letterpress Card | Honeysuckle Syrup | Honeysuckle Cordial | Honeysuckle Lemonade

Beautifully Organized

Welcome to the New Year!  If you are like me, you look at each new year with a feeling and a hope for new starts, new opportunities, & new perspectives.  And, it is inevitable that with a start of each new year, I get an overwhelming urge to clean out and get organized.  Quite frankly, the urge to do that comes up often throughout the year - perhaps because I always lose my momentum at the beginning of the year.  However, I really do feel like this year is the year for me to SIMPLIFY.  I am trying to approach every area of my life with this concept, and we will just have to see how that goes.  In the meantime, the task of getting organized for me goes hand in hand with my desire to simplify.  And there are just so many beautiful ways to get all of that stuff that looms in corners, in piles on counters & desktops, in closets, & in drawers, cleaned out and the necessities into beautiful containers that will motivate me to KEEP it organized.

 

I think jars are just fabulous for containing & organizing!  You can see what you need to see but there is something about putting rubber bands in a jar instead of throwing them into a drawer that makes me want to keep all the rubber bands where they belong - in the jar!  Think about jars of all shapes & sizes for the unexpected storage like rubber bands, paper clips, thumb tacks, clothespins, chalk, pencils, & binder clips. 

 

Wire baskets are also favorites for me too.  I am a hoarder (yes, I just admitted that!) of beautiful magazines - so what better way to keep them & to enjoy them but in a lovely magazine holder such as the wire one above.  

And, you don't always want the world to see all the stuff that is laying around that needs a home, which is where just regular baskets (the non-wire ones) come in handy.  Baskets of all kinds are just super great for collecting mail, toys, blankets, towels, & even extra toilet paper rolls.  

So, get creative this year with your organization.  Find things that you wouldn't typically think of using (like jars for rubber bands) for the things to reside in that you need to keep.  Perhaps the items you need to contain these things in are items you already have around your home.  Start there and see how to pull out those containers that you already have & love and give them a new, beautiful function!

Happy New Year!  Happy Organizing!!