Amber's {flower} Notebook: The Simple Things

I love jars. Seriously, love them. I save nearly every glass jar and bottle that comes into my kitchen. In my kitchen I fill them with quiona, lentils, rice and oatmeal. While In my craft room my jars are home to buttons, embellishments and sequins. For display and organization purposes I even fill jars with my collections of matchbooks, hotel pens, and sea glass. The possibilities of jars seem endless, they are so simple but so lovely. So when I stumbled across this vintage mason set of Ball blue jars and a carrier basket for $30 I was beyond excited. They look lovely whether they have flowers in them or not, but currently I am loving how they look with these lovely hot pink ranunculus spilling out of them.

Flowers and jars - two simple things that make me so happy.
What are two simple things that are making you happy right now?

Amber's {flower} Notebook

Receiving flowers as a gift is always something I appreciate. When I was younger I remember giving flowers and at the time I thought of it like a gift card, if you can't think of anything else to give someone, give them flowers. I suppose at the time I didn't appreciate fresh flowers, now I love to give and receive flowers. When I give flowers I love to pick out blooms and colors especially for the recipient and I often opt to give flowers to people I know don't often treat themselves to fresh beauties.
When I receive flowers it's always special because it's usually a bouquet I wont pick for myself, and it's often more extravagant then I would indugle in for myself. Sometimes I am gifted a flower that I have never seen at my market or Trader Joes ,which always excites me. Flowers and nature are meant to admired, cherished and respected, and I feel like fresh flowers remind me of this, so I love sharing and enjoying those feelings with others.

These gorgeous irises were given to me by Step Mom Rena and my Dad -- thank you!

They have been lighting up my kitchen all week.


My good friend Lei gave me these beautiful lilies.

When do you like to give or recieve the gift of flower?

Flowers of the Week: Fresh Start

One thing I love about January is how fresh and clean it feels. While I love Christmas decorations and having a Christmas tree in the house, it was so nice to clear everything out and have the house back. The minimalist look of the house right now seems to be the perfect thing to start the New Year off with. So for the first bouquet of the year I combined two Trader Joe's bunches to create this fresh look. Only 4 days in this year but I loving it already. I can't wait for the flowers that pop up after the raining season.

The Christmas tree used to stand beyond the coffee table.I am enjoying the light from the window that the tree was blocking before.