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Category Archives: Ivy Rose Cottage

Letters from Rebekah-It’s Been a Rough Couple Weeks!

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” And hard times are good in their own way too.  Because the only way you can achieve true happiness is if you experience true sadness as well.  It’s all about light and shade.  Balance. “ – Gabrielle Williams       I have found this to be so true in my life, and for that reason I wouldn’t completely eradicate the dark times.  While I live inspired and write inspiring things for my readers (and for my own healing for that matter!), it is important for me to also share the hard times with you.  I want you to know that my living inspired is a choice.  It’s grown out of a 15 year journey of personal trials and self discovery, which has ultimately led to finding myself again. … Continue Reading →

Tip of the Week: How to Prevent Jam Or Jelly From Crystallizing

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cooking concord grape jam on the stove

It’s time for a Tip of the Week!  This is where I share random stuff I know to help make your life easier.  Today’s tip is handy for anyone who is interested in canning or making jams, jellies, preserves, etc.  Have you ever tried to make a jam and wound up with hard sugar clumps in the jar later?  I have fortunately never had this happen, but I know several people who have.  So, today I am sharing “How to Prevent Jam or Jelly From Crystallizing!”     It all has to do with temperature and timing.  If you have ever wound up with undesirable sugar crystals in your jams or jellies, you probably added the sugar when your mixture was too hot.  The process of adding sugar to hot … Continue Reading →

Cozy Cottage Weekends-My Victorian Scatter Garden Seeds Bloomed!

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Happy Labor (free) Day!  I decided since it is a long weekend, that Monday counts as part of my Cozy Cottage Weekends feature :).  What was the last thing YOU did to surprise yourself?  If you don’t surprise yourself with little gifts of delight, I highly suggest it ;).  Awhile ago in my Summer Update post (which you can see HERE if you missed it), I talked about some old fashioned Victorian scatter garden seeds I had tossed in the empty planters in our front yard.  It took them awhile to grow from teeny tiny seeds, but they have been in bloom for a few weeks now!  That seed packet was one of my most recent ways I gifted myself a fun surprise…   The fun part about doing an old fashioned … Continue Reading →

The Time I Fed My Family Coreopsis Mashed Potatoes!

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Ah, it’s been awhile since I welcomed you all in to a sneak peak at my cozy cottage life, as part of my cozy cottage weekends feature!  Today I am taking you back to my first Summer at the cottage when we first became home owners (just a year ago).  Open the cottage gate, grab your cup of tea or coffee and come sit with me for a spell as I tell the tale of “The Time I Fed My Family Coreopsis Mashed Potatoes” !       I had always wanted to own a garden.  I had always wanted to grow herbs.  The Summer of 2013 I got my wish, as God provided a home for us that came with both already built right in!  I felt I must … Continue Reading →

A Summer Update from Rebekah

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white peony copyrighted image

Hello inspired friends!  You may have noticed that it’s been a couple weeks since I last posted something here.  This Summer I have been finding myself up to my eyeballs in projects.  As busy as I have been though, I have also made time for PLAY and of course living inspired, which is pretty much a daily practice/way of life for me.  I thought it may be nice to write a sort of casual Summer letter to you all to keep you updated on the goings on my way!  In fact, I just added a diary style section to my blog/website called “Letters from Rebekah”, which will be under the cozy cottage tab on the website.  I thought this would be a nice, informal way to connect with all of … Continue Reading →

Cozy Cottage Weekends-Halloween Night at the Cottage

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It’s a cozy cottage weekend, and I can scarcely believe November is here!  I want to invite you in to see a little bit of what Halloween was like at the cottage this year.  This is our first year as home owners, and so it was our first Halloween to decorate and pass out candy to the children!   I thought I would share some of the decor with you, and also a little video I made on Halloween night.   I used to sell Avon (years ago) and over the 8 year period I was with them, I stocked up on many holiday home decor items, which came in handy this year at the cottage.  We don’t have a lot of Halloween decor yet, so we will of course … Continue Reading →

Harvesting Pears at the Cottage and a Fall Giveaway Contest!

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It’s a cozy cottage weekend-so won’t you stop for a visit at my inspiring cottage?  A hot cup of tea and a fresh dessert of some sort always awaits you!  Today is all about Pears and the harvest season.  Our cottage came with a mini orchard (of which we will be adding to in the future) and one of my favorite trees in the yard is an old fashioned pear.  I am doing a fun Fall Harvest contest in which you could win a prize, so be sure to read the whole article so you don’t miss it!  In this article I will also be sharing tips on identifying pear trees , how to know when it’s time to harvest, storing pears, etc.     Have you ever smelled the … Continue Reading →

Let’s Harvest Grapes Together! A Whimsical Tour of My Cottage Grape Vines

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Concord Grapes

It’s a cozy cottage weekend-Welcome to my cottage!  I would like to invite you to come on back to the “Secret Garden” with me to harvest some grapes!  I must warn you there is a naughty little fairy that has caused some mischief with the grapes this year.  She is quite hard to spot, so I don’t know if we will see her today, but I can assure you she has been here.  There is evidence, which we will discuss later.  But first-a tour of the grape vines that came with our new cottage garden!     We are at the left side of the backyard fence now.  This is where the wild grapes grow!  I am sure they are wild grapes, because they are small (the size of a … Continue Reading →

Cozy Cottage Weekends-Wild Mama Rabbit With Her Baby Bunny

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Wild Baby Bunny Rabbit

Welcome to my inspired cozy cottage!  I am doing something new so that the wide variety of topics I share here at We Live Inspired is more organized so you (sort of) know what to expect. Previously, I have occasionally shared recipes, DIY or home related things at random. There are so many things that inspire me, but inspiration in the form of cooking, decorating, crafting and such is quite different than writing inspirational articles and poetry to motivate or encourage.  My content won’t be changing, it is just that from now on all of these homey types of things will be moved to the weekends for something I like to call “Cozy Cottage Weekends”.   I may not post an article every weekend, but when I do write on … Continue Reading →

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