A simple joy... or two...

What makes you smile? The simplest of things brings a smile to my face. Yesterday when gathering the eggs, I found this pretty little speckled egg amongst the ivory, brown, and blue-green eggs. I wondered which hen laid such a sweet egg.... could it have been Collette, Jacqueline, or maybe Brown Girl who wears the pouffy pantaloons?

I washed the eggs and placed the speckled one in an old egg cup for a portrait sitting. Old, stained, crackled ironstone is another simple joy of mine. Imperfect, but well-loved...

It's sweet simple joys like these that make me smile.

~*~

I have a few Love Token Charms left for Valentine's Day or anytime. I'll also be adding half a dozen more to my website tonight. If you are interested in any of them, just email me.

Catherine Matthews-Scanlon is having a wonderful book giveaway here ~ be sure to sign up!

February has arrived, and along with it a birthday later in the month (on the 18th) for me. Should I panic? Nope, I'll be ever so thankful for another year of God's grace and kindness and the blessings of Simple Joys.

Thank you for visiting Honeysuckle Lane today.

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

~*~

Puzzle Purse Valentines

My 2008 collection of Puzzle Purse Valentines and other love tokens are now available at Honeysuckle Lane. More than 20 items were uploaded tonight and there are more to come on January 25th. You may see them here.

Messages of LOVE are written on these Valentines which are folded in a precise intricacy so that as you open it according to the numbered sections, you read a verse or a phrase, and tiny hand painted pictures are revealed. The very inner most part of the Valentine sometimes has woven paper hearts or a woven paper heart and hand. They are sometimes tricky for the recipient to re-fold, which is part of the charm of the puzzle purse. These were inspired by the ones originally made in the late 1700s and the early 1800s. All artwork, which is a combination of naive / schoolgirl art / fraktur influences, is done with watercolors and India ink on new or aged (with a coffee or tea and vanilla mixture) parchment paper. I have searched through my American folk art books for ideas for flowers, birds, and other early American designs. I use poems of the 1700s and 1800s along with some of my own original phrases. Keep in mind these are hand done, so each one will be unique. The valentines measure 2 ½” square closed and 7 ½” square when fully opened. Each valentine comes with a 3" papier mache box hand painted with a coordinating design (see photo above description for example). These are time consuming, but I do enjoy making them. The papers are aged, distressed, and sealed. Next I do all of the cutting to size and folding. After that, each design is sketched in pencil, then painted with artist watercolors and outlined with sepia India ink. After all paints and inks have dried, I cut, fold, and weave the little heart and hand paper whimsies to go inside the valentines. Last, I fold the puzzle back into a little square for you to discover it's secret. Then it's on to the papier mache boxes. Each one is base coated, the designs are sketched, then painted and outlined same as with the valentines. After the paint has dried, the boxes are aged, distressed, and given a hand rubbed finish.

I'll try to get a few everyday / simple joys photos on this blog during the weekend.

Thanks for visiting!
~*~

Love Abounds!

I've been hard at work on items for my online market updates and LOVE is definitely in the air!

These two sites update on the 15th, but the webmasters work very hard to upload the night before, which is tonight.

Please visit Simply Primitives for soldered charms with LOVE, WEDDING, & MARRIAGE themes.

And pop on over to TDIPT Mercantile for Valentine Whimsy Cones decorated with paper whimsies and vintage sheet music entitled "Tristan & Isolde", "Samson & Dalila" (that's how it's spelled on the sheet), and "First Heart Throbs". I will also have two different sets of Valentine cards to choose from.

If you don't see these items now, don't worry. They will be there later tonight if possible, but will definitely be there tomorrow.

I also have a few things on eBay right now ~ you guessed it ~ more Valentine creations!

Click HERE to see 18th & 19th century inspired love tokens.

I will have more Valentines on my website soon, featuring puzzle purse Valentines ~ so don't stray too far...

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Another GIVEAWAY! My dear friend, Suzanne, is now taking entries for her 100th post giveaway! Be sure to visit HERE and enter! I have some of Suzanne's work and know you will love her things.

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And the winners are.......

1. Donna of Cottage Days and Journeys won her choice of a $17 soldered charm on my website.
2. Lidy of French Garden House gets a set of my handmade Valentine cards.
3. Sarah & Barb of Hallowed Hill Primitives both get a set of my Antique Engravings cards. I won't make the sisters share, lol!

I also had a drawing for all the bloggers who mentioned and linked to my blog on their blogs. The winner of this giveaway is...

• Angie of QuillySillys Vintage Paper Boutique gets to choose a $17 charm from the jewelry page on my website.

I will be contacting these ladies soon.

Donna, Lidy, Sarah, & Angie: if you see this before I contact you, just email me with your address info and choice (for Donna & Angie).

I want to thank ALL of you for visiting, taking the time to post, and want to welcome you back anytime!

Now I have to get my auctions written up for ebay.....

~*~

If you missed out on this giveaway, don't despair!My sweet friend Sylvia is having a giveaway ~ Be sure to sign up HERE. You won't be disappointed with anything she makes!

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100th post GIVEAWAY! *with update*

(please see update for those with BLOGS at the bottom of this post)

Wow! I didn't realize I was so near 100 until a friend asked me how many times I had posted. Having a blog has been so much fun, I've met so many wonderful people, and I've just plain had a blast blog-hopping and seeing so many places and things that I ordinarily wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing if it weren't for this blog community!

So, in honor of this 100th post (whoo-hoo!), I am having a giveaway. Please comment on THIS POST to be added to the list of names to be drawn. Make sure I have a link back to your blog, website, or email address so you may be notified if you are one of the winners. I will take names until Sunday night (the 13th) at 8pm central. I'll draw the names and list the winners shortly thereafter Sunday night.

First name drawn will get to choose a Simple Joys Soldered Charm ($17 value) from the Jewelry page of my website.

Second name drawn will receive a set of my handmade Valentine cards ($10 value) pictured on my Valentines page. The winner may choose Aged Ivory or Watercolor.

Third name drawn will receive a set of my Antique Engraving Cards ($7 value) seen here at Simply Primitives.

Thanks so much for visiting and don't forget to comment to be entered in the drawing!

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

of

Honeysuckle Lane

~*~

UPDATE: Some of you with blogs have been kind enough to mention this giveaway to your friends so....
I will also have a separate drawing for those of you with a blog that post a link to my blog and mention the giveaway. Just comment on this post, or email me, giving me a link back to your post and I'll add you to this separate drawing as well.

Thanks!

~*~

Turkey Tales

Ahhhh, life in the country. It's never boring, sometimes downright amusing!

The silly boy is at it again! Sunday when we got home from church, he started strutting back and forth in front of Roger's truck. It seems that he saw his reflection in the chrome and thought there was another guy strutting around. He did that non-stop for nearly 5 hours!!! He actually wore a path in the gravels from dragging his wings as he strutted. We kept checking every so often and there he was... back and forth, back and forth. It was getting dark and time for him to fly up in a tree to roost when he quit. He has a set time, really (lol!), when he roosts. It varies by about 5 minutes, and does change as the daylight hours shorten or lengthen, but we can usually guess what time it is when he decides to roost. I got a few short video clips on my digital camera, but only one will upload to photobucket. Let's see if it works for you. Though I do live out in the country and not a house in sight of ours, there is a county side road that runs in front of our house, thus the cars you see zipping past. I'm also attaching a pic I took of Tweedle Dum pecking the bumper. The chickens usually keep to the back yard, but when they saw me going around the house, they had to come along to see what was going on. The truck bumper was not harmed in the making of this video, and yes, Tweedle Dum is still here, guarding his domain. Early this morning he flew down from his roost and was lying in the sun inside the chicken pen, I had fastened the little door to the coop because of the below freezing temps and he was waiting on me to turn them out. Enjoy!