Before email and text messages

Once upon a time, friends used to keep in touch in a more personal manner, something more tactile, something more artistic many times. Over the years I collected little things here and there and kept them in a display on a cabinet made by my husband. They included a shabby pink & cream ink blotter, several vintage fountain pens & mechanical pens, a wire letter holder, and desktop pen holders. They were not very valuable, but were things that reminded me of simpler times, times when people took time to write a meaningful letter to a loved one. I still love to think of those times, but now need to thin out all sorts of items I have collected. I have placed those items on ebay ~ you may see them here: Anique & Vintage Writing Instruments & Accessories.

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I have updated the Junk Sale on my website with more craft and reference books. There are several magazines published by Stampington, abook on American Pewter by Winterthur Museum, a wool felt applique book, and more.

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Last, I have one more set of Glass Glitter Pumpkins to offer. I am taking several to a couple of shops this week, but am offering one stacked set online. You may read more about it here: Fanciful Whimsies.

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Thank you for checking in ~ I will have more non-business posts later this week.

Peculiar & Odd

I don't know what's gotten into me lately ~ every day or so I think of something else to blog about ~ and that is both peculiar AND odd! It must be the change of season, don't you think? That's not all that is peculiar and odd ~ this is the reason I am posting tonight:

My primitive / folk art cats, Peculiar & Odd. They are brothers and are waiting for someone to invite them to their home to live. I already have Sam, and he just doesn't like sharing his morning milk, or the ladder-back chair on the porch, and he doesn't like the looks of these creatures ~ he said they are just too peculiar and odd looking!

If you'd like to see detailed photos of them and read a little more, just visit my eBay auctions:

Honeysuckle Lane Auctions.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Autumn TEA webshow

Come visit The Eclectic Artisans @ 9am on the 22nd (or there abouts) for an Autumn themed webshow. You'll also see a few Christmas items! I will have another stacked set of glass glitter pumpkins. These come with a display stand.

http://www.whendisbears.com/The-Eclectic-Artisans.html

{SOLD! ~ thank you!}

WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN
by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here--
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries--kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below--the clover over-head!--
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin' 's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...
I don't know how to tell it--but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me--
I'd want to 'commodate 'em--all the whole-indurin' flock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

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Another non-related items post...

Nothing special about the glue, and no, it's not an ad for Aleene's Tacky Glue, though as much as I buy of the stuff, I should be making big bucks for keeping them in business! That photo is just to illustrate what I deal with on a regular basis. My kids make fun of me. I can't blame them. I bought the bottle of glue (in the front) because I was out. I brought it home day before yesterday and set it down on my worktable................... beside the full, never used, bottle of glue that I bought about a week ago because I was out. There are other bottles of glue just outside of the photo frame. Same scenario. I have other things that I bought because I was out and needed it, only to bring home to place on the shelf beside it's twin. Don't even go there.... I'm not counting. By the way, anyone need safety pins, off white button thread, glass glitter, shipping labels, jewelry wire, double-sided tape, salsa, steak sauce, seasoning, butter, pickles ....... I think I'll stop there. You get the picture?

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Speaking of pictures (I led you into to that one rather smoothly, huh?), I want to share some pictures of this awesome table my husband hand crafted. He is in new-home construction, but you know how that market has been for the last several months, so he has been doing smaller jobs, remodeling, building decks and porches, cutting and baling hay in between the other jobs, and when someone can catch him long enough ~ he builds furniture.

Customers show him a picture or describe what they want, and he builds it, from scratch. This table is for friends of ours. They have already had my husband build 2 large walnut dining tables, 2 walnut fireplace mantels, a large walnut bookcase and matching office desk. They were all beautiful! This time, they wanted a small square cherry table for their kitchen.

I love the drawer (above) and isn't the wood grain beautiful? It was finished with tung oil. No stain or varnishes.

And look at those legs! Alright, was that a whistle I heard? LOL! Roger made the first leg on a wood lathe, then made the other three by sight only! He didn't make a template and he didn't use a lathe that duplicates. He just measured and marked the sections, and carved it by sight. Amazing!

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Beautiful ARTE Y PICO Award ~
Sweetie @ Sweetie's World tagged me for this award ~Thanks Sweetie!

I am supposed to list six Quirks about myself.......

1. I drink coffee all day long, and usually it totals one cup, two at the most. You see, I get my cup of coffee at about 5:45 am, sip on it, set it down and forget about it, find it, heat it in the microwave and sip on it, set it down and forget about it, find it again....... you get the idea. I usually finish it around 1 or 2 pm.

2. I eat frozen corn. When I'm out of the corn from our garden, I will buy frozen whole kernel corn. It tastes much fresher than canned. When I open a bag to cook, I always pour some out in my hand and snack on it, frozen.

3. I eat frozen peas, too! (see #2)

4. I don't like chocolate. But I do like chocolate. Weird. I don't like chocolate breads, cake, cookies, etc. However I do like Reese's peanut butter cups, Snicker's candy bars, and a few other desserts with chocolate.

5. All my animals have names. Not usually weird, but I name all my chickens too. Even when I have 25-30 of them. They all have names and I can tell them all apart from one another and I talk to them and they "talk" to me. One even clucks very softly in my ear when I'm holding her. I still don't think that's quirky, but my family and neighbors do.

6. I'm afraid of heights, but I dream I can fly (not in a plane, but soar through the air) quite often. When I am on my little utility ladder, the 3rd step from the bottom is as far as I can go before I get dizzy. I will climb a regular ladder to help out around home, but you'd think there was an earthquake from all the shaking and rattling going on!

ok, enough about me.....

Here are the rules for this award:
1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and which also contribute to the blogging community.

2. Each award is to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog so that it can be visited.

3. Each award winner can show the award and put the name and link of the blog that presented the award.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the award should show the link arte y pico blogso everyone will know the origin of this award.

I'll give all of you a break. It's fun to play along, when and if you have the time. I don't want to obligate anyone this time, because I have to get back to work soon as I publish this blog, lol!

Have a lovely day!

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Eye Candy....

I received a package from a west coast friend of mine in the mail yesterday. I had placed a special order for a child's shoe pincushion and she had also picked up some supplies for me that I could not find in stores here. I unpacked my supplies and then began unwrapping the pincusion.... oh my! It was more beautiful than I could have imagined!

Can you imagine a little child wearing such a sweet, charming dimunitive shoe? It's just perfect, the velvet cushion, the buttons, the old pins.... it's perfect... did I already say that??? Look at the old ribbon and buckle! I told Sylvia (oh! I forgot to say who made it!) that I think I'll have to start collecting her little children's shoe pincushions...

And if that wasn't worth every dime and more... I found a card in the box thanking me for our friendship and she sent me this necklace! It has an angel and little doll on one side...

and a turkey on the other! How fitting is that? Sylvia makes the most awesome dolls and whimsies and jewelry. I know by now you are dying to see what else she makes. Click here to visit her blog and from there you can go to the online sites that feature her work.

Thank you so much Sylvia!

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And now I want to send you on another journey from the west coast of the US all the way around the world to Denmark! Lone is another online friend of mine. She makes the most perfect, antique and vintage looking dolls! I tried to link to a photo on her blog, but couldn't get it to work, so you will just have to go see for yourself! She makes anything from Queen Anne style dolls to Izannah Walker dolls to more whimsical Dorothy (from Oz) dolls. I have gathered, from her conversations over time, that she has a wonderful collection of antique dolls as well! Be sure to go see Lone and say hello!

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While we are still in Europe, let's blog hop over to Gigi's blog. How I wish I had the patience for such tiny stitches! If you appreciate needlework and love antique inspired designs, you will love Gigi's blog!

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Last, but not least, even if you can't read a word of it (like me!) you will enjoy this blog immensely! Ciel D'Orage is pure eye candy for lovers of soothing, calming whites and ivories and textures. I have spent a LOT of time there just looking at all the photos.

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Thanks for stopping by today and have fun browsing all the beautiful blogs out there...

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

Junk Sale update

I just added 2 pages of books and a few other things to the Junk Sale ~ most are priced @ $1.00! Many of these old books (mostly on Junk Sale page 2) are not in great shape but would be perfect for mixed media collages, for lining papier mache boxes, for scrap art in soldered jewelry, components in altered art, etc. Most of the pages are yellowed with age, the illustrations are wonderfully vintage, especially the children's books, and the black and white and sepia illustrations and photos are great for art projects. For those of you teaching collage / mixed media classes or if you are signed up to take a class, this is a cheap way to get your vintage ephemera supplies! I have more to add in a day or two, I ran out of time tonight. Here are a few items you will find there...

Look at the cute circus animals on this book:

and this sweet little girl:

and this one, so many illustrations in these old books:

some vintage trivets:

and an old sewing cardboard ad:

There's lot'smore to see....

http://www.honeysucklelane.com/junk%20sale.htm

Thanks for stopping by!

And the winner is......

..... BB! (aka Betsy ~ aka Foothill Primitives)

Betsy, I'll be emailing you.... and you can't see your prize till you get it in the mail! I will tell you this though, I will take something that you suggested and make a set of block print cards just for you! Give me till the weekend, and it'll be in the mail on it's way to you....

Thanks to everyone who entered. I printed, cut, and folded all the names (I STILL don't know how to do the generator thing)... put them in a star mold... and it was too full to stir the names around so I had to put them in a bigger bowl, lol!

I will be using many of the other ideas for my designs as well, so check back once in a while.

I know someone will ask about the beautiful hooked rug under the bowl. It was made by Sarah over at Hallowed Hill Primitives & The Paisley Studio. She, and her sister Barb, do wonders with wool!

And while I'm at it, I also want to share these whimsies with you ~ aren't they wonderful?!

They are originals by Suzanne Davis / Pear Tree Pritmitives / Portrait of the Past.

If you like them, you'd better snatch them up while they are still available (at a very good deal, I might add!)

Have a blessed day!

~*~

A Charming Offer....

That isn't very imaginative, sorry, but I have worked non-stop today and that is all I could think of for a title to this post. I'd like to invite you to take a peek at several soldered glass charms that I have for sale. These will be available for only a few days and then what remains will be going to a shop with more handmade items. I've attached a couple of photos here, but you may see them all, with descriptions and prices and larger pics on the Jewelry page of my website: www.honeysucklelane.com/jewelry.htm.

Just email me if you see something you want.

I also have new block prints. If you like antique pincushions, you'll like these designs. You may see links to all my new items on my welcome page: www.honeysucklelane.com/welcome.htm.

And for the primitive lover, I have 2 more sets of my pumpkin block prints ~ done with lots of staining and distressing.

I have closed the GIVEAWAY post and will be drawing the winner's name later tonight. I'll post the winner and the prize tomorrow morning.

Today was such a beautiful day! I had all the windows and doors open, I turned the a/c off and the temp never got above 72 degrees.

The garden is almost gone, and when it is, I can turn the chickens out in the yard. Tweedle Dum will be so happy! On and off all day I could hear him calling to the cars and trucks as they passed by. The UPS truck usually honks as it goes past... I think he likes to hear him gobble, lol!

Thank you for stopping by!

Junk Sale @ Honeysuckle Lane

This will be a quickie post just to let you know about the Junk Sale. I'm slowly going through things that were boxed during the workroom remodel. It takes so long to sort, photograph, measure, write descriptions, upload pics, re-size pics, etc. ~ please be patient, and I will try to update that page at least once a week, twice if possible for a while. I added a little graphic in the sidebar so you can see when I last updated the page. Feel free to let your friends know....

http://www.honeysucklelane.com/junk%20sale.htm

A busy week ahead...

Seems like life is always busy. Does that happen as you get older? Life didn't seem to be so hectic when I was a little girl at home. Near the end of this post, I'll share how I start my busy day and how I try to take just a few minutes of peace and quiet before everything begins.

As for the busy week ahead... Let's see, I need to finish up and ship a few more orders, make / finish all of my folk art and primitive offerings for Simply Primitives, TDIPT Mercantile, The Primitive Gathering, and the next TEA webshow ~ ALL but the last is due by Wednesday night!

There'll be a new framed punch needle design, frosty pumpkins on an old tin stand, aged & distressed pumpkin block prints, some quaint little potted pumpkins (still working on the design), and for the antique sewing tools enthusiasts, I have made some block prints of antique make-do pincushions that are in my collection.

I also need to get some things from my workroom listed on ebay..... boxes of fabrics.... odds and ends that I saved thinking one day I'd use it and that particular one day has never arrived. I also have more vintage bark cloth, a shabby roses bedspread, crafts books... the list goes on and on. I may check into what I can list on etsy as well so we don't have to wait on an auction to end, just do a set price, wouldn't that be easier?

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Just for FUN! ~ Terri of Thistle House Primitives is having a giveaway, but hurry, it ends tomorrow! I love the little pinkeeps she made, especially the blue one!

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How I begin most mornings~ I'm usually busy in my workroom during the day. Before I start working, I open the door first thing in the mornings to let in the cool, fresh air and to watch the sun start to filter throught the trees. I close my eyes and listen and just breathe.... I can hear the birds, several kinds of them, the cardianal, the chickadee, and there's a woodpecker pecking. It's still hot here and I still hear the grasshoppers / cicadas, though they are not as deafening. I hear the train whistle off in the distance, it's a few miles down the road as the crow flies. I hear the squirrels chattering away in the trees. One of the hens is clucking, now two, now three or four, lol! Maybe we'll have some eggs today! I can hear that little chick chirping as it learns to scratch around in the dirt. I moved Buffy and her baby in the pen with the rest of the chickens on Saturday.

Sam sleeps on the porch just outside my door when he's not at the barn, and he's at the door waiting when I open it in the mornings. I think he likes having me near, and I like having him near. He answers me everytime I ask a question throughout the day. It may be the same meow or purr each time, but he still answers.

And no, I haven't forgotten to mention Tweedle Dum. He's out there too. Somehow he knows when I am in my workroom and he makes his way up to the back porch to stretch his long neck and peek in. One day I was singing, practicing a new song (my sister and I sing in church sometimes) and I heard clucking, not a gobble, but just soft clucking. I stopped and it stopped. Then I started singing again and I heard the clucking again.... as I sang I walked to the screen door and looked out and there was TD! Guess he wanted to provide a little music! There's nothing better than the music of nature.

"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord."

Psalm 150:6

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What's New & How the critters are doing....

To go somewhere or to accomplish something, you have to go from POINT A:

to POINT B:

To reach POINT C:

My sisters always accused me of not being able to keep a secret. I beg to differ with them, but since I am the youngest, and my two sisters are OLDer (lol!), I will not argue with them on that matter at the moment.

I was going to wait until the giveaway on the 15th to show my new items that I've been working on, but I am having so much fun and have already put some up for sale, I just had to share with you! I recently learned something new, block (or relief) printing. If you want to read a little more about it and how I first got interested in it, please visit the Artwork page of my website. If you'd like to see my framed artwork that is currently for sale, visit my ebay page.

The pumpkin set is called Pumpkin Panache and is sold as framed sets (on ebay and later on my website) or you may find 3 styles of note cards on the Cards page of my website now.

I also made a few punch needle embroidery pincushion boxes that are currently on ebay.

I'm still taking entries for the giveaway... just scroll down a few posts till you see GIVEAWAY in the title and comment.

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Now for the babies.....

don't laugh, or gasp, or make weird faces..... she doesn't realize how ugly she is and we don't want to scar her for life by being unkind. By the way ~ I am HOPING it's a she, lol! I don't see the forming of a comb or rooster tail feathers, so maybe, just maybe, my only baby isn't a rooster! No name yet, I usually wait till something about their personality helps me decide. Who knows... I may have a contest later to give her a name!

And Smokey is growing like a weed! Bless his heart, that ear will always be like that, but I think it gives him a bit of rogue-ish charm, don't you think? When Roger and I get up in the morning, start stirring around, getting our coffee, looking out the back door..... Smokey is always ready and watching and calling for Roger to come feed him. He's such a baby!

And Sam, what can I say? He is one of the LAZIEST cats we have ever had! He lies on the porch (when he's not snuggled in the hay in the barn) and when he sees us he starts meowing, wanting to be petted (and wants milk in his bowl).

I'll sit down on the swing and Sam will come towards me and he drops to the porch and rolls over on his back to be scratched. But the thing is, he always drops about 2 feet away, just out of reach and I have to get up and go over to him! His fur is so soft, and his black paws are so sweet.... ok... I'm a sucker for animals.

I think I'll try a relief print of Sam when I've had a little more practice.

Well, that's it for now ~ I hope all of you had a safe and fun Labor Day!

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

of

Honeysuckle Lane

~*~