Are you a fan?

A special deal has just started for facebook fans of Simple Joys Paperie. If interested, you may become a fan at this link. It's good only for the next 3 wreath purchases by facebook fans.

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And now for a little bit of news from around home:

Scooter has settled in with our family and now loves Sam and won't let him out of his sight!

Scooter and Sam have been napping on this old chair that is just outside my workroom door:

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I'm finishing up a wreath tomorrow, and then will begin working on pumpkins, cats, and snowfolk! Be sure to check back once in a while to see what's going on, or you may go to my website and sign up for my mailing list.

Thanks for dropping by!

Lana

of

Honeysuckle Lane

Facebook Follow-up

Sounds like a visit to the doctor, doesn't it? I thought I'd continue a little about my facebook fiascoes, but actually, it’s running a little smoother. I’m learning my way around the basics - just enough to post typos..... and re-post them again without the corrections. (banging head on computer).

I've discovered (from the last post) that THIS is how to get readers to comment on my blog: tell all about my flubs and goofs and technical dorkiness and they come out of the woodwork, ha-ha!

I have read on many forums that keeping active facebook and twitter accounts helps with business, getting your name out there, networking, etc. However, I feel like I am putting very unimportant things on there and wasting people's precious time when I'm just chatting away. I feel that way on twitter too.

I do enjoy keeping up with what's going on with everyone, but for myself, it's easier to do so face-to-face, by phone, by e-mail, by blogs... in that order. I just can't keep up with twitter or facebook. So, for the most part, facebook and twitter will be business related... for the most part... I think.

Back when I started my blog, I basically did it for the purposes of:

#1: sharing a little more about me, the area in which I live, my work, and my life so that my website email updates didn't get too long (sorry that didn't work ~ I'm still trying to shorten them!). Just little things here and there so my customers could get to know who I am and what I'm about.

and #2: networking, getting the word out about Honeysuckle Lane (since I do work from home and live in the middle of nowhere), learning from and sharing with other work-at-homers the pros and cons of combining home businesses and family, etc.

Blogs have opened up a whole new world for me. I know, that sounds so cliche`, but it's true! I have "met" so many truly kind, caring, generous people since I wrote my first blog post and I really, really love blogging! I have even met some of you in person!

So for now, I may use facebook and twitter mostly for business, just sharing updates, links to new items, and use my blog for the lengthier news. But... you know me... I start to type a short message and it grows and grows and grows.....

If you'd like to friend me on facebook or become a fan of Simple Joys Paperie or follow me on twitter ~ all of those links are in the sidebar at your left

<---------- somewhere over there.

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Now, on to something else. I have needed to clean house on my website for quite a while. I've been waiting for the right time, but when you sell online, and holidays and seasons keep popping up, it's hard to choose the right time for down time in your shop! Nevertheless, I have removed many items from my website. I will be taking some to a few shops that sell my work, and I'll be returning some to the site. I also wanted to re-work the background pages, but I may not have time to do that, we'll see.

So, if you are visiting Honeysuckle Lane and it looks a bit bare, please come back mid September. I hope to have it re-stocked by then.

In the meantime, my etsy shops will still have items in them. Simple Joys Paperie is stocked with paper wreaths and Honeysuckle Lane has a miscellany of handmade items.

Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope you have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

Lana of Honeysuckle Lane & Simple Joys Paperie

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p.s. I didn't have any appropriate photos for my post today, so I used the faces of my dolls...

faces... facebook... get it? It's a stretch, I know...

A Few Favorites...

I think I've shared some of my collections before but I thought I'd share this photo with you today. I was taking photos of my latest wreath for etsy, and decided to hang it over a mirror to show another way to display them.

And that brings us to one of my favorite things ~ old mirrors. I actually have 6 hanging right there in the foyer, although you only see the largest one in that shot. I have several more in other rooms, and even more sitting around waiting to be placed in just the perfect spot.

Another love of mine is old hardware as seen in the tall metal compote. I can't resist old door knobs, hinges, metal doo-dads of any kind... even those that I have no idea of their use.

And last, in the photo, is the walnut fiddle that my husband made from scratch ~ no kit! Some one gave him a chunk of walnut. He referred to photos (and an actual fiddle if I remember correctly), and rough cut the basic shapes. He used a piece of broken glass to carefully, and meticulously, carve and shave, and carve and shave, until the walnut was shaped just so, and then he put it all together to make this wonderful instrument.

He is so talented... and yet so humble about his talents. This is definitely a piece that will be passed down through the family.

MACRO beauties

Check out all the beautiful floral photographs on etsy! Just click on the photo above to be taken to this particular treasury. You can then click on each photo to view the details.

Now that I know how to make a treasury, I try to get one every few days and make something related by color or theme.

Facebook challenged

Quite some time ago I decided to open a Facebook account. Soon after, I was swamped with people wanting to be my friend! I hadn't even told anyone I was on FB, didn't really know how it worked as of yet, and didn't know 95% of these potential friends! I thought my account was hidden anyway. So, I closed it. Fast forward several months to... oh.... maybe 2 months ago. After reading about how facebook helps with artists' sales, I thought I'd give it a try, after all, who couldn't use a little help in this economy? I re-open my account, and left it there. It was so confusing to me... nothing like blogger... maybe a bit more like twitter as everyone seems to post short posts. Now we are in the present, and I hear more and more people talking about how wonderful FB is... ok... let me try it once more then. This morning I finally, after repeated attempts and having to reset my password, I finally log into my account. Wow! All these people want to be my friend? I'm both flattered and honored! I had been getting a few email messages about so-and-so wanting to friend me, but I just deleted them from my email knowing I probably wouldn't be going to FB any time soon. So now here is this loooong list of people wanting to be-friend me. Why not take the plunge? I would only friend those who I know or who I have heard of through blogs and craft groups... people I think will be nice people and not have "bad" stuff on their walls (see? at least I know you have a wall there, lol!). I begin sending messages like crazy... and those word verification things are driving me nuts with each new message, but I continue like a mad-facebooker.... until......... and this is so funny............ I realize that all these people were just suggestions ~ not actual people who have asked to be my friend! Talk about embarrassing!!! So, if you got a request from me to be your friend, I thought you had already asked me and I was just replying! I will do my best to learn how to participate in FaceBook and not be a total dork. Honestly. Soon. I think I will try to have an account just for my business too, if it's not too complicated.

In the meantime, I have listed another 1897 Medical Book Wreath on etsy. A closeup of the centerpiece is at the top of this post. It's the last one from that book, since I have run out of pages. I do have a few interesting illustrations left that I hope to use on something else that I make.

Thanks for checking in, and if you have any FB tips, feel free to comment!

I would post how to get to my FB page here, but I don't know how, lol!

Folk Art Treasures...

I made another etsy treasury last night! Just click on the photo to be taken to the treasury page. From there you can click on each photo to view the individual folk art pieces.

Enjoy!

What do a doctor, a teacher, and a college student have in common?

Why, they all need paper wreath sculptures for their decor, of course!

I listed these in my etsy shop tonight:

Simple Joys Paperie

This first one would be perfect for a doctor...

(8/6 ~ and it was on etsy's front page this morning!)

(SOLD ~ thank you!)

I think a teacher would appreciate this one...

(sold ~ thank you!)

and this one is from a book called From a College Window.
The first thing I thought of was wall decor for a college dorm or a college professor's office.



Thanks for stopping by!

A new blog

I've started a new blog called SOLDIER UNKNOWN. Come by for a visit when you have time.
http://1944soldierunknown.blogspot.com/

Heaven... I'm in Heaven.......

... that's what I am sure Sam was purring the day he discovered bundles and bundles of catnip in the backyard! I had cut and bundled all the catnip and left it in the backyard while I went in the house for something. When I came back outside, this is what I found:

Oh how Sam LOVES catnip!

He eats it, then rolls around and around...


...and around...

ahhhhhhh.... this is the life for a cat...

After the catnip dried in my basement, I stripped off all the leaves and blooms to use in my handmade catnip mouse toys.

Scooter seems to like his toy:

he played and played...

then he decided to take it somewhere else, probably so that Sam wouldn't take it from him!

I have a few sets of catnip toys for sale tonight at the TEA webshow listed under Honeysuckle Lane.

Come on over for a visit: The Eclectic Artisans

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