3 Years of Blogging Giveaway!

Well, here we are again... another year... another 100 posts (nearly) for a total of (almost) 300 posts!

To thank everyone for visiting and commenting over the years (even during days of blog post drought) I want to give away 3 of my Vintage Damask Lavender Eye Pillows. You may see and read more about them here: http://www.honeysucklelane.com/fancifulwhimsies.htm

I'll go more in depth about blogging for the past 3 years when I have the drawing for the giveaway, so for now, I'll just announce the rules to enter so we can get started., okay? :)
You will have 5 chances to enter (choose one, a few, or all, in any order):

1. 1st entry, Comment on THIS POST. You don't have to have a blog, but please make sure to leave a name and email link so that I can notify you in case you win.
2. For a 2nd entry, go to this page: http://www.honeysucklelane.com/fancifulwhimsies.htm, and come back and tell me in the comments of this post which is your favorite eye pillow (lavender, peacock blue, etc.)
3. For a 3rd entry, become a follower of this blog or let me know you are already following; let me know in the comments of this post.
4. For a 4th entry, tweet or facebook this giveaway, and come back to leave your twitter or Facebook link in the comments of this post.
5. For a 5th entry, blog about the giveaway (either insert the eye pillow photo in your sidebar or in a blog post) and link to this post. You may choose another photo from this page if you wish (http://www.honeysucklelane.com/fancifulwhimsies.htm). Be sure to come back and let me know by leaving a link to your blog.

I will draw 3 winners on the evening of April 18th.
I will accept entries worldwide.

Thanks for stopping by today and good luck!

Take Care and God Bless,
Lana

Simple Photo Shoot Setup

I listed some Vintage Lavender Eye Pillows on my website this week and thought would I share just how easy it is to make a decent little area for a simple photo shoot. Mind you, there are many, many more blogs with professional looking photos and tutorials, but this one will show just how quick and easy it is to get you started.

First I gathered my product (the eye pillow) and the props (the ironstone dish, lavender buds, and a vintage powder box with the word Lavender on it).

Next, I pulled a rickety, old, $1 table over to the open door (an open door or window are my favorite places to take product photos). I just purchased it last week ~ for a dollar I couldn't pass it up; if nothing else works, I can always use the spindles for something. I stood an old shutter up against the door. The sun had already gone over the house, so I was still getting natural daylight, but not bright, direct light. Looks a bit rough, huh? Excuse the items underneath ~ those are things from my Junk Sale that are ready to be boxed.

Then I draped a quilt over the shutter and on the table. The print was too busy for my items, so I scrounged around in a box and found an old cotton slip to use as the backdrop. I stuck a couple of straight pins at the top to keep it from slipping down. Get it? Slipping ~ LOL! Sorry, I'm a bit tired and that's all I could come up with...

After I got the items arranged, I took a few shots using the closeup feature (not macro, just closeup) and no flash, and I think I got some pretty decent photos with very little effort or trouble.

I hope that helps a little, and if you have any tips, feel free to share them in the comments.

Thanks so much for dropping by and don't forget to leave a comment.

I'd love to hear from you!

Take Care and God Bless,

Lana

~*~

Spring Forward in the Spring Junk Sale!

Well, due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to move some of my boxes in the basement, and while they were out in the way, I decided to go through them. One thing led to another, and now I'm having a Junk Sale earlier than expected.

When you have time to browse or shop, come on over to my Spring Cleaning Junk Sale. There are a few crafty things listed as well as some interesting vintage items. The more you buy, the more you save ~ be sure to read about the % Off Bonus!

~*~

If anyone would like to post the Junk Sale banner below on the sidebar of your blog and link to my Junk Sale page (http://www.honeysucklelane.com/Spring%20Cleaning%20Junk%20Sale.htm), I'd really appreciate it! If you do add it to your sidebar and you, the blog owner, make a purchase, I will give you 25% off your total before shipping as a thank you. Just let me know that it's on your blog when you purchase.

Have a great weekend!

Take Care and God Bless,

Lana

~*~

Winding down...

...or maybe I'm gearing up? I'm finishing a few orders this week along with a few things to list on Simply Primitives on the 15th, and then I'm taking 2 weeks off... maybe 3, we'll see how that goes.

I have a looooooong list of things to do around the house and outside the house, and frankly I don't think 3 weeks will be enough time. I may have to split it up and do half the list this summer when I take a few more weeks off.

Sometime in April, I will have another Junk Sale which includes craft and reference books, supplies, home decor items... whatever I clear out while spring cleaning. I'll be sure to announce it when I do have the Junk Sale pages ready again, but now that you know ~ start saving your pennies for a little junk splurge! :)

I will also be thinking about a giveaway in April. I'm not quite sure what it will be, but I'll come up with something that will hopefully please you.

FACEBOOK FANS ~ If you are a fan of my Simple Joys Paperie shop, you have the opportunity to purchase my Heart in Hand Black and Ivory Wreath at a 10% discount this week.
http://www.facebook.com/SimpleJoysPaperie

The sun is shining today, it's 65 degrees, the birds are singing, the windchimes are tinkling, and I have all the doors and windows open! What a lovely day we have been blessed with here in TN!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

~*~

Daffodils continued...

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth, 1170-1850

~*~

Here are the Petite Daffodil Pillows as promised!

Each spring I make several little tokens of spring, daffodil pillows being one of many.

The ones pictured above are available on my website, though a few have already sold today:

www.honeysucklelane.com/needlework.htm.

I have more that need to be stuffed, and they will be listed in my Honeysuckle Lane Etsy shop over the weekend:

http://www.honeysucklelane.etsy.com/.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed weekend!

Lana

~*~

A Simple Way to Package a Product

I was packaging some small items for a local shop and thought I'd share this simple process with you. I realize this will be very basic for many of you, but if you are like me, when I first started selling my work, I needed even basic tips ~ and still do at times. So here goes...

In the past, I'd tag each item with a business card and the shop would tag the card with the price and vendor #. This works well for items that could be displayed in a large bowl and that could be handled without worry of damage or soiling. This product is a fabric mouse filled with catnip. It doesn't damage easily, but due to keeping the catnip herb as fresh as possible, I wanted to keep it in a sealed bag.

First, I used clear bags with an adhesive lip from Staples Industrial, popped in a catnip toy that I made and sealed it shut.

Next, I printed product labels on cardstock with a program called PrintMaster Silver 12. That link is for the most recent one, Silver 17. I've had the old version for years and never upgraded since it serves my basic needs just as well for printing all sorts of labels and cards. I printed 4 labels to a page by choosing a horizontal postcard layout. When designing the labels, I had to keep in mind that I would be folding the postcard over the top of the bag and stapling it closed. So my product name and description was in the lower half of the postcard. The price and vendor # was in the upper half, but rotated 180 degrees to make it upside down, which would be right side up once it was folded in half... does that make sense? I cut the labels apart, folded in half horizontally, and stapled over the tops of the bags.

Just a note about what I put on my label: it shows the product name, the product description, and my business name and website. The back of the label has my vendor # and the shop's retail price. This particular shop doesn't mind that I have my website address on the label or on my business card tags. However, some shops ask that you do not list websites or contact information on your product labels since they are carrying your product. You may want to keep that in mind when packaging your items for shops.

I hope you can make sense of what I described and that it can be of help.


Tomorrow around noon I will share photos of my finished Simply Spring Daffodil Pillows, so come back by for a visit when you have time.

Take Care & God Bless,
Lana
~*~

Make-Do ~ A Keeper?

I was looking for some photos on a disk and ran across this one. It's a make-do pincushion I made a few years ago. I used it as one of my submissions to Early American Life magazine's Directory of Traditional American Crafts and happily, I was chosen. Later, I had the pincushion for sale on my website but decided to keep it. I love the old embroidered scrap of pink fabric on top and the soft, taupe velvet around the sides, but it doesn't really match my decor, not the pink anyway. So now I am thinking about re-listing it on the Pincushions page of my website. Maybe I can make up my mind by the weekend.

To Daffodils

Fair daffodils, we weep to see

You haste away so soon;

As yet the early-rising sun

Has not attained his noon.

Stay, stay

Until the hasting day

Has run

But to the evensong;

And, having prayed together, we

Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay as you,

We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

As you, or anything.

We die

As your hours do, and dry

Away

Like to the summer's rain;

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,

Ne'er to be found again.

 

(Robert Herrick, 1591-1674)

 

 

~*~

 

I'm finishing up several petite daffodil pillows tomorrow. I'll be back Friday with more photos of them.

Shaker Village, Pleasant Hill, KY

The past two weeks while I was sick, many of those days I didn't have the energy to get up and do anything; but as long as I could stay awake, I sat at the table or on the couch and kept busy with jewelry making or going through old files on my laptop and a stack of cds and dvds. I found one of the cds that holds photos of the trip Roger and I took to Shaker Village in Kentucky in 2006. These aren't the best photos ever, as there were other tourists waiting in line to see everything and I had to snap a shot whenever possible.

Shaker Village is a place where I could visit again and again and never tire of it. I'll share more photos soon. Enjoy!