Winter White Velvet Pumpkin Giveaway!

After making so many orange, rust, and bittersweet pumpkins, I began to get requests for white pumpkins. It took a while, but I finally found a large, vintage, crushed velvet bedspread and purchased it. It didn't come as cheap as I'd hoped, but it was worth the purchase!

This velvet is not bright white, but a winter white or ivory, which makes it go even better with the recycled, felted cashmere wool leaves I am using with them.

Now for the giveaway --- you will need to do 1 thing:
>>> Visit my Honeysuckle Lane Folk Art facebook page and click to share the giveaway link on your facebook page.

If you'd like a second chance, leave a comment on my facebook page telling me which item you like best from my Honeysuckle Lane Etsy shop.

That's all there is to it! I'll draw a winner on Thanksgiving Day and ship out the pumpkin asap!

Thanks,
Lana

More of the Same - Cute Pets!

 Can one ever have too many cute pet photos? I think not!

{Thor, Ava's brother}

{Ava}

{Sam, the true Alpha dog in this family!}

{Thor and that uncontrollable tongue!}

{Inquisitive Ava}

{What??? Spoiled, you say?}

{This looks so uncomfortable, but it's how Luna rests on the swing!}

{Ava & Thor}

{Big Baby Buddy - seriously, he is a big baby! He even sounds just like a crying baby when he's trying to get attention!}

{Thor}

{Thor. Sometimes the only way I can tell Thor and Ava apart in photos is to look for the black on Thor's paws and legs.}

Happy Monday!
Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

Picking Up the Pieces

That's what it feels like.
I have been gone from my blog since August 24th! I don't think I've ever left it alone for nearly 2 months before!

I've been busy, and not. I've been working like crazy, but it feels like I haven't accomplished much at all. Perhaps it's because I still have a long list of things to do and although I've been doing a lot, it wasn't things on my list.

I can't complain about it though. I've had LOTS of angel wings and velvet pumpkin orders coming in... so many that I've not been able to work on much else.

I did manage to take off this past Saturday and visit the Foothills Fall Festival in Maryville, TN for the first time! Jessica went with me and we spent most of the day strolling down the street, shopping the Artway. I loved it! And of course we had to stop at one of the many food booths and get a char-broiled burger, ribbon fries and sweet tea! I would share some photos of our day but someone forgot to put the memory card in her camera and I don't want to publicly humiliate her. ;-)

I made a few purchases, one of which was this gorgeous, heavy, white turquoise necklace by Crooked Creek Designs. The ladies there were so nice! My biggest regret at that booth was not buying a beautiful chunky necklace on the 50% off table. It was a lovely golden-yellow glass looking stone... maybe citrine, but I'm not sure.

I also bought a fun, whimsical item to display in my workroom. It's a bird egg made from alpaca hair by Fallen Leaf Farm Alpacas. I love it! I hung it in a little birdcage I bought a long time ago and it will go great with all the bird nests and eggs and feathers that I collect.

I had another purchase... one that I really loved even though it was the least expensive, but I broke it before I even left the festival! My first purchase was at a potter's booth, Julie Keepers of Covington, GA. She had made the sweetest business card holder that was glazed the prettiest robin's egg blue with little brown speckles and I had to have it --- it was only $6. It was wrapped in newspaper and placed in a shopping bag. Later, when I was looking at items in the Crooked Creek Designs booth, I tucked the bag under my arm. After some time, I reached to pick up a piece of jewelry, forgetting that I had the bag under my arm, and it hit the pavement. I nearly cried when I saw it had shattered. :(

Jess, being the optimist that I tried to raise her to be :), suggested that I salvage the pieces and make soldered charms from them, similar to the charms I make from the old pottery pieces I find on our property. I think I'll do just that! Thanks, Jess! :)

The festival was such a wonderful experience, the atmosphere was great, they had top-notch artists and performers --- Train, Darius Rucker, and Lauren Alaina to name a few, and Maryville is a lovely old college town. I am thinking about applying for a vendor booth next year. It's a 3 day event and a little farther from home, but I think I'm ready. :)

I hope you are enjoying October and taking time to smell the fresh air and watch the colorful leaves twirl and dance to the ground.......

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

Present and Accounted For...

It seems that every time I open my blog to update it, something waylays me and I have to stop what I'm doing and take care of other matters.

I am here, and I do have things to talk about... I just need a little breather to be able to sit down and talk write. I have no earth-shattering news, just the usual goings on and things I'd like to share.

For now, I'm just going to share a few photos with you and hopefully the next time I can get a fairly interesting blog post written.... and posted! :)

Take care and God bless,
Lana...
and Sam,
and Ava,
and Buddy,
and Luna,
and Thor!
~*~

Vintage Velvet Fruit Pincushions

Hello! I'm popping in to let you know I have listed a few Vintage Velvet Fruit Pincushions on my shop page tonight. Come on over and take a peek >>> Honeysuckle Lane Shop.

I'll be back in a few days with more news....

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

My How She's Grown!

Can you believe that Ava has gone from this...

{Awwww!}

to this in just 5 1/2 weeks?

{Jess and Ava}

And she is such a baby! She loves to be carried. She goes to the window and barks for someone to come pick her up so she can look out.

It will still be a few more weeks before she is big enough to move in with Luna and Buddy. They love to play with her but they play too rough for Ava's liking.

Now that we have the cuteness taken care of, I'd like to mention that I have several items listed on eBay right now. I am in the process of clearing out accumulated inventory, including some pieces I brought home from local and semi-local shops that sell my work. Some items may have slight imperfections, such as a chip in the paint or a tear in the paper backing on artwork. I will mention any of these that I see.
 

During the remainder of July, I will be listing lots of items, starting the bids at well below retail prices! Everything must go so I can start fresh in my studio. Please feel free to let your friends know about these auctions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~

Website Woes & Anniversary Sale

Website Woes: Well, I knew it would eventually happen --- my dinosaur of a website program (FrontPage) would finally bite the dust and fade away into the land of extinction. I won't bore you with all the technical details (because I don't understand them myself), but a month or so ago while trying to update my website, Honeysuckle Lane, the program kept freezing up and I'd get error messages. After many attempts to fix it, I uninstalled the program with the intentions of re-installing it. But I couldn't find my FrontPage disk! I have looked everywhere to no avail. So, unless I can buy one (an old one since Microsoft no longer makes FrontPage), I am going to have to find another way to build and update my website. And if I buy another one, I don't know if that will fix the problem I was having or not. Maybe it was a glitch on my computer?

Do any of you have any experience with other website builders? FrontPage is a WSIWYG (what you see is what you get) format... I never had to deal with html unless I wanted to go that route... and I didn't... so I really need something easy.

I know some of you have commerce websites through your blog platforms. Any preferences... Wordpress, Blogger, etc.? Feel free to leave a link to your shop in the comments so I can see the kind of set up you have and please tell me how you like it. Did you do it yourself or did you have someone set it up for you?

I really, really need some help on this so thank you in advance for any recommendations and advice!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Anniversary Sale: On July 29th Roger and I will celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary ! Yay! :) In honor of our 28 years of wedded bliss (insert cheering crowd here) I am offering 28% off every item in both of my Etsy shops. I need to clear out as much inventory as possible and start the next couple of months with a clean slate.

All you have to do is enter 28YEARS in the coupon code box during checkout at Etsy and your items will be discounted 28%.

My shops are Honeysuckle Lane and Simple Joys Paperie. This sale goes through July 31st.

I have also recently made 3 dozen more Felted Flower Pins. I am taking them to a couple of shops next week, but wanted to offer these to my online customers first. To thank you for making them so popular, I am selling them for $10 each through July 16th. You may see them here: HLSHOP.blogspot.com.

And on to another subject.... please don't write me off just yet. I've had a lot going on the last few weeks and have not been blogging about my weight-loss journey. There's just not been much going on with that, but I realize those of you that were with me at the start might benefit from reading about my slow times as well as the good times. I WILL be back next Wednesday to post about it.

Thanks for sticking with me! :)

(((HUGS!)))
& God bless,
Lana
~*~

Otherwise Occupied

I apologize for the lack of blog posts, missing Saturday Sundries posts and Weigh-In Wednesdays posts.

{Luna, our Siberian Husky pup}

I have been otherwise occupied with a festival, vet appointments, doctor appointments, and every day life.

We have gotten two new pups in the last few weeks.

{Luna with Ava, our feisty German Shepherd puppy}

I'm sure things will slow down soon... eventually.

Ava cries to go outside to play with Luna and Buddy. Luna is very patient and lets Ava growl and bite and tug at her ears, then she just holds her down with her paw, lol!

Buddy's still around, but I have no recent pics. He got fixed yesterday and will be a bit under the weather for a few days.

In the meantime, Ava will pose for the camera...

along with her little brother, Thor, who lives with my son and his wife...

{Ava & Thor}

{Thor}

So that's what's going on here. It's just like having little ones around again and I am getting pretty much nothing accomplished.... other than adding more cute puppy photos to my album! ;)

{Ava}

I'll check back in tomorrow for Weigh-In Wednesday.

Take care and God bless,
Lana
~*~