Last Sale Before Christmas!

I've listed the last of my handmade items for this month...

Puzzle Purse Valentines...

and Christmas Tokens made in the same manner...

Tennessee Wild Cherry Burl Pendants...

and a few more Holly Berry Sprigs...

and Mistletoe Clusters, this time made from NOS (new old stock) vintage glass alabaster beads from Czechoslovakia...

I still have to finish up a few wreath orders, but then I'm taking a break for a few weeks to enjoy the Christmas season. :)


Take care & God bless,
Lana

In Progress...

I'm trying to finish up several projects before the 15th in the hopes that I can take a couple weeks off for things here at home ... and reading between the lines... that means more work! :)

In the first couple of photos, I made a few more holly berry sprigs to list in my Honeysuckle Lane blog sale.


I found some antiqued brass chains for the wild cherry burl disks, which in turn made them into pretty pendants! They will be added to the same shop sale later this week.

I'm painting about 1/2 a dozen more puzzle purse valentines to offer before Christmas...

And I'm working on a few more mistletoe clusters. These are made from NOS (new old stock), vintage, glass alabaster beads from Czechoslovakia!

One more thing: I marked $5 off each velvet pumpkin, velvet pumpkin set, and bird in hand pincushion in my Etsy shop. And if you happen to have a coupon code from some past purchase, you could use it and get even more off!
Just visit my Honeysuckle Lane Etsy shop to see those items.


I have a few more wreath orders to get out the door this week...
and then I may get some more things accomplished for the house.
Wish me luck! :)


Thanks for stopping by!
Take care and God bless,
Lana

Homemade Beeswax Paste

My husband recently cut more wild cherry burl pieces for the pendants we are making. They have a gorgeous grain already, but a finish of some sort would really bring out the beauty of the grain!

I wanted to use something natural on them, and after getting his opinion and reading what other woodworkers used, I decided to make my own beeswax paste concoction.

It's really simple... beeswax and mineral oil! I had a block of beeswax purchased from a beekeeper, and I bought mineral oil from the local pharmacy.

Using the double boiler method, I put about 2 oz. beeswax and 1 cup mineral oil in a glass pyrex measuring cup. I set the pyrex cup in a small cooker about 1/2 full of water. Turned the burner a little more than 1/2 way between low and medium, and stirred occasionally until the beeswax had melted. You want to keep an eye on it at all times and do not boil the water, just get it started simmering... just barely.
 

Once the beeswax has melted, remove from the pot of water and pour into a glass jelly jar.

Some websites suggested using olive oil, but many people warned that it would go rancid and mineral oil was the better choice and used by many woodworkers.

I was happy with how easy it was to make... and it looks pretty, too!

I went in Roger's woodworking shop and sanded the disks, first with a medium grit sandpaper, then with a fine grit. Roger was already in the auto side of his shop working on a 1951 Ford tractor, so we kept each other company through the open door while we worked. :)

I brought the wooden disks back inside and applied the beeswax paste with a soft cloth, let it absorb for a few hours, buffed with a 0000 steel wool pad, applied another coat of beeswax paste, waited, and then buffed with a soft cloth. Can you see the difference between the unfinished and finished pieces below?

The wood now has a satiny feel... not dry, but not glossy or slick.

And the grain is gorgeous!

This week I'll finally be purchasing the chains, jump rings, etc. to make them into pendants.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll get them listed soon... :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care & God bless,
Lana

A Real Christmas Tree!

This year we bought a real tree!

Roger and I had the kids come along to pick out a Christmas tree this year. We hadn't had a real one since the early days of our marriage and we were excited to get one this year!

 We got Jess, Jennifer (Michael's wife), and Wesley to come with us, but Michael had to work later that day and didn't get to help us choose.

After Roger cut it for us, Jess and Jennifer hauled it to the store on the drag sled

to be spun (that shakes out any loose needles),

trimmed (ours didn't need it),

and baled in netting.

Roger loaded it in his old Ford pickup and home we went!

Jess and Jennifer decorated the tree for me again this year. We did not have one anywhere near this big in a long time, so I had to scrap together a couple of ornament collections for them to have enough for the tree!

Roger estimated the size nearly perfect when he cut it! It only liked about an inch touching the ceiling when it was set up and we just trimmed about 3 inches off to have room to add the little star topper. Now I need to wrap a larger piece of muslin around the base and start adding presents under the tree!

 I think we'll do this again next year...

this was fun!