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!

Winter White Wonderland

Some of you are tired of seeing snow... and some of you don't have or want any snow... but I ask you to please forgive me for the title of this post and indulge me for just a bit of nostalgic snowiness. :)

As a kid I LOVED winter and the snows that came with it. It may just be selective memory, but I am pretty sure we had more days of snow and bigger snows when I was a kid in the 70s. I did not love traveling in snow, however. We lived on a country side road, with a long gravel driveway. Whenever we went anywhere --- and believe me, we always went somewhere when it snowed --- at the end of the driveway, if you turned left, you immediately were going uphill and if you turned right you immediately were going downhill towards a small bridge in a curve that crossed Big Creek and that immediately went uphill and then around another curve!

So, my Dad being the adventuresome guy that he was, could not wait to go visit when it came a snow. He was a country preacher and checking on church members / friends was always an excuse to hit the snowy roads --- that, and the opportunity to tell the guys how we slid down the hill, around the curve, gassed it and fish-tailed back and forth going up the other side. You see, we never owned a 4-wheel drive vehicle. And that never deterred Daddy. He'd take his old pick-up truck where any 4-wheel drive could go.

We'd bundle up in layers and mittens and scarves and hats and boots and take off on an adventure!

There were times Mama and I got out and walked down the road a ways while Daddy drove the more treacherous (to us) part of the road. While walking, which was often at night since we went after Daddy got home from work, and if the snow was over, we enjoyed the silence of a snowy night (except for the truck, of course!). We'd look up at the sparkling, glittering sky that God had blessed us to see.

Late in the night, after visits were made and assurances that everyone had groceries in their homes, we turned toward home. When we were safely there, we took off our coats and mittens and scarves and hats and boots and layers of clothing, put on our flannel pajamas and warmed our toes by the wood stove that Daddy had just loaded with more sticks of wood... enough to last through the night.

And if, by chance, it was still snowing, and the winds were blowing, you could hear the sound of winter... calling through the white pines and hemlocks.

Our house was a little drafty, so at bedtime Mama would get a quilt and hold it over the stove to get really good and warm. Then I'd hop in the bed and she'd tuck it around me under the other covers to keep me warm.

  There we were, at home, with those we loved... nothing could have been better...

...except for it to never end. ♥

~*~

All of the items you see are available on my shop blog.

I love making things that have a bit of nostalgic ambiance...

something to remind me of my childhood...

or earlier times...

when life was slower and more peaceful.

Have a blessed day!

Lana

Goodbye, Sweet Sam

Saturday we had to say goodbye to one of the sweetest cats we've ever had the joy of having in our family.

Sam was given to me by my Mom 10 years ago... he was probably 1 - 1 1/2 years old then.

He was a sweet-natured cat and patiently shared his space with the turkeys and birds and chickens.

 

He loved catnapping... a lot!

 

...even with dogs yapping all around him...

He quietly sat on the back porch, watching squirrels in the nearby trees.

 And catnapped some more...

I've posted about Sam over the years... you can read stories about his love of catnip, his turkey watching, and tolerance of dogs here.

Goodbye, Sweet Sam. We'll miss you. ♥