My love of birds...

Don't you just love birds? I love opening the doors and windows every day so I can hear them sing. I keep feeders just outside my workroom and they provide my music. I can hear them now as I type this post. Nothing can compete with nature's melody. I love them. I guess that's why I collect bird items ~ bird prints, bird nests (found fallen from the branches), bird egg shells, feathers, bird watercolors and needlework made by friends, etc. I also make bird themed items, I have made more of my A Bird in the Hand pieces than I can count and I love painting birds. My paintings are just whimsical watercolors inspired by 18th and 19th century fraktur art. My most recent ones are pictured above and may be seen in individual photos on the Artwork page of my website.

Below are some of the birds around our home...

TD ~ the turkey that won't leave. He's outside the pen and I'm inside with the chickens, lol!

Pierre, my Americana ~ I know, you're thinking ~ she named an Americana, Pierre???

One of the beautiful mourning doves that comes to visit...

My bird nest collection...

Another beautiful visitor...

Bobbie Jo, the Barred Rock hen...

I'll be back in a few days to show a few more photos of the chickens. I have some really sweet ones of Pierre feeding his sweetheart.

Take Care & God Bless,

Lana

~*~

A Bird in the Hand... & a Bit of Whimsy

Even though I LOVE winter and *s*n*o*w*, I have been thinking about springtime lately. I've also already had people asking about the Bird in Hand pieces I make each year. I usually make those in March or April, but I thought I'd do something related.

These original watercolors are inspired by the saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". They are quite whimsical as you don't usually see a hand in the air holding a bird! I have done three paintings, same theme, but different designs.

They may be seen at Simply Primitives, The Primitive Gathering, and TDIPT Mercantile (see links in sidebar under Honeysuckle Lane Wares Are Sold Here). I have also made note cards from the original watercolors. I had such fun painting these, I think I'll do more in the future!

Through Virtual Doors...

When I walked through the virtual doors of internet groups a few years ago, I was a bit apprehensive. I was cautious and decided to join a moderated craft group that was open only to members. I soon found that it was a group filled with delightful ladies who shared with others their love of crafting and of early American history.

It was in that first group that I heard of online market groups. I eventually joined a few of those and began selling my handmade items in craft co-ops.

As a member of those groups, I became acquainted with more and more kind, caring, and thoughtful women. Many of us have been on groups together for quite some time; long enough for me to learn that these women are as thoughtful and generous and gifted as anyone a person could ever meet.

Today I came home and found a package in my mailbox. I recognized the sender, but hadn't ordered anything from her. It was from Barb of thimblefolk ~ we have been in a few online markets together for a few years now. When I opened the package I couldn't have been more excited! It was a bird on a pincushion that I had admired.

And it was MY COLORS!

Just look at this sweet bird. Barb's work is always adorable; always whimsical.


I love the feather stitches and Fench knots all around the pincushion.

And look ~ Barb even added a little teapot charm! One of the groups that we are on together is The Eclectic Artisans, or TEA.

She combined so many of my favorite things: birds, sewing (pincushion and spool of thread), and that gorgeous color! Barb included a card of her adorable Mr. Whipplestitch and a note about why she sent me the gift. She is such a kind and giving person.

Pictured below, along with my gift from Barb, is a wonderfully rustic birdhouse from Jen of Country Rustic Primitives. She makes the best birdhouses, and if you get one from her, you are very lucky. I don't think she makes them as often since she is busy with her fantastic stitcheries.

The gorgeous hooked rug / mat in the foreground was designed and hooked by Barb's sister, Sarah of The Paisley Studio. It looks perfect in my workroom and I love the folk art design!

Jen and Sarah are also on our TEA group.

Now, let's back-track a little... About a week and a half ago, I received a package in the mail, from a name I recognized, Cheri, but I wasn't expecting anything for her.

I opened it and I cried. Just out of the blue, I was given this touching piece of art from a friend that I met in the first online group I had ever joined.

This painting was inspired by a photo I took of a rambling rosebush that belonged to my Mom. Cheri knew of the relationship I had with my Mom and she knew how much I loved her and how much I miss her. And she painted this for me.

Cheri designs and cuts her own stencils, and then hand paints the theorems with oils. Look at all the detail and shading! Her work is always perfection.

Cheri has so many talents: painting, papercutting, basket weaving, quilting, and much, much more. She generously gives many of her quilts to foster kids and to families of stillborn babies. I got to meet Cheri and her husband, Matt, a couple of years ago when they were on vacation. It was too short a visit, but long enough for me to know she is a wonderful person.

I am so blessed to have met so many kind and caring people through blogging and online craft groups. You do have to use caution when online, but for the most part, it is a rewarding experience in more ways than one!

I Just Had To...

Late last night I had this urge to do a little watercolor. So near midnight, I was out in my workroom, going through stacks of art pads and papers trying to find my watercolor paper.

I found a few pieces that had already been cut to size and stained, pulled one out, and began sketching. I combined a few things I have sitting around the house: a pretty little turquoise bird my sister bought for me a few years back, stacks of books (in every room), an old pewter vase, and a twiggy branch. I added leaves to the branch although the one I have is bare.

Next came a loose wash of watercolors. I used my little Koi Watercolor Travel Kit. It' so handy!

I went to bed and this morning I added details to the dry painting with a fine tip black pen.

The final step was to add highlights here and there with my Uni-ball Signo Pen. I can find no other that writes as well as this one!

And there you have it... the late night / early morning meanderings of my mind and fingers. :)


Oh, and this little painting reminds me of a favorite quote:
"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come." ~ old Chinese proverb

yes, I goofed on the year! :)

Blessings,
Lana

Whimsical Artwork

(update... SOLD ~ thank you so much!)

A fun and whimsical piece I recently painted is now for sale at Prim and Whimsy Girls.

Click the photo to go to my page and please be sure to visit all the other pages, too!

Book Sale! ~ updated

UPDATE ~ over half the books have been sold ~ thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Friday!

After high winds, rain, hail, and downed trees and power lines yesterday morning, our electricity was out from about 5 am to 4 pm. Since I couldn't run my sewing machine as planned, I took advantage of that time and moved a book case from one room to another, reorganized books in 3 book cases, and pulled some craft and reference books to sell.

I had only planned on looking for a few books, then one thing led to another and it became a several hour task. I found duplicates of books, books I had forgotten about, and books that I no longer was interested in the particular subject... or possibly I knew I'd never find the time to pursue all of the crafts that they described!

{bird theme painting collages by my friend Suzanne; the doll is the first hand-sculpted paper clay doll I made}

On a side note, I thought I had just about lost my passion for dollmaking, but when I picked up this doll and looked at her more closely, seeing all my mistakes but loving her imperfections, I decided that I'm not through with that craft. When I have more time to make dolls and enjoy the process, I'll dive back into it!

Now, back to the books --- For now, most of my book cases are the cheap ones from Walmart. Hopefully, at some point, I'll have good, sturdy, solid wood book cases. Yesterday I pretty much just cleaned off the shelves, sorted through the books, and put everything back on the shelves. I'll rearrange the books and knick-knacks a little better when I have time.
 

The books that I'm selling are now listed on the vintage page of my website. If you don't see them here, just refresh your page a time or two, or clear your recent browsing history. Some of the subjects included are historical costumes, doll houses and miniatures, craft business, pincushions, early American decor, and folk art. If your order consists of only books and magazines, I can ship them via media mail which is usually a cheaper rate. Sorry, no international shipping this time.

I've got so much to do over the weekend... I don't know if I'll get it finished or not! Guess I'll do as much as possible till late tonight and then start bright and early in the morning and work all day and evening tomorrow, too. Even so, I hope all of you have a wonderful, fun, relaxing weekend!

Take care and 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

I WON! & see what's new tonight...

I think Blogger is messing with me today. First it published my blank post, when all I had was the title, then I had a few paragraphs typed up and was going to add a photo and it all disappeared ~ even the draft! So, let's try again.....

I'm not even going to talk about corn and beans in this post, except to tell you that I'm not mentioning them, lol! See? I can't get away from the garden for a minute! Although, when I said in another post that I'd probably dream about corn ~ I didn't ~ I dreamed about painting the house ~ and I have absolutely no idea why!

My reason for writing today is two-fold. First, I won Jacquelynne's giveaway! Look at all the gifts that were in the box I received! She is a wonderful artist as well as a very sweet lady. Be sure to go visit her and browse her new online shop while you're there. See the two pins? She made those! And all the card sets? She painted the originals and had cards made from her artwork! She also included one of her patterns and a couple of really good books for me to read. Thank you Jacquelynne!!!

My second reason for writing today is to let you know I will have new items for sale on my website tonight. There will be watercolor frakturs, a new Autumn twist on my Bird in Hand pieces, and some sweet pincushions that I made after seeing an antique that I couldn't afford and thought, "I can make those myself!" Set your clocks for 8pm central ~ that's when I'll update my website.

Thanks for visiting!
~*~

Lavender Festival & a Visit from Painter of the Past ~ updated

Thanks for checking back in ~ I thought I'd better get this post taken care of before I forget how everything went! I am now in my 40s, you know, and I've discovered that the memory of a 41 year old is not quite the same as the memory of a 31 year old.

My family and I thoroughly enjoyed having Suzanne / Painter of the Past here for a visit. I didn't want to wear her out, but at the same time, didn't want her to be bored! Besides all the chatting we did while she was here, I took her to see some of the sights in the area.

First on the list were several thrift / junk / antique shops. We spent the whole day junking! I actually was quite proud of myself. I didn't buy a lot that day, but did find a couple Trixie Belden books. I read the series as a girl and would LOVE to put a set together a set again.

Another day I took Suzanne to Rugby where we browsed the 2 story Commissary, and drove around the village where I showed her homes from the 1880's as well as several new homes that my husband and his brothers built. Pictured below is the church in Rugby and one of the old homes.

Saturday, the day of the Lavender Festival we were up before the chickens! It's about an hour's drive to Oak Ridge and we had to leave in time to get everything set up and move the car before people started arriving. When we were leaving the house at about 5:15 am, we stepped out on the porch and heard a loud whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!! The turkey decided to fly down from his roost as we were leaving!

The photos below are taken at the festival. The first one is looking from my booth out onto the parking lot where it was packed with vendors getting ready for the crowd.

Next, is a photo of my booth. This year we were asked to scrunch up to an 8x8 space instead of the usual 10x10. It worked out fine and I had great sales!

A fellow blogger came by to visit ~ Donna of Cottage Days & Journeys and her husband stopped to say hello. Both of them were such nice people! Another lady, Karen, came by to say hello too. She doesn't have a blog, but has visited mine... and she was a vendor at the festival. Karen had some really pretty cottage style painted items in her booth.

Betsy of Foothill Primitives and her husband, Tim, came by to see Suzanne and me! She brought both of us a bag of her handmade wax ornaments that smell soooo good! We were hoping to see a few more ladies from online groups, but they couldn't make it. Maybe next year! This is Betsy and me...

Sunday after church, we went to Pall Mall, TN in Fentress County (my home county where I was born and raised). We visited Sgt. Alvin C. York's home, and the old store and the gristmill. It was a nice relaxing day ~ which was needed after the busy day at the festival. Below s a photo of Sgt. York's homeplace.

This last photo was taken the day we took Suzanne back to the airport. That's me on the left (Rachael ~ you're right! Jess cut my hair), my daughter Jessica in the middle, and Suzanne on the right. We didn't take any goodbye photos at the airport, which was just as well, since I did start to get a little teary and that wouldn't have made a good photo!

On the way to the airport, we were already planning another visit, so...... I'm sure we'll have more trips to share with you someday.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit Suzanne's blog for more photos.

~*~

UPDATE! Suzanne brought me some beautiful gifts when she came to visit.

First is a watercolor painting she did of a mourning dove. I love these birds and enjoy watching them on my back porch. They were always in abundance at my parents' home and Mama and Daddy always made sure that the doves had plenty of food. They enjoyed sitting on the porch and watching the birds, too.

Suzanne and I have a mutual friend, Patti, who does exceptional needlework! Several months ago, Patti surprised me with a Simple Joys stitched heart. It's perfect! For this piece, she used a Stacy Nash pattern. Then, when Suzanne was here, besides the beautiful watercolor, she gave me the silhouette pillow that she purchased from Patti. Isn't is gorgeous? I have a collection of bird prints and rescued nests and eggs (or parts of egg shells) and this goes perfectly with them. Patti also has a blog so be sure to go say hello.

Now, unless I rememeber something else that I previously forgot... I'll move on to something else in the next post. Smokey is growing, the garden is coming in, and the turkey is still around... I'm sure I'll have something to talk about!

Have a safe, happy, and blessed 4th of July!

Lana of Honeysuckle Lane

~*~