Pink Friday - Lavendar and Lace

A lavender field in full bloom creates a purple and green landscape and infuses a sweet fragrance into the air. A field of flowers brought to life with the buzzing of bees, decorated with birds and butterflies drawn to its fragrant aroma. The lavender fragrance wafts gently through the air, carrying the memories of flowers, happiness, and sunny days.

Far away, a summer porch, framed by windows with white lace, is surrounded with the scent of lavender. Lavender blooming in window boxes and flower pots, or decorating a flower garden with their purple blossoms. Whether along a country road or on a city street, the lavender scent embraces all indiscriminately.

Too beautiful to remain outdoors, the fragrance of lavender easily enters our homes and daily lives. From a carefully tended flowerbed we pick a tiny bunch and place it in a hand-cut crystal bud vase, where it can brighten a corner as it sits upon a vintage lace doily. Tuck a sprig of the tiny flowers into the lace band of a broad-brimmed summer hat, carrying the beautiful fragrance with us wherever we go. Or perhaps lay it inside a dresser drawer. Tie it with a tiny scrap of lace and hang it upon a wall, set it upon a shelf.

In a drawer or as a lavender bouquet tied with apple-green organdy ribbon, edged with a dainty row of lace, the loveliness of lavender is impossible to contain. An elegant centerpiece set upon an antique table draped with a vintage lace table cloth, it's a feast for more than the eyes as the fragrant aroma declares its presence. Sunlight shining through the lacy curtains warms the room and casts delicate shadows upon the wall. Suddenly, the room seems draped in a lavender landscape and fields of lace.

Joyce Lucas,Founder
www.MakeMinePink.com

Photos provided by istock photo

Slip Cover Beach Chair

Here is a new item I am adding to my website http://beloved-creations.com/

You will be able to order yours with your own personalization soon.

Show and Tell Monday at MMP

Please join us at http://www.makeminepink.com/ for show and tell Monday. Here is my work in progress. It is a pillowcase angel. I have done the embroidery and cut out her parts, now I just have to sew her together. She will be on my website http://www.beloved-creations.com/ next week.

I have also added to Bridal Party Gifts to my mmp site at http://www.makeminepink.com/boutiques/details/?store=37

Retro Swim Caps

I found these swim caps at http://headcovers.com/ and just love the one I got in the mail today.

Pink Friday - Keep it Green

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, April 17, 2009 as we "Keep It Green."

Restoring and repurposing vintage products keeps the earth clean while we decorate our homes and our lives. Suddenly following the 3 R's - reducing, reusing, and recycling - is much more than environmentally friendly. Now it's about making everyday things more beautiful. The practice of keeping it "green" can come in many colors... rose petal pink, poppy red, turquoise, pearl and yes, even green. Flea market finds and fragile memories edged with glitter, embossed with jewels, engraved, stitched and woven anew giving old treasures a new purpose.Items lovingly restored to more than their original beauty grace shelves and are welcomed into our cozy corners. Table linens returned to their crisp, former selves discover new life draped over an antique oak table or reinvented as a charming pillow or or tote. Silver pieces, shining brighter than before, sit proudly upon a freshly painted piece of discarded furniture. China and mirrored glass salvaged from cobwebbed corners set a graceful display.

Repurposing gives items with forgotten histories new stories to tell. Rescued needlepoints are transformed into luxurious pillows, stitched with beautiful silks and trims, and shared with a friend. Postcard pictures become pendants, someone's love notes worn as special gems. Silk ribbons, velvet trims, handmade lace, are added to vintage finds. Tapestries transform into bags, repurposed into something perfect, just for you. Even the smallest fragments of memories are unwasted. The tiniest scrap of lace from a time-ravaged heirloom can be reused, and add a "just-so" touch to a new creation.

Altered art repurposes the most unlikely items from the longest forgotten closets into pieces of beauty with new intent. Whimsical works assembled from many vintage and repurposed items. Shoes trimmed with flowers, pink winged fairies, items put together with nothing more than the intent to make you smile.

Joyce Lucas,Founder
www.MakeMinePink.com

Repurposed Fabric Tote Image by: Dianne Hadaway - Mama's Pocketbook
Repurposed Sweater Chick Image by: Tedi Mercer - Petite Bookstore1q

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Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, April 17, 2009 as we "Keep It Green."
Restoring and repurposing vintage products keeps the earth clean while we decorate our homes and our lives. Suddenly following the 3 R's - reducing, reusing, and recycling - is much more than environmentally friendly. Now it's about making everyday things more beautiful. The practice of keeping it "green" can come in many colors... rose petal pink, poppy red, turquoise, pearl and yes, even green. Flea market finds and fragile memories edged with glitter, embossed with jewels, engraved, stitched and woven anew giving old treasures a new purpose.Items lovingly restored to more than their original beauty grace shelves and are welcomed into our cozy corners. Table linens returned to their crisp, former selves discover new life draped over an antique oak table or reinvented as a charming pillow or or tote. Silver pieces, shining brighter than before, sit proudly upon a freshly painted piece of discarded furniture. China and mirrored glass salvaged from cobwebbed corners set a graceful display. Repurposing gives items with forgotten histories new stories to tell. Rescued needlepoints are transformed into luxurious pillows, stitched with beautiful silks and trims, and shared with a friend. Postcard pictures become pendants, someone's love notes worn as special gems. Silk ribbons, velvet trims, handmade lace, are added to vintage finds. Tapestries transform into bags, repurposed into something perfect, just for you. Even the smallest fragments of memories are unwasted. The tiniest scrap of lace from a time-ravaged heirloom can be reused, and add a "just-so" touch to a new creation. Altered art repurposes the most unlikely items from the longest forgotten closets into pieces of beauty with new intent. Whimsical works assembled from many vintage and repurposed items. Shoes trimmed with flowers, pink winged fairies, items put together with nothing more than the intent to make you smile.

Joyce Lucas,Founder
www.MakeMinePink.com

Repurposed Fabric Tote Image by: Dianne Hadaway - Mama's Pocketbook
Repurposed Sweater Chick Image by: Tedi Mercer - Petite Bookstore

I saw my life flash

Today I was walking my cart to my car in the wal-mart parking lot when this woman came into the lane I was walking in and almost ran me over. She was less than 3 inches from my hip when I looked behind me and literally jumped out of her way. I saw my life just flash before my eyes. I am so glad she didn't hit me and I tried to catch up with her to let her have a piece of my mind but she moved on faster than I could catch her. She looked to be over 65 years old and I guess just did think about the front end of her car being that close to me.


Oh well I'm OK and very blessed.

Show and Tell Monday

I thought I would try my hand at smocking. I have never done it but I belong to The Smocker's Guild and this was something they said was for beginners. We will see.

Pink Friday -- For the Birds

Spring is here, and you don’t even need to look outside your kitchen window or open your front door to know it. Just waking up to the sweet melody of a backyard robin cheerily singing outside your window is enough to tell you that life is renewed and spring is reborn. The birds of spring have returned and the earth reawakens.

Outside, in our fenced yards and open fields, brightly colored bluebirds and streaked song sparrows flit between tree branches and land carefully among the budding leaves. Singing songs of love to each other, chirping madly over jealousies. Bringing home odds and ends to build their nests - bits of bright string, broken twigs. Items insignificant to everyone else, but the stuff of life for the feathered set.

With the return of spring, we find our winged friends building homes in every unclaimed corner…. under the eaves of buildings, in riverbanks, on rocky ledges, suspended from tips of tree branches, hidden under flaps of loose bark. Even in the nest boxes we offer up with hope. Hanging baskets, mail boxes, old boots, flower pots. Any place that somehow looks like home.

No matter where we live, or what the season, avian accessories create eternal springtime in our homes too. Birds and their nests placed carefully upon our shelves, painted delicately on a wall, stitched on a delicate needlepoint. Perhaps we invite into our homes the same birds we see each spring.

Parrot green, robin’s egg blue, bright canary yellow, flamingo pink. A rainbow of color unfurls inside and out of our homes in the hopes of eternal spring.

Joyce Lucas,Founder
www.MakeMinePink.com
Image by: Sharon Wollman of C'est Chouette Home

Show and Tell Monday

Well here is what I worked on this week. I finished these two sets of pillowcases. They will be on my website on Monday.

Pink Friday == Marie

Marie Antoinette was young, tall, blonde and beautiful and she set fashion trends through France and Europe. She was nicknamed "Madame Deficit" or "Queen of Debt" because the Queen spent lavishly on her dress and adornments, exceeding annually her clothing allowance (her overruns always covered by her devoted husband Louis). Her flip remark "Let them eat cake" (attributed to her, but never confirmed) was the spark that ignited the French Revolution. Today, we simply cannot get enough of "Marie"

Only 15 when she married the crown prince of France, the dauphin. France was then the most powerful nation of continental Europe, and the royal palace at Versailles the most opulent. She became Queen of France while still a teen. Her excessive fashions for high headdresses, plumes and voluminous dresses were subject to public comment, admiration and ridicule. At Versailles, the Queen also spent lavishly on her friends and on her entertainment. She held frequent gambling parties, masquerade balls and danced all night long.

To escape the formalities, boredom, and royal obligations of court, Marie-Antoinette created a private realm of pleasure for herself and her friends at the Petit Trianon, a small retreat palace on the grounds of Versailles, and Hameau, where she planted the first Anglo-Chinese garden; collected all species of antique roses; and revolutionized architecture and gardening trends. It was so much her escape that the King was reported only to have visited her there a few times.

So why do we love Marie Antoinette today? All her extravagance, her life of excess, her hairstyles that were larger than life, her reported love of pastries and champagne (some truth and some fiction as Marie was a teetotaler) all create for us a time and place where a young girl can be Queen. Marie Antoinette has become a real inspiration.

Director of Community Relations

@MakeMinePink.com

Designer @ CestChouetteHome.com

Image by: The Polka Dot Rose - www.thepolkadotrose.com

New Game

We are excited to introduce, the MMP "PINK SLOT MACHINE."

During this very special Easter week, April 5th -14th, we will open slot play up to the public. Each player (must be a registered public forum member) will get 6 spins a day with a chance to win prizes from your favorite MMP Boutiques!

http://makeminepink.com

Show and Tell Monday

Here is the new show and tell at Make Mine Pink for this week. I am working on a blue stet of Southern Belle Pillowcases.

Pink Friday Easter Memories

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday - March 27, 2009 as we present Easter Memories.

On Easter mornings, when we were children, we would awaken to discover Spring had magically arrived overnight... and delivered some delightful surprises. The world was new again and filled with treasures just waiting for us to discover them. Tall chocolate bunnies hidden in springtime flower beds. Eggs delicately painted like rainbows, waiting in the grass. Plush rabbits in ruffled dresses and straw hats, sitting in white baskets, eager to become our very special friends. We'd hunt together with our friends and family, oohing and aahing over each person's discovery... but secretly knowing that the treasures we found were made just for us.

Now that we're older, the newness of Spring and the thrill of the annual Easter hunt can be rediscovered every time we seek out a treasure in a vintage shop or exclusive boutique. Perhaps we're not searching for chocolate wrapped in sparkly foil or rainbow colored treats. We might not even be sure what we're seeking, but we recognize these treasures the instant we see them.

A vintage hanky embroidered so delicately you can't help but wonder about the woman behind its design. A crystal bracelet reflecting a color that's "just so" when the sunlight shines on it in "just that way". The ideal display for a certain corner that's been looking slightly forlorn - not missing just anything, but the perfect thing.

The moment we discover them, our hearts feel a little thrill and, just for that moment, the world is new again and we feel reborn. As if someone hid this treasure in a secret corner just for us to find, and our hearts recognize them before we even know what we've discovered.

At Make Mine Pink, you may not find the foil wrapped bunnies or the colorful eggs, but you will always discover a thrilling hunt for the perfect treasure that stirs up feelings of Spring.

Happy Spring!

Joyce Lucas, Founder

Becah Chair Covers on Sale

Guess what!! These resort chair covers are on sale from $44 each to $32 each. It is a great bargin and just in time for your spring patio make over.

This would make great gifts for mom and dad, wedding couple, or patio pool make overs.See my web site for this item.

http://www.beloved-creations.com/catalog.php?item=453

Monday Show and Tell at Make Mine Pink

Well I got sick last night and had to go to the emergency room. Turns out I have a lung virus but my bronchial tubes went into spasm and was coughing my head off. After a shot an breathing treatment I doing much better. Bed rest for a few days and antibiotics in case I am starting pneumonia. So while laying down I'll be reading and hand embroidering.

Beach Chair Covers Are Back

These resort beach chair covers are back in stock and ready for your vacation.

http://www.beloved-creations.com/catalog.php?item=453

Take a minute to relax with our Resort Beach Chair Cover. Crafted of 100% white terry cotton, this lounge chair cover is great for decorating your pool or going to the beach. Features a side pocket with dual storage compartments, cuffed corners that easily attach to a beach chair for placement and free personalization. Folds into an easy carry shoulder tote bag for organized travel.

It's the perfect gift to give beach lovers and honeymooners! Details:
Size: Measures 24 1/2" wide by 78 inches long.
Materials: 100% terry cloth cotton

Embroidery Options:
The Resort Beach Chair Cover may be embroidered with a script first name (max of 12 characters) or up to three block initials in bright pink, aqua, lavender, black or navy thread at No Additional Cost.

New Items In Store

Here are some new items I have added to my website.

Pink Friday

One of a Kind TreasuresRemember the days when we wanted to be like everyone else? We wanted to have the same clothes, same hairstyles, same…. everything. Only the very brave dared to be one of a kind.

Sometimes it takes courage to say "I am different. I will be one of a kind." But over time, you discover that what makes a thing, or a person, unique is often the same thing that makes them beautiful. Taking chances, standing out, can make you a trendsetter and everyone else followers.

At Make Mine Pink, one thing each boutique owner has in common with the others is that her boutique is one of a kind. Our boutique owners are always on the lookout for unique and special one of a kind and vintage treasures that are rich in history. Each treasure in our shops comes with a story, and no two stories are the same. When you browse through the shops at Make Mine Pink, you'll discover unique handcrafted pieces designed and produced by our artists and boutique owners. They hunt through flea markets, thrift stores, unique design shops. They peek in corners everyone else has forgotten to discover treasures everyone else has overlooked. Every bauble, piece of fabric, abandoned item they find might be a gem waiting to be unearthed.

Each piece in the Make Mine Pink boutiques is designed and created to give its owner a product that can be treasured for years to come. In our shops you’ll find some of the latest trends, many handcrafted by our boutique owners, right here in the United States.When you shop at Make Mine Pink, you can feel confident that many of your purchases are one of a kind.

A piece of art that is unique in its own right, as original as you.?
Joyce Lucas, Founder
Image provided by: http://www.rosepetalsandblooms.com/

New Bunny Added

I found another bunny for the spring season and I'm adding him to my website. I am also adding some Breast Cancer Pink Ribbon items and some handkerchiefs.

Show and Tell Monday

Very romantic handkerchief skirt see http://www.beloved-creations.com/catalog.php?category=74

We had a couple inches of snow on Thursday night and my grandchildren made this snowman. Isn't he cute!

Again join us at http://makeminepink.com/ for Show and Tell Monday. Don't forget the Shop Hop starts today!

How many days to the Spring Shop Hop

Look for special each day of the shop hop on my website and don't forget to check out all the ladies at Make Mine Pink

I'm so excited -- A Pink Shop Hop Comming Next Week

Starting March 16th!

The joyful march into spring begins, a cacophony of bird calls fills the blue skies, the trees show their fresh green buds, and the tulips start to poke their heads from the earth to face the sunshine. Colors are about to burst forth, and the earth will be new again. With fresh eyes, we are stocking our shelves with pretty greens, bright yellows, vibrant pinks, and beautiful blues. For the Boutiques at Make Mine Pink, spring cleaning is over, and we would love to show off our fresh new colors and exciting spring merchandise.

Please join us for our "March Into Spring" Shop Hop from March 16 through March 21, 2009. The shop hop is open to anyone that would like to participate (limit one registration per physical address). Please register at http://makeminepink.com/ if you would like to participate.

Pink Friday at Make Mine Pink

Once in a while, it's fun to take a detour from the normal "a place for everything and everything in its place" ritual and include some whimsical touches in our daily routines. Add a few teasing twists to the poised beauty around us with unexpected delights that give us a little flutter.

Tucked away in the corner of a beautifully painted, chic shelf filled with plates covered in hand painted roses, a gossamer-winged fairy, sprinkled with German glass glitter speaks of a side of us that we all let peek out now and again. From a romantic Victorian display made of white vintage wire, a gold garnished teacup and saucer edged with pink and blue buds, spill out another whimsical treat: a tiny bird with a bejewelled beak in a doily nest. The formal tea set with a splash of frivolity reveals a secret sense of silliness we hope to never outgrow. A fairy's magic wand, trussed with a garden pink ribbon and planted in a basket of practicalities, adds an unspoken wish for excitement. Small dashes of dreams make ordinary items extraordinary and diffuse a fine mist of fantasy and fun into everything you do.

Paper cupcakes on a tray, teapots tied with bows, a porcelain doll collection in the corner of your room, fairies dancing on pink cupcakes, lacy vintage doilies and gossamer bows. Whatever causes your whimsical self to feel a little flutter – whether be it owls, the newest (or the oldest) collectible, a small hand blown glass kitten – celebrate your whimsical side and surround yourself with things that make you smile.

Joyce Lucas, Founder
Image provided by: www.treasuredheirlooms.net

It's Show and Tell Monday Again

Perfect tiny plate for your g.ma for Mother's Day or birthday

I love these little bunnies

Limoges plates

Hankies

Hankies

Hankies

Silk Scarf

More hankies

Even more hankies

Set of 2 pure linen men's hankies

Pillowcases that I hand embroidered

Please join me and all the ladies at Make Mine Pink for show and tell Monday. This week I finished a set of pillowcases and found the most amazing antique store here in Clarksville. This store had no furniture to take up space but had shelfs and shelfs of china, jadite, carnavile glass, milk glass, did I say china? It had tin ware, and all kinds of linen. I did make a few purchases and will share them with you here and on my website.

Pink Friday's Linen and Lace

Linens and lace tenderly woven into the fabric of a life. They first surround when we are wrapped in the heirloom christening gown. Yellowed by time but preserved with love, brought out on a day that is filled with expectant joy. A treasure carefully saved by a mother in each generation, along with the hope for a beautiful life to come. The simple elegance of linens and lace remains in our memories -later we're struck by the beauty of a simple lace hankie that catches our eye, lying in a grandmother's lavender-scented drawer. Linens and lace carefully collected and stored within a handmade cedar chest, for yet another day of joyful expectation. Feelings of love and anticipation lie behind each piece a young girl selects to adorn her one-day home with grace. She envisions a future life of bliss as she tenderly folds every piece and stores it away, to lie patiently in wait for its turn to come. Linens and lace draped over a vintage boudoir chair, in the corner of a quite room. Perhaps it is a small piece of handmade lace, or perhaps it is a layer, that found its way into her bridal gown. She thinks of the women who have worn linens and lace before her on a day like this. A precious object of beauty... delicate and strong, as she herself is. In the kitchen where she works to care for her family, she has hung the first curtains of spring. Linens and lace swaying gently in the breeze, while the sunlight dances through their intricate designs.

Joyce Lucas, Founder

Pink Friday at Make Mine Pink

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, February 27, 2009 as we present Linens and Lace.

Linens and lace tenderly woven into the fabric of a life. They first surround when we are wrapped in the heirloom christening gown. Yellowed by time but preserved with love, brought out on a day that is filled with expectant joy. A treasure carefully saved by a mother in each generation, along with the hope for a beautiful life to come. The simple elegance of linens and lace remains in our memories -later we're struck by the beauty of a simple lace hankie that catches our eye, lying in a grandmother's lavender-scented drawer. Linens and lace carefully collected and stored within a handmade cedar chest, for yet another day of joyful expectation. Feelings of love and anticipation lie behind each piece a young girl selects to adorn her one-day home with grace. She envisions a future life of bliss as she tenderly folds every piece and stores it away, to lie patiently in wait for its turn to come. Linens and lace draped over a vintage boudoir chair, in the corner of a quite room. Perhaps it is a small piece of handmade lace, or perhaps it is a layer, that found its way into her bridal gown. She thinks of the women who have worn linens and lace before her on a day like this. A precious object of beauty... delicate and strong, as she herself is. In the kitchen where she works to care for her family, she has hung the first curtains of spring. Linens and lace swaying gently in the breeze, while the sunlight dances through their intricate designs.

Joyce Lucas, Founder

I love Show and Tell Mondays

Join us at Make Mine Pink on the forum for Show and Tell Monday. This is what I am working on this week. It is a set of pillowcases, dresser scarf, and doilies.