Pale Pink And Roses

I {heart} thrifting!

Saturday, my hubby Joe and I spent the morning at a few of my favorite places.  Thrift stores and yard sales.  The one yard sale we stopped at was gross!  So, we stuck with the thrift stores.  I found a few things like these very cool La Mode buttons, two pretty bun warmers, a sweet pink metal tissue box holder and a yummy Home Kraft cotton pillow cover, in the most awesome rose and pink stripe ticking.

Sunday, well I did laundry and generally just goofed off. 

Hope that you all had a great weekend too.

 

 

 

 

 

Make Mine Pink Shop Hops are a type of contest where you try to find as many MMP "shopping bags" as  you can.  Each of our participating boutiques has hidden a shopping bag image on its website that says "You Found It" on the tag.  Click that image to return to Make Mine Pink and get credit for finding it.  The more bags you find, the better your chances of winning great prizes. 

Anyone (excluding MMP members and employees) can register to play.  There is no cost and no obligation to purchase anything.  However, if you do happen to find some products you might be interested in, don't forget to bookmark those pages so that  you can come back later!  Good luck!

Please join us for our annual Make Mine Pink October Shop Hop Monday October 5th.  Pink October is always an exciting time for all of us at Make Mine Pink.  It's the month that we try to give back even a little more than usual, while at the same time honoring our friends, family and customers that have had their lives touched by breast cancer.  Please come and have some fun and take a chance at winning some fabulous prizes.  Also check out the participating boutiques to see what they are doing in honor of breast cancer awareness and PINK OCTOBER.

There is no purchase necessary to participate in the Make MIne Pink - Pink October Shop Hop.  Just find the shopping bags on the participating MMP boutiques site and enter into a drawing to win the associated prize.  The shop hop begins on October 5th and ends on October 11th.  All winners will be chosen the week of October 11th and the names will be posted next to the corresponding prize.

Make Mine Pink ~ Pink Friday ~ "Lavender 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 it's 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 way, or set it upon a shelf.

In a drawer or as a lavender bouquet tied with an 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 it 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 field of lace.

Joyce Lucas

Founder, Make Mine Pink

Photos provided by istock photo

Bernie McDonald ~ "Neighborhood Watch" Show & Tell Monday At Make Mine Pink

 

Instead of running through the woods and generally getting into mischief, Bernie has decided on a new career.... "Neighborhood Watch".  Not much gets by him!  For more Show & Tell visit the forums at Make Mine Pink.

Make Mine Pink ~ Pink Friday ~ "Keep It Green" ~ April 17th

 

Restoring and re-purposing 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 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.

Re-purposing gives items with forgotten histories new stories to tell.  Rescued needle-points 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, re-purposed into something perfect, just for you.

Even the smallest fragments of memories are not wasted.  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 re-purposes the most unlikely items from the longest forgotten closets into pieces of beauty with new intent.  Whimsical works assembled from many vintage and re-purposed items.  Shoes trimmed with flowers, pink winged fairies, items put together with nothing more than the intent to make you smile.

 

Joyce Lucas, Founder

Make Mine Pink

 

Re-purposed Fabric Tote Image:

Dianne Hadaway ~ Mama's Pocketbook

 

Re-purposed Sweater Chick Image:

Tedi Mercer ~ Petite Bookstore

Make Mine Pink ~ Show & Tell Monday ~ Thrift Store Find

 

Last Wednesday my mom and I hit a new thrift store that is not far from my house.  This was my first but definitely not my last visit.  I found some great stuff!  This gorgeous three piece canister set by American Atelier, only $6.00!  Cost at Replacements.com, $50.00!!  I found a few other great treasures which I will share in another post.  To view oodles of Show & Tell posts visit the forums at Make Mine Pink. 

Make Mine Pink ~ 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

Make Mine Pink ~ Pink Friday ~ Marie Antoinette

 

Photo Source ~ The Polka Dot Rose

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.

Sharon Wollman,

Director of Community Relations

Join us at Make Mine Pink for another great week of themed shopping.

Show And Tell Monday at Make Mine Pink!

Those that read my blog or are members at Make Mine Pink know that my sweet man and I just bought our first house.  We have been busy doing new homeowner things like hanging curtains, decorating, buying a lawnmover and trying to make our yard beautiful.  Last week I had an unexpected but greatly appreciated surprise delivery.  A box arrived from Jackson & Perkins, a lovely house warming gift from my dear friend Joyce at Make Mine Pink.  Last night at nearly 10:00, my DH Joe and I went outside and planted my rose bush.  I was brought to tears by the thoughtfulness that went into this gift.  Here is a picture of what my rose bush looks like now...

 

But will have beautiful roses that look like this very soon...

 

Photo Source ~ Jackson&Perkins

This rose, The Pink Promise Hybrid Tea Rose is the official rose of the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  " These flowers convey the essense of romance and promise hope for a cure".

Thank you so very much my dear sweet friend. 

Make Mine Pink ~ Pink Friday ~ 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 hankie 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.

Joyce Lucas, Founder