Happy Monday – I’m in an Etsy Treasury!

How cool is this! (Bottom Center!) My Claire Wristlet / Clutch is included in today’s Treasury West called The Garden! Be still my heart!!

What a great way to start my week! Thank you so much to Chyrl of My Paper Garden or Handcrafted Cards Boutique by Chyr’s Origami!

This is my first time to be chosen for a Treasury (that I know of) and I have to say it’s pretty darn thrilling! I love these treasuries. I keep hoping there’ll be an opening one day for me to create one of my own.  Meanwhile, I’ll just bask in the warmth of having been included in this lovely one here! Mmmm, feels so nice!  And look at all the other pretties Chyrl picked! I love the whole theme!

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 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

Enjoy this fun theme for Pink Friday by visiting My Pink Friday Page and by visiting  all the
Participating Boutiques at Make Mine Pink
on Friday, April 24th for shopping with a twist.

"Keep It Green” on Pink Friday

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

VISIT ALL THE PINK BOUTIQUES PARTICIPATING IN TODAY’S PINK FRIDAY!

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For The Birds – Pink Friday

VISIT OUR PINK FRIDAY PAGE!!

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.

Written by: Joyce Lucas,Founder MakeMinePink.com

Please click the image to visit

my Pink Friday page

and see my pretty new birdie porch pouches/ totes!

And be sure to visit all the participating shops for

PINK FRIDAY at MAKEMINEPINK.COM

NEW Amy Butler’s 2009 Sweet Life Bags!

I am so excited! The long awaited release of the new 2009 Amy Butler Sweet Life Bags is finally here! These bags are beyond awesome!

This second line of Sweet Life Bags was designed by Amy with her crafting friends in mind. Custom-made for creative passions like knitting, quilting, and sewing.

NEW features include extra pockets and tool channels, strong and long straps for carrying comfort, expandable side panels and bag bottoms, and a gorgeous assortment of styles and sizes to suit every need – and modern style that lasts all day long! 
All constructed with August Fields by Amy Butler fabric. This is a midweight home decor fabric, 100% cotton and each bag is lined with a coordinating print.

The first line of these bags sold out very quickly. So if you see one you love, take my advice and order it now! Now that the word is out, these are bound to fly out the door too! Order now and have yours in time for Easter!