Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Stitch In Time ... Pink Friday!



Ah, now this is my kind of Pink Friday! All about the love of stitching and things stitched with love. And that's how I spend the majority of my time ... sewing, or as I like to call it "making the pretty!"

This week I am celebrating Fall, kicking it off with two of my favorite fabrics, one I have been saving - hoarding - for 14 years! And today instead of OOAK offerings, I chose fabrics that I had enough of to offer a very special "Limited Edition" of FIVE of each design. But that's it, only five will be made of each of these Fabulous Fall Porch Pouches. Have a look... click the image for more details and ordering information. TODAY ONLY, Special pricing for our Pink Friday shoppers!



The Most Amazing General Store Ever!

Last week I traveled from North Georgia to Williamsburg, VA for the Make Mine Pink 1st Annual "Getting Down to Business" Retreat with another Pink Sister and let me tell you we had a blast! We took our time on the road going up to the event and while we were in North Carolina
 we saw a billboard for a "Tour of Homes" in Salisbury, N.C. Well, we soon discovered that most of the billboards we saw in N.C. were out of date, but we still found a lot to do up there in Salisbury!

My travel partner, Inka, of  Inklings Designs, was a perfect match for me. We both felt adventurous and were in the mood to explore. Given the fact that both of us love to talk, we often missed our turns and exits and as we'd already made several references to ourselves as being very "Thelma and Louise" like on this trip, my cohort stared calling me "Turn Around Thelma". That's ok, I can live with that. I called her "Louise Grace" as she is, um, how shall I put it ... inadvertently destructive ... so not the graceful one - but she is hilarious!

Our first stop was at a lovely little Cottage Shop, where the owner, Linda, was as sweet as she could be. She has a lovely shop and we had a great conversation, found a few goodies to buy and we did not do any damage there.  Linda pointed us to Salisbury and off we went to see what we could get into there. So far, so good!

We rolled into town and we were looking for an antiques place Linda had mentioned, but we spied the Okey Dokey General Store and my van literally just whipped into the parking lot and dumped us out there! (It's so well trained!). Oh My Goodness!! I just cannot begin to describe how delicious this place is! I couldn't take it all in, there were so many wonderful displays and the building itself is phenomenal, over 100 years old, with the original tin ceilings, a gorgeous soda fountain in the back, and seriously I do think they had everything under the sun in that one building! 

The staff there are so cheerful and knowledgeable, very helpful too. I told one of the ladies (I forgot to get her name!) why we were coming through town and asked if I could take some photos to put on my blog. The owner, who was completely absorbed in trying to get an old cash register working, gave us permission to take photos upstairs (not sure why the basement was off limits, but there was some extraordinary furniture and props and stuff down there!)

So, I could go on and on about how much fun we were having, but lets look at some photos first... you won't believe this is only a fraction of the displays they have in this place!

This is my favorite photo of all - I want these chairs!!


So, shall I say more about our adventures in Salisbury? I guess I should explain how Inka got her nickname of "Grace".  After a couple of hours exploring the general store we went across the street and found a little shop that had some metal signs that Inka wanted to check out. Of course we never meet strangers and I was busy trying to check my email on my i-phone so I sat down and chatted with the owner of the shop while Inka looked at the signs on the wall. Well, she found one she wanted to see up close and there was one of those carpet display units on the floor beneath it. Inka started pushing to flip the samples over so she could reach the sign and she was struggling mightily with it. So of course the store owner, Karen, and I are encouraging her to push push harder you can do it come on give it all you've got ... and she did. And she broke the end of the display smooth off! I'm talking the heavy welded metal rack that the samples rest on on the side! She pushed broke that sucker right off!! OMG! I have never laughed so hard in my life! I couldn't help it, the look on her face was priceless. If I hadn't been laughing so hard I might have thought to aim my phone camera at her! Karen was really cool about it, she said "Hey, you did me a favor, I hate that thing!! Whew, thank goodness someone in the situation had some grace!

So, we bailed out of there with Karen asking to come with us! We decided to grab some lunch before heading out of town so we went next door and sat down and ordered. Karen came over to meet a friend of hers for lunch and waved at us. While we were waiting on our food, Inka headed back to the ladies room and when she came back her face was 40 shades of red!! Seems she decided to take a picture of something hanging on the wall in the back of the restaurant and she backed over a Wet Floor sign and broke it!! Holy Cow.  Just as she was telling me this, the manager of the restaurant comes over, puts his arm around my shoulders and whispers "OK, which one of you is Thelma and which is Louise?"  Great, our reputation has preceeded us because he had not even had time to discover the damage "Grace" had done in there yet! 

I must say I drove very carefully back through there on Sunday, looking to see if any of the billboards had our wanted pictures on them. Lucky for us they are not swift about changing those up in North Carolina!

Monday, September 22, 2008

MMP Retreat

I attended the Make Mine Pink 1st Annual "Getting Down to Business" Retreat this past weekend in Williamsburg, VA and I had the time of my life from start to finish. I've been a bit tired today as I drove straight home ... for 9 hours ... yesterday! 

Today my website has been out of commission due to my hosting company migrating to new servers, so that has been a bother. If anyone has been trying to get to my site today and couldn't that is the reason why. I have not taken my site down!! Heaven's no!! If you can't get in, please keep trying, it is in the process of being hooked back up. 

I will be posting lots of photos later this evening from the trip and the event. I traveled with the most fun and crazy friend, Inka, of Inkling's Designs, and I have to say that my throat is sore from all the laughing and talking we did together. She is now one of my lifelong friends and I truly had some of the most fun I've ever had traveling with her and I am very happy that we did it! And that we did not get in any more trouble than we did because it would be very easy to get in trouble on the road with Ms. Inka!  She never meets a stranger, I can tell you that!

I want to take a moment to thank Joyce & Jim Lucas and their entire family, especially Katie and Melissa who are the ultimate hostesses, always with a smile and a laugh and very caring and patient with all the questions and situations presented to them. They are phenomenal! From my perspective every aspect of the event went smoothly and elegantly, the food was awesome, the prizes and the Pink Gala were incredible. The tables were absolutely stunning! Everything was fun, fun, fun.  The workshops were informative and comfortable. The SWAG bags were over the top! The displays were indescribable! So much love and effort went into their making and I'm so proud of our Eileen, from Forget Me Not Dreams  for her extraordinarily beautiful and WINNING display! It was truly a work of art and a labor of love for her and she deserved to win the coveted top prize for it. 

I'll be back with pictures soon! XOXO ~ Dianne

Friday, September 12, 2008

It's Still Harvest Home Pink Friday...

It's late on Pink Friday, but it's not over for sure!  I missed out on part of the "Harvest Home Pink Friday" myself because my brain decided it had to have some sleep. I've been keeping some very weird, awful late hours lately and it finally caught up with me and no matter how much I wanted to post more pretty porch pouches for todays sale, my body said no, no no! No more working, you crazy sewing feind!  I think it said some other choice words for me as I wobbled to bed and collapsed into deep lovely sleep, but I don't remember them! 

It won't be long before I head back to the sheets to finish the job of resting my brain and body. 

I share this because that means you will have some extra time to take advantage of my remaining Pink Friday offering! Unless I wake up at like 3 am and it's still there. I may decide to get up and close out the sale and update to regular pricing before daybreak! You just never know with me!  

I sold the first Fabulous Fall Porch Pouch that was listed this morning thank you TS!), but then I listed this gorgeous "Natalie Rose" in blue denim colored decorator linen with a huge spray of perfect pink cabbage roses and rose buds as an additonal one before the mandatory coma set in and it is still available.

 I really love this one, and honestly, I won't cry if it doesn't sell (can't imagine that it won't!) because then I'll claim it my own and my MMP girlitas will see me carrying it around Williamsburg, VA next week at our first annual Make Mine Pink Retreat! (soooo excited!) and everyone will be so jealous and wanting one like it.

But nope, that's not possible, because I don't have enough fabric left to make another one ... it's one of a kind baby!  Ok, I'm still a little loopy. I should write ad copy while I'm loopy, it's fun! 


Then get back over to Make Mine Pink and see what the other Little Pink Boutique owners have for you. Remember the prices do go back up on Saturday ... or sometime between midnight and whenever I wake up ... if my pretty pouch is by any chance even still there. First come, first served. If y'all fight over it, I'll have to refund anyone who didn't snag the first served spot. Good Luck & Happy Harvest Home Pink Friday!

Thanks - I'll be dreaming about ya!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Most Gorgeous Cupcake Ever

Just had to share! 

Hubby knows I've been working really hard for weeks on end, getting by with little sleep and my stress level has been pretty high. So he did the grocery shopping for us on Sunday and this is what he
 brought me to cheer me up!

The most beautiful PINK CUPCAKE I've ever seen! He knows I have a weakness for cupcakes. I mean who doesn't? They are so perfect! And this one - Oh, so pretty! Almost too pretty to eat! I said almost! I did eat it, but I shared it with Lauren and it still took me all day and into the evening to finish it off! The frosting was soft and whipped and very 
rich, as was the cupcake. What a sweet treat and a sweet husband! I'm so blessed!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hurry! Last Weekend Summer Sale Prices


HURRY!! This is the LAST WEEKEND to take advantage of the Summer Sale Price on 
PURSE'onality Bags!


I've been so busy, I forgot to end the Summer Sale! So take advantage - I want to give one last shot with a slight extension of the Summer Sale Price on the Full Package. Take note that this extension is only good until midnight Sunday, Sept 7th! I WILL remember to reset the price this time!! 

PURSE`onality Base Tote Package Includes Your Selected Base Tote & One Reversible Slipcover. We will include a Coordinating Shoulder Strap and Tie-On Sash.

Click Here to Choose and Order Your Base Tote Full Package for only $99.00
(before it goes back to the regular price of $139.00 )

Happy Summer! SALE ENDS August 31st SEPT. 7th! 
(Really, no kidding, it will end Sunday at midnight! - I have alarms set and everything to remind me to close the sale!)