Mind Your Business

Marie Antoinette visits Make Mine Pink

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Pink Friday, April 3, 2009 as we present Marie Antoinette.

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

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

Easter Memories at Make Mine Pink.

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.

Joyce Lucas, Founder
www.makeminepink.com

Are You Ready For a Sneak Peek..

of our new marketplace for quilters and stitchers?

Have you heard excited whispers and wondered what they're about? Make Mine Pink is really getting excited about our news! So excited in fact that we can't wait any longer to share! By the end of March we hope to be launching a sister site to Make Mine Pink. Like Make Mine Pink, our new marketplace will be a place for quilters and stitchers to come together to build their web business while gaining valuable exposure for their businesses. We're excited and we hope you are to! Let us know what you think!

Joyce M Lucas, Founder
www.MakeMinePink.com
Your premier shopping and networking site on the web.

A Touch o' Whimsy

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, March 13, 2009 as we present "A Touch o' Whimsy."

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.

Make Mine Pink Presents Altered Point of View for Pink Friday!

Please join us Friday March 6th at MakeMinePink.com for another exciting shopping event.

Pieces of lace, vintage postcards, time-worn mother-of-pearl buttons. Each piece exquisite in its own right, but coming together to bring art to a new height. Used postage stamps, a well-read letter, shimmery beads, a butterfly’s broken wing.  From an altered perspective, they are no longer insignificant souvenirs of times past, but innovative creations that inspire new memories to be made. 

To soar to such heights of beauty, inspiration requires a sturdy foundation. An altered piece of art might be built upon a beloved book, pulled from a forgotten shelf. Begin as an empty cigar box, scented with fading memories. Another may have once been a forlorn jewelry box, still eager to display an unexpected gem. These are stunning works of art born from abandoned items, repurposed in the most exciting ways. 

To a careless eye, they may look to be a random assemblage of objects. From an altered perspective, they join together for a united purpose. Perhaps they combine to evoke an emotion – radiant joy, enduring hope, an unspoken sorrow. A collage that celebrates a color, creates a texture, reminds us of a scene. Or perhaps each itemhas been thoughtfully selected in honor of a day, a season, someone you love.   

Possibly they were first brought together with no intended purpose at all; the only intent in joining them was to discover what they could become. But as the objects blended and merged and found their own space, an altered perspective revealed a meaning that could not have been anticipated. Where there was once nothing, we now find a myriad of meanings significant to many, or a single meaning decipherable by one. 

An altered work of art that forever changes one’s perspective. 

Joyce M Lucas, Founder

www.makeminepink.com

Image provided by: Noelle Garrett Designs