Ribbon Roses

I love working with ribbon. I also love embellishing my cupcake pillows with fancy trims and pretty ribbon roses. This has led me to several books on working with ribbon. There are a few very good books on the market and I cant wait to dive into a few. I have been wanting to start creating my own trims by experimenting with ribbon and also different dying techniques. I hope to have a garden of ribbon flowers to share with you soon, but for today I wanted to share this publication. Its the latest issue of Sew Beautiful magazine and its all about ribbon. There are many projects with complete instructions inside. The roses I have been making for a very long time. I learned how to make this ruched trim and I thought I would share it with you. Its very easy and is just beautiful when done. You would use a double faced satin ribbon. Hand stitch a gathering running stitch in a zig zag pattern as shown in the photograph. Every few inches I pull the gathers up and this is what it looks like. How easy is this! I think it looks like the perfect buttercreme frosting for a cupcake pillow :)

I hope everyone has a pretty week. Happy Creating, gail

Its Coming Up Roses for Pink Friday

Tomorrow is our once a week themed shopping day at Make Mine Pink. Tomorrow is one of our favorite themes too. ROSES, romantic rose (sigh :) ). I have seen a sneak peak at some of the beautiful things being offered for sale tomorrow. Gorgeous china pieces and teacups, vintage linens. Stunning needlepoint tuffets, jewelry. There will be handcrafted soaps, ceramics, pocketbooks, pillows. You can always have a website designed for your own business inspired by romantic roses by visiting http://www.cottagecollections.com/. So set your alarm, mark your calendar, this is one event you dont want to miss.

If you live in the southwest as I do, keep in mind that February is the month to trim back your rose bushes. By May they will be lush, green and full of blooms. I have really found this to be the secret to beautiful rose bushes and have had alot of success by doing this. May your spring be rosey and full of beautiful pink blooms!

Fairy Sparkle Earrings

I went to a great sale at a local bead store called Beads Galore. They were having a wonderful sale and I bought some crystal beads. There were sooo many beautiful colors it was very hard to choose. I have enough to make earrings all year long I think:) It inspired me to come home and make earrings this weekend. I used to have a catagory called Fairy Sparkles on my website but deleted and combined the earrings into other catagories as they sold. I loved that idea of sparkling earrings that were fit for a fairy! So I have decided to add the catagory back. Some would appeal to a garden fairy, others to earth fairies. A couple of them are vintage inspired but they all sparkle. I made 18 pairs today and decided I better stop and get the photos and add them to the site before I get too carried away. lol

This is a picture of Lucy, many of you may know she is my office manager. This is how I have to make earrings. Try as I may to move her she always comes right back, so I just have learned to work around her. But I dont think I will be giving her any raise this year! Have a beautiful week, happy creating,,gail

Linens, Lace and Grandma Friend

As most of you know every friday we have a themed shopping day at Make Mine Pink. There have been some really fun themes so far this year, but I believe tomorrow will be a favorite for alot of you. Its all about linens and lace. So many of the participating boutiques will have a large variety and assortment of vintage linens and lace. I dont have alot, but I was able to come up with one new project I will post tomorrow. www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday.

This weeks theme did get me thinking about a few embroidered napkin sets on linen and some vintage handkerchiefs that belonged to one of my Grandmothers. Grandma Friend was always old for as long as I can remember. Very hard of hearing, but the sweetest little lady you ever saw. I have heard told she had a very stubborn streak, (that may explain something about me.lol) but I never saw it. I love to visit her in San Diego. She had a very cute cottage style house with this unbelievable garden. She grew everything. The berries were wonderful. Black berries, strawberries and even boysenberries. She had peach, apricot and plum trees also. There was an adorable play house made of wood with pink gingerbread trim I loved to play in. Then we would always make a trip to Sea World. The only part of the trip I remember disliking was her mean little dog. That thing bit everyone! I have so few belongings of my relatives that are now gone so these are very special to me. I have two boxes that the hankies were never removed from. So someone gave her a couple gifts that never got used, but I am happy it turned out that way, because I now have them to take care of.

Its 75 degrees, anyone want ice cream?

Hi, and happy Sweetheart day to everyone:) The weather this weekend in Phoenix has been picture perfect. It was 75 out today and it will be for the rest of the week. I know so many of you are buried up to your bums in snow and I hope its beginning to thaw and you are staying warm and safe. BUT you see, it wont be long and I will be living with 110 plus everyday for months, so I must enjoy now. Its been a rather hectic week here with my daughter in the hospital, another tire blow out and babysitting my four year old grandson full time. But today was my day, just little ole me. I spent the day romancing my business:) Adding new items to my website and Little Pink Boutique and taking some new things into Tillies Attic. This weather put me in the mood for ice cream. Because of the above mentioned blow out I am car-less today and no ice cream in the freezer. So I did the next best thing and made two pillows. Strawberry and Mint Chocolate Chip to be exact. I also got this gorgeous fabric that looks like fluffy frosting and couldnt resist making a cupcake too. Enjoy the new week ahead and happy creating!

Show and Tell at Tillies Attic

This was an exciting day for me. Today was the special event at Tillies Attic from noon to 4 pm. Alot of people came out to the store and enjoyed refreshments, wine and of course chocolate and shopping. I enjoyed meeting some of the other vendors also. I really appreciate my friends and family who came out to visit me and support me in my new venture. It was great seeing you all! I am really looking forward to making so many new projects to put in my little cupcake room. I really think Tillies Attic is going to be a great success, and if you are in the Phoenix area make sure to stop by and see all of the new vendors and merchandise. Here are some photos of this pretty store!

One of a kind treasures

Good morning! I just wanted to remind you all that tomorrow is Friday,,, thats Make Mine Pink Friday. Our one day only themed shopping event. This weeks theme is "one of a kind treasures". Its always so fun to have something that only you and nobody else has. lol By visiting the participating boutiques there will be some pretty vintage and antique treasure for sure. For the shops that create their products you will be able to find one of a kind artwork to decorate your home or even jewelry for that special outfit. You dont want to miss this one, so remember tomorrow. Visit us at www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday.

Also this Sunday, the 7th of February is the Sip, Savor and Shopping event at Tillies Attic! There are so many new and beautiful items and new vendors in this East Valley location. If you are local to the Phoenix area, dont miss this fun event. Join us for chocolate and shopping from noon until 4pm. It would be great if you could RSVP ( they dont want to run out of chocolate:) . You can email Vera at vmanuz@cox.net and bring your friends.

My next post will be the before and after photos of setting up my shop at Tillies Attic. Its been alot of fun. Also pictures of the whole store! The photo above is a one of a kind treasure I was given,,, an antique cast iron stove for my little shop, and its a sneak peak at whats to come in the next couple days....until next time.....gail