Lilly Pulitzer Inspired Pumpkins

If you've been reading up on blogs this past Halloween season you might have run across these particular pumpkins. My mom, Ramblings of a Southern Girl, loved the pumpkins I painted for my apartment and wanted to share them on her blog. Now being a child of a blogger you typically deal with:

1. Not being able to eat your dinner until a picture has been taken of it

2. Never quickly browsing a store, event, or any type of decor for that matter without waiting for a picture to be taken

3. Talking to your mom while she's on the computer and wondering if she's really listening or thinking of an adjective to describe her "fabulous" new flea market find

...but I digress.

When she asked I quickly agreed and sent pictures. Fast forward to about a week later and my pumpkins have gotten a ton of features. If you haven't seen Mom's post about them you can check it out here.

I thought I would give a little back story and walkthrough to these cheerful pumpkins. Even though I wish I could say I did, I didn't just get the brilliant idea to paint flamingos on a pumpkin in the middle of the fall. Like most things I do, I got my inspiration on Pinterest. While browsing I frequently say "Now why didn't I think of that!?" I said this very thing when I stumbled upon a picture of someone elses version of a flamingo Lilly pumpkin posted a few years ago. The flamingo idea came from the Lilly Pulitzer print above.

Here's a little behind the scenes action and step by step....

First I used a turquoise paint for the background. Here and there I made flamingo bodies in pink. At this point I was thinking "this might not turn out so well." I took a little bit of white paint and made faces and swirls "feathers" on their bodies. This was the point that I said "now I know this definitely won't turn out well." They were looking like a very creepy character from a Dr. Seuss book. After I added eyes and touched up the feathers, it was definitely turning out more flamingo like. Now I would comment on how I didn't paint too many flamingos so it wouldn't turn out too congested looking. ...In all honesty, I got lazy. So I quickly painted my pink tiny pumpkin, glittered the stem, and called it a night!

Hope you enjoyed my point of view on these adorable pumpkins! My poor pink pumpkin has been thrown out due to a bad case of molding and rot. However, my pretty flamingo pumpkin is alive and thriving. I keep telling myself that when it decides to die on me it will be a sign that it is time to put up Christmas decorations! And of course, I've already found a way for Lilly Pulitzer to creep into my Christmas decor. So stay tuned!

Step By Step: Lilly Pulitzer Jellies Be Jammin'

Clearly, from reading my blog, I am obsessed with two things: Lilly Pulitzer and crafts. I dabble in paint every now and then but I've never really mastered it. I'm more of a jack of all trades person when crafting ha. The Lilly Pulitzer prints look so intricate but can be easily broken down step by step. That's where I came up with this "series" of post's name. Today I started with one of top favorite prints, Jellies Be Jammin'.

I use the normal craft paint from Walmart by Apple Barn, Plaid.

To me the worst part is starting, so I break it down. I started with the Jelly Fish bodies in the light pink color, Pink Parfait.

Second, I add tentacles in the hot pink color, Fuchsia. They don't have to be perfect because they're just jelly fish.

 Next, I add tentacles in the light pink color, Pink Parfait. Now looking at the pictures I'm wondering why in the world I did the tentacle colors in the order that I did but it all comes out the same.

The last tentacles that I paint are the dots seen in the print, Jellies Be Jammin'. I used Pumpkin Orange and Lime Sherbet and dipped just the end of my paint brush to get perfect dots.

Lastly, I add the background. Now I would have usually painted the background first. However, for Lilly patterns you can see that it matches better to do the background last to show the white behind. I don't think this is a deliberate thing by Lilly. I think the print artist get that affect from using watercolor. But thats just the impression I get.

Cornhole boards I painted for myself in "Jellies Be Jammin'" and "Lobstah Roll" last summer.

Lilly Dupes

Lilly Pulitzer has been around for years but it seems the most popular now. Now that it has become popular, other brands are creating similar prints. I have found two current lookalikes this summer in the past month.    

The first is a pair of shorts I came across in Belk department store by their "Crown & Ivy" brand. I love this brand and the preppy style it portrays. They design prints with all types of animals such as  giraffes, elephants, bees, etc. These shorts were originally $40.00 and I scored them for just $20.00. They look a lot like Lilly's "Tusk in Sun" print and they are made with a PJ bottom feel.

                                                                       

The second pair of shorts I found were discovered at Old Navy. I've seen another lilly inspired print at Old Navy before but they didn't have my size. I was ecstatic to find these shorts on sale for just $8 at their 4th of July sale. They were originally priced at $24.94 and look like Lilly's "Sparks Fly" print.

If you know of any current Lilly lookalikes then leave a comment below!

Savannah

OOTD: Reef Me Up

I have been on the search for "vintage" Lilly lately and by vintage I mostly mean a few years old. My preferred method of this madness is searching #relilly on instagram. I love eBay but I hate having to fuss with bidding and waiting for it to sell blah blah blah. I want it now and for a good price! haha My first Lilly purchase on instagram was a Somerset dress in Bocce. However, I got a large and it was too big so I sold it to get my money back. My next purchase was in an interesting print that I had never seen before. 

The print is a Resort 2012 Lilly Pulitzer print called Reef Me Up. I scored the skirt for just $45. I have also never seen a skirt style by Lilly like this before. The skirt is a thin cotton material with an elastic waste. I paired it with a Buckhead Betty Navy silk top similar style of an Elsa. For jewelry I added an orange bubble necklace and matching earrings. I was wearing this outfit to work so I wore my summer "work" shoes which are gold sandals by "Me Too." I scored them for just $29 at Famous Footwear and they are so comfortable!

It was pure coincidence that my nails were orange but the color is LA Colors gel nail polish in Stunner.

The look together on, ignore my horrible mirror selfie quality haha

I hope you enjoyed my outfit as much as I did, Savannah

Lilly Pulitzer Inspired "You Gotta Regatta" Painted Sail Boat

I don't always do Lilly crafts but I've done a lot recently and wanted to post this super cute sail boat I found at Michaels for $1! I painted it in just a few easy steps.

 1. First I simply painted the background turquoise and the boat bottom brown. 

2. Then I painted the top of the bottom (if that makes sense) white.

3. I drew sailboats similiar to the ones on the print "You gotta regatta" with a pencil.

4. I painted over the sailboats with white and I could see the drawings underneath but if I had to do it again I would paint the white first then draw. Afterwards I painted the sailboats and outlined them in a black paint pen.

5. Simply paint squiggly (is that a word?) lines to show the water. I used the same turquoise on the background and light blue for variation. 

PS- I painted my initials on the flag with the black paint pen to add something extra.