DIY: Lilly Printed Whale Garland

Hey y'all! This is a DIY blog post to teach you how to make your very own Lilly Pulitzer printed Whale Garland! Trust me, it's super easy to make! 

All you will need to start is an old Lilly Pulitzer agenda, scissors, tape, a Vineyard Vines whale sticker or print out, a pen, and fishing line or other clear string. If you don't have an old Lilly agenda then you can print out sheets of Lilly prints on card stock paper. 

Step 1:

You can either pull the paper out of the agenda or leave it in the agenda and just trace and cut the whales out. It would be a lot easier just to pull the paper out.

Step 2:

The first thing you'll need to do is line the whale up with the print you want to cut. Make sure that the whale is backwards and that you are on the calendar part of the paper. Look at the pictures for examples.

The paper is on the calendar side and the whale is flipped backwards.

This is what your whale should look like.

Repeat step 2 until you have your desired amount of whales. I would consider doing eight or nine.

Step 3:

Once you've completed tracing and cutting out all of your whales its time to start attaching them to the fishing line or clear string. So i recommend laying your whales out in an equally spaced line with the calendar side facing upwards.

Step 4:

Once your whales are laid out the next step is attaching them. You can use staples or tape, but i find tape to be the easiest. It also makes it a lot easier in case you space your whales out wrong. 

So start by leaving at least an inch of string with nothing attached. Then lay the string out over the line of whales. Tape/staple each string to the back of the whales. 

This is what the finished product should look like.

Step 5:

Last but not least you can hang your Lilly printed whale garland where ever you would like! And don't forget, YOU made it!! Congratulations and enjoy! :)

I hope you enjoyed this little diy! If you'd like some more diy's just let me know my contacting me on one of my social medias (listed on the About Me page)! 

Xoxo,

Samantha 

@theofficialprep

The History of Lilly Pulitzer

Ever wanted to know how the brand Lilly Pulitzer was born? Well here's the inside scoop!

Lilly Pulitzer herself was born on November 10th, 1931 in New York. Which just so happens to be where she was married as well. She married Peter Pulitzer, who was the son of a famous newspaper writer Joseph Pulitzer. When Lilly wast just 21 her and her husband moved to Palm Beach, Florida. There Peter owned several Citrus Groves, which led to the opening of Lilly's juice stand. Hints the popular term, "it all started with a juice stand." 

Lilly started to ask her seamstress to make her dresses with sleeveless bright fabrics so they would be able to hide juice stains. Lilly's customers loved her classic shift dresses more then the juice. When Lilly's old roommate, Jackie Kennedy, was spotted wearing "Lilly" on vacation Lilly's business started booming. 

Lilly Pulitzer was known as the "Queen of Prep" and she is also known as a socialite and fashion designer. You can find Lilly stores almost anywhere now a days. In every Lilly store there are unique Lilly printed walls that are hand painted by Lilly designers themselves. Before Lilly died at the age of 89 on April 7th, 2013, customers could score lunch with Lilly as an incentive to purchase some of her clothes. Now Lilly stores give out gift with purchases almost once every month, and at retail locations it's called Lunch a Lilly, to keep the legacy going. To this day all Lilly prints that can be seen all around the worlds are created by Lilly studio artists who take inspiration from almost anywhere.  

Here are some pictures:

The Legend with her daughters.

The amazing Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly with her collection.

Lilly and Peter

Jackie Kennedy and her family

Jackie in a Lilly original!

I actually did this as a English project so I decided to share some of it with y'all! Hope you Enjoyed this mini History lesson! Until next time,

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

OOTD Blog Collab

Hey ya'll! So on this blog post I will be talking all about one of my favorite outfits. I will give you all the stores/brands you can find these items from. This blog post is also in collaboration with six other girls. You will be able to check out their blogs at the bottom of this post.

So for this look I wanted to do something really casual that also looked really cute! So why not do a Lilly Pulitzer dress? Lilly adds a certain color and print that you can't find anywhere else. To start off my look I chose my Lilly dress. The style is the Wright Dress, and the color is Blue Crush in She Got Soul. I added a grey cardigan to tone the dress down and to make it more casual. My cardigan is from Aeropostale. For my shoes I wore my black pin striped Vans. For jewelry I wore a super cute Pendent necklace that has blue leather on the inside and what seems to have a gold look a like Tory Burch symbol on the outside. I actually got that necklace at Plato's Closet for only four dollars! For my earrings I wore some green and gold jewel pineapple earrings to give my outfit a little tropical vibe. Here are some pictures! 

Hope you enjoyed my little #ootd! Please be sure to check out the other six girls blogs to see their outfit of the day! They will be listed below. That's all for now!

Xoxo, 

Samantha 

@theofficialprep 

- Click here for Hannah's blog! (@scusemysouthernprep on Instagram)

- Click here for Lauren's blog! (@prepfromthemidwest on Instagram)

- Click here for Brooke's blog! (@brookalinaballerina on Instagram)

- Click here for Sophia's blog! (@5thavenueurban on Instagram)

- Click here for Cathleen's blog! (@classycahleen on Instagram)

- Click here for Amelia's blog! (@spectacularandclassy on Instagram)

Jadelynn Brooke Letter

Hey y'all! On Monday January 11th, 2016, I sent a letter to one of my favorite companies, Jadelynn Brooke! In the letter I included how their company made my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur  and business owner surface. I told them a little about myself, while including that i'm only a sophomore in High School. Which means that I can apply for their Rep program Next Year!!!! (I absolutely can not wait) I also included what I liked most about their brand. The designs, the meaning behind their brand (HAPPINESS), and the thought they include with each package they ship out! Lexi, Jade, and Brooke really care about their customers which makes their brand 100% better! The letter then proceeded to be going on a while so I decided to end it there. But not before saying how I can't wait to see what 2016 holds for them. After signing the letter I decided to get a little artsy with it and drew my own picture of Happy the deer!

 Here is the inside of the letter to Jadelynn Brooke! 

Like my drawing?

 I tried to decorate the envelope a little bit.

The outside of the Jadelynn Brooke envelope.

Want to send Lexi Lynn, Jade, and Brooke a letter? 

Here's their address:

Jadelynn Brooke

1705 Hog Hollow Road

Dripping Springs, TX 78620

Wan to purchase one of their amazing #squadgoals shirts, seersucker hats, cute stickers, or one of their amazing t-shirts? Well here's a direct link to their beautiful website! 

Jadelynn Brooke's Website

If they respond I will also include a response blog post so you can see what they said! Thank you so much for reading!! 

Xoxo,

Samantha

@theofficialprep

Two Weekends well spent!

On New Years Eve I finally met one of my favorite blogger friends in person! Her name is Hannah and she is the amazing owner of @scusemysouthernprep on Instagram. We have been best blogger friends for over a year and we've been wanting to meet up! So we finally did, and that's what inspired me to write this blog!

We have spent two weekends in a row together! Last weekend we visited Pink Sorbet, which is a signature Lilly Pulitzer store, Half Moon Outfitters, and The Coloumbian Mall. Some shops we stopped in at the mall include Charming Charlies, Dazzle Up, Rack Room, Anthropology, Forever 21, and Victoria Secret. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and we both got to experience where each other live!

This weekend we spent time doing a little photo-shoot around Columbia SC! First we ate lunch at Ruby Tuesdays with our mothers, next we visited Pink Sorbet again! Hannah purchased a few new items that are super cute! After our  quick Lilly stop it started to rain. That is something no one wants to see on photo-shoot day. But, we held it together and braved the drizzling rain. We took photos at the 5 Points fountain and visited some cute shops along the way! Next stop, The State House! I've never actually been to the state house even though I live in SC. So this experience was amazing!We first took pictures with the back of the state house and then traveled along the side, and made our way around to the front. And then Hannah and I parted ways once again.

Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend!

JLB shirts and the SC State House? Yes please!

At the 5 Points Fountain.

LOL at our VV whale hats!

Just a side view of the state house!

What a whale of a time.

Life, Liberty, and JLB!

Model Status: 10,000

Rain, rain, go away.

Here are some pictures from last weekend!

We LOVE Lilly!!

One of the amazing Owners!

Mirror Pic

Pink Sorbet 

Jellies be Jammin' dressing room.

Some of my favorite things!

Some of my purchases!

Live, Laugh, Love Lilly!

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed Hannah and I's past two weekends! Until next time,

Xoxo,
Samantha
@theofficialprep

15 Things I Loved About 2015!

2015 has been a year full of ups and downs. I have loved being apart of so many people's lives. 2015 has allowed me to experience and see things I haven't before! So Grayson (@fashionfromateenblog on instagram) and I have teamed up to show ya'll 15 Things I Loved About 2015! 

1. Choir Cruise 

In February of 2015 a select group of teens from my High School Choir went on a cruise to the Bahamas! Thankfully I was one of them!! While on the cruise we preformed, shopped, and experienced quite a few new things. We traveled to Nassau, Bahamas and Freeport. 

Atlantis in Paradise Island 

Me with my Lilly shorts in Freeport!

2. Dress Up Days
At my High School we have Spirit weeks where there will be certain themes for each day. On this particular day the theme was Disney vs. Marvel. So me and my Friends decided to dress up as different characters from Monsters Inc.

From right to left: Gracyn (Mike), Hannah (Sully), Me (Boo), Katelyn (Sock Monster)  

3. I Passed The Permit Test

So in March of 2015 I tired for my permit test at the DMV. I passed my first time! My friend Emily and unintentionally took the test at the same time and passed!!

4. Easter
Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays! Mainly because it's a day that we celebrate because of Jesus' sacrifice for us. The fact that Jesus gave his life so we may live without fear of being punished for sins, is absolutely amazing! Another reason I love Easter is because of all the pretty pastel colors and dresses!

This was my Easter outfit this year!

5. Fourth of July 

Every 4th of July I attend the Peach Festival, which is hosted in my town. at the Peach Festival you can ride rides, watch the parade, watch the firework show, eat some amazing BBQ, and shop at local craft stands. 

Groupie at Chapel one night.

6. Look Up Lodge Summer Camp

This summer my church attended Look Up Lodge Summer Camp! I had an amazing time getting to make new friends and learn more about God. At Look Up Lodge there are tons of things to do. Like swimming, ziplineing, hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, swinging on the giant swing, and you can also play soccer, tennis, volleyball, carpet ball, basketball, 9 square, and corn hole. They also had activities for each church. like relay games, a mud run, and so much more!

Last night celebration.

My friend Dani and I after the mudrun.

7.Neon Night

Where I'm from, Football is a lifestyle! Each High School football game is themed. One of my favorites was neon night. Neon night is where everyone dresses in neon colors! 

8. Greek Life

Greek Life/Frat night was my absolute favorite game theme this year! That's because I was able to wear my preppy clothes.

Just Frat It!

Greek life selfie!

9. Black Out
Another one of my favorite football themes was the black put theme. At this game everyone wore black, if you couldn't have guessed. :)

10. I Passed My Restricted Test!

So I passed my restricted test in September of 2015! Which official means I can drive without an adult during the day. I was so excited once I passed.

11. Camping In Oconee Sate Park

This year certain members of my church decided to go on a camping trip in Oconee Sate Park near Clemson, South Carolina. It was beautiful. In Oconee we went hiking to waterfalls, ate s'mores, cooked over the camp fire, went fishing, and even played in the rain! I really enjoyed my time in nature and seeing breath taking scenery. 

Cooking blueberry dump cake by the camp fire.

One of the Waterfalls we hiked to.

12. I got a Car! 

So in 2015 I learned to drive and passed all my tests. The next step is to own a car. And that's exactly what I'm doing now. 

13. Deceased Farms

Around Halloween every year a local farm opens with a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, and two haunted houses. I go with my friends every year! In 2015 I went twice! I was scared at first but I love scary movies so I was fine.

right to left: Hannah, Scary farmer, Hannah, Me

right to left: Dani, Zombie girl, Me

14. Christmas Sleepover

This year one of my best friends, Hannah, invited three of her friends for a Christmas sleepover party. That night we burned two batches of snicker doodle cookies, ate pizza, watched Christmas movies, and opened presents.

right to left: Me, Hannah, Olaf, Gracyn, and Katelyn.

15. A day with my Favorite Blogger friend! 

The last day of 2015 was spent with my blogger friend Hannah! Also known as @scusemysouthernprep on Instagram. We shopped at Pink Sorbet in Columbia, South Carolina, and also went shopping at the Columbiana Mall!

Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about me and my 2015! I also want to think Grayson for allowing me to collab with her! Her information will be listed below. So please check her out!

Here's Grayson herself:

Grayson's Social Media;

Instagram: @fashionfromateenblog

Pinterest: @grayyjeffords.

Blog Link: www.fashionfromateen.weebly.com

Xoxo, 

Samantha

@theofficialprep on Instagram!