Dolce Design's DIY hairpins.

First off, I want to thank you so much for your votes yesterday over at the Handmade Olympics! Keep em coming, currently I'm in second place, YAHOOOOOO!

Today, I wanted to share with you a little project my friend Brittany over at Dolce Design came up with for her daughters...Lovely Little Hairpins. These hairpins are too cute and I would most definitely wear them myself. Here is how she did it.

"Most of the necessary supplies are photographed up top: sharp scissors, mini flowers, bobby pins, and felt. Add a hot glue gun to the mix and you're set.

As a side note; felt is awesome to have on hand. With sharp scissors it is totally no sew and so cheap it's worth purchasing a few yards just to have kickin' around the house.

You only need a tiny amount of felt for this project. Cut small circles, approximately the same size as the back of the flower you wish to use. Tuck the felt into the bobby pin and slide to the end(lower right photograph)"

Using your hot glue gun, apply a small amount of glue to the back of your flower. Place on top of the bobby pin and secure with felt that is already in place. (You have just sandwiched the bobby pin between the flower and felt.)

That's it. Really. You're done. So simple. So pretty. Did I mention the little red pair is for me? Yay for party hair.

Happy DIY Valentines! I hope you get the chance to work on some fun projects yourself.

Handmade Olympics Here I COME!!!!!

Today I am soooo excited to let you all know that I have been nominated as a top 10 finalist for rikrak's Handmade Olympics! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! I know my excitement is not just from my double tall latté, its from the satisfaction of knowing that what I do here everyday has made its little mark. That maybe what has been so inspiring to me has actually inspired others. I am thrilled beyond belief that I can be apart of this Olympic team. And thrilled that I have such great readers and support from all of my friends, family and blogging buddies. To vote for Love, Natalie or other favorite blogs, please head HERE, or click on the image below.

A big thanks to Bonnie for my nomination and Tara from Scoutie Girl for picking Love, Natalie to be in the top 10. You guys offer me more inspiration than you'll ever know.

Over the weekend.

Over the weekend I became inspired by bunting banners. They add life to a party, cuteness to a room and they make you feel happy. I thought, I wonder if they would add the same party, cute, happy feeling to some onesies...

Break out the pinata, looks like these babies are ready to party!

This is what kept me busy over the weekend, besides having a great dinner with our friends on Friday, hosting a UFC fight night on Saturday (one of those girlfriend sacrifices!), staying up late watching movies, making party platters and watching the Super Bowl. WHO DAT! What kept you busy this weekend?

Its sunny!

Ok, I'm out! I'm out of this house and into the sunshine. Its a beautiful day, but I don't have too much time. Its supposed to get cloudy and rainy later on. I'll be back, hopefully with some photos of my day! Can't wait to share. What are you all up to on this Thursday?

xo-Natalie

Update on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 3:49PM by Natalie

Well, sorry to disappoint, but I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my fun day in the sun like I thought I would. Instead I got caught up supply shopping and hurrying home to work on new products for Bellingham Baby Company. Oh well, another day. I did get a good shot of my drive to the store. Mt. Baker stuck out like a sore thumb and it was a beautiful day.

Fabulous memo board.

Fabulous K has created this fabulous pretty polish memo board as a way to add some glam and function to her work space. I adore it! Know you will too. Its easy, and great for a budget but it looks expensive. Fabulous K's blog offers so much inspiration and this memo board for sure inspired me! I hope you love it just as much. To see how she did it, check out her post here.

How cute is that lamp shade...more inspriation.

Happy DIY to you! I hope you guys are having a great Wednesday!

The brighter side of life.

Its gotten to the point that I have to turn the news off just to keep my sanity. Its all the doom and gloom that is driving me CRAZY! I know I'm not the only one! I'm sure we are all feeling the same way.

I feel like our media is doing a horrible job on not reporting the brighter side of life. I realize I can not live in a bubble, I can not pretend that there aren't businesses closing, and thousands loosing jobs. I can not pretend that my medical bills are not piling up and that my monthly medical insurance payment hasn't gone up 50% in the last year. Its all there, I know it is, and its eating me alive. But, this article I am about to tell you about made me start thinking a little differently.

I was reading the January Family Circle at the gym last night and there was this great article about the positive effects of this down economy if we can imagine them. The article pointed out how times are tough but look at what we are doing as a people. There are some POSITIVE things happening. We are staying in more. Families are eating dinner at home and not out. Cooking at home greatly controls what we put in our food like fat, sodium and sugar. We're eating together, talking about our day. Some of us have even cut out cable TV. So we are socializing and playing games, reading and getting crafty. Instead of wasting money on plastic water bottles that are filling up land fills we are refilling our own reusable bottles because who wants to spend a buck 50 on water! We are GROWING GARDENS! Using our own land to provide for our family is the greatest feeling and so rewarding to eat what we've grown. We are saving money, spending less on impulse buys and buying used instead of new. We're getting back to nature. Going to parks instead of movies. Vacationing is now camping or road tripping, touring national parks. Hiking! See, media there are some good things going on right now. Lets focus on them! And last but not least, we are getting in touch with our own strengths and talents and starting our own small businesses from home.

The universe was on my side this morning. I stumbled across this blog called The Bright Side Project. This blog shined light on my day. Here is there mission: "The Bright Side Project is here to bring you sunshine every day with themed, daily giveaways. We hope to inspire you to stop for a second and remember life is (still) beautiful and there is goodness in the world."

The Bright Side Projects latest giveaway is two beautiful matted prints by photographer Mina Georgescu. You just have to leave a comment on The Bright Side's post by answering this question: What magical place would you like to have a photograph of?

Ahhhhh, the bright side of life is beautiful! I took a breath to realize that its time to focus on the positive. I also read last night that you can train your brain (that rhymed!) to change your thinking to a more positive mind set. You just have to take those bad thoughts and try and find the brighter side. Lets try it guys!!!

I'm Your Present.

I remember as a kid I would giggle when I saw someone walking around (usually my Grandpa) sporting a wildlife shirt. Usually, he liked the wolf ones or anything with an eagle. Whatever wildlife scene, they always made me laugh. Kelly, the designer of I'm Your Present has reconstructed those vintage animal t's and made them into adorable t-shirt dresses. Perfect with a pair of leggings and flats, or instead of flats a pair of tall boots to add extra cuteness! Genius idea Kelly!

I'm Your Present always puts a smile on my face. Kelly, the designer is also the model and photographer. I love to see what fun idea she'll come up with next. With over 6000 sales on ETSY, I'm not the only one!