the lovely poppy [[the blog]]

a little more about the lovely poppy

i'm so happy today to be posting a little intro about the lovely poppy.
the lovely poppy has been around since may of this year and i've already learned an incredible amount and have connected with some pretty amazing bloggers/indie business owners.

currently my husband and i live in milwaukee, wisconsin, with our puppy (treated like a child) bailey.

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

during the day i work for a local non-profit, managing an early intervention program for children with autism. i absolutely love what i do and helping children with disabilities is a huge passion of mine. i recently blogged about a football camp that i put together with a local high school.

Source: jsonline.com via Nicole on Pinterest

at night and on the weekends i run the lovely poppy. i decided to open up a shop because of my obsession with dressing bailey in a new collar every week and my love for shopping for fabric. the shop now focuses on accessories, such as necklaces, headbands, blossom pins, camera strap slipcovers, key fobs, pacifier clips, and a few new products are released each month. i enjoy being able to create things for others and have them feel confident wearing it.

Source: etsy.com via Nicole on Pinterest

i've recently started focusing more on blogging and connecting with other bloggers. i love waking up in morning and reading posts- which continue to inspire me and help come up with new ideas to grow the lovely poppy. i'm currently hosting a giveaway to increase followers and have had an overwhelmingly awesome amount of new followers.

i've shared a few quick and easy tutorials...

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

and love linking up for what i wore wednesdays and instafridays.

thank you so much for stopping by, let me know if you follow me, so i can make sure to follow you back. xoxo nicole

Labels: b, bailey, giveaway, instafriday, milwaukee, products, tutorial, wiww, work

instaFriday

happy friday my dear blogging friends. i'm linking up with jeannett @ life rearranged for instaFriday. i didn't do so great taking a lot of pictures this week, so i'm cheating by using pictures from a week fews ago.

i love this picture.. my adorable little grandma getting a few kisses from bailey.

we had a bridal shower for my dear sister in law a few weeks ago. my other dear sister in law made these AWESOME cut out cookies!! the theme of the shower was sailing.

my dear husband, enjoying some dinner.

baby sephra, wearing one of the lovely poppy's headbands. i love this little lady.

oh dear; this was from a bachelorette party recently. pedal taverns are quickly becoming popular in milwaukee. it's basically a cable car and bike combined with alcohol. a combination of pedaling one of these guys around town and being out until bar close= a few days to bounce back. oh i'm getting old.. and starting to sound like my mother.

lastly, is one of the only pictures i took this week. i'm really pleased with how these necklaces and headbands turned out. they're listed in the shop and ready to ship!

i've been trying to do a better job of blogging and not just listing pictures and information about new additions to the shop. i feel like i'm doing a better job, but still have a lot of room for improvement. my goal is to get another tutorial up next week.

..it would however make my happy if you would follow me. i mean really happy, so happy i would dance around in circles all weekend :-)

Labels: b, bailey, headbands, instafriday, products

tutorial- scrap fabric dog collar

i'm happy to share with you one of my favorite projects. if bailey could talk, i think she'd agree that this is her favorite collar.

skill level: easy peasy

time: 30 minutes

supplies: dog collar and scrap fabric

1) cut scrap fabric into skinny strips. i've found that 5 inches by 3/4 inches works best, but it will look great whichever way you choose. if you do less than 4 inches it gets difficult to tie in a knot.

2) start tying the fabric strips onto the collar. i like doing the knot on the outside, but either way works. at the bottom of the post there's a picture of how the knots on the inside look.

3) make sure the side without the knot is flat without wrinkles or twists.

4) continue tying strips throughout the collar. i recommend scrunching them together tightly, so that you can add a variety of colors.

5) your collar will look like this once the strips cover the entire collar.

6) trim down the strips with a scissors for a nice, clean look.

ta-da!! you now have a fancy, unique dog collar

here's a picture of a previous collar that i made that had the knots on the inside. i think they both look nice, but i prefer the ones with the knots on the outside. which one do you prefer?

Labels: bailey, tutorial

weekend recap w/ [new] products ..and bailey

i'm not particiualry a fan of mondays, but after a great and somewhat relaxing weekend, it's actually fairly enjoyable (however it's only 7:10am). the hubby and i got to spent a lot of time together outside, walking around downtown shops and trying new foods (my two favorite things). bailey had a good weekend as well, she got to come with us most of the time and saw her first duck.