Pinterest gets our creative juices flowing. It’s a quick, easy way to collect and share the beautiful things we find on the web. People “pin” images that inspire them onto “boards” — curating content around their interests, passions, and desires. Using and browsing Pinterest leaves us super invigorated — full of fire to go make something.

We use Pinterest to share visual and ephemeral concepts. Pinning is about as “Belabumbum” as it gets — rich, engaging, and compelling — just like the women we dress! We recently celebrated our 10th anniversary and have been thinking a lot about our values, our designs, and what we want to create. It became clear that Pinterest is the perfect vehicle for our first “Show Us Your Belabumbum” campaign.

So…. we created a board around the idea of  ”blooming woman” to celebrate our evolving and enduring beauty as we journey through the different stages of motherhood: pregnant woman, nursing mom, wife, lover. We’re pinning images that show what makes us feel playful, pretty, and pampered at each phase: belly, boudoir, and beyond.

Join us and win a $500 Belabumbum shopping spree! There are three easy steps:

1. Create — Create a “My Belabumbum” board on your Pinterest account. (It’s easy to join, just request an invitation.)
2. Pin — Pin images on your  ”My Belabumbum” board that represent your blooming — your journey through motherhood and what makes you feel good at the stage you’re at right now. Show us your favorite Belabumbum pieces, as well as other images that resonate with you. Include anything you want: people, places, spaces, things — whatever inspires you. In the pin descriptions, jot down a few words or a short explanation of why you chose that pin.
3. Tweet — Tweet us a link to your board (@Belabumbum) using the hashtag #mybelabumbum.

That’s it! We’ll announce the winner at the end of May.

Have fun, inspire yourself, and get in that place where you feel confident and strong — and maybe even a bit sassy.

These two cuties are Irina, who first modeled for us when she was pregnant, and her lovely baby, Eva. This is a behind-the-scenes peek into a break time during our September 2011 photoshoot of our upcoming Spring & Summer 2012 collections.

Now at our 10-year mark, we’ve been looking at our own navels. Nope, we’re not pregnant. We’re just taking taking a good look at what we’ve created and nurtured over the last decade. We’re proud of Belabumbum — our baby born of hard work, partnerships, great design, and a commitment to creating a space for women to feel pretty and pampered as they move through the different phases of their lives.

All this inward gazing has led to more clarity about who we are, where we’re going, and how we want to connect with you. We understand better that what we’re about is blooming woman — celebrating the evolution of our selves, our bodies, and our families. Helping women feel confident, comfortable, and feminine. Every day.

So back to Irina and Eva. We felt great about asking Irina to come back and model for us post-baby. Yes yes we know she’s beautiful. But there’s more: radiance, health, happiness. She brought her mom along to the shoot. There were baby-nursing breaks. And that’s what we wish for you: to shine, to be able to integrate work and family, to be supported, to know you’re still hot. (And yes, we also wish you opportunities to nurse while wearing outrageous false eyelashes. Why not?)

Enjoy.

Emily Elling recently had her fourth (!) child and is in full wake/sleep/eat mode. So she was looking for some loungewear:

During the third trimester of pregnancy, I knew I needed to stock up on a few key lounge pieces that would carry me though the remainder of my pregnancy, and the transition nicely into nursing a newborn…After extensively searching and shopping (like honestly, so much searching and shopping, it was getting a bit obsessive), I discovered and fell in love with a company called Belabumbum. What drew me in instantly is the quality and sophistication of all of their pieces. So many of their styles are beautiful and still modest. Comfortable, without being frumpy.

Yay! We’re so pleased. This is what we try to create, so it’s nice when you tell us that we got it right.

Here’s a photo of Emily with her new little on. So cute!

When the baby is on the outside: Belabumbum Nursing PJs I didn’t really get the whole nursing clothes concept, but a savvier family friend sent me a nursing pajama set and it was the BEST. You basically do not want to take off your pajamas all day for the first…oh, I don’t know…4 weeks? But people keep coming over and you need to look decent and these are just the best….

We love her blog. Here’s the link to subscribe to her posts.

We love Pinterest so much that we’ve made a board with some of our sweetest picks for Valentines Day.

There’s still time to say “Be Mine”!  Enter “LOVE2012″ at checkout for 15% off our entire online boutique, including gift certificates. But don’t tarry — this offer is only valid until February 20, 2012).

Photo courtesy of Creature Comforts — a great blog dedicated to the simple things that inspire and make life sweet!

A year ago we sent Jill Krause — who blogs at Baby Rabies — this Ariel nursing gown and baby sleep sack. She ended up wearing it when Dallas-based photographer Jessica Marchetti came over to take some photos. Jessica’s work is impressive; she has an amazing sense of light, color, and composition.

Most of all, though, we were touched by the post where Jill shares the photos and her reflections: I Found Some Kind of Fairytale. She counts her blessings: a loving husband, healthy children, a safe home — and a talented friend to help her document all of it.

These little peeks into Jill’s world are so beautiful and uplifting. It’s important, for us as well as for our children, to stop and document. And sharing publicly allows others to reflect on what they have — and what we aspire to create.

Read more on Jill’s Baby Rabies blog.

The winter solstice is a time to gather in community and recharge so we may shine  brightly through the dark months of the year. It is a time to embrace the dying of the light — as well as its eventual rebirth. A time of both letting go and ushering in.

Cultures around the world mark the winter solstice with bonfires, candle lighting, and merrymaking. I invite friends over and start preparing for the new year. We each make two lists: one with things we’d like to leave behind, and another with things we want to welcome in. For me, it’s an opportunity to draft my new year’s resolutions, focusing on new habits I’d like to start practicing.

PHOTO: Liz Marie

Babble.com readers and editors have highlighted the Belabumbum Sleep Bra as one of the Best Maternty Bras this year. We agree: this super-soft, eco-friendly bamboo bra is the perfect basic for expecting or new moms.

Getting noticed by Babble.com makes us particularly happy. Not just because they’re influential and feature more than 200 mom bloggers (yay! cool jobs for moms!), but also because they were co-founded by Rufus Griscom, the smart, literary cutie who brought us Nerve in the late 90s. Nerve was like The New Yorker… but sexy. And important because it filled a gap, providing intelligent, respectful, and nuanced content about relationships and sensuality. So Babble.com is like Nerve-all-grown-up — happily married and focused on the kids.

The December issue of Self magazine features Gossip Girl cast member Kaylee DeFer working it out in our Copacabana Long Cami. Perfect undies, perfect form :)

As the air gets crisp and the days get shorter, it’s time to reflect on what we’re most thankful for.

Here are a few things that we hold near and dear to our hearts:

• Our children
• Our understanding husbands
• Our family’s health
• The ability to dream and manifest our visions
• Our freedom
• The sun, the moon, and the stars

But most of all, the Belabumbum team values the relationships in our lives: our families, our children, our loyal customers and everyone  involved in making our products throughout the Americas — from the person who cuts the fabric, to the ladies who package it so neatly, to the guy who loads it into our warehouse. We are so fortunate to have all of you in our lives!

Wishing you all abundant health and happiness this Thanksgiving.

(And thanks to Grayson Groovy for the wonderful image, found via Classy In The City.)