{Parasol Craft: 1st Edition}

Ok, Ok, I am so excited to share this with all you out there. Blogging is so connected to print magazines. It really is an extension of print journalism. I love finding and reading a well written, well laid out magazine. There really is an art to it. Well, lately I've been searching for good reading materials about blogging and craft, and let me tell you, I haven't come across much.

There is the print magazine Artful Blogging (which is great, and expensive) and a plethora of "how to make your blog better" books at Borders, but nothing craft/art based with a blogging side.

Well let me introduce you to my new favorite read! Yasmine Surovec, who runs a print/design blog called a A Print A Day has been putting out the digital magazine Parasol. Parasol is design + art + creative lifestyle based and is free to download. It's now in its 4th edition, and is filled with a lot of great content, pictures, and amazing layouts. (I suggest you all download the entire range of editions, its a great read.)

Now, Yasmine has introduced a new endeavor called Parasol*Craft. It's an online/PDF magazine dedicated to handmade + inspiration and lots of downloads. It's a spin off of Parasol Magazine in that craft is the primary focus and the objective is to promote and inspire creativity. At only $2.50 this is the BEST purchase i've made in a long time. The magazine is chocked full (over 110 pages!) of amazing pictures, articles with fellow bloggers and crafters, downloads, and projects. You can purchase the magazine to download here.

It was exactly what I've been looking for...for now. I only wish it was in print format. I'd love curl up with it and a cup of coffee. If anyone else knows of great blogging/craft/sewing 'zines, please do let me know!

{The Pacific NW}

I'm back, tired, and glad to be sleeping in my own bed! The recent trip to Washington was great. It was filled with lots of music, camping, many miles of driving, lots of old friends, and a few new ones. We managed to sneak away from the festival one afternoon and cross state-lines into Oregon for a quick trip to Portland.

We didn't have much time to explore the city, so we made the cult sugar staple Voodoo Doughnut our destination. I couldn't believe the line was out the door(!) and this was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon! Doughnuts are seriously popular at Voodoo, and seriously wacky. I'll just say that my donut was the size of my head, no exaggeration.

Because of our time constraints I only managed to snap a few pictures along the way. I wish we had more time to really check out what Portland has to offer. I would have loved to do a little shopping. All is good though because I've been promised a return visit. Hopefully soon!

{Off & Away}

One of the great perks to being married to a music man is that you get to travel a lot, visit a lot of interesting places, meet a lot of interesting people, and hear a lot of good music. I'll be out of state the next 6 days, at a music festival in Washington. I've been promised an excursion to Portland (the beard capital of the USA) along the way, which I am very excited about. I've never been to Portland, but have heard so many great things about it. I'm hoping to come back with a few jewels to share. I'm so excited!

I've done some serious html/css coding research lately and added some great things to this blog. A new header, which still needs a little tweaking. And you can now contact me (and please do! I'd love to hear from you) visit my Flickr page, my Facebook page (right now it's a link to my personal one, if I ever have time I may start an AG one) and finally subscribe to my RSS feed via the neat little tags on the left of the page!

I've also added an about me link in the new menu bar, and a link to the Etsy shop. I'm still working on getting items up, so not much is going on there yet. I'm hoping that all the new additions will make Abstract Grace a more user/reader friendly blog. We all need easier in our lives, right?

Well, this is my Friday, so i'll see you all next week!

{Baking It Pretty}

Hands down, one of my favorite leisure activities is baking. It's such a stress reliever for me that I bake every chance I get, at least once a week. I've posted before about a lovely little site that sells adorable baking goods called Bake It Pretty. Last week I ordered some light blue office-esque tags, chocolate brown mini and regular sized cupcake liners, and my new favorite cookie cutter, which I have affectionately named "the 'stache". I am already thinking of a few people who will be receiving cookies made with "the 'stache" very soon, and the husband has already requested I make some for his upcoming birthday.

It's so exciting opening the mailbox to see a package you know is going to be filled with great things. I was very excited today was delivery day. My items were packaged nicely in a brown paper bag with a Bake It Pretty sticker seal. I love details like that.

I suggest you stop by the site and take a look around. It's filled with a million awesome things for the baker who obsesses over making food pretty. Because eating cute food is a millions times more fun, right?

Oh, in other AG news...I've started a Flickr account. (I know, I know, who doesn't have a Flickr account? Apparently no one except me until today.) I'm hoping it makes me more diligent about taking photos and blogging about them. You can see the scant collection so far here.