{Happy 1st Birthday Ella June!}

Mommy & Daddy love you to the moon and back. You make every day worth living. Happy 1st Birthday!!!

<3

{my week -in photos-}

gifts

pretty dish gloves

$1 tank tops + craftiness= cute cheap summer clothes

learning about birthdays

snack

new fabrics

new family addition (my SIL's new dog) his name is Paco

all day, everyday

cowgirl

bridesmaid

martha stewart burger recipe, the ONLY way to make a burger

new anthro threads

my FAV

homemade lasagna, what a good italian wife

{Ella's 1st birthday-ladybug invitation design}

I can't believe that Ella is turing ONE on the 31st! This year has really flown by, and I can't imagine my life without her anymore. We're planning a big bash to celebrate the occasion. Since we often call her Junebug or Little Lady we decided to do a ladybug theme for the party. I designed her invite (details have been changed, so don't bother trying to crash the party :).

 Invitation design has become a little side hobby of mine lately. I've designed a few for friends birthday's and a bridal shower, but that's for another post (soon, I promise!)

Back to Ella's invite, I took the picture, and then designed the invite to fit our theme. I think it came out darling! What do you think? I think it sets the tone well without being overly kids-y.

I'll be sharing a few other details of the party planning in the next few days. And then after the party I'll be sure to share how the big day went, so stay tuned!

{MIA-wedding festivus}

Wow! Sorry I've been MIA for the last 2 weeks. It's been super duper busy around here, we've been in weddings, planning 1st birthday's and getting ready for 9 (yes, NINE!) weeks of selling at Old Folsom's Thursday night market. 

I'll have a booth there and will be selling all your favorite Abstract Grace items, as well as some new items that aren't available in the online store yet. (Ekk! Very excited about those.)

 Oh, and the biggest reason I haven't been blogging a lot lately is that someone got ahold of the computer charger and put it in their mouth. Apparently baby slobber isn't good for MacBook chargers, because after she sucked on it for a bit it no longer gave charge to my computer, so i've been computer-less until we finally got the replacement. (Note to self, keep computer charger out of reach of baby at all costs.)

Here's proof of our crazy busy lives as of late...

Good news is...I'M BACK!

yellow tea length strapless dress, and pearls. loved this bridesmaid choice!

the happy couple

{find a friend friday - link up! week 13}

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to week 13 of Find a Friend Friday. I can't believe it's been 13 weeks already. Alissa and I are so glad you're here visiting.

Today we are so excited to introduce you to our friends from Sew Sweet Patterns. 

1.Tell us about yourself and your blog.  

We are a mother/daughter team from South Orange County.  We specialize in sewing patterns for girls, boys and dolls.  We love be able to give beginner sewers some tools to help them along in their sewing journey!  Our blog allows us to reach out to our customers with tutorials, giveaways and to get know us a little bit along the way.  We are new to the whole blog world, but we are learning quickly!

2. Tell us a little about your shop.  

We sell handmade patterns for girls, boys and dolls that are geared for the beginner sewer.  Each pattern comes with a step-by-step tutorial with lots of clear photos, a sewing glossary and size chart.  We email patterns in PDF form and are always available to answer questions along the way!

3. How did your shop name come to be?  

Hum, guess it was just a brainstorm of ideas and Sew Sweet Patterns just stuck!  

4. What got you started with your craft,and selling your items?  

My mom had taught me to sew bean bags and things when I was little, but I really had no interest then.  However, when my daughter, Harper arrived I found myself wanting to re-learn.  So I picked up a store-bought pattern and headed home to attempt it.  After many tears and ripped seams, I called my mom and she brought me down some patterns she had been working on just for fun (she was loving having a granddaughter to sew for!).  With her clear instructions and easy steps, I was able to complete the dress!!  After making a few dresses from her patterns, we thought that we could combine her sewing and design skills with my computer knowledge  and  Sew Sweet Patterns began!

5. Favorite part of your day? 

 Oh, that is tough!  Obviously nap time is nice, but I do love our dance party lunches!

6. What food or food group would you refuse to live without?  

CHOCOLATE!!

7. Where can we find you? 

 Website: www.sewsweetpatterns.com Blog:http://sewsweetpatterns.blogspot.com Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewsweetpatterns and Facebook: Sew Sweet Patterns

Sew Sweet Patterns has offered to give all my followers at 10% discount! Yeowzers! You can use the code FRIEND when you check out.

Happy Linking. Party ends on Tuesday!

{my week -in photos-}

feather + hair

Ella June + her Great Grandmother

coconut cake

oliver

green chile enchiladas

70 bags i made for a retirement home's mother's day brunch

sleepy eater

fountains + snack time

purse pouch

fun in the h2o

fountains

whitechocolatechipcranberryoatmealcookies

{cookie recipe review}

A friend recently gave me about 80 single serving pouches of dried cranberries (apparently her cousin is an Ocean Spray Rep and brought them quite the load). Did you know that Ocean Spray (is there even any other brand that sells cranberries out there?) makes dried cranberries in different flavors? Well I was pleasantly surprised to find that the box was filled with blueberry and pomegranate flavored cranberries. Yum! I don't cook with cranberries very often, so I started browsing for recipes. I came across this recipe for white chocolate chip cranberry oatmeal cookies, sheesh, that's a mouth full.

The recipe boasts nearly a full 5 stars, so it has to be good right? Well I got to baking and followed the recipe exactly (which I rarely do). The end result was a wonderful cookie. Slightly crispy on the out side, but soft and chewy on the inside. Yum. They were a tad on the sweet side, but white chocolate has a tendency to make this taste uber sweet. Next time i'll cut back on the amount of white sugar in the recipe to counter the sweetness from the white chocolate chips. I used the pomegranate flavored dried cranberries in the recipe and they turned out wonderful. Don't they look yummy? Well, I only have about 75 packages left, so i'm back to searching...If anyone has a great recipe containing dried cranberries, leave a link to it in the comments or email me, I'd love to try it.

pardon the horrible picture. my kitchen is windowless. :(

{happy cinco de mayo!}

Happy Cinco Do Mayo!

I'll be sipping a cold margarita this evening amongst friends at our "Taco Bar" party. Here in Northern California the weather is GORGEOUS! We've hit 90 degrees and it's going to be the perfect evening for an outdoor celebration. I LOVE Mexican food, we've had it three times for dinner this week, but we cant get enough in our household, eek! Below are some photos to celebrate the day. Hope everyone enjoys their May 5th!

Print your own HERE via Cakes Likes A Party

Red Chile Short Rib Tacos via Bobby Flay/Food Network

via Bird's Party