i'm back!

Wow, has it really been almost a year?! Saying I neglected the blog would be an understatement, I dropped off the face of the blogging world. Here we are almost the end of 2013 and my last post was Halloween 2012. A LOT has happened in the last 365ish days. LOTS and LOTS. I guess you could say that life got "busy." I'll recap my year MIA with the three biggest things.

1. I got pregnant and had a baby. YES!! I told you, a lot really can happen in a year. Starting the beginning of 2012 we started trying to have a baby. Ella was 18 months old and we thought it was time to starting thinking about another addition to the family. We didn't put to much pressure on ourselves thinking it would happen quickly, but month after month went by and the tests came back negative EVERY MONTH. After 3 or so months of negative tests I started using ovulation prediction tests to better our chances...still not pregnant. Spring and Summer came and went and several close friends announced their pregnancies along the way and still we tried and tried and it just wasn't happening. Ella turned two and my hopes of having kids 2.5 years apart went out the window. I was discouraged but knew that in God's timing we'd have another if we were supposed to. Then just two weeks before Christmas 2012 we got the best gift ever, a big fat POSITIVE test. I could barely contain myself. It had been a LONG nine months but finally we were having a baby! So this summer we welcomed Maci Evelyn to the family (I'll share her birth story soon). The little sister Ella had hoped for, and the baby her daddy and I prayed for.

2. Ella turned THREE (hello! stop growing so fast!) and started preschool. When they say don't blink, kids grow so fast, they really mean it! I can't believe that Ella is not only three (which we celebrated with a Doc McStuffin's themed party) but has started 5 day a week preschool. We placed her in a montessori program and to say she is enjoying it is an understatement. She loves her "work" and is thriving tremendously!

3. For the first time since Ella was born I started working outside the home. I suppose this is the largest contributing factor to the blog being neglected. When you're pregnant, have a toddler and work outside the home there isn't a lot of extra time for keeping up on the blog. Like most families in the last few years, money was getting tight so this SAHM had to look for work outside the home. I found a job working part time at night after the husband came home. While in the first trimester of my pregnancy I was actually working two jobs. Let me tell you, there was a bit of mama guilt at times and it felt like a "break" being around adults and having someone besides a 2 year old to talk to at other times. Verdict: I love being a SAHM at this point in my life. Kids grow so fast (see #2) that I really cherish being able to be at home with them during their early years. I'm still on maternity leave from Maci's birth and I hope that I can keep it that way. Of course, i'll do whatever I have to for the family.

Well I hope that explains my absence. And I hope I can jump back into posting more regularly too. It was nice logging into Blogger and seeing that even though I haven't touched the blog in almost a year I still average 100+ views a day and looking back at the stats some of my posts had thousands of views (thank you Pinterest). One thing that I haven't neglected is my Instagram account. I post everyday so if you'd like to follow along there, please do! (click HERE to follow or search username abstractgrace)

It feels good to be back. Happy Fall!

yellow and grey baby shower

I had the lovely pleasure last month of hosting a baby shower for my best friend. I really love party planning and putting a handmade touch on party decor. Here are a few Instagram photos (follow me! my handle is abstractgrace) of the party decor.

I was also happy to find that Kim from The Tomkat Studio, has teamed up with Pottery Barn Kids sharing great party ideas. There are some great video tutorials and free printables for all types of party decor. I took advantage of her beautiful designs and used the Sunshine Baby Shower suite for printable decor and invitations.

I wanted to go with a yellow and grey color scheme from the beginning. I thought that it was a perfect blend of gender neutral (she was having a boy). I didn't want to go to "boy-ish" with the shower. I guess I just like thing uber-girly!

The brunch menu included crepes with nutella, peanut butter, and preserves. We also had  fruit salad, quiche, goat cheese and crackers, and lemon bars (Ina Garten's amazing recipe). Yellow daises in mason jars tied with twine adorned the buffet and tables, and several walls were covered in vertical hanging crepe paper streamers and yellow and grey tissue paper poms.

My favorite part of the shower was the polaroid guest book. We set up a table with several chalkboard props and took pics of guests when they arrived. Then they were able to write a message below their photo to the mom-to-be and baby. Afterwards all the pictures went into a memory book of the shower as a keepsake for mom. 

It was such a lovely day and I got a lot of compliments from guests on how everything turned out. Now onto planning Ella's 2nd birthday!

ebi nigiri baby sushi costume

Ok, my fears came true. I'm sick. Actually, the whole family is sick. Travis came home from work early yesterday, and took the day off today too. We're all feeling quite under the weather. Thank goodness for dayquil/nyquil, but poor little lady she only gets baby tylenol to help her feel better.

To add insult to injury I'm also knee deep in dressmaking which needs to be finished by the end of the weekend. Hopefully I can churn out 2 more dresses this evening after Elle is down and before my nightly nyquil coma begins.

I already have clothing orders lined up for production in October, but I need to schedule in some time to make Ella's Halloween costume. Last year I wanted to make her my version of the Owl Costume from Pottery Barn, but I got over zealous on the time management for that project and scrapped it pretty quick. Instead I made my little lady a sushi roll! Ebi Nigiri to be exact, and complete with soy sauce/wasabi/ginger headband. She was definitely the cutest thing on the block that year. And the costume was SO simple make.

Here's a rundown of the project.

I used a white onesie and white leggings for the "white rice" portion of the costume.

For the "raw fish" part I just made a small orange pillow (basic orange rectangle lightly stuffed with polyfil) and sewed thin white twill tape to one side in a "v" pattern (you could use white ribbon as well), this served as the lines in the "fish". Then I attached the "pillow" to the costume by sewing/tacking the corners to the back of the onesie.

The green ribbon was used as the "seaweed wrapper". You can attach it to the fish portion (sew/glue it on) or just make a belt out of it and attach velcro in the front so that it is adjustable to baby's tummy.

For the headband I just cut out a grass shape of felt, and hot glued it to a white headband. Then I emptied a package of soy sauce and glued it to the "grass" along with makeshift  green felt wasabi ball and pink ginger flower. 

That's it! It's really not that hard. If you eat sushi you know what these things look like, and felt is very easy to work with. If anyone has any more detailed questions feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll try to better explain how I made the costume. It was darling on a baby, easy to get on them and off them too, and could be adapted to other sizes easily.

Now to decide what costume I'm going to make her this year, I have a few ideas already...I'll share them soon!

Linking up to this great blog.

{covered wipes boxes-the greatest invention ever}

I've been sewing and crafting like crazy lately getting prepared for the Crossline Church Fall Boutique in Laguna Hills, CA in November. I'll have more details on that to come. I've been experimenting with some new products, and this is one of them! The padded wipes box! We've all seen the wipes clutches {here's a great tutorial and pattern for making your own} before, and they are great, but how about a padded re-useable wipes box for the nursery that matches the rooms decor/theme?

These wipes boxes are great because not only are they cute, but you can save money by buying economy boxes of refills (think Costco) and putting them into your box. Ahhh! I love them! I have one sitting on Ella's changing table and I love looking at it while I change her {i'll have to snap a pic of the one in her room so you can all see it in action}. They would also work great as a tissue box once wipes are no longer needed, or just order one as a tissue box with home decor fabric to match the living room, bathroom, etc.

The box on the bottom is not finished. It will have another round of trim at the bottom.

These would make a great baby shower/house warming gift. Unique and personalized to match the recipients taste/decor. Don't you LOVE LOVE LOVE that tattoo fabric? It's perfect for a boy, or girl. :)

Of course the top still opens and snaps closed. It was important to me to keep that function because of the convenience factor. No one wants to add any unnecessary time/hassle during a poopy diaper change. If these sell well at the boutique I'll be adding a few to the shop, and if you're interested in one now, custom or otherwise you can always email me about price and ordering one.

{pretty little thing}

Remember that lovely little stash of goodies I scooped up at the thrift store the other day? Well I put them to good use and here is the result: A lovely little pink onesie with a vintage fabric appliqued bib and vintage lace trim. Isn't it the prettiest little thing? I'm having a fun time using all of my finds and have a few other designs in the works. I'll share them with you all soon. Now I'm just debating whether to let the Little Lady keep it or put it in the shop. What do you think?

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

{alice in wonderland}

First off, if you haven't entered the giveaway, click here to do so!

I know it's a ways off, {ok, like waaaaayyyy off} but I can't help starting to think about Little Lady's 1st birthday. You're probably rolling your eyes, thinking "this woman is crazy, she has a 14 week old and is already thinking about her 1st birthday!" but I can't help it. I'm not so much planning, as...we'll call it "researching" possible themes and decor.

Up first is an Alice In Wonderland theme, I know all the hype about the movie and all a while back really pushed this theme into overkill, but a year from now no one will remember how trendy it is to have a Wonderland themed party, and i'll still be basking in my love for the book {the movie was a complete disappointment to me}.

Part of me is thinking this would be better suited for a young child's party and not a baby's 1st birthday. I'm thinking that babies sipping luke warm tea from fancy tea cups isn't gonna happen. Anyways...I can dream, so here are a few photos that really get my inspiration going:

The most AMAZING tweedle dee and tweedle dum cupcakes.

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Party invitations. I love a good font or two, and this one uses just the right ones.

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Girly tea cups and drink me tags. Details are everything, aren't they?

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What theme did you do for your little one's first birthday???

{paul frank baby legs}

As promised, here they are. Even MORE baby legs to add to the madness. Isn't she the most adorable baby wearing the most adorable Paul Frank baby legs? I scored the socks on SALE at Target the other day, then whipped them into tiny leg warmers. The total cost of 4 pairs of baby legs...about $2 a pair! Can't beat that, especially when the real things cost waaayyyy more than that. Here's Little Lady modeling a pair.

Here are the other 3 pairs, totally cute huh?! I can't wait for all the Halloween socks to make there way into the stores, yay for themed accessories!

{mustaches & babies}

So, I've finally finished sewing something I can't wait to share! I've found thus far that dressing a little girl is pretty easy. Pink, ruffles, bows, frills, ya know...all that girly stuff. The selection of items that are wonderfully made for girls is huge. But what about little boys? I'm always on the lookout for something unique and fun for little Mr.'s...that's why I designed and made a boat load of these.

Yep, it combines two very boy friendly aesthetics, wood grain and mustaches. It's faux bois wood print {thank you Joel Dewberry} on one side while the other is soft brown corduroy. On the front is a corduroy appliquéd mustache. Pretty manly if you ask me. You can find them here for sale in the shop.

Oh, and while were on a mustache kick around here...

{manic sewing & baby legs}

I'm on a roll, a serious sewing kick. It's rather disturbing people, seriously. In the last week i've made about half a dozen baby dresses, nearly a dozen boutique burpies sets, and dozens of felt hair clips. I'm trying to build a decent stock for the shop, and hope that my endless sewing pays off...literally. I also have a few important meetings this week with some Southern California stores who will be stocking AG items {yay!}, so i'm feeling the pressure to sew and craft big time.

In addition to all the AG sewing i've made about 10 or so pairs of baby legs. They are made from adult socks, and every time i'm anywhere I end up buying a pair - they're always on sale! The prints they make for socks are perfect for cute little chubby baby legs. I even scored 4 pairs of Paul Frank socks {on sale!} that will be undoubtedly be my favorite of the bunch {no pics of them below, but I'll be sure to post some}.

Baby legs are quite possibly the cutest and easiest things to make for little ones. I think I enjoy this project so much because you can enjoy them on your child for quite a while. Anything that Ella doesn't grow out of in 6 weeks is a plus!

I've debated putting some of them up in the shop as well, but am not sure if I should. I feel like I have such a variety of items already that I may need to scale back a little on my selection. Hm, we'll see. Ella can't possibly wear all the pairs i've made her. Oh, and another great thing about baby legs is that both genders can enjoy them. The 3 blue pairs were a gift for a friend's darling little boy.

{Little Lady Quilt}

Ok, so we all know i've been busy with the Little Lady. I've been feeding, changing diapers, and singing "who's that baby lookin' in the mirror" non stop for the last 3 months...and in the evenings after my little Junebug goes down, I whip out my cutting mat and fabric and go to town. Oddly I was going through my fabric stash and got to thinking all of them would look great together. So I set out to make Little Lady a quilt. My mother happened to be in town and was generous enough to buy me a new sewing machine as a graduation gift from grad school. (Who knew you needed an MBA to sew?) She also gifted me one of those GIANT cutting mats, ya know the really big expensive ones? Gosh, those things are great. Soooo much easier cutting 5 strips at a time verses one square at a time. Thanks mom.

BEFORE:

All my 7x7 inch squares cut out. 63 in all! There are some pretty fabrics in there...Like the Joel Dewberry faux bois hot pink fabric...ya, I love that stuff.

AFTER:

The back is solid hot pink. I had to piece it together because the fabric wasn't wide enough, not my favorite thing to do, but hey...whatcha gonna do? Oh, and don't look too close at my quilting lines, they're not exactly straight. Even though I only had to sew 1/4" from the seams, somehow I managed to make them askew. Go figure. And the binding...I got lazy and after about 6 inches of hand sewing it, said forget it and machine stitched it in the ditch. Def not an avid quilter's work, but hey, it's the back, and with such a pretty top, who really looks at the back anyway?

Here it is on little lady's crib. Once we convert it into a toddler bed, i'll put it on as an actual quilt. Until then we'll use it for snuggling.

I think she likes it!

Abstract Grace on Etsy!!!

Ok, so this I am suuuuuuper excited to announce! Abstract Grace now (finally) has items in theEtsy store! And they are super adorable. I've been working hard to get them finished, and with a newborn in the house it took a little longer than expected, but I think you'll find that it was worth the wait. All items are handmade for women, children, and baby. You'll find hair accessories, baby goods, and items for most everyone! Check it out!

You can also find us on Facebook, Here.

{Introducing Miss Ella June}

Wow! It's been EIGHT weeks since i've last posted. And it's been the best 8 weeks of my life. I'm happy to announce that on Memorial Day, 5/31/2010 we welcomed the sweetest little girl into the world. Her name....Ella June. I affectionately like to call her my "Little Lady" or "Junebug".

The last 2 months have been filled with mommy duties, as I'm now a full time stay at home mom, er...stay at home blogger/Etsy shop owner/mom (with the mom part coming first, of course). I'll need to jump back on the bloggin' wagon here shortly. Sorry for the break...we'll just think of it as maternity leave. Oh, and she's wearing the girly hospital hat I re-fashioned for her. Isn't she adorable in it?

It's a little outdated, but below are a few of her newborn photos, done by the extremely talented Brooke Trogdon at Harmony Hill Photography. Check out her site, and if you're in Northern California be sure to contact her, she takes the prettiest photos, I promise!

{Projects: Ruffled Pillow w/Zipper}

Sorry, no tutorial for this project (I'm a bit lazy today), but I thought I'd share it with you all anyways. It's a pillow cover with a ribbon ruffled detail. The fabric is Amy Butler (of course!) from the Midwest Modern line, it's called Garden Maze. It was my first pillow cover that I used an actual zipper in and it wasn't as daunting as I'd imagined. I'm definitely going to have to practice putting zippers in more, but this was such a basic project I managed not to screw it up. I thought the zipper would be a good idea as it is sitting in Ella's nursery on the glider, and will no doubt need to be taken off the pillow and cleaned at some point. Doesn't it look fantastic in all it's hot pink glory?!

P.S. only 6 days until Due Date!!!