yo gabba gabba thank you

Ella's Yo Gabba Gabba 2nd birthday party was a huge success! I'll share pics of the party soon, but until then I wanted to share the "thank you" card that I designed for all her guests. 

I really enjoy designing invites and thank you's. Here is a thank you I designed recently for a friends little boy. Can you guess the theme of his 2nd birthday party...yep, Sesame Street!

Hope you're all having a great week!

xo,

Laura

happy birthday Ella June, you're TWO!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl. I can't believe you're TWO years old today. You're truly the most beautiful child and I'm blessed beyond measure by your loving spirited personality. You have the best parts of your daddy and I, and we love you SO MUCH!

Happy Birthday Junebug!

We're having a party this weekend, and its Yo Gabba Gabba themed! Yay! I'll be sure to post pictures next week after the party, but until then...here's the party invite and water bottle labels I designed for the party. 

recent loves

I think i'm getting sick, ugh... Bring on the EmergenC and Zicam! I really hope I'm not getting sick because this is the WORST week ever to be under the weather. I have to finish sewing 6 more dresses, 10 headbands, and 6 pairs of babylegs by the end of the week...shoot me now.

Onto other things, I recently came across the blog Elements of Style, and got sucked into a 2 day non-stop blog reading fest. I couldn't help myself but read back over a year in Erin's posts. Her writing is witty, hilariously funny, and her sense of style is spot on. 

Now my design style is somewhere in between Pottery Barn/Vintage/Luxe/Modern and Classic...wow, that really narrowed it down eh? Really I just love all type of styles and decor and am drawn to just plain beautiful things! Even before I got stuck on Elements of Style, I've always been a a fan of geometric designs (hello lattice/greek key/chevron). I thought today I'd share a few personal/home decor things I'm loving right now.

First, I've been using the stationary below for quite some time. I love it. So fresh and modern, it really does make me smile when I write a note onto one of these bad boys.

my personal stationary via shutterfly

Second, I had to return something at Bath and Body Works (the smelly car air freshener scent thingy, which didn't work very well) and while I was there I saw this AMAZING candle holder. Seriously?! When did BBW start making chic candle holders? They never had anything this fashion forward when I worked there...I snagged this one for $5 (yes, $5!!!).

candle holders via bath & body works

The next item is a lucite tray. Basically from what I gather is that lucite is really just acrylic (read: plastic). Now maybe I'm missing something, but why is it that an acrylic tray costs $50-$200?!! I'm going to hunt one of these down somewhere, and DIY myself one of these monogramed trays. Mark my word.

lucite tray via iomoi

Last but not least meet Chevron's trendy and exotic cousin, Ikat. Ikat has been seen around for a while now, and while searching around for some new throw pillows for our bed I thought this print would be perfect. While I do like Chevron, it seems every other person on the face of the earth (or at least Pinterest) likes Chevron too. I ordered a yard of this black + ivory ikat print which I'll make some pillows for the bed from, and I think it's a little more chic and exotic than your standard design.

black + white ikat pillow via kassapanola

{my side hobby-invitation design}

I'm excited to show you all some things I've been working on and never mentioned before. A few weeks back I showed you the ladybug invitation I designed for Ella's 1st birthday, and promised I'd share some other's I've done.

I love designing invitations and have had a few friends ask if I could design for their parties and showers. It's become a really fun hobby lately. Below are a some of the invitations I've designed recently.

Cinderella themed 4th birthday party.

Blue/yellow bird themed bridal shower.

Minnie mouse birthday party!

Owl themed baby shower.

Pinwheel themed birthday party. Option #1 (she chose this option)

Pinwheel themed birthday party (w/photo) Option #2

If you like any of these designs and would like to use them for a party of your own, please email me and I can customize one of the templates for you for $5.

{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!

{silhouette- part 2}

In my last post I showed you the digital proof of Ella's silhouette, and promised that i'd give you a shot of it framed and in use. The frame I used was a cheap-o black wood frame from the dollar store which I painted white. Three coats later and with the print (I just printed it on card stock-nothing fancy) in the frame i'm very happy with how it turned out! So cute and personal, plus the hubby liked it, so that's always a plus.

And I just couldn't resist putting the picture below up in today's post. Someone has learned how to pull themselves up to standing on furniture. This is how little lady greeted me after her morning nap, bed head and all. 

I've been having a TON of fun playing around with some new photoshop actions from Florabella Actions. While I have both done photography with no post editing and with, I love the way that actions speed up workflow and can really change the feel of photographs. The photo below was processed with Mademoiselle at 100% opacity. I've had a few people ask me about her blue eyes: other than the action (which was processed on the whole photo) I didn't do any retouching or color enhancements of her baby blues...they really are stunning! We can't go anywhere without someone commenting on them. I had a mini photo sesh with little lady a few weeks ago playing around with some other actions. I'll have to share those with you another day.

Happy Tuesday!

{fun with silhouettes}

There is something so classic about a silhouette, and with today's design software, it's easy to twist a modern version of them. There are a TON of tutorials out there about how to make one using your own photo, but I especially like the one from Jones Design Company (you can find it HERE). 

I made one up for Ella June, and have it framed and in her nursery. It's the perfect personal touch to her already adorable room (photos to come). I added a small flower from my digital scrapbooking stash, and put her name below the whole thing. It really is darling, and EASY to do! One tip that really helps is to make sure that picture has a dark background behind the subject, other than that...it's easy peasy!

{free download: owl cupcake toppers}

Recently I shared about designing a suite of invitations and decorations for a friends baby shower, with the theme being owls. I thought I'd share how everything turned out with you. I'm not by any means a graphic designer, but I've been having a ton of fun lately designing invitations for friends. In fact this is my 4th! 

The invitation is sized to fit the Costco postcard when printed (4x6). The postcards are a great heavy card stock and are glossed. They really look beautiful and are a great option for inexpensive invite printing. Plus, you can put additional information on the back side (think clothing sizes, or registry information) and you always have the option to put them in envelopes if you don't want to send them out on their own as postcards (which I think is a darling idea). 

Here is the invite:

The details have been changed so don't think about crashing the party. :)

The water bottle labels. I printed these out on full sheet sticky paper and cut them out. They stick right on a standard sized water bottle. 

The cupcake toppers!

As promised, you can join in on the owl goodness and download the Owl Cupcake Toppers for free by clicking HERE. If anyone is interested in purchasing the invites, water bottle labels, and cupcake toppers customized with your child's info please feel free to send me an email and we may be able to work something out. Otherwise enjoy your download, and get to baking some cupcakes!

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.

{Nursery Design}

I've been working hard these last few months getting things together for our little one's nursery. I'll be honest, giving up my craft studio space was kinda disappointing. We moved all my stuff into an armoire, which has actually worked out quite well. One day i'll have a larger house and a whole room dedicated to my sewing and crafting...wouldn't that be nice.

Onto the new use...designing a space for a newborn is HARD. Everything is impractical (what does a newborn really need design wise anyways?). Nevertheless, everything is so CUTE, and expensive. I'm finding if it has the tag "baby" on it, that's a green light to charge a fortune for it. There are a few more touches to the room that I couldn't get on the idea board, but you get the gist of the room.

The idea board above is an actual representation of the things we have thus far. I'll give a run down of my sources:

4 x 6 Green Rug- Urban Outfitters

Crystal Curtain Holdbacks- Urban Outfitters

Brown Linen Curtains- previously had

Rock-a-Bye Rocker in Ivory Chenille- Babies R Us

Bananafish Lily Bedding- Target.com

Hot Pink Ribbon- Michael's

White Footed Dresser- previously had, refinished ourself

Pink Glass Knobs- Look In The Attic

White Wallflowers- Umbra.com

I can't believe we only have 12 weeks to go!!!

{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!

{Homemade & Handwritten}

For a while now I've been on the hunt for new recipe cards. My recipe box is scattered with torn, stained, and faded recipe cards that are close to unreadable. My only problem, is that I am looking for a highly personalized, cute and cheap card to replace them. I found a few that fit one or two of the said requirements, but not all three.These and these (oh and these) are very good options, and I would love to have any of them, but they are lacking in the third requirement, cheap. And don't we all know that that is the most important (at least in my case it is).

The internet does have a plethora of free downloadable cards to choose from, but they lack in personalization and design...so I decided to make my own. A perfect solution to my 3 requirements! I made three different designs choosing only one in the end. Inspiration for the last design came from this stationary I found on Etsy, and it was my design choice for the new cards. I found the vector clip art for free online, and arranged images/changed colors in Photoshop. I also added a monogram to the design and some lines for neater recipe writing. My printer prints on a variety of paper sizes, so I put 3x5 index cards directly into the machine and out came my new cards!

The most tedious part came when I transfered all my recipes to my new cards. We both know that handwritten is so much more charming than typed, it took me a few hours, but the end result was worth it. I now have a completely new set of recipe cards that I love!