{we have a winner!}

The winner was just announced for the AG giveaway hosted by Rags To Stitches Boutique. I'll let R2S announce it, so head on over and click here to see if it was you! Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep an eye out for other giveaways, we'll be doing one again soon!

On another note, southern California is warm. We're still in the upper 80's here and I am LOOOONGING for some fall like weather. September, please lead to fall. I'm over this heat! Doesn't this photo just make you want cool weather and rain boots?

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{baby vintage}

Today Junebug and I spent the afternoon at the thrift store searching for vintage goodies. I needed to find some vintage trims and ribbons for some upcoming projects and Junebug needed to find herself a few vintage items for her wardrobe. The good news is that we both succeeded in the afternoon's quest. Below are a few pics of the vintage baby and children's clothing we found. They range from size 3-6 months to 24 months, and everything was under 5 dollars. Yep, can't beat that!

Isn't this yellow embroidered cardigan just the CUTEST thing ever? The detail on the shoulders is really sweet, and each button has a ribbon bow at the buttonhole.

These are size 24 months, but they are really darling in person. They are yellow and red embroidered and the vintage fabric has the softest worn in feeling.

I couldn't resist this tank top. The little flowers are darling.

It's hard to see but this dress has a crocheted red strawberry near the hemline along with some embroidery. And don't you love the laced ruffle at the sleeve? Size 12 months.

Vintage bloomers with shirring at the leg. Sigh...so cute!

This corduroy dress is darling in person, and the color is to die for. I think i'll need to give it a little detail though...flower? ruffle? something.

Purple gingham shorts/bloomers. I'm thinking with the tank from above they'd be the cutest summer outfit.

And for mama, some vintage fabric, ribbon, zippers, trims and lace. I even scored a couple sheets of tulle for some new clips I'm working on. I love searching for a good find. Everything total was 13 dollars. Yep, mine and Junebug's together. What a steal.

{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???

{giveaway!}

Some fun and exciting news for you all! Abstract Grace has teamed up with the fabulous blog Rags To Stitches Boutique for AG's first ever giveaway! Rags To Stitches Boutique is hosting the giveaway for us so be sure to check out all the lovely things there have over there as well. The giveaway runs Today {9/8} thru next Tuesday {9/14}. There are a variety of ways to enter and the winner gets a set of personalized name bead hair clips made by yours truly! Head on over to Rags To Stitches Boutique for all the details! Good Luck!

You could win these....{personalized of course!}

{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.

{thank you to the french + happy friday!}

Ok, so the Fed Ex guy apparently dropped my iphone off at the wrong house yesterday...I was kinda disappointed, my night was spent making changes to the blog, and not tinkering with my new toy. Lets just hope they can locate it, and all will end up well.

On another note, this is quite possibly the funnest thing out there right now. Who doesn't love a good photo strip? Go here to make your own: La Photo Cabine. Have a great Friday!

{Happy Thursday + Exciting News!}

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday. I know I am. I'm anxiously awaiting for the mailman, er...mail-person, to deliver a certain smart phone. (Yay iPhone!). I'll be tinkering around with my new toy the rest of the evening i'm sure, of course that's between feedings and dirty diapers.

On another note...I wanted to share with you all some great news! Abstract Grace currently sells items on Etsy, but soon we'll be available via retail store! The Seasons Gift Store in Diamond Bar, California is going to be stocking limited edition items. The Seasons Gift Store is located inside the Calvary Chapel Golden Springs building at 22324 Golden Springs Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. We're also working on selling items in a few other select retail stores in the Southern California area. We're verrrrrry excited about being able to sell via storefront!

If you don't live in the greater Los Angeles area, don't worry, you can always get your items via Etsy.

We also have some great things in store for you for September and October...I'll give you all a hint. "Giveaway." Stay tuned and Happy Thursday!

{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!