{Hello! It's been a while!}

Ok...wow. It feels like its been FOREVER! And well frankly it has....my sincere apologies. The last 2.5 months have been full of surprises and anxious waiting, feeling queasy and oh so tired. The verdict? I'm officially pregnant! Wow, what an amazing thing, but it sure has tuckered me out. (All you fellow preggos and mom's know what I'm talking about).

I'm due in May, and Travis and I are very very excited for our new addition. I suppose that my nesting, crafting and sewing will become obsessive once I'm out of the first trimester and don't feel as if I'm going to throw up at any given moment. I can't wait to get busy sewing and crafting. Not to mention the holidays are right around the corner, and we all know that brings out the glitter and baked goods. I can't promise any regular posts for the next few weeks, but once I'm feeling better i'll be back on top of my blogging game! I promise!

{Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn...}

My favorite time of the year is fast approaching. About this time something starts to change in the air, the summer heat and carefree nights slowly fade away and in comes the crisp air and shorter days. Swimsuits are packed away and out come boots and scarves, I wait all year for it. California however taunts us with warm nights and indian summers into late September and early October, but nonetheless you can sense the impending season.

Goodbye summer, hello Fall.

{Craving Chocolate}

Mmmmm....chocolate! It's football season and that means that most days of the week my t.v. has been taken over by my husband and his obsession with football. This season I'm trying to be a good sport and make the most of it, which to me means I have another excuse to bake goodies and cook up treats to eat while watching the game.

I suggested we invite some friends over for food and merriment during the first real weekend of the football season. Any reason to have a small party right? Not surprisingly my husband was all for it.

These chocolate cupcakes are nothing special really, just a basic recipe, but I did try out my new mini cupcake pan, and the mini espresso brown paper liners I bought a while back at this fabulous online bake shop. They are just adorable! And not to mention the perfect bite size. Maybe even too perfect. You could eat a dozen of them no problem.

I also made their larger counter part in oversized white paper baking cups. I actually prefer the oversized ones to regular sized baking cups, I like the excess at the top, it's pretty and is perfect for catching the frosting if it should go dripping down the sides.

I haven't been posting as regular due to school starting and my new job. I've been a busy girl! But I have a lot of projects to share with you all, most of which are related to the baby shower I am planning for my best friend. I don't want to spoil the surprise for the mom to be, so i'll be waiting until after the shower in a few weeks to post all those projects and goodies.

{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.

{Renegade SF Spotlight-I Made You A Beard}

Well, I'm back. The birthday extravaganza weekend was great! I have some awesome friends, and am still wishing I was floating on the river, soaking up the sun and eating mexican food....ahhhhhh. Not to mention I got some gifts that are burning holes in my wallet...eh hem...anthro gift card. Anywho...

above image courtesy i made you a beard

I'm fond of beards. My husband has one (in fact i've never seen him without one) and I wouldn't have it any other way, well except that time he decided to grow it out crazy David Bazan like...that was a little much. That's why I was super excited to come across Erin Dollar of I Made You A Beard.

Not only is she from the unofficial beard capital of the USA (Portland!) but she makes the most charming beards and blogs about them and other beardy things. Take a look for yourself, her Etsy store is chocked full of bearded goodness.

These photos are from Erin's booth at Renegade SF. The moustache (not mustache) pins above are my favorite item. (Especially that little bright red one). I mean really, can you get any more creative then making colored beards out of yarn and felt!? The shapes, the styles, the textures...the whole thing makes my un-fuzzy face smile. Do you think the office people will stare if i wear the pink one to work??? Hm........tempting.

P.s. She also has non-beard related items. Art done under her own name, and a separate Etsy where you can buy prints.

P.p.s I think i'll be doing more posts on the beard topic, i've been running into some great things recently...keep an eye out.

{Happy Weekend}

Have a great weekend. I know I will, I'll be celebrating my 24th birthday on Saturday! I've been waiting years and years for this specific birthday, just so I can listen to this song. Happy Weekend everyone!

{Renegade SF Spotlight-The Black Apple}

Emily Martin and Co., of The Black Apple were probably the biggest name at Renegade this year. After her appearance on Martha Stewart making dolls a while back, Emily has become the go to Etsy Store/Blogger for her paintings and her signature dolls (add jewelry, paper goods, and books to that also). Rumor has it that Emily even had fans at Renegade. Well deserved however, because her work is amazing. (Try getting any of her original items, they sell out FAST!)

Her items are whimsical, soft, and very well crafted. Especially her dolls, which are in real life works of art in themselves. The quality and craftsmanship of them is far superior to my attempt at the pattern.

You can read and view more pictures from The Black Apple at Renegade SF here.

Next we'll visit the amazing mustaches of Erin Dollar and I Made You A Beard!