abby try again

longest day of the year

Summer scenes captured in film at my parent's house.

Hope you enjoy!

busy as a

 

bee...

you get it, right?

Hello out there. Hope you are all well. I'm here in California, visiting family and friends.

I thought I'd pop in and share something fun with you all. I am the aunt to twelve nieces and nephews and feel very lucky to have such a large family. They are all so talented in their own ways and today I get to share with you a little bit about my nephew, Christian.

Christian started drawing almost as soon as he picked up his first crayon. At an early age it was evident he had a knack for creating realistic scenes from pen and ink. His talents grew over the years and today his creativity seems to have no limits. He is currently putting himself through art school and with a little nudge from some family members-he's finally decided to open a little etsy shop.

The photos above show his first print available-the print is made from a beautiful pen and ink drawing Christian did awhile back for his bee loving mother. You can view his new etsy shop, Blockhead Bounty right here. There are only five prints available for now, so if you're interested you can snag one up.

Meanwhile we've still got some family events going on so I will see you all back here next week. Happy weekend!

something fun

So I mentioned last week that I was able to peek around the new Paloma's Nest Boutique and over here you will find a special little sneak peek and a great q&a with owner Caroline Colom Vasquez.

Thanks to Ez of Creature Comforts for letting me guest post and a big thanks to Caroline for taking the time to show me around her new boutique and for answering all of my questions.

For those of you in Austin, the boutique open Wednesday (tomorrow) and there's a grand opening party on Thursday! For more details about the event click right here.

All right...I'll be away from here for awhile...thanks so much for reading and have a great week friends!
 

almost there

Hi guys.

Just dropping by to say today is the last day to shop in my shop. There are some clearance prints left if you'd like to try and grab some. Shop is shutting down tomorrow. Once again, not sure for how long-at least a month or two while I'm spending time with family and getting ready to welcome our baby into this world. So now's your last chance if you'd like to snag a print. 

Also, I wrote a little guest post over here if you'd like to take a peek.

Ok-I'm off to get ready for a big trip-I've got a special wedding to attend and family to see but I'll drop by tomorrow with something fun to share...have a great day everyone!

five senses friday: inspired edition

Hello and happy weekend to you!

This morning I had the pleasure of working on a little photo shoot with the lovely folks from Paloma's Nest. They are preparing to open their flagship boutique next week here in Austin. I'll reveal a little sneak peek of the boutique along with a q&a with creator Caroline Colom Vasquez on one of my favorite blogs next week. I'll keep you posted on it! In the meantime, I'd thought I'd share these outtakes with you. 

Today I am feeling ridiculously inspired-mainly from the boutique visit. I am so impressed with the dedication, craftmansship and heart Caroline and her team put into their work. You can read more about their story here. To know that a business woman can take off and succceed within months of a having a child is pretty much the best story I could hear right about now. People in this hand made world just amaze me.

Ok, on to five senses! 

For those of you who are new readers (or maybe never understood what I was blabbing about) five senses friday was started years ago by my friend, Shari Altman. I use it weekly as way to sit down and reflect on what the past days have been like for me. I would love for you to play along in the comments or on your own blog.

Feeling:

like I could conquer anything I set my mind to doing

Hearing:

long conversations with friends and sisters

Tasting:

a Mary Louise Butter's brownie

Seeing:

gorgeous porcelain bowls

Smelling:

gardenias

 

an important note about contacting me

Hi there. Just wanted to let you all know that if you need to get in touch about an order, or advertising or something with the blog please email me at abbytryagain@gmail(dot)com or abbypowellthompson@gmail(dot)com. (Obviously, you are going to use a . and not spell "dot" I just write it that way to avoid spambots.)

If you are emailing me using a "yahoo" email account I will not see or be able to answer your message. For months I've been trying to close my yahoo accounts but to no avail and a few weeks ago they were hacked again. Months ago I switched my paypal and etsy emails over to gmail-but a customer recently informed me that her paypal statement showed my yahoo account as my contact info. This is incorrect and I've since remedied it (again) with paypal. I just wanted to let you all know in case you were trying to email me and couldn't get through. Sorry about the mix up. 

Mom

 

Dear Mom,

Happy Birthday!

I love you more than I can ever express and the love grows with each passing year. I've always been grateful for what you've taught me and how you've cared for all of us. These past few months of pregnancy have deepened this appreciation tenfold. You truly sacrificed so much to raise the nine of us and I'm honestly not sure how you did it (superhuman strength?). I think the thing that I really admire is that you raised nine children but never lost yourself. You stayed committed to your church, quilting, sewing, collecting, gardening, decorating and more. I hope that when I become a mother, I can have half the strength you carried with you.

I love you and hope this year is full of joy for you, xo abby

major

Hi guys.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

We had a great time; a lot of the time we spent organizing our new home. Between moving and my last craft sale I've gathered together all of these random prints I have hanging around and have put 115 of them on clearance right here. This clearance sale is for prints packaged and ready to ship. Many of the listings are for one or two prints-so snag them now if you like them. Once they are sold or on June 14-whichever comes first-I will be shutting down my shop for awhile.

I'm heading home to see my sister get married, visit my family, have a baby shower and all that good stuff. When I get back to Texas-we'd like to focus on making sure we have things ready for the baby. So my shop will be closed at least until Julyish or August maybe later. I will close my etsy shop, too...but the clearance is here in bigcartel only.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

sponsor spotlight: plastic foliage

 

(My blog sponsors  are paid advertisers who help me pay for all my film and developing and web hosting-basically-they make this blog possible. A huge thanks to all of them! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor , I am now booking 30 day spots- please email me at abbytryagain@gmail(dot)com. The ad spots are there on the sidebar and are available for indie businesses.Thanks! All photos in "sponsor spotlight" post belong to the sponsor featured.)

It's been quite some time since I've introduced a new sponsor to you all, and I couldn't be more thrilled to introduce to you plastic foliage.

Marie Gardeski is the woman behind this lovely shop. Marie has many talents; she is a skilled seamstress, visual artist, soap maker and so much more. She crafts the items carried in plastic foliage from her current home in Indiana. I adore her use of patterns, color and line. 

Plastic foliage carries soaps, hand made women's clothing and accessories as well as the cutest kid's clothing I've seen. Marie often uses vintage or salvaged materials for her wares and I find her prices to be incredibly affordable. (Could I make a ridiculously cute tank top for $13, I doubt it.)

You can find Marie all around the web: imaginary animal is the name of her blog, her personal website is here, her flickr is here and of course-plastic foliage is right here.

From now until June 12, 2011 you can save 12% off your order from plastic foliage when you type "abbysreaders" at the checkout.

Thanks so much for your support, Marie!

five senses friday

Hello and happy weekend to you!

For those of you who are new readers (or maybe never understood what I was blabbing about) five senses friday was started years ago by my friend, Shari Altman. I use it weekly as way to sit down and reflect on what the past days have been like for me. I would love for you to play along in the comments or on your own blog.

(and if you follow me on instagram-yes, I am cheating a bit. You may have seen this shots...but I'm pregnant so I can cheat ;)

-feeling:

weightless in the pool

-seeing:

great vintage signs in my new neighborhood

-tasting:

a delicious char broiled chicken sandwich from Top Notch

-hearing:

old Patsy Cline

-smelling:

fresh mint

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.