Happy, happy...

Hello everyone - I know it has been a long time since I have posted in this neglected space, but I hope you will all head over to our new blog (where I post regularly, honest!) and share in our most exciting news!

Ryan and I were engaged on Christmas Day...and I am the happiest gal in the world! Read all about it here ...

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a beautiful 2012.

xo

Farewell Sale...

Hello everyone...

It's been a while since I have been in this space, so I don't know if there will be anyone reading really.

Anyway! - I wanted to stop in, as I have decided, after much reflection, to close my jewellery business to focus on our ever growing abigail*ryan homewares empire... we had recent success at the Liberty Open Call, and won an award at our first Trade Fair in early June. It's certainly keeping us busy ;)

I want to close with a bang, however, and say a HUGE thank you to all the customers who have supported me for the last six years - I am offering 30% off any item you would like to order from my shop (even on custom items, or pieces that have been retired, so email me at let me know what you would like!)... think ahead to Birthdays, weddings and even Christmas, as I won't be here ;((

The discount code is 'FAREWELL' - shop HERE

Once again, thanks so much to everyone who has followed my blog, and supported me over the last few years - it means a lot to me, and I am so happy to know so much of my jewellery is out in the world being enjoyed...

I hope you will continue to follow my career and progress over at the blog I now share with my lovely partner Ryan... he creates some awesome recipes for sweet treats, so it's worth reading our blog for those alone! ;)

All my love,

Abigail xo

Ryan's 30th :)

We had a fantastic weekend of celebrations for Ryan's big 30th birthday on Saturday...

We cooked a big Japanese feast full of all sorts of delicious treats, and I made a cake - we had pink champagne and party poppers, and then lit sky-lanterns outside and watched them float off in to the night...

Ryan got some amazing presents, I bought him a painting and his sister and brother in law bought him (us! hehe!) a gorgeous wooden chicken house so we can have hens in our garden... it's all very exciting!

It would be nice if you celebrated with us, too! We would like to extend a lovely 30% discount on all abigail*ryan goodies when you enter HAPPYBIRTHDAYRYAN at the checkout :)))

This will last until the end of the week!

*grin*

xo

Blinking and the days fly by so quickly...

Happy New Year everyone. Hope yours is already off to a stellar start!?

To be honest, I am really happy to have said goodbye to 2010... I know it's a little too far in to the new year to be looking back already (I maybe should have made this post on the 1st!), but in spite of it being a year full of a lot of happy things (my move to Belfast being one of them, Angus coming in to our little family etc) - it really did kick our arses!

Starting last January off with Swine Flu had me on my back for months, barely able to work and feeling very sick and emotionally drained... those feeling really only began to abate a few months ago - and I'm finally feeling stronger now. I have been struggling with a very painful stomach since the Summer, and on Monday, finally got my confirmed diagnosis of IBS from a gastroenterologist. Stress management is all that is to be done... so let's hope less finds us this year, egh?

Worse still, for me, has been seeing Mister Bell unwell. Hospitalised the monday before Christmas, very suddenly (again), I hate more than anything seeing him ill and can't wait for this year to bring some resolution to that... our first Christmas living together wasn't quite what it should have been, but it was together no less and we can't wait for all the rest of them, to roll by, more quietly...

My life is completely full of love and happiness (the mister and the pooch alone more than see to that!) so this year, I am just wishing for health for us both... oh, and a little wealth wouldn't go astray but it's not top of the list! ;)

Already, we have had some exciting news about fantastic new stockists for our homewares... you can read more here (I am over the top!)... and we are drinking to our health with yummy juice from our new juicer!

Looking forward to Spring and all our plans to expand abigail*ryan (a garden studio is on the horizon!)... I should be popping in to this space, but as my life has moved on, I feel a little more comfortable over in this space, telling you what we've been up to. Maybe it's just that so much has changed, a new space feels better, or maybe it's just that keeping two up is too much?!

BUT, I truly love hearing from all the people who stop in to my blog, so I would love if you would stop in and see me in the new(er) space, too...

Wishing everyone a truly fantastic 2011 - and that you all find and/or enjoy your health, wealth and happiness (love!)...

More soon,

xo

Order Updates!

Hello everyone!

It's been a bit quiet here on the blog, and that's because I have been holed up in the workshop working my socks off completing all the orders I received during my Pre-Christmas Sale...

Just to let everyone know - ALL orders to USA, Europe and other International countries have now been dispatched and will arrive before Christmas via express mail...

I am now processing UK orders and all parcels will leave my workshop by next Monday, via Special Delivery which is still running as priority mail despite the weather, and is arriving within 2 days...

Thank you all so much :)

Abigail x

Pup's first snow...

Now that some snow has descended in Belfast, and that Angus is a little bigger (a week older, hah!), he got let out today to run around in the powder and ice in the back garden... despite shivering SO much, he was loving it ;)

He is now full of beans after being quite poorly following his injections and tablets, so it's nice that he's all bounding around being very entertaining and then collapsing for hours worth of sleep after tiring himself out.

Let's Mister Bell and I have a chance to catch up, too!

He was a very good help during our recent a*r photo-shoot... and was very taken with our Christmas Decorations! Best styling prop, ever, I say! ;))

Hope your weekend is lovely...

Axo

Tea-towels Galore...

It feels like it's been a very long time in coming, but our brand new tea-towel designs have FINALLY arrived...so, I can at last share some exciting a*r homewares news. *grin*

The drawings for these were very labour intensive and intricate, so it seems like we have been working on these for a really long while! I am just delighted with how the printing has come out on these. They are so beautiful, and we are in love with the new colours!!

We are introducing these in the shop at £9.50, so they make a perfect Christmas gift, or host/hostess gift for the party season. I like to take a cake, or a bottle of wine wrapped in one!

We are working on some more house softies tonight - series one went down a storm at the Craft Fair, and we only have a few left of those. But, with each series, we will use a different abigail*ryan fabric on the back - so there will always be something new to collect.

Also coming soon to the shop are our lavender bags! They will be £11.00 each, boxed, and make the most beautiful gifts... we already have a backlog on pre-order as they are proving so popular...(we will be sewing some more of those tut suite, too!) - so do drop me a line if you are interested in early ordering...

As well as all that, we will also have a few heirloom quilts going online... they are so special.

Cushions, too! ;)

As if that wasn't enough for one weekend and week ahead, we have an exciting new addition to our family. Meet Angus - my new 8 week old Lhasa Apso pup. He's only been with us since Saturday, but he's settling in nicely and we're already the best of friends ;) Mister Bell bought him for me as an early Christmas pressie and has been keeping his impending arrival secret for weeks... he's so sneaky, that one! ;-*

More soon (and a HUGE thank you to everyone who ordered during my shop sale - it was a great success!)

xo, Abigail

The Sale is LIVE!!

From now, until midnight (GMT) on Sunday the 28th of November, my huge Pre-Christmas Sale will run in my shop - giving you 25% discount on every order, and ensuring that your jewellery will be delivered in time for giving this Christmas...

Enter the code 'HAPPYHOLIDAYS2010' at checkout to make hand-made, even more fabulous! ;)

Click HERE to view my whole shop, and enjoy browsing and shopping!

Happy Holidays, everyone :)

xo

A small hello + stay tuned!

Hello to anyone who might still be out there keeping an eye on this little space... how are you all?

I'm keeping very busy at the moment with all sorts of things, in the last few weeks, Ryan and I took our abigail*ryan wares to a Craft Fair (that's me above, at our wee stall) and have a collection of our goods in a Pop-Up shop in Armagh, called TANK...you should go if you're nearby! There's some lovely thing... have a wee look here, and see!

I finished my first embroidery in some stolen moments (um... hours!?) and am on to number two already... tres relaxing.

I wanted to stop in and remind you all that from this Friday through until Sunday, I am running a pre-Christmas Sale in my shop. Each and every order placed during this period will be *guaranteed* for Xmas delivery and also will have a fantastic 25% off!!! I hope you will all enjoy treating yourself, and others, to some beautiful hand-made bijoux...

Please pass this on to all your friends and family, and help more people buy hand-made this Holiday Season :)

Before I go, I also wanted to wish all my American friends a wonderful Thanksgiving for tomorrow... I hope you all have a gorgeous, relaxing and joyful days!

xo to all.

Pre-Christmas Sale... announcement...

Hello everyone - I hope you're all well :)

Just stopping in briefly to let you know that I will be running a pre-Christmas Sale in my shop, the weekend after Thanksgiving...

Every year I get a huge flood of orders, most of which are heading off over-seas, so I wanted to give everyone the chance to get their orders in nice and early this year, ensuring dispatch before the last guaranteed delivery dates from the UK. In addition, I thought I would give everyone a lovely discount (25%!), too - so you can perhaps treat yourselves, as well as your loved ones, to some beautiful jewellery! ;)

The full catalogue of designs in my shop will be available to order... and every item can be shipped all over the world.

I will be back in this space as the countdown begins!

xo for now,

Abigail

Officially ;)

Hello everyone - I just wanted to stop in to say I am officially taking a little break from this blog. My posts recently have been inconsistent at best, so I thought it best to make a wee announcement rather than let it drag on...

We are so busy working on new abigail*ryan goodies for launch before Xmas that that is taking up most of our time (and so I am not working on much new in the jewellery front), and we are sharing our adventures over on our a*r blog - so there's probably no point in double posting it all here, too! ;)

On top of that, I'm still not feeling great most days, and am uber tired and stressed and just need to cut something out for a few weeks and reduce any added pressures...

So... see you soon friends! Hope you will keep up with us over in this space in the meantime...

xoxo Abigail

abigail*ryan Cushions = :)

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note from us to let you know we are running a special on our abigail*ryan cushions - Buy one and get one HALF PRICE!! :)

You can see our full range of cushions RIGHT HERE... hand made from our own exclusive fabrics combined with Irish linen, filled with soft duck feather inserts...mmm... lovely ;)

It's a fact that our cushions make people (and chairs) happy, you will know this for sure if you own one already or watch this little animationwe made (proof, you see!).

All you need to do is enter the code "HAPPYCUSHIONS" at the checkout in our shop to recieve your discount*...

We hope this will start your week off nicely!!

All our best,

Abigail & Ryan

*the discount is only for the cushions at this time, but if you add something else to your basket it will automatically become discounted too... if this happens, we will just shoot you along another little invoice to remedy this, so feel free to purchase as you wish as we will smooth everything out afterward ;)

Any questions, just email us at info@abigailryan.com

Home...

Having been away, it's really amazing to come HOME...

I moved to Northern Ireland in May to be with Ryan - and it's the first time we've been away since then. So good to come back after a trip and really *feel* all the hard work we've put in to make our home, home.

We're really happy here. Really happy in general, and I wanted to share some little corners of our place with you...

Click HERE to see more :)

xoxo A

Weekend Fun...

We've been working really hard these past few weeks... designing loads of new products for Christmas (I know, I know! Already, right?), and I have been drawing like a machine these past few days for new designs (tea-towels, fabrics... newness... you name it!)...Dahlia's are done (can't wait to show you) and today is Agapanthus and/or Hydrangeas... :)

I'm kinda in heaven...

So - we decided we needed to have a little bit of fun too, on top of all the 'serious' work!

We made this little animation with our a*r cushions and are pretty much in love with it (Ryan did all the hard editing work, the clever chap)... we hope you will all dance along with our happy little chair ;)

*grin*

Bon weekend, everyone.

xo

Three months in (since the move) and our workshop is still a disaster... I kid you not!

We may have to admit defeat at some point soon and reassess having three businesses all together in one modestly sized room... hehe... we may EVEN have to loose our guest bedroom to the entrepreneurial effort ;))

Still, here is a wee peek past all the mess (I haven't been able to muster the courage to share before now)... at the view over our garden which I look out on from the studio (slash jungle... it needs a trim!), my bench and our desk, where I have been working on new drawings for the abigail*ryan range... we're really snowed under right now trying to get lots of things made and realised!! It's hard to know which thing to do first.

I think I need a list or twenty!?

I wanted to stop in quickly tonight to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who ordered during my birthday sale - I am working really hard in the workshop this week to try and get everything out to you as soon as possible... thanks for making it the best birthday sale yet! Getting older ain't so bad really... ;)

Off to cook my Mister dinner... he's sewing up a storm!

more soon, xox

Annual Birthday Sale...

Hi everyone - it's been another busy week so far, can't believe it's Wednesday!

BUT, it is, and it's my birthday to boot!

And so, it's time for my annual ONE DAY ONLY birthday sale - to say thank you for your support throughout the year. Great thing is, as I get older, the discount gets better! ;) Today I am 27... so there will be 27% discount!!!

We have decided to run the sale not only in my Jewellery shop, but also in our abigail*ryan homewares shop, which is uber exciting, as we have not EVER reduced any stock there since launch... we hope you enjoy treating yourselves and thinking ahead to xmas pressie giving etc!

I have some jewellery in stock, but most will need to be made. Depending on order volumes, I may not be able to get them all out next week (I am heading back to Glasgow for 2.5 weeks for a little holiday) - so please allow until the end of September for dispatch/delivery.

ENTER the code ' BDAYSALE2010 ' at checkout! And click HERE to shop jewellery, and HERE to shop abigail*ryan...

Enjoy and Happy Shopping!!

xoxox Abigail

Summer Speeding by...

I can't quite believe how fast the Summer is flying by - we have spent the last few weeks trying to get our health back on track, and it's finally working after many trips to the doctor and lot's of taking it easy... it's been frustrating for us as we have so much work we want to be getting on with and we just had no option but to REST, so, it's been fab feeling able to do some great things this past week and really get stuck in...

We took a lovely trip to the Botanic Gardens a few weeks back to get some new inspiration for me - I am drawing for our new line of abigail*ryan goodies which will be debuting soon... it's really nice to be putting pen to paper and I am loving all the luscious blooms I am working with!!

We've been working on some quilts recently, soon to launch in our homewares shop - it's been so rewarding for us to create true heirloom pieces with such beautiful fabric as our Irish linen and, of course, our own exclusive prints - we're so excited to share :)

Back soon!

xo

My poor neglected blog...

Hello everyone - bad blogger here once again (bows head)...

The last few weeks have been a little crazy to say the least. Something we were working on very hard but couldn't talk about until now was a big surprise part we threw for Ryan's Mums 50th birthday - we hosted it here (bouncy castle in the back yard and all!) and baked and decorated our dream cake for the occassion.

The cake alone took a week of solid work - learning sugar-craft was a whole lot of fun though and we had a blast. Overall, we were delighted with our design for the cake as centrepiece! What do you think?!

You can see a little more of the cake HERE :)

In addition - we've been sick (still/again)! UGH times a million... I've been bad, but Ryan was much worse - trips to doctors and A+E made last week very worrying, upsetting and very stressful and we're just beginning to find our feet a little again now. I don't think I could have cried any more!

Spending lots of time recovering making simple, good food - a must for our delicate tummies ;)

This morning, for brunch, a Japanese sushi feast I prepared with rice left over from last nights dinner... the other day, lovingly baked Korean treats by Ryan were oh-so nice to wake up to - we shared the recipe HERE... fresh veg harvested from our garden - we pulled some carrot nubs this evening to munch on, and R has some spinach soup on the stove as I type after our perpetual spinach went insane!

Just stopping in to say hello... there is a lot happening and evolving work-wise, and I can't wait to share. I will, very soon. I promise!! :) We got some lovely press for abigail*ryan homewares, HERE and HERE in the last month so things are very happy workwise in that camp!

Oh yes... here's me on the bouncy castle for your amusement... we had a blast, but there is only so much bouncing a girl can do in a silk party frock before she starts to look a little worse for wear, so this is as much as I care to share of the sweaty/bouncy/rained on but super happy spectacle ;)

*grin*

more soon,

Axo

p.s. No, our gorgeous four year old niece never did run out of energy for bouncing. She was good for a full TWO days ;) Oh - to have that energy now! ;)

Bounty...

There is some fantastically tasty treats coming out of our garden these days - the sweetest of which were our first few ripened strawberries which we picked the other day... they were so very juicy and tasty, I can't wait for the rest to red-up!

Thanks so much to everyone who left well-wishes on my last post... my horrible stomach flu lingered on for a good bit longer and seems to keep coming and going. Eating beef seems to be a bit of a flash-point for not feeling at ALL well, so I've cut that out as a start (I never used to eat very much red meat, it just so happened there has been more of it on the menu since I moved over)...good thing there is so much veg getting ripe in the yard! ;)

Still feeling drained, exhausted and a bit off and really hoping to be able to shake this off soon... sadly, I think it's all a throw back to Swine Flu at the beginning of the year, and it's proving hard for me, and Ryan's sister and Mum to get our health and energy levels back up to par! It's really quite tiresome, especially when there is so much to do to just keep up with day-to-day!!

ANYWAY - on to nicer things... ;)

I am working on some limited edition summer necklaces inspired by all the veg we're growing. Think carrots, lettuce and lovely beets in silhouette - cute, quirky and quietly humourous... I'll be sharing them with you, and they will be on sale likely this time next week!!! Hope you will all check back then.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world... hopefully be back in this space more and more from now on, all things willing, and sharing more from our new home...

back soon and happy new week!

xo

How the days fly...

Time is flying by - the days since the move have been disappearing before my very eyes, not helped at all by my back being seriously out for several weeks, slowing me down hugely and now my being down with a horrible stomach flu...

Three days in, and counting, I'm a little exhausted but enjoying looking back at these photos from the back garden taken just the other day when I was between time-sucking and energy-sapping disasters!! ;)

Roll on easier days and ones where I can get back to work (please!)...

xo