abigail*ryan is GO!!!

{Click on the images above to see them bigger!}

It's official - after so many months of hard work, we finally have our shop live with our first installment of homewares.

Exclusively designed, lovingly handmade and packackaged, usuable, beautiful...

We hope you love them as much as we do!!

Our new ONLINE SHOP.

All about abigail*ryan.

Ideas for the every day.

Special Gift Sets - ideal for the Holidays.

Big grin from us... enjoy, and get shopping! ;)

abigail & ryan

Newry Craft Fair '09

...as we're practically sitting on our hands here to avoid telling you all more about the (whisper it) BIG LAUNCH (!!!!!!!) tomorrow, I thought i'd occupy myself with a wee update about the craft fair we did a few weeks ago.

The space, Newry Town Hall, was great...large, airy and rather dramatic- apparently it's used for concerts, plays and various cultural happenings in Newry. As you can see in the photos, the stage was converted in to a temporary cafe- catered by the most wonderous "Yellow Door" deli...the braised beef with buttery mash and crispy fried root veg was awesome!

There was a massive selection of work, from fine jewellery to felted hats and brooches, knitted scarves, stunning ceramics, glorious handbags made from vintage materials and, of course, beautiful cards from our friend Heather of Rag Button.

Sadly, the turn-out just wasn't what was expected, so the fair wasn't exactly ablaze with customers, and our ears were very much not ringing with the sound of cash tills!

All in all, though, we had a good time, learned a lot about setting up our stand and the best way to do it in the future, and caught up with everyone we know from the CDC craft fair circuit. I'm not sure we'll do it again next year (it was incredibly exhausting), but i'm glad we tried it this year so, if anything, at least we can't say we didn't go all guns blazing ;)

Hope you enjoy the photos (though forgive the somewhat dubious quality- my poor wee camera couldn't cope with the crazy artificial light!)!

ryan@abigail*ryan

Important Christmas Ordering Information!!

This year, to ensure the highest standard of customer service across all three of our businesses, Abigail and I have decided to implement an "In Stock" system.

Each piece of jewellery, or item in our home wares range, will have the current "in stock" quantity visible in the listing. If one of these "in stock" items is ordered, we will do our very best to dispatch it to you within 3 working days.

If an item becomes "Out of Stock" and is marked as such in the listing, please feel free to contact us, and we will add you to the list of customers awaiting this item. In this case, please allow up to 14 working days, as per our usual terms and conditions, for dispatch.

Please note, however, that we will be working as hard as possible to ensure that items, if they go out of stock at all, will not be out of stock for very long...so, although we are asking to allow 14 working days, we hope that, in reality, the waiting time will be much less.

This way, we can make extra sure that your Christmas shopping experience with us will be as stress free as possible- you can choose which items to order, based on your own Christmas schedule! Don't forget, too, that every item of jewellery comes beautifully boxed, and all home-wares orders are wrapped in tissue and tied with a bow - perfect, and ready for gifting upon arrival! ;)

VERY last postal date to USA for xmas is 11.12.09

VERY last postal date to Europe for xmas is 11.12.09

VERY last postal date in UK for xmas is 23.12.09

Please order as early as you can in advance of these dates so we can ensure you get your orders in time for Christmas day!

ryan@abigailryan

Abigail J'adores...

I saw these fantastic installations by Rebecca Ward on Joy's blog a week or so ago and have been thinking about them ever since.

Perhaps it's because I have been so enamoured of my new japanese colourful tape? ;) hmmm...

Their construction is beautiful. I love the use of a humble every-day product {electrical tape} to make such bold statements of form and colour...

See more of Rebecca's work right HERE! :)

abigail@abigail*ryan

Wrap it Up | Gift Sets...

We're almost there with getting our tea-towels online - and in addition to selling them individually, we will also be selling them in packaged sets of two, sets of four and a full set of all eight designs. I know for sure when I moved into my flat this would have been a *perfect* housewarming gift!!

I am really enjoying wrapping them all up - give me tissue, string, japanese masking tape and a stack of linens and I am one happy gal. ;)

Do you remember when I oohed and ahhed over the MT tape? Well, the lovely Mister Bell bought me some as a surprise, along with an amazing book on Japanese present wrapping, which I will scan soon to share!

*grin*

More soon!

p.s. Oh, and click HERE to follow us on facebook! :)

abigail@abigail*ryan

Getting our stitch on...

After working so hard for weeks in preparation for our shows and completing stock for our big Christmas launches, we were exhausted!!

We arrived back in Glasgow on Saturday after a 5.30am start, and decided to take a couple of days off.

In a very manly fashion {!!}, Ryan suggested getting snuggled up {against the cold!} under blankets, popping on some telly or DVD's and embroidering something fun onto some of our lovely Irish linen...

...slow but happy progress two days on, I for one feel much better for switching my brain off a little and keeping my hands busy. These little beauties may well find their way into our shop for the launch - so stay tuned if you fancy some original embroidered art for your walls.

In case you didn't guess - the seeds are mine {Abigail's} and the gorgeous geometric maze is Ryan's. ;)

A little more to be done tonight I think!!!

over and out...

abigail@abigail*ryan

Swooning...

We returned from Belfast to the most lovely of surprises... an amazing mushroom from Kris was awaiting us!!

Vibrant and cheeky, and utterly beautiful, complete with her own history - Amanita Citrina will now reside happily with us on our mantel.

We are so happy to have her. Thank you so much Kris!!!

Now we are itching to add more and have a collection of them! ;)

xo abigail & ryan

Abigail J'adores...

These stunning felted and embroidered hats and mittens from Kyoto based Tiny Toadstool are beyond charming... I am so smitten with them!

The amount of skill and craft that goes into each piece is astounding. They almost remind me of the Tibetan type hats my mum used to pop my brother and I in when we were really wee... which I think makes me love them even more. ;)

...visit Tiny Toadstool right here!

abigail@abigail*ryan

All wrapped up! Abigail J'adores...

...amazing example of traditional 'furoshiki' in a fabric folding store in Kyoto.

Makes us want to use our own abigail*ryan fabric to put goodies in and wrap and fold our own carry bags!!

*wow*

abigail@abigail*ryan

Tea-towels Galore!

Well, after weeks of working like mad to build up stock in preparation for our Craft Fairs, we can finally take a step back and admire all our hard work... and let me tell you, it's a nice feeling.

Tonight, we wanted to share some shots of our tea-towels {100% unbleached cotton, screen-printed in the U.K!} all wrapped up and ready to roll... we received fantastic feedback during our first outings and cannot wait to launch them online too!

We have four designs - Rhododendron {available in Fuchsia and Aubergine}, Japanese Anemone {available in Granny Smith and Olive}, Helicopters {available in Ketchup and Mustard} and Sycamore {available in Ink and Turquoise}...

...each tea-towel will be £11.50, or a set of two for £20.00.

Our online shop will launch in approx 2 weeks, but if you spot something you like, you can always drop us a line to enquire about early ordering at, info@abigailryan.com and get in before the crowds!! ;)

ryan&abigail@abigail*ryan

Renewed Vigour!!

Just a quick note to thank you for reading our humble blog. We have been so unbelievably busy lately working on the big launch that we simply haven't had the time to blog about everything we would like to...and, for that, I would like to apologise.

There has been a huge amount going on backstage, though- frenzied sewing, fabric deliveries, late nights, ALL nights (!), and loads of other bits and pieces that we would love to tell you all about...and now, finally, we have built up enough stock to be able to do just that!

Hopefully later today, there will be a great post on the launch of our range at Newry Town Hall Craft Fair, and Abigail and I will be getting back on track with the "stuff we like" posts, to give you more of an insight in to our inspirations...as well as that, i'll be giving you some sneaky peeks at some new jewellery designs i'll be listing in my shop soon, and, if she lets me (!), some shots of Abigail styling and shooting all the newly completed abigail*ryan work for our soon to launch webshop. So, really, lots to be getting on with, and, I hope, lots to keep you interested!

Thanks for sticking by us so far,

ryan@abigail*ryan

The Launch!...

We will be at Newry Town Hall Craft Fair {Northern Ireland}, all this weekend - our stand bedecked with cushions, tea-towels and Christmas ornaments perfect for gifting this Christmas or treating yourself to!

We also have two cabinets packed full of stunning new jewellery designs, along with old favourites, and Ryan has his beautiful one off handbag creations too.

More info here!

We hope to see you there...

abigail&ryan :)