Wednesday 28 December 2011

The happiest of news!

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas?! I would love to hear what lovely pressies Santa brought you... what lovely food you had?

We had a lovely quiet morning - Ryan bought me some beautiful presents, gorgeous stained glass from Flora Jamieson, a beautiful plate from Julia Smith, an amazing Mimco handbag (to match my planned xmas day outfit!) and lots of other goodies, too! He was lavished with all sorts of games for the wii and xbox, and he is now happily playing Skylanders... I may not see much of him for a few days ;) Our parents also lavished many gorgeous gifts on us (we had Christmas dinner with Ryan's parents and sisters), and we are overwhelmed with how many lovely things we received... thank you to everyone!

We have some very happy news to share! On Christmas Day - Ryan called me in to the living room and told me there was something hidden in the twinkling Christmas tree... I had a wee hunt, and found a box, and inside, the most gorgeous ring! When I turned around, Ryan was down on one knee and asking me to be his wife... I burst in to tears and of course instantly said YES! We are so happy and I am just over the moon with my beautiful engagement ring and the most wonderful man I could ever hope for, who I can now call my fiance...we already knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, but now it's official...

It really was the best Christmas, ever!

We will be back soon, but I have lots of staring at my engagement ring to do and dreaming of weddings ;)

much love from a very happy A & R!
xo

Saturday 24 December 2011

Christmas Eve...

... it's finally here! After a super busy week of rushing around and tying up loose ends, it's finally Christmas Eve and almost everything is ticked off the list. It's even at that stage where you stop worrying about the tiny little parts that aren't, too. Bliss.

We have been making gorgeous home-made confectionery... INCREDIBLE Salt Caramels, two types of fudge (peanut butter and chocolate!), and apricot logs. The wrapping part is almost as fun as the eating part. Almost, but not quite!

All our presents are wrapped (I still have to do Ryan's, though, shhhh) and I had a lot of fun! Inspired by Hello Sandwich for Martha Stewart's wrapping competition this year... I decided to go origami bow-crazy and I love our silver and neon pink theme with bright accents.

FINALLY, and before we sign off for a few days, we want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to all our customers and followers this year for their support - we would like to wish you (and everyone!) a VERY Merry Christmas indeed... hope you have a gorgeous time with friends and family.

With festive love,

Abigail, Ryan & Angus!
xo


Monday 19 December 2011

Sleepy Puppy...

Too good not to share. On the sofa, right now.
Xx

Festivities, finally...

I have been *trying* to get a moment to get our house all Christmassy for... um... maybe two weeks now!? Well, yesterday, I was going to get it done come hell or high water! It was decided.

I spent the day cleaning and tidying the house (which was more work than could possibly be imagined as I finally had to tackle the mass of tea-towel stock that had been lying around in boxes for weeks (months!) and work detritus which always manages to creep all through the house), so, when it was all finally finished, it was already late, and dark and I was exhausted, but I could finally set the tree up... yay...

Always lovely, though, unwrapping loved decorations and finding the perfect spot for them! I did have Ryan untangle the lights, though, as knots make me full of rage and we couldn't take the chance that I would burst and untangle them with scissors or something like that! ;)

So nice to wake up this morning (dark and rainy) and be able to light up the tree and revel in the twinkling... it's finally Christmas and we are all set for a week of final orders leaving, wrapping presents, festive cooking and more regular than we would like cleaning of the floors as Angus leaves muddy footprints in his wake every time he comes in from the garden (won't it freeze outside, please!?)... Merry Merry!

Hope you're all set for a good week as we slide on in to the Holidays!
xo

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Tea-towel Sets...

We meant to post this a few weeks ago when these launched in the shop, but we have been kept so busy with holiday season busybusy that we haven't had a chance until now...

...when we launched in 2009, our Full Shebang sets of tea-towels were one of our best sellers, so when we changed over the designs last year, we always intended to put together another set! Well, you know how it is, months disappear in a haze and here we are, a year later and we're just getting round to it. We tell ourselves it's not just us who are so disorganised... it helps us sleep better at night... hehe ;))

ANYWAY, we scoured for weeks to find the perfect boxes and designed beautiful new labels to make sure this would be a worthy gift set anyone would love to receive, and we are so happy with how they turned out!!

They have been selling like hot-cakes over the last few weeks, and I have to say, I can see why - I think I would love to get one of these under the tree, too...

Each set comprises our full collection of eight tea-towels: Dahlia in Mango and Raspberry, Hydrangea in Duck-Egg and Avocado, Rhododendron in (our new, gorgeous bright!) Fuchsia and Aubergine and Agapanthus in Heather & Cornflower... our new tea-towels are now complete with a fab hanging loop, which is lovely, and they are eco-friendly printed with water-based inks on unbleached cotton, hemmed on all four sides. You can wash these at up to 50 degrees C, too! Practical and pretty... what more could you ask for!


We hope you love them as much as we do. Coming shortly (we hope!)... Lavender Bag Sets!!

Xo

Monday 12 December 2011

...a little more of us!

A little while ago, we had the pleasure of being photograhed by the lovely Brian Morrison for a little testimonial we gave BT for their fibre Broadband service which we use... we honestly love our super speedy internet, so we were only too happy to oblige!

Brian took a few shots of Ryan and I at our kitchen table, where most of our work is done, and we had a very nice chat indeed, too... I realised afterwards that in my haste to get ready for our morning photo-call I hadn't put any jewellery on, and also, my carefully selected knitted dress (rather cool looking, if I do say so myself) actually just looks like a v-neck jumper. All in all an epic fashion fail for me, but doesn't Ryan look great!?

...in another fun, working from home twist of fate, you can also see our washing in the background in some of the piccies... ahh, well, that's real life for ya! ;) You have to laugh!

A@a*r
Xo

Sunday 11 December 2011

Grand Finale and the TWELFTH Day of Christmas...

... thank you SO much to everyone who supported our 12 Days of Christmas Sale. We had so much fun picking out treats from the collection and hatching which items we would offer up.

We really wanted to finish with a bang so our offering up, for 24 hours only, our beautiful boxed showcase collection of all eight tea-towels... brand new and just in the shop a week or two...this make the most beautiful gift to give this Christmas!

When you buy this set, you already save a huge £20.00 on the individual ticket price - but today we're knocking a further £15.00 off that... selling the set, usually £80.00 for £65.00!!

We hope you love this as much as we do... and will enjoy this Christmas pressie from us, to you.

with love,

A & R xo

Saturday 10 December 2011

On the ELEVENTH Day of Christmas...


...abigail*ryan give to you: Buy One Get One FREE on our Dahlia Lavender Bags ;)That's as good as half price and two for £13.00!

Just let us know which one you would like, on us, in the note to seller section when you purchase one...

ho ho ho!!

A&R

Make sure to tune in tomorrow for our GRAND FINALE!!

On the NINTH & TENTH Day of Christmas...

(Sorry we're a little late on this one)...on the 9th Day of Christmas we were offering up Rhododendron Aubergine tea-towels!

***

TODAY, the 10th Day of Christmas...abigail*ryan gave to you: Three Cushions for the price of TWO!!

... any cushions you fancy, just purchase two and let us know which third one you would like on us...

Follow the snowflakes daily to find our special deal - we change them over daily at midnight!

A&R x

Wednesday 7 December 2011

On the EIGHTH Day of Christmas...


...abigail*ryan gives to you: Our Sycamore Scallop Cushion in Seafoam and Coral... one of our fave's! :)

Priced for 24 hours only at just £39.50, instead of our usual £59.50 - you can indulge in one of our luxurious hand sewn cushions at an even better price...

Follow the snowflakes daily to find the deal of the day.

ho ho ho!

A & R

Tuesday 6 December 2011

On the SEVENTH Day of Christmas...

...abigail*ryan gives to you: THREE for TWO on *all* Lavender Bags!

Purchase two of our beautifully scented, gift boxed and hand sewn Lavender Bags and just leave us a message in the note to seller section when you're completing your purchase and tell us which design you would like as your third and final choice :) Choose from Dahlia, Rhododendron, Bud and Seeds patterns - three colourways in each!

Follow the snowflakes daily...

Enjoy!

ho ho ho! :))

Monday 5 December 2011

On the SIXTH day of Christmas...


...abigail*ryan gives to you: Our Sycamore Scallop Cushion in Hot Pink & Teal... this is the cushion we actually have in our kitchen window seat, we LOVE it! Backed with Irish linen and hand sewn at a*r HQ, these are on offer for 24 hours only at £39.50 instead of £59.50...

Head to the website daily and follow the snowflakes!

ho ho ho!

Sunday 4 December 2011

On the FIFTH day of Christmas...


...abigail*ryan gives to you: our Agapanthus Tea-towel in Heather for just £6.50 (instead of £12.50)...

Ho ho ho!

Follow the snowflakes every day for our special Twelve Days of Christmas Deals :))

xo

Saturday 3 December 2011

On the FOURTH day of Christmas...

...abigail*ryan gives to you! Our Hydrangea tea-towel in Avocado... reduced to £7.50 for just 24 hours...normally £12.50!

Head to the site and follow the snowflakes daily for our fab daily deals!
ho ho ho!

Xx

Friday 2 December 2011

On the THIRD day of Christmas...

abigail*ryan gave to you...

Our Ginko Cushion in Lime and Ink for an amazing £35.00 instead of £59.50 - hand sewn from our own exclusive cottons and irish linen - it's a one time only deal... for twenty four hours only :))

Just call us Santa! ho ho ho!

Head to the website and follow the snowflakes to enjoy our 12 Days Sale...

xo

On the SECOND day of Christmas...

...abigail*ryan gave to you :))

ANY Seeds Lavender Bag for uh-mazing price of just £8.00... gift boxed and ready for giving!

Follow the snowflakes every day at abigailryan.com and find a new item unveiled every day at midnight GMT...

ho ho ho!
xo