Embroidery Items

I had an order for 4 polos this weekend...#3 wasn't cooperating so I cut the machine off for the night and finished up yesterday on #3 & #4. I was also able to get a little backpack ready for my neighbor's son before school starts next Monday. I have one more order I'm wrapping up this week. I'm so thankful for all the orders I've been given over the past few weeks...It's a fun way to make some extra money plus I like to give my friends a better deal than the catalogs.

Embroidered Diaper Covers

I have a few diaper covers left in stock but here is a cute one I did last night:

We went to 2 birthday parties on Saturday morning and the moms loved their diaper covers...the kids didn't care for them as much ;) We went on the school uniform search on Friday now that Bailey will need them for school (I just found out!). I love shopping but when you actually NEED to find items with limited time and she has to try on the pants at each store it quickly became a chore...especially battling the lovely Alabama afternoon heat 7 1/2 months pregnant and it was NO TAX weekend so it was quite busy. After the 5th store I finally found a great deal on the uniform dresses in khaki and navy - 2 styles each. Whew! I felt so accomplished after getting all her outfits for the next school done in 3 hours. We even stopped at the Target cafe for a cinnamon pretzel with a cherry coke and a few refills.

This week I will be making either blackberry, blueberry, or peach cupcakes for the ZTA Luncheon on Thursday. I'm leaning toward blackberry or blueberry because I am lazy and don't feel like peeling the peaches ;) Also, I'm at a war with a diaper bag and my embroidery hoop...I think I will youtube how to pin a frame.

Have a great week!!

Party Here:
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/2011/08/sundae-scoop-link-to-party-8.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Iheartnaptime1+%28I+heart+naptime+with+Chocolate+Sundaes%29

Backpack embroidery

It took me a few tries 20 minutes later, but I got the hoop on strait and put "BCM" for Brycen Conner McArdle or Bailey Carson McArdle...whichever we use it for. Bailey still has her backpack from last year in fabulous condition since it was basically used to hold an extra outfit and a folder...now her lunch box from last year...that was thrown away. So this will be Brycen's over night bag or maybe his diaper bag?!? I don't know yet. I made him a burp cloth with the new little elephant I ordered...he is so cute...or she if it was in pink ;) And lastly I made a reversible Long Jon-Jon to sell! It is super cute, but Blake is not for the Jon-Jon look on little boys...oh well! I had a feeling but wanted to make it anyway. Now I have my first item to put on sale in an etsy store! whoop whoop! I will wait until I stockpile a few more things before making the site...plus I need a good name for it.

I stayed up way too late last night working on the above mentioned as well as other projects. I hate bringing out both machines now that my craft room is a nursery so the kitchen table = disaster zone with two machines, sewing box, bags of scraps for appliques, the laptop hooked up, projects lying in their special piles... I repaired a giant hole in Blake's jeans back together (they are his favorite's) and I shortened straps on Bailey's mickey mouse dress that we bought at Disney World...yeah a few projects that needed to be done back in APRIL. Procrastinate much?!?

New items are in the mail!

I just met up with a friend and we ordered so many cute things from www.embroiderthis.com. I'm so excited to put names on bloomers and bibs for baby gifts and newly married couples initials on towels. I also ordered a large spool of orange embroidery thread for $3.10! What an incredible deal! I love love love finding good deals! Can't wait to put Sweet Little Brycen's initials on the bibs as well as all the other babies being born this year. I have 3 little girl birthday parties to attend over the next two weekends so the bloomers will be great gifts for them. I can't wait to show pictures of everything that I will be working on...we are getting a new faster laptop next week during "no tax" weekend so I will be able to work on more projects and open a website! I may start with just an etsy store at first and then branch off...we are looking into options right now. Any tips on starting a website retail business is appreciated! I am starting with embroidery, sewing and cookies - I have everything for those three hobbies without having to invest anything more. So who knows I may branch off into vinyl stuff but that will have to wait until I get a handle on these three first. The next few weeks will be busy but I'm ready for a new challenge.

2 more onesies

I did these onesies a few weeks ago for a baby girl gift. I finally saw the mom-to-be yesterday to give them to her. I love the purple flower! Her name is precious, Rileigh Ann. I also made some size tags for her closet for organization but I forgot to take a picture. Sorry for the horrible quality in these pictures - I used my cell phone.

Embroidery Projects

I embroidered a few more items over the weekend for gifts: a little girl's 1st birthday party in a ladybug theme, a burp cloth with a lady bug embroidered on it. To be honest I had to test the ladybug on something so why not do a gift at the same time?! Well I put the little girl's name at the top to realize midway through that it was not spelled correctly so I stopped it to start over and well...I did my best to make it look like I wanted the letters to go up ;) The baby is just going to spit on it right?!? I'm using "It's a new font I'm trying out" as my excuse!

This was my first time to do letters over an applique. I love it and her momma is pleased too!

Okay so you see I had to put the letters at the top of each letter....It's suppose to look like that right?!

All things Boy

I am thrilled about having a boy. It is harder than I thought to make things cute but boyish at the same time. I went to get some boy patterns at HL and quickly realized there are not any. So I bought a simple romper pattern but they only had it is sizes 1, 2, and 3. I have a few outfits I can compare to the size one and see where to shorten/take in...other than that there is nothing to make but some cute onesies with his name and a boyish applique. So to introduce his name to the world of facebook I made his first onesie. It turned out so adorable...but in a boy way. Also, here are some pictures of the Airplane Nursery! It will look so good once all the ideas in my head are played out. Blake is being a bit of a downer on all my ideas because it is "too much", but I suppose he is right...I don't need to have EVERYTHING in airplanes, he is too small for a growth chart, and childish airplanes with WW II airplanes do not mix.

Sewing Laziness

Since the nursery took over my 1/2 craft room - 1/2 Blake's space we have had to merge ALL of it into one closet. So some things are trying to be sold and we are finding places for the rest of it. Anyway I wanted to make sure both of my machines fit so I packed them in nicely and now I too lazy to don't want to take them out. I haven't made Bailey anything since Disney World in March...so 3 months. Over the past week I did get out the embroidery machine to make a few things for upcoming babies. They turned out great after I put my machine in "time out" for the night. Embroidery machines have a mind of their own sometimes...at least mine does. Here my embroidery creations from last week for a big brother and another boy on the way.

Another Burp Cloth

This is my favorite one so far...just because it's layered. I wish I had a more elaborate monogramming machine but I love the way this turned out and it makes for a great gift. Even though I can't do big things these 4x4 appliques are just enough for most items.

Burp Cloths and Pillow cover

My Sunday school class has 2 upcoming baby showers in the next month so I started a while ago working on a few things but I finally finished up the boppy pillow cover with their last name embroidered on it. I also added ribbon and appliques to two cloth diapers/burp cloths for gifts as well. I made binky ribbon tags a while back as well for part of the present. I will add a few baby items to the gifts and they will be ready to go. Below are pictures of just one of the gifts.

Linked to:

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ZTA Doggy Accessory Basket

This weekend is Zeta Day in Tuscaloosa and each chapter is in charge of bringing a basket to the silent auction to raise money for the ZTA Foundation. The theme is "Oh the Places ZTA will Take You". We wanted to do something different this year that we have not seen done before so we did a ZTA Basket filled with accessories for your dog! We used our sorority colors: turquoise and gray. I used vinyl to put all the writing and pictures on the tub, treat canister and food and water bowls. I embroidered "ZTA" on the body and hand towel. I sewed the waved turquoise trim onto the gray leash.

"Oh the Places ZTA will take You... and Your ZTA Puppy" Basket:

ZTA Food Bowl

ZTA Water Bowl

Turquoise Ribbon on Gray Leash

"ZTA" Embroidered Hand Towel

"ZTA" Embroidered Body Towel

Crown Treat Canister

Treats

Turquoise Puppy Toy

Turquoise Collar with CZ Diamonds

Zeta Tau Alpha Tub

Linked to these parties:

http://sassysites.blogspot.com/2011/03/lets-party-take-2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SassySites+%28Sassy+Sites%21%29

Minnie Knot Dress/Top

I started on Bailey's Minnie Knot Top this last weekend using the bodice piece of the knot dress I found on here: http://bridgetbaxter.blogspot.com/2008/04/happy-anniversary-to-you.html I used the size 6 pattern and glad I did because it fits great (Size 4's fit a tad snug). I wanted something more casual and saw a few cute outfits on etsy that gave me the idea to do the knot top with matching pants that have a ruffle on the bottom. I would have made the top more full but I didn't buy enough fabric...plus it would have made it heavier and I wanted a light weight top for her to wear at Disney World. I may shorten the top after I finish the pants to see if it needs to be shorter. This was my second attempt at button holes and after a few practice rounds I remembered again. I can only embroider one letter at a time when I use letters from my zip drive which makes it difficult to get everything spaced right and leveled. I used the Disney Font for her name. I'm sure with time it will not be as time consuming. It turned out so cute with the ruffle ribbon and I can't wait to see her in it with the pants and Minnie ears. I showed it to her last night and she said, "Oh mommy! It is so pretty!".

Front of Top

Back of Top



Linked up to this party:

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2011/02/whatever-goes-wednesday-54.html







http://sassysites.blogspot.com/2011/02/ffa-friday_24.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SassySites+%28Sassy+Sites%21%29

Tag Binky's for Baby Gifts

After learning to use my embroidery machine I cut out a few squares and made these two adorable binky's for some upcoming showers. I used soft flannel to make them because its an easy material to work with and wash and they are super soft. Both babies haven't been named yet so I embroidered the last name initial or name.

Linked to:

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2011/02/whatever-goes-wednesday-53.html

Embroidery Take #2

My friend and I met up again with our twin embroidery machines this past Saturday in hopes of actually making something this time ;) After our last session was a complete flop of mess ups I was a bit apprehensive about using it again. So this time I decided to watch the video that came with the machine to see if there was something we missed...how about an embroidery foot?!? When I watched the lady on the video take that little "do hickey" out of the bag of tools (The tools I told Jessica we wouldn't need) and put it on...well you could have seen the light bulb above my head turn on. So first things first...put the EMBROIDERY FOOT on. Sheesh! That would have saved me a lot of stress - we thought our machines were broken or we were unable to use it. So after we put the correct tool on we were off! I made Bailey all sorts of stuff for this summer and our upcoming Disney World trip for her birthday. I love the Minnie Mouse applique at the bottom :)

ZTA Hand Towel for an upcoming give away basket

"Bailey" in blue to match the shirt and skirt set

"Bailey" in purple to go on a purple shirt...this was her choice ;) I will probably add an applique to the bottom to spice it up some

"B" on a white cardigan

Zebra Minnie Mouse Applique for Animal Kingdom with Zebra Skirt from Kohl's

Linked to:

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2011/02/whatever-goes-wednesday-53.html

Learning to Embroider

Written Last Week:
I have so much I really want to do but I feel kind of out of it these days. I get home from work and I feel obligated to work out, prepare a meal, and have one-on-one time with my family. Where does this leave time for extras?! I can not wait for winter to be over - I hate being inside all the time and I get sleepy around 8:00 PM because it gets so dark by 6:00 PM.

This Week:
A few months ago I purchased an embroidery machine for my Christmas gift. I told my craft buddy/sorority sister about it and she purchased the same one so that we could help each other. Well I have another good friend that picked up on embroidery from a mutual friend and we met up with her last night to figure it out. It's hard to describe how last night went...I was overwhelmed, partially stressed and felt defeated. It took 2 hours to make a tad bit on the ugly side "B". I thought we would be cranking out projects. I brought over 4 shirts to do and left with a scrap of fabric with a cursive "B" on it. BUT I didn't let it get me down. I went home and finished the pillows that someone ordered and they came out great! So I believe I am getting a pep in my step and ready to get back on the crafting schedule.

This & That

I am still very excited about starting the process of owning a business but first things first - I am going to have a website on etsy.com selling personalized cookies and handmade items. I want to get this process going before jumping into real estate, buying furniture, refrigerators, tables, chairs....the whole package. Plus, if the website takes off then I will make enough income to not work when we move for Blake's training in the next year. I think what I am most excited about is the possibilities...there are options and it's my ideas and my motivation that will make it happen. My best friend is so excited as well which makes it fun to bounce ideas around with her.

We are STILL redecorating (meaning my house is still in disorder...going on week 3) Bailey's room to a gymnastics/dance theme and on Tuesday we started painting the new knobs for her dresser. I wish I had a picture of us working on it together. She loved helping me and then yesterday I did all the detail work on them and she said, "Oh mommy, those are so pretty! I helped paint those." I normally opt out of messy activities with Bailey just because I avoid cleaning when I don't have to. I am trying to be better at this so I am trying to find ways for her to help decorate and be involved with her new room transformation. There are a couple more craft ideas I have in store for it that she will be able to help me with. One thing I LOVE TO DO is make something beautiful out of something used, old, or cheap. I spent $6 on 12 chunky, round, wooden knobs and a few bucks on paint that will transform her old dresser (hand-me-down from when Blake was a child) into a fantastic staple for this room.

Yesterday I went online to Amazon.com to look at embroidery machines - the last time I looked the cheapest one I could find was $700 which is way too much to spend on a "hobby". But for some reason those machines have gone down in price! I was so excited so I texted Blake about it while he was golfing....I wrote like a whole page of reasons I needed it, reasons it was a FABULOUS price, ways I would use it, ways I could make things for him.....on and on....I got back the infamous "ok". I then did a few little clicks and it is on the way! Then I texted 3 close friends and they were just as excited as I was - I love how girls get excited for you! I am using Christmas money to pay for it which is good for many reasons: 1) it can stay in the box until after Christmas so I do not have to be overwhelmed with starting a new hobby 2) no one can ask me to do orders during Christmas 3) I don't feel guilty for purchasing something that wasn't "needed" but really really wanted for quite some time.