Christmas Shirts Are Here!!

Yes, I know it seems a little early, but if I'm going to have them all done and shipped before December, this girl has to get the ball rolling!! So, drumroll please.....



JOY.....without Jesus, there is no real joy...
$25 shipped.



Sleigh Bell initial shirts
$23 shipped.



Sparkly candy cane shirts (can also be done "not glamorous" for a boy :)
$23 shipped.



Gift wagon
$23 shipped.




Ornament embellished with ribbons (can be done without ribbons and with another fabric for boy). And I love this one with the three letter monogram (Sydney's monogram is SIK, so I don't use it much- ha!)
$25 shipped for embellished girls shirt.
$23 shipped for non-embellished boys shirt.




Reindeer shirt
$25 shipped.





Scrappy Christmas trees. These are my personal favorite!! Girls shirt has a ribbon up top (optional)
$23 shipped.




Elfish Stockings - I did one in traditional Christmas colors, and one in girly Christmas colors to give you some options.
$23 shipped.

YOU CAN ADD A NAME TO ANY SHIRT (Like Rory and Ryder's reindeer shirts) FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

Also, if you love a design, but don't love the fabric I used, let me know!! I have tons (and tons and tons) of fabric styles/colors to choose from.


ALL ORDERS RECEIVED BY NOVEMBER 1ST WILL BE SHIPPED ON OR BEFORE NOVEMBER 28TH - GUARANTEED!! That way, you'll have your shirts before December :)

Ready, set, order!!

stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com or on Stitched's facebook page!

Want a shirt for free? The fabulous Tiffany Harris is hosting a giveaway for the next week! Hop on over to The Harris Life, follow the rules, and enter your chance to win!!

Gobble

I had a request from two friends to make a shirt that says "Gobble" because they were tired of the normal turkey shirts (and one has a boy and the ribbon turkey shirt just wouldn't do :) So, I set out to create a fabulous Gobble shirt, and wouldn't you know some artistic genius out there had already done so! So I bought the awesome design and stitched it out. Super cute!

In the spring I'll be working on a Gobble shirt that doesn't have a pumpkin in it for all those turkey hunters out there.

Want one? Need one?
Email me:
stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com

Turkey Shirt

Hello all! I've been just dying to make this shirt for Sydney ever since I saw the design on Etsy. I think it turned out super cute and I cannot wait for her wear it!!

$25 shipped. Name can be added on the bottom.

NOTE: I cannot find girls' long-sleeve brown shirts anywhere (for a reasonable price)!! I bought the short-sleeve shirt for Syd because it's still warm around here til....January :) However, if you want a long-sleeve shirt, hot pink and white are available.

Email orders to: stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com

Fall Shirts 2011

I have been working hard over the past week on shirts for fall holidays! I order the plain shirts online, and I am making my first order on Friday! So, if you place an order by Friday, Sept. 23rd, you are guaranteed to have your shirt shipped on/before October 5th. Order early :)

I did a couple of designs that can be used for boy or girl:
Pumpkin shirts. Love these. The girl shirts have a yellow ribbon...you know, to "girl it up"
$25 shipped.

Candy corn shirts. I love these because they're Halloween without being all evil and creepy. Who doesn't love candy corn??
$23 shipped.

Acorns. Clint's favorite, of course.
$23 shipped.


And I love this shirt!!
$23 shipped.


One more for Halloween. Boys is a spider (could go for girls, too). Girls shirt is a bat with a bow.
$23 shipped.

A name can be added to any shirt (like "Sydney" is under the bat shirt)

Email orders to stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com

Remember, order before Friday, Sept 23 to be in the first group of shipments.

Thanks, y'all!

Tags

So, I'm a little obsessed with these fun tags. A friend of mine had a diaper bag she wanted monogrammed, but for the life of me I couldn't get the thing in the hoop. Dang zippers. So, she suggested that I make some kind of hanging tag with his name on it. Brilliant friend.

So, off I went to my go-to online embroidery shops and Voila! A design for tags! So, I made her a few for sweet little Pierce and his diaper bags.

I have all sorts of plans for these tags...Christmas ornaments, garlands, lunchbox identifiers, etc.

Have an idea? Share it!

Want a tag(s)? Email me! stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com

Have a wonderful long weekend!!

Gettin' Serious...

...about blogging. I've been quick at updating Facebook with pictures from orders, but HORRIBLE at the blog! SO, as we are embarking on my officially staying home (I would have been home all summer anyway, and now that school has started and I'm not there, it's really sinking in!!), I'm getting serious about my little business!

Things have been really busy for Stitched during the months of July and August. Lots of back-to-school orders that I have been so thankful for! Now that school is in session and the polo shirts, napmats, and backpack orders have stopped, I'm looking forward to stepping out of the box and finding a new niche in the embroidery world!

In October I'll be setting up a table at the Outdoor Sale in Washington, LA. Clint's Aunt Claudia was very gracious in offering for me to set up some of my stuff along with hers. I'm so excited to see how it goes!

Here's some pics of things I've done over the last month or so.

As always, email me at stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com or find Stitched on Facebook if you ever need anything!

Go Dawgs! Go Trojans! Go Nachman!

Last week kicked off a long list of t-shirt orders for various schools! I'm so excited to get started on this week's orders for Buckeye, and I'll be making some sample shirts for ASH and Brame. I also have a few gift orders to work on ... things are getting busy and I'm so thankful!!

Three generations of bulldog fans!


Shirt for a Nachman teacher.


Go Trojans!!

Birthday Keepsake

Clint's cousin, Amie, has a daughter that she is creating a birthday keepsake for. She brought me tablecloth that she started last year. The tablecloth will record all of Maddie's birthday themes for each year! We had to work backwards and do her theme from last year, and then add her Minnie Mouse theme for this year.

Sorry for the awful picture! I was not about to iron this whole thing and put it on my table, but you get the idea.

School Shirts!!

One product I wanted to offer to set me apart from other companies was custom school shirts. I finally got a kick-start this week and designed a shirt for the greatest high school in the parish - Alexandria Senior High, of course!

I have another order for a different design that I'm getting started on tomorrow. Very fun projects and I can't wait to see them worn around town!

After that: East Beauregard Elementary School shirt for the fabulous DeDe Iles!

This Week's Projects

Whew! It was a t-shirt week! Some of these were orders, some of these are gifts for friends of mine. I think all of these shirts came from Target. I'll be keeping them in business! It's funny how I look at clothes now....I always think "Could I put name/initials on that??"

Here's the t-shirt lineup! Carly, Courtney, Leanne, you might notice some familiar names on few of these shirts :)



By far the most difficult shirt so far. Such tiny appliques!! Then, I had to hand-stitch the hay bales because my machine ripped gaping hole in the practice run. I like the hand-stitched hay bales, anyway.

And, yet another birthday shirt!

Great Deal!

I was browsing at Target for some shirts for an order, and I came across a major clearance rack and found these great little shirts. Because they were on such a major clearance, I went ahead and bought several! So, when I find an awesome deal like that, I'll pass that deal on to you!

Shirts (with monogram, of course) are $10 + $3 shipping if you're not in the Alexandria/Pineville area. Great gift or just a cute shirt for your little girl!

Brown/pink sizes: 12m, 3T





Pink/pink sizes: 12m, 18m





Green sizes: 12m, 24m, 3T, 5T

Email me at stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com if you would like to buy one. Thanks!

Custom Pillow

A wonderful lady asked me to create a pillow out of a cross-stitch she made in 1989! Her daughter (who is equally wonderful - I taught her two years ago) is going to Louisiana Tech in the fall and she wanted her to have this keepsake from her mom.

So, I was pretty nervous. I mean, most projects can be redone if I screw something up. Not this one!!

I was so thankful that she bought the fabric because I was so worried that I would pick out something she wouldn't like. Her daughter loves Vera Bradley stuff, and her bedding is black and white, so the pillow will be a great accent.

On the front is the cross-stitch, and on the back I used the two fabrics to create an envelope-style pillow with a chunky black button. So, the pillow is cute either way she puts it on her bed.

Thanks for the order, Kim! I had a great time!

Purses just ain't my thang

I have to admit.

I don't get the whole "Oh my gosh I got this new Coach purse and it cost $300 and oh my gosh oh my gosh." Don't get me wrong. I can spend $300 in a hot second on any number of frivolous things. Purses just aren't one of them.

Sorry. I know I'm way out of fashion when it comes to my purses. My students (and coworkers) have let me know that my purse situation is completely unacceptable.

For example: Christmas 2009 I grudgingly spent $10 on a new purse at Target. And I carried that nasty thing until today. Oops. A few weeks ago I added some leftover fabric flowers that didn't sell at school as a hail mary. Didn't work. The blood stain left on the purse from a beef liver that we used in lab (yes, I did wash it several times - it was clean, just stained) sort of took away from the funky fabric flowers. Again....oops.

So, I found an even better deal at good ol' Hobby Lobby. They have this great new aisle that has all sorts of ready-to-embroider items, such as this purse. I bit the bullet (all $7.99 of it) and bought the purse and put my monogram on it tonight.

I think I look a little more sophisticated...what do you think?

Cute bags and towels!

A friend of mine asked me to do some cute bags and monogram some towels for two recent high school graduates. I love how they turned out! These bags would also be great dance bags or overnight bags. Email me at stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com for prices/specifics. Thanks!

Birthday Shirts

Birthday shirts are so fun! I know Jack feels so "grown up" when he sees his new age on his shirt. Ha! I had an order for a girly four-year-old shirt. I love the way it turned out!!



Who knows....maybe I'll make myself one with a big 28 for my next birthday. Or maybe not.

Adventures with Applique'

Applique' is challenging, but oh so fun and cute! There are hundreds of designs on the internet (especially Etsy- and who doesn't love supporting other stay-at-home-making-the-ends-meet mommas out there?). For some crazy reason, I decided that my very first applique would include three different fabrics and four different color threads. But hey, if I can handle this one, I can tackle any applique' out there, right? We'll see.

Oh! And this was my very first order!

I'm ready for business!!

Contact: stitchedbyamanda@hotmail.com

Hits and Misses

Project for the day: Put Jack's name on a beach towel for our upcoming vacation.

Wait...what happened to the "J"???



Oh, dear. That's even worse.


Better....



Font too small!!


Nailed it.


He'll have no problem knowing which towel is his at Seaside!!





And a total hit.

Here we go!

My embroidery machine (or "monogramming machine" as many people call it) came in the mail on Wednesday! Because everything shipped separately, I only got the machine and the bobbin thread the first day.



So, Wednesday night I stared at it.

And learned to wind the bobbin.

And that was all :)

Thursday evening some of the thread and the stabilizer came in, so I found some scrap fabric, learned to hoop it, and put Sydney's name on the fabric. (And yes, I am fully aware that the thread does not match the polka-dots. I only have six colors of thread right now. Lay off. The rest is coming Saturday :)


And that all took me until 11:00 p.m.

I don't have the software for the machine yet. That should come in tonight. The poor UPS man is driving his truck up our hill for four days in a row. He looked thrilled about it. The software will allow me to resize the fonts and do all kinds of amazingly technical things. Like centering stuff.

Oooo, and applique'.

And, my business cards came in today. You know, because I'm professional and stuff.

Beginning!

Welcome to Stitched! I am starting an at-home embroidery business.....as soon as I figure this darn machine out. Ha! All kidding aside, here's a little about me:

1. I am a Christ-follower. I strive daily to be more like Him and to share His truth. I fail more often than I succeed, but I'm so thankful for the grace He extends.

2. I am a wife and mother! We have two beautiful children, Jack and Sydney. My husband, Clint, is a forester.

3. I am a foster parent. We have an exciting, challenging calling that has blessed us beyond description.

4. I used to be a teacher :) Loved that career, but all these kids running around just demanded more than I could give working full-time.


Explore this little blog of mine. There are some tabs at the top of page that will show pictures of some various projects....some are still in the works.

Follow along as I learn about embroidery. I'll for sure let you know when I'm ready for orders :) Just click "Follow" on the right of the page.