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Monday, August 31, 2009

New design just listed...

BOO!
I found out since my last post that the caterpillars are armyworms (we think). Needless to say Jeff did some massive spraying (and now it is pouring down rain). We heard they will eat your yard UP!

Caterpillar Invasion...

Here is a new AC design I hope to list later today (when I get all the sizes from Jeff). We also did one more Halloween design but I'm waiting for the 5x7 to sample it. It's cute! I like this Owl - 11 steps and very simple! We've finished all of our custom work so now it's Holiday time - we have lots we want to do!!
Hopefully you can click on the below pics to enlarge. I got more Stephen Joseph backpacks over the weekend. They are SO CUTE!! Both of my boys had them (G still does) and they are wonderful for toddlers! Anyway... I have the following available for sale for $26 which includes personalization: Princess, Tutu, Airplane & Train.


And on a more interesting note... this weekend Jeff e-mailed me at the beach w/ a photo of Browder holding a few caterpillars. I didn't thinking anything of it until today when I counted 28 crawling around my garage (on the brick and in the driveway). I JUST counted over 10 on my back patio. Did a bus drop them off? Why are they here? They are FREAKING ME OUT!!
I spent the weekend in Orange Beach with 10 girls from my bunko group. We had a fabulous time!! We ate our meals at Shrimp Basket (Foley), Cosmos & Cobalt (Orange Beach) and finished off at Lulu's yesterday (which is maybe considered Gulf Shores??). All excellent!! We go on a summer trip every August and for some of us, we've been going for 10-11 years!! Once a year doesn't seem like enough for a fun girls weekend!?
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And... how obnoxious is the slideshow?? It's not exactly as professional and neat as I'd like it (some of the pics are off center), but it was a lot easier than adding all those pics back on the blog! The majority of them are last year's Embroidery Boutique designs! If you don't see what you're looking for e-mail me! We'll be adding lots of Holiday designs as well as soon as possible (Applique Cafe)!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Tiara

I just added a new tiara picture to Applique Cafe, Etsy, Yahoo Group and now here! Jeff corrected the right 2 "prongs" last night so I had to sew out a new sample! Much better! The right 2 were not as pointy as the other 3 so we corrected it. It was actually the artwork we used which had it that way (uneven). We've got a cute owl to sample this afternoon and I hope to have it listed tonight. It's very simple (11 steps I think) and hopefully different (enough) than all the other owls out there! We also have a few Christmas designs and will hopefully get those done next week. We are still working on 3 or 4 custom designs for someone too, and I'm leaving town in the morning (woo hoo) so we'll see how much Jeff can get done while wrangling 3 kids all weekend.
Mallory had her 18 mo checkup this morning. Luckily my sis in law kept the boys. It was quite the challenge trying to make sure she didn't touch ANYTHING during the hour and 1/2 we were there! Of course then we went to eat at No Way Jose and to Target so they probably picked up some germs there. Knock on wood no flu yet at the Gulledges! It's all over Facebook, so I'm just waiting...

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Counting down...

Here are a couple of shirts I did this week that I thought were cute! Brown cord used for the EB cowboy boot!
Football patch shown with War Eagle instead of Roll Tide!

New design just listed! You can actually use 3 fabrics on this - 3rd one being the bottom strip if you like!
I'm up to 6 members (including myself) in my Yahoo group! If you do the yahoo group thing, look me up (link is up top)! On another note, I'm headed to the beach this weekend with my bunko group and am a tad bit excited! Jeff will be home with the kids. Mallory has been a lot better the past 2 days so I'm sure Jeff will do fine with them! She was ill as a hornet for a day or two which had me a little concerned! She has her 18 mo checkup in the morning. It's actually her 15 mo too since I totally missed it.
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BTW, Jeff has called a Board meeting for tomorrow night to go over applique sales! I've showed him how easy it is to e-mail them so hopefully everyone will receive them in a timely manner!
I'm sure I'll receive a phone call or two while lounging by the pool!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Gobble Gobble

New turkey design - will list it tomorrow! Jeff is still working on converting to all the formats and sizes. He also squeezed in a cute tiara design so I'll sew it out tomorrow!! It's not Holiday related but I'm low on girl stuff!
This shirt, the War Eagle football helmet shirt and the Roll Tide football patch shirts are all Rabbit Skins long sleeve 5/6's and they are "samples". Other than the Roll Tide shirt, Garrison will inherit them if I don't sell them by football season,Thanksgiving, etc!! Please e-mail me if you're interested! Rabbit Skins runs small - G is only 3 but is sort of in between a 4T and 5/6 if that helps!! I have a bunch, so I'll continue to do sample tees when I can! BTW, I was at Walmart today and the long sleeve toddler tees (boys) were slim pickins, but I did get G a pretty blue and a pretty green color (which will be PERFECT for a pumpkin!). The toddler girl tees (Garanimals) are like trapeze shirts (if that's what you call them?). They have a flat space up top and are then gathered and "full". You can, however, put an applique or design in the bottom corner and I think that would be cute!
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It has been a long day so I'm headed to bed! I lose myself in this computer sometimes...

Monday Update...

Let's see.... we've been digitizing lots of new designs, but mostly for a customer in Louisiana who is starting a clothing line. Since her first show will be in Jan. for the spring/summer, they are mostly spring/summer designs and we won't be selling them until after she does her shows. This is good and fun for us, but at the same time I feel like we're WAY behind on seasonal designs!! We did do a turkey last night so after I sew it we'll have it listed - maybe later today? What else can you do for Thanksgiving, Halloween? We may do a simple ghost. Scarecrow maybe? Hopefully we can crank out some Christmas designs as well! Again, digitizing is not our "day job" so it's a challenge to get as much done as the big embroidery sites (plus we're starting late in the season)!! After we finish these customs we'll hopefully get down to biz-ness!! And did I mention my little ones have been out of school for a couple of weeks so it's virtually impossible to get much done other than naptime. My sweet Mallory has become very VOCAL and high maintenance lately!! They start back next Wed 9/2 so I'll have MWF mornings free! I DID get the new EB newsletter and Rachel has some cute new designs out! Since I'm not sampling anymore I don't get them all, but she did send me the new santa face, one of the reindeers and the cute elf! And... I have got to find my C'mas designs on my photo CDs from last year and reload them! I deleted them back in May b/c my blog was clogged up.
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Saturday I went to see Sherri Burgess and Betty Bussey (Rick & Bubba's wives) at Frazer UMC. It was AWESOME! I'm not sure if it's up yet (just checked and it's not, but keep checking), but you can watch it at www.frazerumc.org/noteasilybroken. Sherri was AWESOME and very convicting!! If you listen to R & B you know their son Bronner drowned in their family pool January of 08. Anyway if you think you need a pep talk from the Lord then just listen to her! She was great!!
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And on a sad note, I was on Facebook one night last week and kept seeing statuses about something that happened in Enterprise (my hometown). I finally found out that a girl I grew up with had tried to commit suicide but was still alive and in the hospital. She finally passed away yesterday and while I haven't seen her in years and years, she was my friend on Facebook as were some of her extended family members and friends. It was one of those things that when you hear it, you can't help but think about it and pray about it constantly, even though I had not seen her in forever. She left behind 2 children and lots of friends and family who loved her! Just a horrible situation that is hard to comprehend!!
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And.... Thursday my bible study group met with a special speaker (Lou Priolo - his books are sold on Amazon and he happens to sit in front of me most Sundays at church). He did a lesson on submission and it was GREAT! So I'm thinking the good Lord was speaking to me through all of these avenues and making me look at my own life and relationships! Love embroidery, but sometimes you can get so bogged down in it so I'm feeling a little refreshed and hope to continue to "reflect" on all these things, the good and the bad!
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Mallory is screaming her head off so that's all the time I have!

Friday, August 21, 2009

CVS-ing

I think I posted last week or so about www.southernsavers.com. We are hooked... or should I say Jeff is hooked!! I haven't had time to get in to the couponing, but have gotten in to the CVS-ing - see the website for details! This was my situation today:
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$23.99 Box of 64 Huggies
$3.?? Bottle of Ibuprofen
-$4.00 coupon off $20 purchase
-$4.00 extra care bucks (prints on your receipt when you buy special items)
-$3.00 Huggies coupon
-$3.?? coupon - free bottle of Ibuprofen (coupon from last visit)
$14.99 (net total with tax)
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We are used to Target brand diapers or whatever is the cheapest (nothing but the best for Sissy huh?). So 15 bucks for a BOX of 64 Huggies (and the bottle of ibuprofen) is a pretty good deal! Last week I did this and got 2 mega packs of Huggies and a bottle of apple juice for $16.69. One mega pack of Huggies is at least $10, so again, a pretty good deal and we're stocked up on diapers for a while!
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If you read on the website there are other ways to save $$ and even get stuff for free! Jeff went to Winn Dixie today with a $10 off $50 purchase coupon and several printable coupons he found on the internet, plus the sale items he got - without all that his bill would have been $98 and he paid $54.50!! Not too shabby (and sort of fun!).
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Someone else told me about www.moneysavingmom.com as well! Check them out!! It's almost silly not to!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Newest designs

Here are a couple of new AC designs! This simple fish was actually a custom applique we did for someone to go with some fabric she had. Originally we did it exclusively for her but then she decided we could sell it too! We have several new designs to do for this customer this week and are able to sell them, so we'll be listing them as we go!
I just sampled this "sports car" and will have it listed this afternoon when Jeff can send me the other sizes. The airplane has been a great seller so we wanted to try out a sports car too! Garrison is racking up on t-shirts for the fall! I like to sample with names to show people that adding a name or initials or something can add so much to a design, so he is reaping the benefits!!
I feel like we've been doing a lot of boy designs! I need to come up with some girly stuff for Mallory! We also have a cute turkey in the works so I'm excited about that! If only there were more time in the day and we didn't have to get up early to go to work and take kids to school...
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I'm LOVING school!! Getting up at 6:15 3 days a week is really not that bad and I've enjoyed spending that time w/ Browder in the mornings!! I basically wake the other 2 up at 7 and throw them in the car w/ a bag of cheerios. We're home well before 8 so I feel like I'm getting a lot done! Again... I am so thankful I only have to do it on MWF! That gives us Tues & Thurs for homework and I get to spend those days with all 3 kids (and sleep late)! Other than Browder telling his teacher on Monday that "we don't go to church much", everything is going great and he LOVES his school! Why in the world would he say that? I was mortified and laughing at the same time! We HAVE been at the lake and beach a few weekends lately so I guess to a 6 yr old that feels like not going to church much! BaHaHaHa!! :) There is no telling what those kids say at school!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

We made it!

Today was B's first real day of Kindergarten, meaning we had to be there by 7:40, meaning we had to be in the car pulling out of my driveway at 7:10, meaning I had to wake B up at 6:30 and make sure he got dressed and was fed, meaning I had to wake the other 2 up and throw them in the car in their PJs and a bag of Cherrios! We made it! We were even a little early!
Garrison was none too happy about being woken up! He is usually my early riser, but we spent yesterday traveling and at the lake so he was TIRED, and ILL! Mallory was fine for the car ride to school, but by 8:30 I had to put her down for a morning nap b/c she was so ill. We've all eaten lunch and will leave shortly to go pick B up! I'm glad we only have to do this on Mon, Wed & Fri!!
I got my machines back yesterday and am SO PLEASED!! My machine #2 is purring like a kitten! I haven't unwrapped the other one, but it only had a slight tension issue so I'm pretty sure it is fine! I can't say enough about Steve with Southeast Sewing (www.sewingmachine.com). They have a showroom in Atlanta and are opening up a store in West Point, GA which is a short drive from Montgomery! They plan to open in a few weeks hopefully so I plan to ride over when they do and check it out! I have Brother machines and found him on the Brother USA website under their list of authorized service centers. Not only did he meet me last week to get my machines (before the West Point store has even opened), and not only did he have them fixed in a few days, he met me & Jeff in Auburn yesterday between church and lunch to get them back to me!! We literally met in the Zaxby's parking lot! I don't know if you can get any better service than that!! And... I was seriously holding my breath about what kind of a bill I might get and it was totally reasonable and way less than I thought! What a relief to have my machines back and know where to go now to have them fixed!! I'll report more when the WP store opens, but in the meantime check out www.sewingmachine.com! They sell tons of embroidery supplies and before all this I hadn't even heard of this site!! I highly recommend them for machine repair too if you're in the area! I have their phone # and e-mail address too if you want further info, e-mail me and I'll pass it along!
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Newest design I finally got to sample today on a shirt for Garrison!! I used brown felt for the football and it turned out cute! I have 2 more to sample sometime today, so they will hopefully be on www.appliquecafe.com and Etsy later today! We're still listing stuff on Etsy but prefer purchases be made at the new website! THANKS!



Friday, August 14, 2009

First day of Kindergarten!!

Browder started school today! He and his friends were so excited and so stinkin cute!! Today he only went 9-12 but will start Monday 7:40-12:30 (Mon Wed Fri only). Should be interesting getting us all in the car by 7:10...
I called about my machines and I think they are ready ~ I'm supposed to call back tomorrow and either ride over tomorrow late afternoon or meet Sunday in Auburn to get them back! It has been a nice break not having them, but I'll be ready to get back to work next week. Plus, we have a couple of new designs and I'm unable to test them which is driving me CRAZY!! Anyway, have a great weekend!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A few items for sale...

I still have a couple of Stephen Joseph backpacks. I've also ordered 5 more for the end of August delivery and have sold one of those already, so these 2 below plus 4 more coming soon! Is that confusing enough? The price for these which includes a name or initials is $26, plus shipping if I have to mail it to you! I'm pretty sure you can buy these in stores for about $28, then pay $7 for a monogram so you're looking at $26 vs. at least $35!! What a deal, huh??

I may have mentioned before that I sampled this football design on a long sleeve size 5/6 t-shirt and will sell it for $15 if anyone is interested! We don't allow Alabama attire in our house so it's got to go! HA (just kidding).
We've done 2 more "football" designs already from a friend of a friend who is very talented and artistic (she did elephant #2), but since my machines are in another state, I can't sample or take pics or list them just yet! They are both really really cute, I promise, so keep checking for those on the website!
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Speaking of websites, Jeff has been bugging me (hi, Jeff) about putting a counter on it. A) I couldn't find one that "matched" our cute website and B) I couldn't figure out how to install it. I finally found instructions and tried to install it, and next thing I know there is no color on all of the pages after the home page. You can imagine my panic!! I'm not sure how, but I managed to fix it and unfortunately he's going to have to survive without seeing how many people look at the website! There is a stats page for that if we can decipher what it says!
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No word from my machines yet! It has been lonely without them! But... Browder starts Kind. Friday so we've been preoccupied with Open House and all that this week anyway. We're so excited about this school year! I have had so much fun looking at everyone's "back to school" pics on Facebook this week!
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One last thing... we heard about a cool website this week from a friend, and I have to say I'm intrigued and started reading up on it this morning! It's called www.southernsavers.com and it's all about coupons and shopping and SAVING $$! So far I've read about "CVS-ing" which is very interesting!! Check it out!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

NEW WEBSITE!!

Good news bad news... The good news is that WE THINK the new website is working so we've decided to get the name out there (www.appliquecafe.com)! The bad news is that we don't have instant download ready yet, but we hope to get it set up as soon as possible! I have the manual but need a japanese translator to read all of the techie language. I bought a design from myself to test the credit card payment method and we had a friend buy a design too to test the Paypal payment method. It all seemed to go flawlessly, and since Etsy is gorging us to death on fees, we decided to go ahead and get the word out! We will still keep our designs on Etsy since we're getting decent traffic there, but hope to see that die down and get more traffic on the website. I'm not exactly looking forward to managing sales from 2 sites! I have also gone over the site and every word 8 times with a fine tooth comb, but I'm sure I will see and catch things and make adjustments here & there where needed! We welcome any and all feedback and just hope to get cranking on more and more new designs every week!
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Thank you for any and every purchase!

Machineless in Montgomery

Well...I am back from my day trip over to Georgia! My friend Kristen and her son were gracious enough to ride over with me and the kids, so it was a fun quick trip! We got a Starbucks and hit the road and drove over to West Point which is not a bad drive, and is apparently RIGHT ON the AL/GA line! When we got there we couldn't find the store, seeing as though it isn't really a store just yet (they are set to open maybe the first of September). I called Steve on his cell phone and a few minutes later he appeared out of nowhere!! The whole transaction took place out of the back of my suburban! I didn't get to see inside the store, but he said they will carry a whole line of Brother machines and commercial equipment. They will also carry 4 brands of thread, stabilizers, etc (commercial bulk too). I had my camera but didn't take any pics unfortunately (I wasn't thinking like a blogger)! The best pic would have been my 2 machines (which he is taking to Atlanta) in the back seat of his truck and him seatbelting them in!! I signed a couple of papers and said bye-bye to Steve and my machines! For all I know they have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom! HA. Just kidding!! Anyway, I will hopefully get them back in a couple of days. When he calls I get to drive back over and pick them up. We stopped in Auburn and had lunch at Santa Fe Cattle Company. It is really good and where else can you find a $1.99 kids meal?
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I feel weird being here without any machines! I do have a regular sewing project I might tackle, or I may just do nothing for a couple of days!! I have a tacky black wire shelf as my "sewing shelf" and I had the bright idea the other day to try to sew a fancy fabric cover for it. At least I could HIDE everything? That's one thing about being in my dining room! I do have some beautiful new curtains hung, then you look at my table and you see computer, ironing board, scissors and all the embroidery junk! Oh well!
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I'm happy to take any embroidery orders over the next few days, but just know I won't be DOING any embroidery til I get my machines back! Stay tuned...

Monday, August 10, 2009

New Football Designs

Just listed these on Etsy! Of course the AU is optional ~ you could insert a letter, a name, initials, other school acronym... I also monogrammed a name underneath and it turned out cute!
Football patch shown PLAIN below (no XXX's). You could insert a letter, name, initials, etc.
Football patch shown with the X's and Roll Tide underneath!
These designs are actually very versatile - you can just use the patch, just use the megaphone, just use the football, etc. You get my drift!!
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AND... I did the Roll Tide shirt on a long sleeve white tee size 5/6. Seeing as tho we are War Eagle fans, that sample will be FOR SALE!! E-mail me if you're interested!!
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Headed to West Point in the morning and I found a couple of passengers to ride along with me and the kids! Will report when we get back! Open House tomorrow night for Browder's school! He starts REAL Kindergarten on FRIDAY!! (as opposed to K-5 which he did last year)

Road Trip

Here is a pic of Sissy I took today. Her first reaction was jumping because I caught her, then she struck a pose. I'm training her early on the computer!
As busy as I was last week, I'm now almost completely caught up with the exception of some things that were brought to me Sat. night. This is a good thing... as tomorrow I am heading out to WEST POINT, GA to take my machines in for a (hopefully) quick service. Machine #1 which was completely serviced earlier this year and I've barely used, the top tension is loose as a goose and I can't figure it out. I've taken the "lid" off and tightened a screw. Nothing! It's inoperable completely! My HOPE is that he will say "oh this is an easy fix", tighten a screw or two and send it back to Montomery with me. Machine #2 which I just bought in December but that has a million hours on it b/c I've used it as my primary machine, sounds like a freight train! I plan to leave it with him and he said he should have it fixed in a couple of days. It's actually sewing OK but has some serious issues (I have a list!). I'm taking them to a store in West Point that isn't even open yet. They are opening next week or so (from an Atlanta store) but the guy said he'd be there all day tomorrow and to bring it on. I'm guessing an hour:15/30 drive (with all 3 kids) but I HAVE to get these machines running and fast! My other option was taking it to one guy in town who I had to take it back to 5 times last time, or another guy in town who might keep it for a month. So ROAD TRIP here we go!
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With all that being said, depending on what happens I may be machine-less for a few days this week and will not be taking any more orders til I get them back. HOPEFULLY he can fix the one and send it home with me. I will update tomorrow!! Ideally I will get a call Thurs or so and road trip back over Fri. afternoon to pick up!
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Website news: my template was loaded today! YEAH!! I LOVE IT!! I even bought a design from myself and everything seems to work. But... we really want to offer instant download so we're not going public until we get that all worked out! Not sure how long that will take? I've been reading about it and it may as well be in chinese. Who knew a website could require such tech-sense??
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I have 2 new designs waiting to test and hope to have them listed maybe later tonight! I also have one to test for EB. Rachel & I have decided that I will only test her designs she needs in 5x7 and a friend of mine is going to start testing the rest of her designs! I know she will do great!! I will update tomorrow with machine news and our adventure over to Georgia!!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Another Halloween Design...

Just listed on Etsy is this Jack-o-lantern Pumpkin Face design! I sampled it on orange check fabric which is not part of the design ~ the design consists of the eyes, nose & mouth only! 3 step applique and very simple which is my favorite kind of design! Great idea for an orange t-shirt or maybe a trick-or-treat bag, orange gingham/check dress, jon jon, etc. Possibilities are endless...
This design was an idea someone e-mailed to me ~ keep them coming! Of course we can't do ALL of them but for the most part if it's a good idea and we can come up with the artwork and think it will sell, we will try to get it done! THANKS!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Loved these!!

I finally just finished some shirts for a friend for her girly niece, and I thought these 2 turned out cute! That is the best striped girl fabric EVER!! Both Faded Glory tees from Walmart.
I'm mentally exhausted and heading to bed!! I'm having tension issues with BOTH of my machines. One is working adequately while the other one is just a mess! I need both of them to run smoothly, like NOW, yesterday, etc., so I may try to take one down to SHS tomorrow and see if they can make a simple adjustment and fix the problem! If I have to leave it I might not see it for a month! Or there is a Brother fix it sewing place in Andalusia - road trip?? Unfortunately school is about to start for B so I'm not sure how I could squeeze that one in! Keeping my fingers crossed...
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Jeff did one more Halloween design - will test tomorrow. I'm daydreaming about a pedicure tomorrow or Saturday? 45 minutes of peace and relaxation?? Thanks to my SB gold card, I got coupons in the mail today for a free Vivanno and 2 at 50% off! Woo Hoo! The scary part is that my MAILMAN accidentally dropped the card on the ground and the coupons have tire tracks on them! Does he/she not know the importance of Starbucks mail??

Just listed!

Here is the spider I just listed on Etsy. It has been fun making up names to go with these samples!! I figure they can't all say Mallory or Browder and Garrison is a bit long! We are rockin and rollin here at the Gulledge house! I think I may be monogramming backpacks in my sleep tonight! A few minutes ago someone knocked on the front door and Browder yelled "Another backpack Mommy!!!!!!!".
I was just looking at this picture and imagining a girly curly name, and attaching a tiny bow (ribbon) to spidey's head!! I may have to do a bib or something for Sissy just to try that out! We have one more Halloween idea that someone sent us and MAYBE Jeff can work on it tonight! I also want to do something involving football - not exactly sure what yet!
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I've been loading these designs on the website as we list them on Etsy. Our goal is that when the website is ready we can offer instant download - we've got to do our research on that. E-mailing designs is a little time consuming. Props to everyone for including their format type when they buy a design!! But, the other confusing thing is that I'd say half the people that buy designs have one e-mail address for Etsy and then another one for Paypal! Not that I'm complaining but it has been a little crazy!! Anyway, my web template (the pretty background) is supposed to be loaded Monday. I'm sure it'll take us a day or two to make sure everything is working properly and might even hold off until we can get the instant download added on too! Stay tuned...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

New design on Etsy

We're (very quickly) trying to think FALL and BACK TO SCHOOL (which we may be late on the latter since ours starts next week)! Here is a crayon just put on Etsy. A friend sent this idea to me so we got out Browder's crayons and came up with this ~ you could merge or group 2 or 3 together. If 3, put initials in each crayon. Or for the 5x7 you might be able to fit a school name or acronym inside! Lots of options for this one!

This pic is kind of 2 ideas in 1. Initial inside the crayon, or tilt the crayon with the name (MWP kid block font used). Jeff is also working on a spider for Halloween and maybe I'll get to test it tomorrow.
Hopefully we can "catch up" with seasonal designs at some point. We're sort of starting this at the same time people are planning fall wardrobes!
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It has been a busy week! I put this on Facebook, but have to put it here too. Last night at dinner Garrison was sitting at the bar while Jeff & I sat at the table. He turned around to us and said "This is ris-tus-king!!!". I thought I was going to fall out on the floor! Jeff spent the night before painstakingly preparing chicken divan for our dinner and G calls it DISGUSTING!! It was too funny - I had him repeat that word 5 times so I could get the spelling right! KIDS!!



Tuesday, August 4, 2009

New design

Here is the pumpkin design we completed last night! It'll be on Etsy later tonight.



Today

I realized today that I have NO Halloween designs on my blog! A few months ago I had to delete seasonal b/c my blog wouldn't hold any more pictures! Now those pictures are burned on a CD somewhere so I'm going to try to load them all back on, since evidently, people are already planning for fall wardrobes! Jeff & I finished a pumpkin design last night also, so I am going to test it and get it on here and Etsy later this afternoon! I started loading the website yesterday and oh my, I didn't realize I needed a computer science degree to do it! My template will be uploaded on Monday and of course we'll have to test out the shopping cart and HOPEFULLY it will all be ready next week! We'll keep designs on Etsy as well until the website gets up and running smoothly!
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Yesterday was a 3 yr old nightmare kind of day!! It started out with G getting in my bed early in the morning which is normal for him. Except... he was working on a full pullup and somehow it leaked all over our bed! Nothing like having to strip the bed before you're even good and awake! THEN.... I had told him to go get dressed (in underwear at least) and later found him naked up in Sissy's bed having a chat with her! THEN... waffles for breakfast - big mistake! Next thing I know he is up to his elbows on BOTH ARMS in syrup! He's just lathering it on like lotion!! Then we went to B's school to help with some math workbooks and came back home for lunch. As I am busy making lunch for 3, Garrison comes in the kitchen with wet hair!? He then tells me he has stuck his FACE in the toilet!? Why you ask? I'm still asking that question!! This is when I came unglued!! So I had to throw him in the bathtub and hopefully no germs were ingested!! I think that was it for the day - is that enough?? All that on top of a HUGE painful painful painful ulcer on my cheek where I bit it last week! THANKFULLY my husband had a refill on a steroid pack at the drug store. It's a miracle drug for ulcers!! I went from almost wanting to cut a chunk out of my mouth yesterday to it almost being healed already today!! Much much better!
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The turtle backpack is sold! Mailed it today! I still have a train and tutu, and 5 more that I listed on the previous post coming probably at the end of August. Please e-mail me for details!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Is it August already??

The empty shelf I pictured a couple of Fridays ago is a distant memory... I don't even want to count the number of things I have to do after last week!! (Jeff just informed me he'd do a production schedule for me tomorrow) We did spend the weekend at the beach and got home a few hours ago, and I have had the machine going ever since! I love the towels and blankets and "set it and forget it" items that I can walk away from! Works great until the bobbin runs out and it doesn't beep to tell me! Lots of going-off-to-college stuff as well as t-shirts and some other things! Fun fun!!
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We hope to get a couple of new designs finished this week. I think we have 5 on our immediate TO-DO list, including a few for Halloween. We spent some time last week doing some custom work for a couple of people, meaning designs we won't be selling but rather exclusive designs for them to use in their own clothing lines, etc. I've been waiting for several days from an e-mail from our web host, only to figure out today it was in my account there under "e-mails". DUH! I was expecting one to my knology e-mail!! So I've sent it to my web template girl for her to upload my web design, then I'll start working on/learning how to upload the designs and set it all up. Hopefully we can have it going in a week or so since right now I don't have too many designs!
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We spent the weekend at Orange Beach and had a great time! Our last family beach trip til Thanksgiving most likely. I'm going back in late August on a girls trip (woo hoo). Anyway it was fun and the kids had a great time!
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I've had several e-mail inquiries on the backpacks but they are still available, and I've ordered 5 more (not sure when I'll have those). I don't have pics of them but I ordered: boy-sports, airplane & another train and girls-princess and turtle. E-mail me for further info!!
 
scallop

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