Some Recent Custom Embroidery

Hey, my Etsy Shop has been open for a little over 2 months now!  Overall I'm happy with how it's been going.  I've had a handful of sales, and I think I have a really great product - my ruffled Christmas tree skirts! - for this holiday season, which I hope to sell a lot of this month.  :)

And then on the other side of my shop, is the hand embroidery.  I started out just embroidering whatever I thought was pretty, and then narrowed it down to Scripture verses.  I am very open to custom orders in this category, and am starting to get some interest!

Listen to THIS crazy story!

Two days after I opened my shop - TWO DAYS AFTER - I got an email.  From Danielle Burkleo.  She blogs at a blog called Take Heart.  In her email, she said that she liked my shop, and asked if I'd be willing to make a custom embroidery piece for a fundraiser she was hosting for the organization LOVE 146.  LOVE 146's mission is to abolish child trafficking & exploitation.  How could I not get behind that?  She gave me a few general guidelines - basically, she wanted the 4 phrases that LOVE 146 embraces...

I finished the piece and sent the picture to my sister.  She thought the safety pin was weird.  I showed it to my husband.  He thought the safety pin was weird.  You, looking at this now!  You probably think the safety pin is weird.  Go read the story of how LOVE 146 got its name.  Heartbreaking.  It makes sense now, right?

So, I'm just really honored to have been asked to contribute something to this cause.  

Here is another custom piece I created, a few weeks ago:

It was fun to work on.  Love those colors! "Thessalonians" was kind of a pain to spell out, but what can you do.  ;)


Linking to:
Tatertots & Jello
Six Sisters' Stuff
It's Overflowing
DIY Showoff
Twigg Studios

I have lived and I have learned.

Ugggghhhhh.  I really hate "live and learn" moments. 

Here we go: and any of you more experienced Etsy sellers out there, feel free to give me a little advice!

So in my Etsy shop, among other things, I feature embroidery hoop art.  Mostly Scripture verses and things like that.  I design the layout myself, because as I found out early on, finding embroidery designs WITH permission to sell the finished product, is like finding a needle in a haystack!  Here's one of mine:

 
And another...

And in every one of these listings, I let people know that if they want a custom piece made, they can do that, too.  They can pick their own verse/color scheme/etc.  I've done one custom piece so far (pics to come!) and it was, you know, a nice transaction and all. 

So I got an Etsy message about a week ago from a perfectly legit-sounding person, wanting a custom piece.  We went back and forth about what verse she wanted, and she asked if she could see a sketch before she ordered.  I thought that sounded fair, so I worked up a design, watermarked it, and emailed it to her. 

Have not heard from her since.  

Ugh.  Did I fall for something?  What just happened???

The thing is, if it were me, I would also want to see a preview before I ordered.  So her request didn't send up any red flags. 

So...um...I don't know what to make of this. 

Opinions?  Speculations?  Advice?

New Blog, New Focus

Hi everyone!  Don't be confused!  :)  This past weekend I changed my blog from Pleased as Punch to

I'm really happy with the name change and new(ish) look; I think it's definitely what I needed.  I needed a fresh outlook on what I'm doing here!  If you've been with me for a while, you remember that I took an indefinite blogging hiatus right after Christmas last year.  Well when I came back in May, I knew I wanted to continue blogging, but it wasn't really the same.  I kind of had to find my "groove" all over again. 

One of the things I've learned is that I don't want to get caught up in all the things that aren't really "me" again.  I found myself doing projects for the sake of some link party...and that just totally sapped all my creativity and enjoyment out of crafting!  I eventually found myself totally "on empty" in the inspiration department.  What a bummer.  I remember when I couldn't find time to do all the things I was inspired to do.  I am slowly getting back to having that good flow of creativity, and I think the key is knowing what I truly LOVE to do & what feeds my creative spirit.  (I know that sounds kind of funny, coming from me...I'm not much of a "feed my creative spirit, kum-ba-ya" type of person...but that's the best way to put it I think!  Don't make fun!)  :)

So what is that, you ask?  I really pondered this, but it did not take long.  Sewing, hand embroidering, knitting & crocheting.  This is what I find most relaxing and enjoyable.  Picking up some knitting is sort of like biting into some really good dark chocolate for me.  It just feels so good.  Putting a needle & thread through some fabric and seeing those lines form...I just love it.  It seems that anything involving stitching is what I tend to gravitate toward....hence my new blog name.  :)

If you've been subscribing via email to my posts, I think you may want to make sure you update your subscription (on the right) by re-subscribing to this feed...and if you've been reading this in a reader, you may want to change it over to this new blog address...clearly I know & understand very little about "feeds"...ugh, all this tech stuff.  Bottom line: if you're reading this, and you're like, "Hey!  Why wasn't this in my reader/email?"  then you should re-subscribe by using the buttons or email form on the right. Sorry to not streamline it for you.  It was all I could do to get the buttons THERE.  ;)


So...that's that!  Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad to have you here!

Needle Book

So, speaking of embroidery, I'm getting ready to start my ill-fated map of the United States tonight.  I can't wait!  I love maps, atlases, globes...all of it.  I can name every state capitol, too, and I'm darn proud of it.  ;)

When I finished up my recent project (the orange/red/yellow flower embellishment thingy from my last post), I needed a place to put my needle.  The pincushion is out of the question, because LITTLE FINGERS in my house like to push needles way down into the pincushion, never to be found again.  I often go into my sewing room to find all the pins in my pincushion arranged in some clever way, or in a pattern, or ALL pushed down...who needs Toys R Us?  I think I'll just get the kids a pack of pins this Christmas. 

So I made this little needle book out of felt and covered it with some scrap fabric - which was actually a cloth napkin from the Dollar Tree - isn't it cute?

I have to admit, I lifted this idea 100% from this post on Betz White's blog.  It's kind of similar to an exact replica of her needle books.  I love everything she does.  Just want to give credit where credit is due.  ;)

This would be a perfect little gift for all of my friends who do needlework!  Except that I don't have any that I know of.  Boo-hoo!

I can't help it.  I love to link.
http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/
http://www.alittletipsy.com/
http://www.sweetlittlegals.com/
http://mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/
http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/
http://wearethatfamily.com/
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/
http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/
http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/

Misadventures in Embroidery

I like to refer to cross-stitch as my "gateway" craft.  It's what started it all for me.  It was the summer of 1996 - the only reason I remember this, is because the Summer Olympics were on TV.  I had just broken up with some loser boyfriend, and was all upset about it.  I needed something to distract myself.  So I went to Joann's, wandered around, and bought a bunch of stuff from the cross-stitch aisle.  I thought I'd make a wedding gift for my friend.  I ended up cross-stitching a Precious Moments bride & groom.  :) I was SO PROUD of that thing!  And more importantly, I was totally hooked.  I cross-stitched a LOT after that.  Always working on a project.  I think when the kids came along, that's when the needlework went away.  (Need I explain?)  I found other things to kind of be creative with - sewing being the biggest one - and when I learned to knit, it felt SO RIGHT to me.  I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but I realized it was something for my hands to do. Since developing carpal tunnel is on my bucket list, this is just perfect.  Just kidding.

Anyway, so fast forward a couple more years (like, now), and I started reading Allison's blog (she's going to think I'm a stalker because I mention her on here so much - I'm not!  I promise!!!), and looking at needlework on Pinterest (wanna see my "needlework" board?), and realizing that it's not all just Precious Moments and fruit baskets and horse heads anymore.  There is a lot of really cool, modern designs out there.  And I figured, hey, my kids are old enough now, they know not to try to eat the needles...maybe I'll try this again! 

So I thought I'd try embroidery - I didn't feel like messing with a cross stitch pattern just now.  Here are some things I've been doing over the last few weeks.

Here's the first thing I embroidered.  It's OK, you won't hurt my feelings.  I know it sucks.  Well, those blue lazy daisies in the middle are good.  But the rest?  Not good, ha ha!  But I wasn't expecting it to be great; just wanted to try something out.  Apparently I was on a learning curve with the "stem stitch." 

After playing around a bit on some scrap fabric, I moved on to this.  Better, right?  :)

Check out the French Knottage...not too shabby!

The curved orange line is done in stem stitch - can you tell a difference from my teapot?  Ha ha!

So at this point I've got all kinds of confidence.  And I think, I've got this.  So I ordered an iron-on transfer pattern from Etsy.  And I realize that my sense of confidence may be a little...well, inflated.

I learned a new stitch or two.  That's in my brain now.  Which means something had to go, to make room for this new knowledge.  The fact that PLASTIC MELTS WHEN UNDER A HOT IRON was, as I found out, the bit of info that drew the short straw and got tossed overboard.

Why yes, that unsightly blob IS permanently melted-on USPS packing tape.  Why do you ask?  

I couldn't find the masking tape, OK?  Oh, also, I didn't think to cut out the seller's logo from the pattern  before ironing it onto the fabric.

Can you even imagine my IRE at this point?  No, you can't.

 Oh, and?  I'm not very good at ironing patterns onto things.  Observe:

Ugh!

Double ugh!

 "Luckily," the pattern instructions said that you may be able to get another use out of it, if you apply heat for a little longer.  So I try that.  It didn't work.  :(  Well, I paid money for this thing, and I'm not paying for it again to get a new one.  So my job now is to deal with the mistakes and make it work!  I have some ideas...but I'm open to ideas, too. 

Linking up:
http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/
http://makingtheworldcuter.com/
http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/