Man of 5teel

Today my little man is FIVE! I'm not going to dwell on it much because I might cry. So let's talk about his shirt!
This kid is way into superheroes and has been his whole life. With the exception of his first birthday I have made a superhero themed shirt for all of his previous birthdays: Two-perman, Boy Wond3r, The 4lash, and now let me introduce you to my little Man of 5teel!!

We went back to Superman. We brainstormed all year for a different superhero to create a five emblem out of, but just couldn't think of anything. The reality is he LOVES Superman, was getting a Superman Imaginext set for his birthday, Man of Steel came out this year (not that he's seen it...) and frankly, an S looks a lot like a 5! Ha!

I digitized this myself using the same style as his Batman Beyond shirt (and the Super Seven shirt I made for Sean). I tacked down knit with a triple bean stitch, and trimmed leaving a raw edge exposed. Gotta love a design with a 4 minute stitch time!!
I based the emblem after the most recent Man of Steel symbol, but drew it to look a bit more like a five.

I was pleased with the results, and he loves it, which is the most important part. :)  He's a super kid and I'm thrilled he's mine!

Gingerbread Kids!

My friend Marie bought a cute little skirt and headband at a local craft show and asked if I could make a shirt for her daughter (and big brother as well) to coordinate with the skirt. She was thinking gingerbread men and I knew immediately what to do!

I love these designs! I thought they were so adorable when I2S released them last year, but never made the time to use them. Excited to have a reason to this year! I was able to find the exact fabric from the skirt at HL, so it doesn't just coordinate, it's perfect! I used Gingerbread Girl for Emily. I made a quick thread change at the machine, as the white icing was stitching across her skirt I realized the green would show up better! Also made the dot in the bow green. I omitted the buttons and instead monogrammed the dress with the lowercase E from Intertwined Vine.

For Jonathan I used Gingerbread Santa Boy, and added his monogram on the scarf with Barnyard.

Heart Box for my girls

Simple design with awesome fabrics make for a nice quick Valentine's day shirt for my daughter... and her doll!

This is I2S's Heart Box. The file has been updated, so if you do custom embroidery and already own this design, go redownload it from your account online! (Slightly new heart shape, and now includes the 2.75" size for dolls.)

I love the colors of these heart prints. I used the large scale for Annaliese:

And the small scale for Anna:

Sweet and simple!

Winter Apron

I've already shared the fall apron I made for our beloved Ms Cherri -- a sock monkey with a pumpkin. For winter I wanted to do a sock monkey with a snowman. Even though I literally have over 100 applique sock monkeys from DBJJ, none of them are with a snowman. So I had to get my merge on again. I am quite proud of how this turned out!! It just might be my favorite merge job ever!

The sock monkey is from the Christmas Sock Monkeys Applique Set. I picked one that was wearing a scarf and stocking cap. Then I searched through all of DBJJ's designs that had a snowman, and settled on the snowman that was part of a Sunbonnet Sam design. Because of course I couldn't just use a snowman that was it's own design, but found a cute one I had to pluck away from another design. ;) That's easier said than done. I had to strategically place him so the monkey's scarf covered the missing stitches that were covered by Sam's hand. And then I removed the monkey's left hand that would be behind the snowman. And rearranged the stitch order on some of it. And did some creative trimming in the hoop! It turned out great!!! But I'd never want anyone to view my cobbled together design in software. ;)

I hope by picking pink and lime instead of red and green this will work beyond Christmas and into January. Because you know we get so much snow here in Florida! Ha!

Cayden is 5!

As we approached Cayden's 4th birthday, he was into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I couldn't find any good "inspired" designs to buy so I created my own, remember that? (you can see it here) Well when I posted a pic of it in an applique group, Lyndsie of Lynnie Pinnie asked if she could digitize a set of Ninja numbers based on my idea, remember that? (I blogged about it here, and again here).
Well the boy that inspired it all is now FIVE and still likes TMNT! :)

This year instead of cobbling together my own ninja 5, I used the one in LP's set. I added his name with 8CP's Chinese Take Away.

Maclain is two!

My little friend Maclain turned 2 and had her party a Chic-fil-A, so as any good chicken-eating girl would do, she wore a cow themed outfit! :) Her mommy made her adorable ruffle pants out of cow print fabric, and I supplied the shirt:

This sweet design is from DBJJ's Cupcake Critters set. Using a pale gray to outline the cow really helped make a white cow on a white shirt visible. :) I added her name with I2S's Jack and Jill.

And here's the birthday girl herself. Don't you just love the scrunchy-faced grins of new two year olds?!

Super Seven!

It's birthday time for Sean again! This year he had a Superman themed party, and his mommy gave me freedom to play with design ideas. This is something I did completely all on my own! (Pats self on back)

I do own a set of applique designs that is the alphabet done in the Superman shield style, but it doesn't include numbers. I wasn't finding anything good from trusted sources online, so I made my own! I drew the seven in the shield myself in Embird Studio and created this bean stitch design. I used knits so it wouldn't fray. This style is a nice way to do applique for boys that are getting older.

Oh, I guess I didn't do it COMPLETELY by myself, I did use 8CP's Gadzooks to add his name. Love that font! Perfect for superhero stuff.
Isn't he adorable?! Happy Birthday, Sean!

Gobble Gobble!

Here are a few more turkey shirts I made this year.
I thought this turkey was so cute when I bought it from Applique Cafe TWO years ago. Last fall I bought the same chevron she used in her sample image with every intention of using the design... but didn't. So when Rachel asked me to make a shirt for her daughter, I jumped at the opportunity to finally use this design/fabric combo. Yes, I know there are hundreds of listings on Etsy just like it.... and I don't care :) That's because this fabric is *perfect* for this design!

I did however do a something a bit more unique with the name. :) I don't often use multiple colors within the same name, but I really wanted to tie in all the different colors in the chevron. I used I2S's As the Deer font and thought it turned out cute!

For one of my niece's I used LP's Girly Turkey. The jewelry and shoes on this thing are so funny!

For my other niece and nephew I used I2S's Turkey for Monogram applique.

I stitched Z's first using the 4x4 size. I decided to go with single initials and used Cutsie Joe.

My intention was to use the 5x7 size for G's, but it was just too big on this little 18 month tee. So I nicely asked my boss :) if she could create an intermediate size and I'd test it for her. It turned out perfect, and you fellow embroiderers can benefit from my suggestion -- if you have bought this design go download again to get the additional size!

 

And lastly, a little turkey face onesie. I plucked the face off of the 5x7 size of I2S's Turkey LOVE design and put it on this khaki colored onesie that has been sitting in my stash for years :)

Eat Ham!

A while back my friend Laura asked if I could make her boys matching turkey shirts. I updated my Pinterest Turkey board and sent here there to pick a design from all the cute ones I own. She picked I2S's Eat Ham design.  Now that I work for I2S I know some insider info... Cristy is gradually going back and updating older designs. So before starting I asked if this was on the list to be updated because I could kill two birds with one stone by testing and completing Laura's order. The good news--he was on the list and he got a total makeover! Aren't these cute?!

The new design comes in 4 sizes. I requested a smaller 5x7 size. When a design fills the whole height of a 5x7 hoop it's sometimes too big for a toddler shirt (well, in my opinion; I'm not a "go big or go home!" kind of girl). Squarish designs are fine, they go up in increments of 1". But there's a huge difference between a 4" tall and a 7" tall design! So be on the look out for more 5.5" sized designs :) This allowed me to add his name without having to resize myself or rehoop. Yay!

This is the 4x4 size (has a filled collar). I added their name with Behind These Hazel Eyes.