ME 1 Applique 0

Oh, I can't even begin to explain how much Applique has haunted me...  FOREVER!  I have tried it free hand - fail, I have tried it by machine before - fail... but lately something was telling me to REALLY try...

So today was that day.  I sat down, read and researched to my hearts content and went to work...

Here is the process, in a shortened version... or a battle card of my VICTORY :o)

Fabric and garmet prep...

 time to 'Hoop it Up'

 Nice 'hooping' skills if I don't say so myself ;O)

 Trim... Trim... Trim

 More Trim... Trim... Trim... 

Isn't it looking CUTE!!!

 Oh I am so EXCITED... I see victory's finish line ... it's so close

 And back on the machine to bind the rest, or in otherwords... let's make it look pretty and 'organized... and make the hearts happy :o)

Almost done.... 

 Personalization is a HUGE touch and the most important!!  We spend a lot of countless hours picking out those names... we need those MoNkEyS to flaunt them :)

 And it is DONE... VICTORY is MINE!!!

Hope you  enjoyed this battle cry and eposide of mine!  This was a battle that was long overdue, that I have been putting off for sometime...  I am just glad that it ended with smiles and pretty things instead of tears and ugly pieces :o)

The applique initial onesie is a new addition to my lil shop, and I don't think we will stop there, so keep your eyes open for what's in store in the new world of Applique...  Oh and I do have girl fabrics in stock... if you are interested convo me here is the Listing

Until tomorrow, squeeze your MoNkEyS tight!
Christina

service for 300 million plus

Well... I did it... I was working a few days ago and my machine is 'speaking' to me... it is

TIRED

In the midst of completing all these beautiful orders this beautiful 'sign' showed up...

Yep, that beautiful 'blinking' tool set at the bottom, according to the ole manual means it is time for Berni to be serviced.  It also means that since October, Berni and I have been together stitching just a mere 3 million plus stitches...  That's right -- 3 MILLION :o) Wow!  That is a lot in just a few short months!  Y'all have definitely kept me busy, no complaints though - I LOVE IT!

Well with that being the case, I had to call Berni's doctor and make the appointment :o)  Service is schedule for February 9th, and I will be out of stitches for a week to 10 days....  dun dun dun....

Did you do the calculation yet?!?!  Yep that's right, Valentine's orders have to be in PRIOR to that day, and also in time for me to process them.  I have not set an actual date yet, so please, Stay tuned or CLICK HERE.

In the meantime, I have parted from working and gone into organizing for a bit... let me say I can breath again :o)  Not pretty, that will come one day, with paint and such, but for now, organized :o)  It sure does make my heart happy ...

yes... I know you might be thinking... WOW, stock looks LOW... well, it is :o)  I am waiting on Mr. UPS to show up hopefully tonight or tomorrow with a few boxes of goodies for me!

Well, my heart is happy and all is organized, now it is time to get back to work and get some other things accomplished before the MoNkEyS wake from their slumber...

Until next time, Squeeze your MoNkEyS tight!

Christina

sweet gift

Yesterday, as I was running errands I was meet with the demand from the back seat "Mommie, I need to go pee pee...".  As all you Mom's know, this is a very critical point, especially with a 2 yr old, ok ok he is almost 3 ;).  But the main problem was my other MoNkEy was sound asleep... Oh what to do??? 

That, my dear watson, is when I consider myself lucky! My family owns a local business in town 'Rhino of Rockwall', please feel free to check it out, Rhino of Rockwall  and well being in the downtown area at the post office, I wasn't far from the shop... so we dashed away...

WE MADE IT!!!

Once there and 'relieved' we were greeted with a MOST WONDERFUL package.  The MoNkEyS Nonny is the most wonderful cook and an even more fabulous baker.  We have been harping on her for years to open her own bake shop... And well late one night when I was search Etsy, I found out that there are BAKERS on Etsy!!  Now, here is her chance at her shop!  She right now is doing the 'Pay it forward 2011' and even though I was not on her list, the MoNkEyS and I got a beautiful box...

 These sugar cookies are AMAZING and the icing is just YUMMMY!! There is only one problem...  Yes they may be beautiful....

 But not too beautiful to eat :o)  And eat, and eat, and eat, and eat .... HA!!!

 The only sad news was... very soon, way too soon, our box was EMPTY :(  

Luckily, I know where the baker lives.

I will keep you posted on when her shop is up and running, because trust me, these are a MUST try!

Enjoy,

Christina

love a good mess

To me, there is no greater joy in what I do, than to see pictures of my work 'in action'.  I absolutely love when customers covno (Etsy email) or email me to let me know that the onesie, tshirt, blanket or bag was a huge hit/ success.  There is no great compliment.  And well, pictures, they just top it off.  Pictures always make my day, and late last night I got 2 that had me grinning from ear to ear...

Look at how adorable:

Happy 1st Birthday Ava!

There is nothing that is more sweet, to me, than the 'messy' 1st birthday cake picture!  I LOVE THEM!!!  and she did a FABULOUS job making a beautiful mess.

It was so funny, though, in the message that I got from Mom, my very wonderful customer;  She was not only overjoyed at how the shirt came out, but I think even more so that she was able to get all that cake and icing out of the onesie after the party - KUDOS, Mom! 

And how cute is this one too!!  Doesn't she look absoultely precious in her Birthday outfit and that too cute anywhere chair!! 

It seems as though Princess Ava had a very wonderful and memorable, especially for Mom and Dad, first Birthday!  Thank you so much, for allowing me to play part in such a special day!

Hope you all enjoyed these wonderful pictures as much as I did!  Thanks, to Ava's Mommie for sharing!  Happy 1st Birthday Ava!

For those that are curious, here is the shirt that was used:

Birthday Girl Onesie

and it also comes in tee's for the older girls...

Birthday Girl Tee

Until Next time, Squeeze your MoNkEyS,
Christina

texas proud

Well... HOWDY y'all!!  I know I am a day late in this post, but it took me a little bit to go through last weeks orders.  And well, It has been a little busy around here... but I am not complaining in the least!

And as there was not a particular winner in boy or girl apparel, nor holiday or regular wear... there was one thing that stood out... well over 1/2 of this weeks shipment was right here in my own back yard!  Thanks, Texas for making me feel loved this week!!  It has been amazing to not only see all the orders that are coming from Texas, but the amount that I am now getting 'locally' :o)   So cool!!

A really neat one done, was festive and girlie:

Can you guess...  I am sure you guessed the festive part... but can you guess how the girlie was brought in?

CUTE!!!

And the picture, really doesn't do it justice.  The pink scripted name really 'popped' against the green shamrocks!

CLICK HERE for Shamrock Oneise/Tee

Well, Another day come and gone, and work still left to accomplish, but off to bed I must go... so one last time a BIG...

Photo By: Rachel Hokanson



Until Tomorrow, Squeeze your MoNkEyS!

Christina

**PS**  A Big THANKS Y'ALL to ALL my customers Texas and Beyond!  You are all equally FABULOUS!!!

celebration

There is nothing better than enjoying the weekend, and this weekend was fabulous!!!  I got to spend the entire weekend with my MoNkEyS and it was so great.  From snuggle and lazy time to soccer to beautiful little C's first birthday party!

First  birthdays are the best, and this one was great!!! Our awesome friends little lady bug C, is one and her party was today.  C's birthday was done in lady bugs;  the black, white and red was AWESOME!!!  Mom did a fabulous job - Kudo's!!!  Here is a sneek:

Cupcake Toppers can be found here: The Paper Kingdom

Absolutely precious, right?  Totally!!!  The entire party was done to the nines in this decor, and even C's attire, tutu and all!!!  But none the less... the mess was only a song away, and oh what a fabulous MESS it was.

With this theme in mind, I worked on my own lovely 'lady bug' set....  Here is what I came up with-->

Cute...  Keep Looking... There's MORE -->

 I really enjoyed designing this set, and I hope you enjoy it to.  The shirt and the bag I am going to sell seperately and together as a party package.  Stay tuned to my Etsy Shop and Facebook for when the listing is available.

Three MoNkEyS Unique Facebook

Three MoNkEyS unique Etsy Shop

Another fabulous week and another fabulous weekend...

Until tomorrow, squeeze your MoNkEyS tight-
Christina

treading thick

Today seems like the day I can't get caught up... but all in due time, I know I will.  However, for my OCD tendencies, it is reeking havoc.  I spent the better part of the afternoon prepping all items for work and servicing my 'Berni', which no matter how much I LOVE what I do, I HATE to iron, which is a huge part of prep.  So needless to say the afternoon was never ending...  But prep work for this weeks orders are complete and I am rocking and rolling now; oh wait... except for the orders that are coming in now (wink).

I have done some super cute numbers today but my favorite has got to be for a group of girls, They are all the same order and all together I think they look fabulous!!

         

Aren't they SO CUTE!

Find them here!!

These are adorable and yet so many more yet to do; so I must get back to work. The week is almost over and I can't wait and see what was the majority for the week...

And I haven't forgot... A new item is coming soon... stay tuned...

Until tomorrow, Hug your MoNkEyS tight!
Christina

400+

I was tootling around today, in otherwords, procrastinating... jumped onto my public Etsy view site and saw something that shocks my britches!!!!

OVER 400 sales...

and then to top it off....

OVER 200 - 100% postive feedback!!!!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!  I am so flabergasted at the success of my lil ole 'sweatshop' ;O)  Or as my hubs calls it, my nightly affair with a very fine Swiss named 'Berni'.  And no, he doesn't mean any funny business... he is talking about my lovely Bernina :o)

There are so many nights that I am up late working on orders, but I wouldn't trade it!  I love my life and LOVE what I am doing... so for that...

I tip my hat to ALL of you wonderful customers and friends and family members of mine that have made this possible

Thank you

It has been an incredible week, a busy week, and I can't wait to get my wholesale shipment in today.  Well, most likely tonight, see my house seems to be the LAST stop on the UPS/ FEDEX delivery route... They usually show up around 7 or 8pm - BOOO!!  But... there is something NEW, that I am going to test out to see if it is worth offering... so say tuned...

Until then, Hugged your MoNkEyS!
Christina

*Card picture is courtsey of a very fun and fabulous shop off Etsy, please go check it out: Burley Girl Designs

Only one ME

Today, we are still feeling the brunt of the snow days we had.  The high was a fabulous delightfully freezing 32 degrees, so the boys and I stayed inside.  To kill the time, I morphed from Mom to Jungle Gym... yes... today I found out I am a new transformer aka MomGym :o)  We watch a movie and classic shows on my laptop.

Those classic shows are what inspired todays item and blog, plus a little bit/ lot of emotion.  The show was Sesame Street.  Nothing special, it was cute, all on youtube... MoNkEy one was clicking away from episode to episode until one in particular caght my attention... 
Here it is:
Sesame Street Episode - ME

Cute right... I thought so too... so cute that, oh yes, I started to tear :o)

As I was sitting there listening to that sweet little song, I was also watching my two little MoNkEyS have the best time doing, really, nothing but play with each other.  They were giggling and being loud, the eldest was running and jumping and making a MeSs and the youngest, trying to crawl, crying and getting frustrated until he found something 'new' that caught his attention - And it dawned on me... WOW!

How much as a Mom we go through to get our precious MoNkEyS here.  We all have our own journeys, some more complicated than others but all a JOURNEY, none EVER to be discredited.  Mine was not easy to say the least.  I am very blessed to be where I am today, sitting here with both of my boys, healthy and happy; yet very sad to know that I had to lose 3 beautiful heartbeats, three angel babies durning my journey as a Mom.  There is no greater hurt than the hurt of not being able to help your child or to fix a boo boo or just to kiss it and make it better ... and the last couple of years have been extremely difficult for me as a Mom to cope with the lose of those babies and the pain that I have endured. I don't think I will ever fully recover, I know I will never forget, they were my babies from the moment of the + sign, and won my heart with first sounds of their hearts beating, but for some reason, unbeknown to me, they were not meant to be here on earth, but will be in my heart forever.

Then the journey became even more interesting, pregnant with my youngest MoNkEy, we had a scare... and with our previous history, nothing was taken lightly... so I was on hospitalized bed rest from 24 1/2 weeks on... oh yes, you heard that right... HOSPITALIZED :o)  It was quite an experience, but a good one... It was actually a BIG blessing, I was reassured daily that my baby was okay!!! And my Hubs did awesome as 'single dad'/ caretaker/ takeover everythinger!

My journey is not over, in fact, it is just begining and I can't wait to see what lies ahead of me for the future.  I am starting to recovery and RECLAIM myself, I have LOST a lot over the course of this journey so far, including some very dear friends, whom I miss tremedously, and I have made some serious mistakes out of hurt and anger, yet I have also gained WONDERFUL friends and some of those mistakes have turned into blessings ...

But for those that have been wondering, through this pain and journey is where this love of designing and crafting and Three Monkey's Unique was born!

FYI- kuddo's to the hubs for the purchase of the embroidery machine... I really think, in the begining he thought it was going to be a dust collector, but at the time all he wanted to do was to make me smile - I <3 him!

And with all that here is the onesie that was inspired by this, it is very dear to my heart.  Hope you love it as much as I do.

Only One Me Onesie

Until Tomorrow, Squeeze your MoNkEyS tight!
Christina

~~Birthdays~~

What a day!  Good, bad and ugly... but no need to get into the details... I will save that for a day that I am just scratching my noggin for what to 'blog' about  :o)

Well, waiting on a shipment of inventory to come in today, and no orders to fill, or ones that I can't fill without my shipment, so we played around with a new design.

I just love birthdays.  They have always been AWESOME days but now that I have babies of my own, the word 'birthday' has taken on an entirely different emotional connection to it.  I obsess with the details of my boys birthdays, even when I say that I won't :o)   Everything has to be 'perfect' and wonderful and of course some what 'over the top' :o) or at least done 'Texas Style' ... 

Some of my fondest memories of childhood (and early adulthood) were birthday's... and I didn't just celebrate the day.  I used to claim the entire month of April to my 'birthmonth' and sing to myself everyday.  Yes this went on well into college, even on my parents voicemails.... "Happy 20 days til my birthday.... " ..."Happy 5 days til my birthday.... ".... Now I do this with my boys!!!

And this month is my oldest MoNkEyS 'BirthMonth' ...  A BIG HAPPY 19 days til your birthday, Gavin!!!  Mommie loves you!!!

Also, today being 01.11.11, my youngest MoNkEy turned 7 months old... so the planning starts... YEAH!!!  Time to start making him outfits to wear durning the blessed month of June :o) 

With that being my goal, I had these adorable cupcakes that I have been 'itchy' to use... what do you think:

I love it, but of course, I created it :o) and it also has my handsome MoNkEyS name on it :0)

Of course, if you love the design, you can personalize it, with any color combination; pink candle, purple icing, and pink container... done :o); want it to say "It's my 1st Birthday"... done :o)  You can dream it up and I am sure we can figure something out.

Here is the wonderful listing if interested:
Birthday Cupcake Onesie

Well folks... It has been, yet another day, and it is time for it to come to a close.

Until tomorrow, Kiss your MoNkEyS and hold them tight, they are oh sooo precious
Christina

Snow Day!!!!!

Okay... to some this might sound crazy, but to us here in Texas... SNOW is AWESOME!!!  We don't get it often, once a year if we are lucky, and when we do it is a BIG thing!!

And yep, you guessed it - today we have SNOW!!  It is sooo pretty and white!  As soon as it started raining (after the sleet) my Gavin Monkey ran to the window and said "Oh MOM... ITS SNOWING... SNOW SNOW SNOW... Its my FAVORITE!!!" ... man I love that boy!

So Daddy ran to the store, and I bundled the kiddos and we played in the SNOW!!!  Here is a picture from our FUN!!!

Then once our fun was over, it was time to start craft again... and well, even though I wanted to continue with yet another wonderful Valentines Day design I opted for the start of St. Patrick's Day. It was a 'booger' to do with all those beautiful little shamrocks, yet totally worth it in the end, I think! I don't know how many different designs to offer yet, or if this design is going to be a winner... I love it, but I am not everyone :o)  Tell me what you think and what YOU would like to see.... Maybe this should be the holiday I try my hand and machine at applique?!?!?!  What do you think???

St. Patrick's Day Onesie

Off to complete a few more orders and keep brainstroming on new exciting things... so...

Until tomorrow... Enjoy your 'MoNkEyS'!!!!
Christina

Tip my hats to the boys...

This week was definitely a BOYS week!!  WOW!  I think almost every shirt I did was an order for a handsome prince somewhere :o)  How FUN!!!

It appears that I have a "knack" for the boy things... hmmm???  Could this be because of my 2 monkeys?!?!?!  Ha!  I hope!  I give them full credit for my motivation and most of my inspiration, the other inspiration comes from my customers. It never ceases to amaze me the wonderful ideas that I am meet with almost daily, definitley weekly; whether it be different color combinations, that I hadn't thought of, or a completely new design all together... It's just AWESOME!!!

Boy Onesie

And those are just to 'show' a few!!!  I just love them all!!!  I wish I could share all the wonderful color combinations that I get to see and ship out, they are all awesome.

On another note, decided tonight to start working on St. Patrick's Day. I know it is a little early, but if I don't move on to another holiday I am going to become Valentine obsessed :o)

I am doing a St. Patrick's Day onesie right now and it is super cute for either boy or girl.  Of course, it will be previewed for a boy.... because I am doing it for my Greyson :o)   It is a rather elaborate design and time consuming, so it will be listed at a higher price, but not to high, I promise...  Stay tuned...

Until tomorrow,  Enjoy your 'MoNkEyS'
Christina

Day 2

Okay... I promise I started this blog post, truely on day 2... yet looking at the clock now, it has taken a few on and off hours to complete and well, it's now Friday.


Here we go, Day 2... I am on a roll :o)

Today, was like any other day, BUSY!  But such is the wonderful life of a full time SAHM and part time business/ Etsy shop owner - LOVE IT!!

I was hoping to get so much more accomplished today, during nap time, however my lil monkey, Greyson, had other plans.  Guess he thought he was due for some one on one time, so here I am; It's 11pm and I am working to the sound of my baby Bernina humming away.  4 items down and all preped... 22 items left to do?!?!?  Fingers crossed on accomplishing it all tonight!

Been working hard to come up with a variety of girl AND boy items for Valentines, and so far I am super excited about what is offered; here is one girl and one boy option that I just LOVE...

Girl: Sweetheart


Boy: Wild Heart


Hope y'all enjoy them as much as I am enjoying creating them!!!

I would LOVE feedback, here, email, facebook, Etsy Convo... Let me know what you think and if you want to see something special...

Until tomorrow,  Enjoy your 'Monkeys'
Christina

Welcome 2011

Welcome 2011!!! 

May you be as wonderful and as prosperous as 2010.

Thank you to each and every one of you for your continued support throughout the peaks and valleys of 2010.  It was a very interesting and rewarding year!!  Even though, I was on temporary leave from Three Monkey's Unique, while I was on my 4 month hospital 'vacation', I was meet with great Welcome when I came back into the crafting world and for that I THANK YOU!!!

It was so rewarding after Welcoming my second handsome son, Greyson, into this world to be able to come back to crafting and have this as my retreat.  My boys are my passion, and I am blessed to be able to stay home with them, and each and everyone of you help make that possible by supporting me through my Etsy shop.

Starting August, I really started to market my embroidery work heavily on Etsy, and y'all have responded with smiles and applause!  I love to hear all the wonderful comments and love to get all the great messages and pictures from y'all about how happy you are with the items you have recieved from Three Monkey's Unique.

My hope for 2011, is to continue on this wonderful road of success and to continue to thrive and create beautiful pieces for each and every one of your precious babies and kiddos!  I am looking at venturing into a few new products, and new designs... so stay tuned!

2011 is going to be FABULOUS!!!

Thank you, Y'all are AWESOME!
Christina

PS.  make sure to also follow TMU on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/threemonkeysunique