NEW #860 Tri-Color Applique Fleur de Lis Machine Embroidery Designs

I just finished a really cute and versatile Tri-Color Fleur de Lis set. It will be perfect for your Mardi Gras projects! I'm sure that the girls in Louisiana will think of lots of things to put these on :)

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#860 Tri-Color Applique Fleur de Lis Machine Embroidery Designs

AKD Exclusive

This set contains 6 designs [in 4 colors]: ~ 3 Small Applique Ornaments - 3" x 3.8" - 4x4 hoop

- Heirloom Stitch – 4,165 stitches
- Satin Stitch – 4,950 stitches
- Diamond Stitch – 3,295 stitches

~ 3 Large Applique Ornaments - 4.8" x 6.2" - 5x7 hoop

- Heirloom Stitch – 7,181 stitches
- Satin Stitch – 8,438 stitches
- Diamond Stitch – 5,122 stitches

~ Applique Instructions and Patterns

NOTE: Sorry, but this set is NOT available in SEW format

Picture of the heirloom stitch Fleur de Lis

Picture of the satin stitch Fleur de Lis

Picture of the diamond stitch Fleur de Lis

Have fun shopping!

Happy Valentine's Day - EARLY!

**** SALE **** SALE **** SALE ****

HAPPY Valentine's Day!

Shop all Embroidery Designs @ AKDesigns Boutique

25% Off all Machine Embroidery Design sets, Font sets,
Frame sets and Appliqué sets ~ basically anything under
the Embroidery Designs Category
[excludes all Monogram Wizard Plus Products]
Sale is active now – February 20th @ midnight
Use Coupon Code: VAL25 during checkout process

**** SALE **** SALE **** SALE ****

Have fun shopping!

Heart Sets added to website...

...just in time for Valentine projects! I'm trying to get all of my Valentine related design sets listed on the website.

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#251 Heart Frame Machine Embroidery Design Set
This set contains 2 frames in 2 colors:

~ Small Frame - 3.9" high x 3.9" wide, 8,522 stitches
~ Large Frame - 4.9" high x 4.9" wide, 10,511 stitches

Note: NO Fonts included in this set.

#260 Applique Hearts Machine Embroidery Design Set [added 12/15/09]
This set contains 3 designs in 1 color:
~ Small - 2.9" high - 1,472 stitches
~ Medium - 3.8" high - 2,130 stitches
~ Large - 5" high - 2,816 stitches
~ Easy to use Applique Instructions

NOTE: No fonts or letters are included in this set.

Have fun shopping!

NEW #1005 TCM Applique Tie Set

We've just added another set from Katie ~ The Cutesy Mom! She's made a set of applique ties that will dress up any onesie or t-shirt for that cute little boy in your life. Click this link for more information on about Katie!

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#1005 TCM Applique Tie Machine Embroidery Design Set

This set contains 3 applique ties in 1 color:~ 4" – 1.4" wide x 3.8" high and 2,012 stitches
~ 5" – 1.6" wide x 5" high and 2,541 stitches
~ 6.5" – 2.3" wide x 6.6" high and 3,431 stitches
~ Applique Instructions & Patterns

Picture of stitched applique ties

Picture of all 3 applique ties in set

Happy Stitching!

NEW #366 Applique Bunny Set

Over the last couple years, I've received many requests to make my #36 Bunny Font into an applique font, so I made my new #366 Applique Bunny Font set and I think you'll love it ~ ! They should make your Easter projects more fun! Plus, these uppercase bunny letters look great with our #12 Bold Font, #22 Fun Font and #32 Fun Fonts!

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#366 Applique Bunny Machine Embroidery Font Set

This set contains 26 designs:
~ 26 Uppercase Letters – 4" high
~ Detailed applique instructions & patterns

Have fun shopping!

Knit Scarf

Okay, I have a thing for scarves and I'm going to make myself one using this tutorial! Soo CUTE and soooo EASY!



Enjoy!

Gift Certificates now available...

After much research and analysis, I've added Gift Certificates to the website! It seems like it would be an easy enough task, but the way my store is set-up made it fairly difficult. I'm just so excited that I finally figured it out :) So...next time you need a gift for your favorite stitcher you can get them a Gift Certificate! Or...next time someone asks you what you want, you can tell them a Gift Certificate from AKDesigns Boutique, of course!

Gift Certificates can be used for all products on the website ~ nothing is excluded. There are no hidden fees and no expiration date!





Have fun shopping!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to my family, friends and wonderful customers & followers!! I've spent the morning reflecting on what a great year 2009 was and have included the highlights below. I'm just amazed at how lucky I am ~ I have an amazing, caring family, great friends and loyal customers.

In addition to reflecting on last year, I've started looking ahead to 2010 and I have a lot planned, personally and professionally, so I thought I would take a minute to document it and share with you {smile}. I hope everyone has a great and prosperous new year! I would love to hear your thought & comments, so leave one if you have a minute.

2009 Family Fun:

• We started off 2009 buying Allie a car. Her birthday wasn't until June, but we wanted to give her time to practice driving in her own car so that she would be comfortable and confident when she got her license.
• March ~ Jeff and his dad drove an F430 Ferrari & a Nissan GTR in Charlotte, NC for Jeff's birthday. We visited Jeff's family [his mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews] in Columbia, TN for a karate tournament that my nephew Jake was in. While there we spent time playing - riding go karts, putt-putt, and playing laser tag.
• April ~ Jeff and I went to a super bike motorcycle race at Road Atlanta. It was a lot of fun! Then, later in the month I went to Indiana to visit my family and see my grandpa before he had a heart by-pass surgery. Visited with my aunt Jennifer twice ~ it was so nice to see her. I also got to spend the day with my dad on his birthday which I haven't done in years!
• May ~ My mom and dad came to visit for the weekend ~ we celebrated my my birthday early and they watched my tennis match [my spring ALTA tennis team went to City Finals! We didn't win, but making it to city was a HUGE accomplishment for us]. Allie started her first job ~ watching Ethan & Emma all summer.
• June ~ Allie turned 16 and got her driver's license! Allie and her friends painted her bedroom and had a blast. I drove down to Columbus, GA to visit family [uncle Gary, aunt Andrea, cousin Jennifer, her baby Grady and her husband Dwight].
• July ~ Family Vacation! We drove a lot ~ GA to Williamsburg, VA, then Baltimore, MD, then Washington D.C., then Kill Devil Hills, NC, then finally back to GA. We had a great time riding roller coasters at Busch Gardens, visiting George Washington's house, eating & walking around Baltimore's wharf, spent 4th of July seeing the sites in DC and watched the fireworks near the Washington monument, and for the final leg we relaxed on the beach. As soon as we got home from our summer vacation we drove up to Gatlinburg to see my sister-in-law, Staci, for her birthday for the weekend. We had a nice time visiting Jeff's dad, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews.
• August ~ Jeff and I celebrated our anniversary at a cabin in north Georgia - we had a very relaxing weekend.
• September ~ my mom and dad took a road trip from Indiana to the West Coast, then to visit us in GA, then drove to the East Coast and back to Indiana to make it a full Coast-to-Coast road trip!
• October ~ Jeff, Lisa [my sister] and I all participated in the Nike+ 5K Human Race. It's a worldwide race that you run with your ipod/nike+. Jeff ran in Georgia while and Lisa & I ran in Indiana.
• November ~ We got a black lab puppy ~ Jack! His full name is Van Dalen Siddhartha Captain BlackJack. He's just the cutest little thing. A few days after we got him we took a long road trip to Texas to visit Jeff's mom, aunt, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews for Thanksgiving. Allie and I went midnight shopping on Thanksgiving with one of my very my best friends Whitney and her daughter Bree ~ we had a great time!
• December ~ I spent two and half weeks in Indiana to visit family. Jeff and Allie came up for the last week and we also drove to Illinois to visit Jeff's dad, grandma and uncle. We had a nice Christmas.

2009 What was new for AKDesigns Boutique:

• Started selling machine embroidery supplies
• Created a fan page on Facebook [392 fans at the end of 2009]
• Started selling machine embroidery designs that Katie at The Cutesy Mom created
• Became an authorized reseller for Monogram Wizard products
• Celebrated 1 year anniversary for my blog [287 readers at the end of 2009] and yahoo group [919 members at the end of 2009]
• Started carrying "Green" eco friendly supply products
• Created Catalogs for our Fonts and Frames

I'm not very good at this, but if I'm going to talk about all the great things that happened in 2009 I guess I need to touch on a couple of not so good things too. My grandpa is still not doing so well, but hasn't been in the hospital as much this year as he was in 2008. My aunt Jennifer was diagnosed with lung cancer in January. She is so strong and has been fighting it and living life to the fullest ever since. She's had lots of chemo treatments and more recently radiation for a couple of brain tumors that were found in October. She is an amazing woman! Last, but not least, we lost our loving and loyal dog, Max, in November. He was such a good dog ~ everyone that met him just loved him, he was so caring and gentle.

Now for resolutions...

2010 Family Resolutions:

Continued from 2009...we improved on all of them in 2009, but can improve more in 2010...

• Eat at home more [eat out less]
• Be more active [walking, jogging, mountain biking & hiking together]
• Keep a close eye on what we buy [only buy what we need]
• Try to get more sleep [all of us stay up too late]
• Pick up after ourselves so the house will stay cleaner
• Spend more time together as a family

New...

• We've been recycling for years, but this year we're going to pay more attention to how the items that we buy are packaged - we plan to purchase brands/items based on whether the package is recyclable when possible
• We have lots of reusable shopping bags and plan to use them more this year.

My personal and business goals & resolutions for 2010

Personal

• Be a better mom, wife, relative and friend
• Walk/jog a half marathon in April ~ Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville
• Walk Jack every day
• Eat better / healthier
• Be a better meal planner
• Improve my tennis game
• Lose 15 pounds
• Log 250 miles [walking and jogging]

Business [AKDesigns Boutique]

• Create as many new machine embroidery designs as possible
• Get all of my machine embroidery designs that are complete listed on my website
• Complete my Design Catalog and update the Font and Frame Catalogs
• Become more "Green" by stocking more eco friendly supplies/items and using only recycled, up-cycled or recyclable shipping materials when possible
• Continue to grow blog, yahoo group and facebook page followers
• Add additional new designers to expand our machine embroidery design choices

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog post ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR!