Holiday Sale!!

Sale includes everything in the shop, including monogram add ons!!

ORIOLES MAGIC!!!

As a Marylander, I'm pretty darn excited and so proud of those O's this season!

To celebrate, I'm running a special promo!

From now until the 10th of October, use promo code MAGIC to receive 40% off $30 or more! 

Check out the store today!! 

Long Sleeve T-Shirts with Custom Pocket

I always enjoy a nice long sleeve t-shirt! Especially during the fall when the weather isn't cold enough to wear a jacket but a long sleeved shirt to cover the skin. Along with the long sleeves, I'm a huge fan of the pop of color or pattern that the pocket of the shirt adds.

During the spring and summer months Chesapeake Tides offered a short sleeve option and since they did so well, I would now like to introduce this new line!!

Pocket Long Sleeve

This new shirt now offers totally customizable pockets that will be made to order just for you!! Above are the pocket options that are being offered at the moment for these long sleeved shirts! A few of them are custom made by me and others I couldn't help and not purchase because they were too perfect/preppy/nautical!

Along with the custom pockets, you will also be able to choose from a Navy or Gray shirt! Two classic colors that can be worn with pretty much anything! They are unisex sizing so plan accordingly when picking a size! 

Here is another close up on the patterned pockets that are now available! 

I hope you enjoy putting together and designing your custom Chesapeake Tides Pocket Long Sleeved shirt for Fall/Winter!!! 

New Logo for hats!!

I need your help to decide on which little crabby will be going on a baseball cap!!! I have ordered navy blue, black, light pink, and red caps which I will be putting one of these designs on! 

The navy & black caps will be having a red crab & the pink and red will have a blue crab on it!! 

Now I need your help! A or B?!

Down by the Bay

I'm pretty excited to announce this new addition to Chesapeake Tides. I had previously been selling them on Red Bubble but decided that I wanted to make them more personal by adding a monogram onto the front upper left hand corner of the shirt. 

This is a custom designed that features some of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and of course Chesapeake Tides iconic symbols! 

Get yours today with or without a monogram! 

Down by the Bay t-shirt with monogram

Oh, Hello Sailor

Pencil Case or Cosmetic Bag? You decide! 

This new piece to the Chesapeake Tides family is now available on Etsy!!! Get yours today! 

Hello Sailor

What's to come....

What could these possibly be?? stay tuned to see what's to come in the next few months...or weeks;)

Black Eyed Susan for Red Bubble

Check out these two new designs for Chesapeake Tides that will be sold on Red Bubble! 

Summer Sale: 15% off

Use code SUMMERSALE now until May 20th to receive 15% off on $25 or more in the Etsy shop! 

Red Bubble for Chesapeake Tides

Has anyone ever used Red Bubble before??? I uploaded Chesapeake Tides logo to the site where you can get shirts and other accessories made with the logo and I've sold a few so I decided to add a few more designs to the site for you to purchase and help spread the word on Chesapeake Tides!

This is one of the designs that I just recently uploaded for anyone to get made into sticker decals. Have a laptop filled with your favorite brands? why not add this one to your collection!?

An awesome thing about Red Bubbles editing is that you can either put the design on the front or the back of the shirt. Here is Chesapeake Tides signature logo that can be put on a variety of different shirts, swear shirts, and numerous other products.

Another amazing thing about Red Bubble is all of their clothing products are printed on American Apparel shirts and sweat shirts. I'm all for supporting american made companies that have such an amazing quality to them! 

Summer Sale: Nautical Prints

Nautical Prints are on sale...just in time for summer time!! Sport these ties this summer for the perfect nautical look!

Stay Nautical

Nautical Bags NOW available!! 

Summer Sale: Bags

Cosmetic Bags only $10!

Perfect for a cell phone, wallet, and any little stuff, to throw in your beach bag just in time for Summer!

Summer Sale: Spots!

Just in time for Summertime! Spotted Bow Ties only $25

Nautical Flag Bags Arriving SOON!

The nautical flags that are used on boats and ships have an important meaning behind them besides looking nautical on clothing and home decor, they are used to display "code" for other ships that may be in distress or have a scuba diver on board. They have 26+different meanings depending on the color and the way the color is displayed on the flag itself. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, I'm using them in an accessory form. They will still be represented in a way that goes back to what they were originally used for BUT having them go by your first or last name. Preps are drawn to anything nautical, especially Maryland and anyone in the south, so why not add something super unique to your wardrobe with this little over the shoulder bag.

They are hand made out of duck canvas in colors that represent each flag and letter perfectly! The measurement of the bag is 8 x 8 which is the perfect size for a little wallet, keys, and your cell phone.

The shoulder strap is hand braided out of cotton roping to give the bag an even more nautical look! 

To hold the opening together, two braided ropes are used to tie the bag together so nothing of value falls out. 

The inside lining a cotton blue and white striped fabric to give the bag, if it wasn't nautical enough, an even more nautical feel. 

Best part about this bag? It's TOTALLY custom made! Each bag will take 1-3 weeks to make and be shipped out to it's new home. I know what you're thinking, why is this awesome bag taking so long to get to me?! Well, I want to make sure it is properly made with quality care before getting to you.

Release date:  May 10th, 2014

Price: $30

BUT if you message me on Etsy and mention this post, you will receive a special "pre-order" price now until the 10th! 

Stay hooked, the best is yet to come! 

Monogram Add On

Let's face it, monograms make any piece of clothing better! Why not add a monogram to your bow tie or a special something to add to your beaus bow tie?! 

Add the monogram to either the bow of the tie or the neck strap. 

I'm so excited to bring this feature to the Chesapeake Tides bow tie! 

stay hooked, the best is yet to come! 

Brown Paper Packages Tied with String

I seem to update my packaging a lot. Why, you may ask?! Well it's because I'm always thinking of new ideas to ship out my bow ties to make them even more unique then they already are. It's the first thing the customer sees before opening their tie. It needs to be eye catching but also not distract from the tie too.

Growing up on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, steaming up crabs would be something that would happen throughout the summer. To help protect the picnic table before slamming away on the shells of the crab to get to the yummy/juicy meat, my family would always cover it with brown paper; covering the table would also come in handy through the cleaning up process.

My inspiration for my new packaging comes from my life style of being raised on steamed crabs.  Brown wrapping paper with natural bakers twine, sometimes we would use this twine to wrap chicken necks to catch crabs the old fashion way of getting them right from our piers.

I bought this adorable dachshund tape dispenser from Target and I can't get over how cute it is! Definitely reminds me of my little Pablo that my mother is taking care back home in Maryland.

Twine. 

I can't get enough of it! 

I'm really loving this packaging and the inspiration behind it too! 

Stay hooked, the best is yet to come! 

Out with Spring. In with Summer....or so it feels!

Growing up in Maryland, we had all four seasons; it would get cool in the Fall, freezing in the winter, nice in the spring, and super hot and humid in the summer. I looked forward to each season; especially when it was super hot in the summer, I just wanted winter and in the winter I just wanted summer to roll around.
Now living in Southern California, we didn't have much of a winter at all! It went straight to summer to summer basically. Truth, we did have a couple "cooler" days but they just didn't compare to he Maryland winters. In January, no lie, for a solid week it was in the 90s and 80s. As all my friends and family back home were super jealous of the sun I was getting, I was super jealous of the snow they were getting.
As we roll into April, can you believe we're half way through it already?!, and rock into May, I can't wait to see what the real Summer holds in store for me. I have yet to live in a Southern California summer so it shall be interesting! (I do predict lots and lots of trips to the beach!)

Huntington Beach, CA

With Spring rolling out and Summer rolling in, I can't wait to share something that I've been working on with everyone the past couple of months. They are still in the beginning stages, you know testing out what materials I want to use and not use, but they are looking pretty "nautical" if I do say so myself! 

Here's a little sneak peak!! 

I hope everyone is enjoying Springtime and starting to plan their Summer 2014! 

Easter sale!!

Easter is about a week away so why not run a little last minute sale to get your bow ties and hair bows just in time for the joyous day!!

Get your orders in by the 14 to guarantee delivery by Easter! 

The Bright Side

While East Coast Spring weather has taken over in Southern California, my heart is happier than ever! Weather in the 60s and 70s is how I like to live my life all year around; as hot as it was in January through February, I'm definitely happy that it's cooled off a little...making it feel like home.

good weather = good mood

good mood = happier Laura

happier Laura = creative juices flowing

"Always look on the bright side of life!" will be my new little motto this Spring/Summer.  I felt like after I graduated from art school last May, my creative juices kind of took a turn for the worst. They stopped flowing. It was tragic. Since the change in weather, my creative have made a come back. 

I can't wait to show and share with everyone what's to come with Chesapeake Tides in the next few weeks. A new product that I've been working on for a few months now is about to come alive. 

If it's not moving, monogram it.

We all know that famous quote by Reese Witherspoon fits every preps life, "If it isn't moving, monogram it." When I first received my embroidery machine from my grandparents for my college graduation gift, I knew the first thing I wanted to do with it was to monogram everything. From pillow cases, towels, Nike shorts, and  everything else I own that I could possibly get my hand on. I have continued to monogram different items for friends and family; for Christmas last year,  monogramed a robe for my grandfather that bought me my sewing machine. I even had an option that you could get a monogram placed on a bow tie, still available upon request.

One day at work, it wasn't a busy location, I was thinking of ideas of what to create next. (shhh....don't tell my leads, even though they may be reading this right now, shhhh....) I came up with the idea of monogramed coasters. Cute right? I think so! I made a couple to get some practice with the initials and monograms of my roommates. I really really loved how they turned out so I have decided to start selling them in my Etsy store!

These are the patterns that I have available at the moment, along with the Maryland Flag pattern of course! You can also choose the style of monogram and color of thread! 

Seersucker has Sprung!

Since spring is officially here,well it's been here in Southern California all year long(we didn't get a winter) and even though Maryland just received another blanketing of snow a few days ago, that doesn't mean you can't bring out some of your spring like clothing to be apart of your wardrobe a little at a time. I know on the east coast, in the Carolina's, the Carolina Cup is a pretty big deal for horse racing. Along with the horses, the girls dress up in their Lilly and big hats & the men sport their bow ties and pastel pants/shorts. I have never been but it always seemed like such a wonderful event to attend; I feel like this event is the start of the real spring time fashion coming out, especially the seersucker. 

Seersucker is easy to wear with anything and is light and breezy, making it comfortable for those hot hot hot summer days and nights. Did you know it was originally worn by a "lower" class of people until the 1920s when some undergraduate students decided to make it a "preppy" statement. Crazy right? I have worn seersucker ever since I could remember and still wear it to this day, thank you Lilly Pulitzer! 

Since creating and making bow ties, the seersucker bow tie has always been a winner for Chesapeake Tides. I actually stopped creating them for a while because I wanted to try some other patterns and styles. For the collection this spring/summer 2014, I decided to bring back the classic pieces in a variety of different colors. 

I'm really loving how all these colors look together. It would be so hard to choose which one(s) to pick from to add to a bow tie collection.

Can't choose between one or two colors? How about four?! I love the look of the multicolor bow tie, especially in seersucker. Super preppy & classic...yes? 

Along with the seersucker bow ties that I've been creating, I have also made hair bows(that I can most definitely monogram upon request) in the colored seersucker fabric.

Blue Seersucker

Pink Seersucker

Tan Seersucker

Seersucker has always been in style and it always will because it is such a classic piece of fashion, with history behind it. Even though it's not too popular of a fabric out West, I hope everyone back East will be sporting some kind of seersucker piece of clothing or accessory in their wardrobe this season! 

Happy Maryland Day, Y'all!!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/chesapeaketides?ref=si_shop

Chesapeake Tides Turns 2!

I seriously can't believe it's been two years since I started my little business of creating bow ties! It all started when my group of guy friends had this phase that, that's all they would wear. After having some background in sewing from taking a class in my sophomore of high school, I decided to purchase a machine and some seersucker and gingham fabrics. One weekend, for hours and hours at a time I didn't stop; I continued to cut of the bow ties from a pattern that I found online, ironed the interfacing, and began sewing.

It was seriously the most exciting most enjoyable thing I could ever do for myself.

After two years I have completed numerous orders of so many different fabrics that I could get my hands on. In late 2012, I asked around...mostly to my friends...what they would like to see! My first response was to make Maryland Flag bow ties and regular ties. What? How the heck was I going to find that? I searched high and low for that fabric and not one person or store sold anything like it. It wasn't until I discovered this online store that could put any design on a piece of fabric that I dreamed of. Before the fabric even came in, I was getting orders. It was so exciting and it made me so happy that people wanted to wear my ties and show off their Maryland Pride! (we're pretty proud of our flag)

In 2013 is when I took my first order for a wedding. When I saw I was super surprised, I mean it. I couldn't believe that some one had found me on Etsy to create the ties the groomsmen would be wearing on the couples special day. After that, I received a few more and feeling even more blessed and excited. At the end of summer, I traveled to Ocean City just to get away, before I moved across the country to California. While in OC I cruised up and down Coastal Highway looking for a place to eat that I had never before. When I discovered this new little shopping center on 67th Street I decided to pop in and check out the new shops. One of the shops was perfect...BEYOND perfect! Summer House Trading Co. had everything I ever wanted! Whether it was something to decorate my house with, or some fun clothing accessory, I wanted it! After seeing what amazing products they had in the store, I knew this was the perfect place to start selling Chesapeake Tides Bow Ties!

To celebrate two successful years I would like to offer a little special!

So many new fabrics, designs, & products are now available on the Etsy shop and I hope you find a special something for yourself or for a friend!

Thank you for all your support these past two years, I can't wait to see what's to come in the future!!!

Started from the Bottom

As 2013 ends & 2014 begins, I cannot wait to start expanding my business to succeed and grow.

I can’t wait to share more with you as new things happen in my life!