Kind and Fearless and YOU!

A few years ago (three, to be exact), The Redheaded Camel launched its first tee design.  It was a white Hanes Nano v-neck tee with my original words hand lettered in a simple black print.  I had no idea what printing apparel would look like, I just knew I wanted to try it.  

After that first round of apparel printing, I learned a lot.  First, I learned that I really had to figure out how to digitize stuff.  Second, I learned that I really, really needed to find a way to print in lower quantities.  Third, I knew I wanted to be able to print on prettier tees than this one was... though it was a good "first time around" option, for sure.

Let me also point out that this design was never correctly digitized.  That is to say, I never pulled it into a computer program and made it scalable so it wouldn't distort as it was enlarged for printing.  If you zoom in on the photo (or if you own a shirt and still have it), you'll notice that you can see the "shakiness" of the edges of some of the letters.  I absolutely did not know it then, but three years later, those shaky edges are my favorite thing about the whole shirt.  When I look at it, I see a girl who had absolutely no idea what she was doing but tried anyway.  She said yes and figured it out afterwards.  And she's come a really long way since then.

A year after printing our first tee, I found Stacie.  Actually, I shouldn't say "found," since we've known each other for a long time.  The correct term is actually "found out she printed t-shirts."  Together, we have trial-ed and error-ed our way through the printing of hundreds (maybe thousands) of shirts, laughed, cried, and dreamed.  My sweet friend touches every.single.shirt that you order, and somehow, she keeps up with many other people's orders, too.  

When I was cleaning out my closet earlier this spring, I realized that of all the shirts I've designed (which is in total, around 25 designs), I never touched this one again.  I got zoned into the holiday craze and completely forgot about the words I wrote in 2015.  I texted the photo above to Stacie immediately and asked if she thought we should do a throwback design for our fourth birthday.  Then, I posted in the Caravan on Facebook and asked y'all, too.  Everyone said yes!  

Today, I am so excited to introduce our new, improved, and much more sparkly "Be YOU" tee.  The tee itself is a much prettier color (and we have lots of options!), the letters are sparkly, and the lettering has been redrawn to fit in with my signature style (and also, it's digitized... because that's what you're actually supposed to do).  

Friend, I want to remind you today to be kind and be fearless and be you.  You can wait until you're ready and until you have all the fancy tools and the important answers.  Or, you can dive in head first and figure it all out afterwards.  I hope you'll throw comparison to the wind and boldly and bravely be you.  

You can order our Be YOU tee for a limited time by clicking here.  I'd love to send you one to help remind you of the power you have to change the world and make it a happier place!