Personalized Christmas stockings created in the Q-C
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By Doug Schorpp | Sunday, December 16, 2007 |
Joy Murphy says it takes her about 15 minutes to make a custom stocking for her eBay, mail-order business called Aunt Joy’s Personalized Christmas Stockings. She works with her sister out of the attic in her house in Rock Island. Buy this Photo
VIDEO: Personalized Christmas Stockings
Watch as Aunt Joy Murphy makes a personalized stocking…
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One could say she’s got the perfect name and perfect job for this time of year.
And Joy Murphy of Rock Island loves what she is doing.
Murphy began Aunt Joy’s Personalized Christmas Stockings mail-order business 13 years ago. Today, she sells them all over the world.
A native of Rock Island, Murphy got into the mail-order business while she was employed at John Deere Credit Co. outside of Des Moines. “I was working in corporate America,” she said.
One year, she began looking for Christmas stockings for her children. She wanted to find something that matched and that she could keep purchasing each year, knowing the appearance would be the same years later. She thought that if she someday had grandchildren, she wanted to be able to buy the same stocking she had for her own children.
When she couldn’t find such a product, she began making her own.
“I wanted an old-fashioned look,” she said. “I made some for my family, took some to work. A few people ordered from me. And then I thought, ‘Wow.’ ”
So, she began making more.
“My first year in business, I did seven crafts shows in seven weeks and it took off,” she said. “I had $100. I bought the Christmas fabric. I did the seven craft shows with this fabric.”
Later, she quit corporate America and took on her business on a full-time basis. In 2000, she and her family moved back to Rock Island to be near her elderly parents and an elderly aunt.
“With an Internet business, you can move it anywhere and it doesn’t matter,” she said. “In the beginning, the only way to sell the product was through a craft show. When the Internet came along, I was the second Web site that sold Christmas stockings.”
Murphy said she offers products in a variety of colors and styles.
“All of my stockings are personalized with plaids and prints. I iron on letters, hand-cut them myself,” she said. “I can add up to about 13 letters, business letters, last name — if it will fit, I can put it on it. I make stockings all year long. I ship all over the world, Australia, the UK, Canada.”
Stockings are about 8 inches wide, made in six different colors and two different fabrics. Various colors and designs are available, including angels; reindeer and moose; Santa Claus; gingerbread; animals/pets; snowmen; toy soldiers; Christmas trees; Christmas bells and patchwork teddy bears.
Her sister, Phyllis Wethington of Rock Island, and Wethington’s daughter, Whitni, 22, have worked with Murphy for years.
“Whitni was been helping me since she was 9 years old,” Murphy said. “My sister has been helping me all through the way. When Phyllis retires, then we will be looking at having a brick and mortar store.”
Phyllis works in the Rock Island County Circuit Clerk’s office during the day.
“I get (to Murphy’s house) at 4:40 p.m. and stay until 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. I am putting in 15 hours a day,” she said. “I am tired, but it is worth it. People like it.”
Whitni will have to adjust. She will become a Muscatine police officer after leaving for police academy Jan. 14.
“I have been doing it 14 years now,” she said. “I won’t be working seven days a week, so I will find a way to help.”
One of Murphy’s loyal customers is Jackie Catour of Colona, Ill. She has been purchasing stockings for her grandchildren for years. Recently, she purchased 40 stockings for the Colona Volunteer Fire Department, where Catour serves as trustee.
“All 40 of them had fire engines on them,” Catour said. “She can do anything. She loves what she does. Every stocking is made with love.”
Personalized stockings
The classic style is available in quilted cotton for $29.95 and natural burlap at $34.95 with choice of design and color, plus the direction the toe of the stocking will point. The stockings come in two lengths, 23 inches and 11 inches. The six colors available are Santa red, Christmas green, Navy blue, forest green, creamy ivory or pretty plum. Also available are Aunt Joy’s Tree Skirts.
Go to auntjoy.com or call toll-free at 866-auntjoy.
Murphy is also an Alderman
When she is not busy making Christmas stockings, Joy Murphy serves as 6th Ward
alderman in Rock Island. She first was appointed to the council to fill an unexpired term and then was elected to a full term in April.
“When something is important to you, you make sure you fit it in,” she said. “There are
different parts of life important to me. My family is first. The business and city activities come second. It is a juggling act, but I like people.”
Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com.
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