adventures in sewing...and a cool tshirt necklace (that did not involve sewing)

It's been a while since I've been here. Honestly, now that I am graduated and still job hunting I really should be better about blogging consistently. So I'm just going to jump back into it today!

My aunt gave me a 1951 Singer Sewing Machine! It is beautiful. I'm really excited to make stuff with it. (Which is a big deal for me, because generally I steer clear of any kind of sew that involves a machine.)

I started making a really simple and cute wallet...of course the bobbin got messed up and I am currently waiting on my mom to fix it because I tried everything I could think of.

Yesterday I wasn't exactly feeling good. So I spent the day cutting up old tshirts and made this necklace that I kinda LOVE! It did take me all day, but I wasn't feeling good and I was just making it up as I went along. There are tons of tutorials for similar necklaces on Pinterest that wouldn't take very long at all. So if you have old tshirts laying around this would be a super cute way to recycle them!

I turned all of these strips into this!

I really love it. I can't wait to go to my parents and find some more tshirts that I never wear :-).

Other than that, I've been looking for work and planning my wedding. It's a crazy wonderful life.

xoxo
-Krackle

I've been crafty...

So, since I took a really long break from this blog I have actually been pretty productive and crafty. Instead of spilling all of my craftiness into one post I think I'll share one project at a time.

We recently had a "Big Day" at my church here in Conway and Mandy and I worked really hard to get the Children's church area decorated with so much cuteness people would just fall in love with it. :-)

We decided that in the crib area of the baby room we needed something on the wall...and since the whole room has a woodland theme, I painted some woodland animals. Now, I am no painter by any stretch of the imagination...but I dabble. And I think these little woodland creatures actually turned out kind of adorable.

 I started out with 4 canvases, but the orange turned out to be a little too orange...so I narrowed it down to the snail, owl, and bird

I taped off the background with scotch tape and just painted over it and around my animals to create these patterns. The chevron isn't perfect because I didn't measure it off, but I wanted it to look just a bit hodge podge and homey so it worked perfectly.

 And there you have it, my attempt at cute woodland animal paintings. Not too shabby for an amateur and I doubt the babies sleeping in their crib will judge me too harshly hehe

xoxo
Krackle

Concerts are awesome

WOW...It's been a while.
Let's see if I can just get back into the groove one post at a time. How about concerts?

I blogged about being super excited to go to Keith Urban and Journey concerts in August and September...well they were AMAZING!

Keith Urban came waaaay up into the cheap seats and was actually like 4 rows away from us when he gave away a guitar. (Josh was super jealous!)

I didn't get to take that many pictures at this concert because my phone was almost dead. BUT it was one of the best concerts I've been to. It was so cool, the atmosphere was just completely different than any other concert I've been to. It felt like we were all just hanging out.

Then we went to the Journey concert in Memphis. Can I just say that being a fan of Journey is like a life choice for me...it's not a casual thing, and this concert was incredible! Even though is wasn't Steve Perry it was still phenomenal. It was just icing on the cake that we got to see them in Memphis. We showed up early and had some BBQ on Beale Street before the show.

Blues City Cafe is by far the best BBQ I have ever tasted. It's right across the street from B.B. King's place, which is also good...but not this good (in my humble opinion). If you ever visit Beale Street you MUST try it...you'll thank me later.

The concert was a blast! They sang all of the classics and a few new songs. It was great. Josh had such a good time in awe of their guitarist...because he is so good. Josh recorded most of the leads on his phone...and we listen to them all the time haha.

BIGBIGBIG thanks to my bubba who decided he would pay for all three of our tickets AND drive us there. We don't have any pictures with him...because he's elusive like that, but he is pretty much the best Big Bro on the planet.

I'll be back soon with some crafty updates. You won't believe how productive I've been lately!

-Krystle

My life is super busy and awesome. Also, I make baby hats.

My History/Film class is actually pretty fun! We have a blogging assignment and our professor just started what he calls the "postie awards" to the best posts of the week. I'm proud to say I got a Postie this week for my stellar analysis of 3D technology. haha

I didn't finish all of my homework last night...so I'm still working on some tonight. UGH! I am ready for the next 3 months and 3 days to fly by...not that I'm counting down to graduation or anything. hehe I will hopefully get to turn in my graduation application on Thursday or Friday and everything will be official! Now, I just need to find a job.... If I can just be honest, I'm a little nervous. But still confident and optimistic.

Also, while we're sort of on the subject of countdowns...
I'm getting married in 297 days! Practically 296 at this point.

Just in case you didn't already know. I am SO EXCITED!

xoxo
Krystle

p.s. I told you I would post some pictures of the baby beanies! Well, here ya go:

My Concert Summer Saga Continues...even though it's not really summer any more

"Yea baby, if you ever start feeling depressed just rub glitter all over yourself!" - my future husband.

hehe...I just thought I'd share one of the many reasons I love him...we have really weird, hilarious conversations. Just for the record, this conversation was inspired by a lady's sparkly fingernails; we don't actually talk about glitter all the time.

Guess what...I'm going to see Journey in concert in two -- count em 1.....2.....days! We're leaving Wednesday afternoon, hopefully get there early enough to eat some BBQ, and then have our faces rocked off by Journey, Foreigner, and Night Ranger. WOW! Can't wait!!!

Some people aren't that excited because it isn't Steve Perry - Journey. I affectionately call them Filipino Journey because the new guy is from the Philippines. And I don't think anyone can be as awesome as Steve Perry, however, I think this is as close as it gets! So I'm still really excited!

Now, I have to go finish my homework for the week so I can enjoy this concert and not have school business bringing me down :-).

Have any of you ever seen Journey live? Steve Perry or Arnel Pineda?

xoxo
Krystle

movies, blogs, and beanies. Oh my!

Well, I interviewed my Gram last weekend and we got a lot of good stuff. She was having trouble putting her thoughts in order, but that's perfectly understandable when trying to recall things that happened 75 years ago!

I'm heading to Pine Bluff tomorrow to look for any records that would tell us anything about her family's past before she set out on her journey. I'm pretty excited to see what I can find. Dad's going to join me, he's a pro at this stuff...so we should have a lot of fun!

If anyone is interested...I have also blogged on the wedding blog and my film/history blog...I rant about 3D - it's interesting.

ALSO, I have made some cute baby beanies...unfortunately I'm having trouble getting the pictures up on the blog. I'll post them as soon as I work out the kinks! I'm getting super excited about the upcoming craft season!!! Lots of goodies to see and sell! :-)

Ok, now I need to go eat something! I can't keep going all day without food haha

xoxo
Krackle

film.making.

WARNING: this post is %100 about movies and filmmaking. Proceed with caution.

Just in case your interested, my first post for this "blogging experiment" in my American History through Film class was posted today. The topic was "what is your favorite movie and why" ...and he gives us a word count - which was 500. <---wowza! I usually would never write that much for a blog but oh well.

ALSO! Did I mention earlier that I'm doing an independent study about my grandmother and a tiny piece of her incredible life? I went to visit her today and set up a camera to capture her retelling the stories. She's an extremely mature lady (in her 90's) and she was getting a little frustrated today when she couldn't remember specifics. However, she told me a lot! Annnnnnnd I got to go through her pictures and I found several that were taken during their travels that I will be able to use in the documentary. :-) exciting!! I can't wait to meet with my professor again next week and go over the material. I'm also pretty excited because we discussed the idea of allowing me to write this in the form of a script, which I am waaaay more comfortable with than a historical research paper.

Background info:
In 1937, my gram - 18, her younger sister - 14, and her older brother - 21, left their family in Arkansas and travelled across the country (most of the way without a car) to California, Washington, and Oregon. They went until they ran out of money, then they would stop and find work until they had enough to keep traveling. Ultimately, my gram decided to come home and her brother and sister ended up staying in Oregon. How crazy is that? She is a seriously cool lady, and she has definitely lived her life.

If I can take a moment and be completely honest about my dreams for this project...
I would love to do all of this research and get lots of great footage of my gram right now through this independent study and then find some sort of sponsorship to actually go and retrace her steps. If I'm feeling extremely adventurous I might even try to do some of the things that she and her siblings did. Honest opinion, that would be cool right? I think it would be an intimate look into the depression era. Not just another, "hey everyone was poor, lots of people left home because they had nothing" story, but a personal story with characters. I'm excited about it even if no one else is :-)!

I'm off to enjoy my 4 day weekend! Have a happy Labor Day!

xoxo
Krackle