Challenge!

My sister, Kelly is hosting a challenge on her blog! The winner will receive a $5 gift card for Two Peas in a Bucket.  I decided to put my own kit together, as the challenge is to complete a project using a kit.
Here's mine:

I really love how this came out, because I love how soft the photo came out. I also love the shabby check style portrayed in the layout.  Hope you like it!

Here's the link if you'd like to play along, and I hope you do! Just Two Midwest Girls scrap challenge

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge

Hey everyone! Here's the photo for the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger this week. It's called "Autumn Arrows."

 Here's the card I came up with. I like how it came out. I pulled the colors from the photo, and layered them in the corner to make arrows, or angles. The three stripes are ribbon. I needed a good challenge, and I know I can always find one at Moxie Fab. Here's the link if you want to play: Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

Hope you like it! :)

Kelsterjean

It's been awhile since I've written, but I wanted to share this layout. I loved the way it came out, and it features my closest (in age) sister, Kelly. My sister's name is Kelly Jean, so one day, I just randomly said "What up, Kelsterjean?" And it stuck! Now she has practically everything named after that that name (Etsy, Club CK, etc.).  I love that she got it from me, but I like more that it's such an important nickname in her life.  She even began scrapbooking after me, so it's nice that we are able to share our scrapbooking lives.  We even have a lot of friendly competition, attempting to see who can wrap gifts better, and even whose layouts and cards are better. She always wins. Haha. :)

If you'd like to check out her blog, there's a link down below. She's on the Practical Scrappers design team, and I couldn't be more proud of the great scrapbooker my sister has blossomed into!

http://kelsterjean.blogspot.com

First meetup group event!

So, Friday night, I went out for the first time with a meetup group in Austin. I met a lot of really great people. We went to Zilker Park, where there was a "theater in the park" event, and saw Little Shop of Horrors. It was SO cool. The costumes, the characters' accents, I couldn't believe how much detail and time was put into the show. Naturally, Audrey the plant stole the show. There were about three different models of him, and each one was a third bigger than the last. But the best part about him was he had a GIANT mouth to eat people, and moving vines!!! I've never seen anything like it!

So, all in all, I had a great time, and was so proud of myself for having the confidence to step out there, and try something different.
If you've never been on meetup.com, you should definitely check it out. No matter what you're into, there's a group for it. There's even a "Chicago Bears fans in Austin" group, which of course, is my favorite. ;)

I will soon be putting some of my scrapbook layouts up.  So long for now, and have a GREAT week!!!

Kristy <3

Austin Reggae Fest 2013

Hey everybody!
This post is from a couple months ago. I never got to posting it, because I couldn't upload the photos. So here it is, and more to come soon! :)


I went to Austin Reggae Fest, and contrary to popular belief, you DON'T have to do any drugs to have a ton of fun!
If you're wondering, the festival used to be called Marley Festival, but because of the conflict with the Marley Family, the name was changed.
Sunday, the entry was buy a ticket, get a friend in for free.  So I went with Kim, one of my new friends.  It's crazy because if you do smoke weed, there is plenty to go around.
I went walking around and met two guys, one from California and one from Chicago. It was the first time that the Chicago guy smoked weed before, so he was completely in la la land. So hilarious to watch.

I saw The Lions, a bad that were very good. They taught me how to correctly say Jamaica: like this "Ja-me-ca." You should try, it's SO fun to say.

Anyway, the star of the show was this band called Aggrolites.  I never heard of them before. They're from California, and they've done some work with Yo Gabba Gabba, the kid's show. It is so cool, that a band so cool can do something like Yo Gabba Gabba. Can you say versatile?! Here's the link. Check it out, it's pretty cool
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGPIhCyI0ik

I'm so glad that I was able to go to Reggae Fest for my first time, and even more proud of myself for being sober, while I attended.  Some might say that this is a crazy thing to say, but everyone thinks they can "peer pressure" you into doing things you might not want to do.  What better way to know you can have a great time, than by doing it sober? I met some really cool people, and recommend that if you do attend next year, be open to meeting people.  One good word of advice for meeting people is that you should be open, and say hello to everyone!
Here are some photos of the Austin Reggae Fest, and the link, if you'd like to check it out. http://austinreggaefest.com/
Enjoy the photos! :) 

Austin International Poetry Festival

What a weekend! Where do I start! Friday, I found myself listening to Bob Schneider, at a show in Austin, called "Unplugged at the Grove," which was free. My cousin, Lisa LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Bob Schneider. He was pretty good! I had a lot of fun, even though it was too crowded to get in. People brought their blankets, and sat on the grass on the side of the venue, and others were dancing on the sidewalk. After the concert started, I thought "Who would want to be in that crowd, where you can't even move." I watched the concert from the perfect spot!
Then I was asked to be a volunteer for the Austin International Poetry Festival, which was A-MAZING!!!! I saw some amazing poets, who came in from all of the U.S., Australia, India and the rest of the world. I'm sure I'm missing several countries. But holy hell, the talent was worth the price of volunteering, and getting to know some very talented poets!
Suzy Q (from Colorado), Candy Royalle, (from Australia), Viplob Pratik and ________(from India) (will fill in, in a bit).

One of the venues that AIPF was held at was Nature's Wonders, a store that sells various kinds of stones (i.e. quartz, granite, opal, agate, etc.). For those of you who have never been to this store, it is a site to see. I've never been, and I've lived here on and off, for about 5 years. I absolutely loved this store, and the lady working there, said she bought all of her Christmas gifts for her kids there. I plan to go back to buy a wind chime there, made out of some of the types of stones. It is BEAUTIFUL, and only $18. This was Friday and Saturday.
Also on Friday and Saturday, there were many poets holding workshops on who to write better poetry. I wasn't able to make it to any, since I was volunteering. I did, however see a lot of poets who are already very smart in the art of poetry, who I would take lessons from any day.  The workshops were held at Austin Community College, and on Saturday, all of the guests of the fest were given breakfast, as a thank you from ACC. I think we are the ones who should be grateful, as ACC had a great venue for us to use.  Saturday night, there was a poetry slam, and the best of the best competed, making it extremely difficult for Allen Small to win, but he did it, and he did some incredible poems!

We then headed over to Strange Brew for an ALL NIGHTER--of poetry, that is. Hosted by Thom World Poet, who resides in Austin (but is from Australia, too), this was an amazing night! I met new poets (new to me) like Michael Cesares, and many others. I fell asleep for a couple seconds (CHEATER!), and at the end of the night, we took a photo of all the survivors, who made it through the night. What an inspiration!

Sunday was the best day of the festival, ending at Kick Butt Coffee, and holy hell there was some great, great talent. Poets kept walking in and out and as they walked in, every single time, my eyeballs would almost pop out to see who would be coming up to the stage.  The best (in my opinion, anyway), was Candy Royalle. She asked me who my favorite was and seemed surprised that I said she was, and I told her that everyone else is living in Austin, so I could see them whenever I wanted. She found that funny. :P

So if you live in Austin, come here me "get on the mic," as we say. I can feel myself becoming stronger in my poetry, and I'm grateful that the people who I started with, are the ones that are still around, give or take a few (Gabrielle Bouliane, who passed away from cancer), and the rest are looking down on me, watching me grow into an AMAZING poet, like those of my mentors. So definitely check out the poetry scene, even if you're not in Austin. After all, they ARE worldwide!

And if you're in Austin, and you'd like to volunteer with AIPF, get in contact with me or someone in the poetry scene. It's a great opportunity, and you can put it on your resume! :)