About Me

  

I love snail mail.

I'm super-girly.

I love everything my mother wore in the 1970's

I love Starbucks.

I love autumn.

I don't love summer.

I love vintage, frills and pockets.

I have an everlasting preoccupation with God.

I love kiddos (especially mine).

I was a piano performance major in college.

Opening a dot-com is life dream.

Receiving packages makes me smile.

I love people--all people.

I love that my name is spelled with a "K".

("C" is so smug, don'cha think?)

I married my high-school sweetheart.  He is now my mid-life sweetheart.

In my designs, ruffles are essential.

I read at least four books a week.

I love my Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Where It Started

My mother taught me to sew when I was 10, and all throughout high-school I honed my craft, making dresses for myself and entering them in Regional and National competitions. After building my own wedding dress in 2001, I discovered a truth about myself. Nothing makes me happier than manipulating fabric.

I’ve known this was the direction my life was headed since I was 19.  I went to college with a full-ride scholarship in a Music Ed degree.  After a year of taking Classroom Management classes, I absolutely knew I didn’t want to be a teacher.  That summer, I sat with my dad in Steak ‘n Shake for two hours and tried to explain that I wanted to build things…dresses with pockets and frilly details…to fill a gap that seemingly no one was addressing—pretty clothes, relative to cultural styles, from a modest point-of-view.  My parents were optimistically hopeful and supportive.  A position I believe they still hold. =)

I switched to a BA in Business and after graduating, went on to get a degree in Dress-Making and Fashion Design.  I’ve spent the past five years at home, playing with my children, all the while sewing, designing and learning new tricks; knowing that this special time at home with them will end in two short years.  Now seems the perfect time to prepare for the next stage in my life…and the realization of a dream.

Where It Stands Now

I started blogging about the clothes I make, wear and design as a part of a business plan to an end goal…A space full of my own designs.  This is me, using the resources and media available to me to reveal my ideas, designs, values and creativity; giving others the chance to follow a part of who I am.  Nothing more, nothing less. I’m the face of it, but it’s the joint effort of family and supportive friends that make it possible. I'm not interested in blogging with the idea of showcasing myself, but I am very interested in showcasing the talent God gave me and that my parents recognized and helped develop in me from an early age.   

I get a certain amount of criticism based on the content of the KRISTINA J. blog from people who assume I’m an egotistical fashion junkie who gets a big kick out of plastering my picture everywhere…which is so not the case.  I live a full, balanced life. I am a mother, a daughter, a lover, a friend, and this blog is just a very small part of my life that I choose to share with you.

  

Where It’s Headed

            This blog is my attempt contribute to society. Each person was given something to do that shows Who God is. (Rom. 12:6)  I can no more quit designing, sewing, tailoring and manipulating fabric than I can quit breathing.  When I sew, I feel God’s pleasure.  

           What appears here is a representation of the creative overflow going on in my mind.

This is my sweet spot—the refining of a craft that makes me giddy with excitement.  Just the thought of designing a piece that makes a woman feel beautiful makes me smile.  I’m driven to construct things that don’t have to be nipped/tucked, added to, pulled up, yanked on or reconstructed.  I know you’re not going to love everything I come up with, but maybe every once in a while, if you can embrace it, I’ll whip up something lovely you can’t live without—or just maybe, a wedding dress that screams your daughter’s name. 

           I feel that sewing, designing…is a tailor-made task I’ve been given, one I will always be striving to use in a way that honors God, and thrills me in a place deep inside.  

          I am me.  I was made for my part in this world and there's no one who can play my part better than I can. =)