Creativity Inspired

So I've been wanting to write this post for months; I still don't really even know where to start, I just wanted to share with you all some of the amazing places, things, artists, and creations that I've found over my last few years of blog browsing.  Which is really what got me here, to my own blog, in the first place.

The Beginning

Life in the Fun Lane
It all officially really started with one simple search for ideas on how to make our own headboard.  We had just moved into a little place in NW Arkansas to finish school and we had this tiny, old double bed with nothing but that measly metal frame to hold it up...and it had to be stuck on a wall with a window, so our pillows and heads kept wanting to fall into that window box, since we had no wall or headboard.  Thrifty, crafty, resourceful person that I am, I was going to make one!  My search for ideas and help with construction randomly landed me here, and I was hooked.  Over the next couple weeks I read every post from day one of Holly B's blog, In the Fun Lane.  This was the first blog I ever started reading, and following (I still do).  She and her husband, and new baby, were blogging their way through the amazingly stylish do-it-yourself renovation of their new home (you should see their closet!).  But the blog also included all her super clever/cute seasonal decorations she made, a few fashion finds, and the best part- her furniture renovations!
I've always loved building things, working with my hands, tools, and doing stagecraft stuff for productions- so this was right up my ally, and something I've always wanted to do.  It's addicting just watching her do it, via blog posts for the last 2+ years.  I've learned a whole lot from her, and vow to get into it myself someday when I have a home w/ a little space to do it.  It's so fun watching cheap/free ugly old furniture be totally transformed with paint and new hardware.  She was eventually able to make a great business of it, it's so inspiring...that I constantly ponder ways I could make a small business with my own creative talents, while still pursuing my filmmaking dreams.
This is just one of her crafty DIY renovations, that's not even the beautiful furniture you'll see she sells in her WhiteBerry shop.

The Businesses

Ok, so that was my gateway blog, and I've since been wrapped up in so many other wonderful blogs written by industrious women making their own little businesses out of the creative talents God gave them.  And ever since then I've just been itching to create and peddle my own wares through beautiful websites I've hopefully created to be as beautiful as theirs.  

Here are a few more that have given me tons of great ideas.  Some of those ideas I've actually created from on my own, others I've just wanted to replicate for awhile, and hope to soon.

Jones Design Company

This blog website has probably been my 2nd biggest inspiration for expertly and perfectly executing a blog/website/online shop that works, and people love.  Run by Emily L., the Jones Design Co. is a beautiful website; designed so nicely, with everything clean and easy to find.  Her blog is constantly full of either encouraging, thoughtful posts from a beautiful Christian heart, super-inspiring creative tutorials on stuff I always (and often) immediately want to create, or just beautiful photos of her lovely house and gorgeous family.  And that's just the blog posts.  Her shop is quaintly tucked right into her blog, and sells the beautiful art prints and other crafty things she makes.  It really makes me want to emulate her and put my Graphic Design & ScreenPrinting skills to use in just such a shop!  Plus it's always a blessing to hear how this busy, creative Mom loves the Lord through all she does and experiences...oh and she loves typography almost as much as me ;)  which is always fun.

 Paper flower bouquet, one of her great craft tutorials I used for
my Mom's Mother's Day gift this year, but with more colorful scrapbook papers. 

Amy Atlas Events

'Have been admiring this beauty for over a year now.

Amy Atlas' stuff is just too much fun.  I discovered her and her wonderful party dessert bars a little over a year ago, and have been swooning over some of her parties & fancy dessert tables ever since.  Like this beautiful green & white Bridal Brunch dessert table, above.  It made me want to throw gorgeous garden dinner parties all the more!  (The leafy-green parties seem to be my fave, like this one).  When I was planning my wedding about 5 years ago, I discovered the great idea of doing a candy 'bar' guest table full of those wonderful glass canisters & urns that I love so much, filled with various beautiful candies, decorated with pretty ribbons & creative signage for guests to spoon in to favor bags.  But this woman does them up better than anyone else I'd seen before!  I couldn't help but share these photos and the link with my new sister-in-law, Rachel, when she was planning her wedding, in hopes that she might be inspired by it too.  And she ended up having a pretty great blue & aqua themed candy favor table at her wedding last month! ...though she was probably already aware of the concept too.  So for hours of fun, colorful, yummy inspiration, check out Amy Atlas Events' photo gallery or her blog!  Love it  :-d

Candy 'Dessert Bar' by the best in the biz, Amy Atlas Events.

Blogs

Like I said, either via links from one blog to another, or by being curious enough to click on the blog link of a commenter in a post I read, I've been introduced to a lot of very inspiring, creative web-logs.  I have a lot of them in my follow list, but only a very few that I make sure to actually visit consistently.

GillarGirl

This blog's author, Tiffany, is another super creative mom with a beautiful family, and home.  She and her husband are even in the middle of designing/building their second home (I so admire that, 'have always wanted to build our own dream house).  Her husband runs a furniture home/decor type store, and she does some pro interior design stuff on the side...so obviously they have some pretty awesome style going on.
My favorite thing in her blog is the posts on the fabulous parties she throws, especially for her 4 kids' birthdays.  They are a-maze-ing and so creative.  They're never made of the tacky mass-produced character themed supplies.  She always does super tasteful, cute decorations, desserts, favors and invitations, and usually has some really great game/activity ideas too...pretty much all by hand.  The parties always look fun and pretty.  I especially love the ideas I get from her invitations and favors.  These are some of my favorite parties she's posted:  Polar Bear party, 4 yr old RaggedyAnne party, Ballerina Princess party.

Black and White Side by Side

This blog is a great compilation of inspiration.  Maggie's passion is wedding stuff, and she always shows us beautiful examples of wedding trends on her Wedding Wednesdays.  But she also regularly posts on any random craft project, design idea, fashion find, etc.  So I've found a lot of neat ideas, and plenty of other blogs, through her own site which I've only been following for maybe a year or less now.  She's also got a sweet love story of her own, and a great personality that comes through her blogging, which lets her Christian faith shine through as well!  Oh and she even does a few tutorials, and I've found a few amazing recipes from her blog as well.

I'm jealous of her SUPER-cute anniversary photos...I might completely copy them ;)

Just a random example of fun things you'll find there.

Boutiques!

Ok, I'm kinda done with all the major creative inspiration stations I wanted to share with you, but I have to tack on one more for good measure.  What kind of person would I be if I didn't tell you about Etsy?

Etsy

So I know I've definitely already told you all about Etsy.com at the bottom of this post.  But I'm just gonna feature it here, too.  It's the ultimate online, hand-made, boutique 'mall.'  It's a site where artists set up their own shops (not unlike eBay) and list their hand-made creations for sale.  The whole site is exclusively for home-made stuff, and its beautiful.  You can ♥, or 'add to favorites' any shop or individual item...and I've got huge lists of both.  I wish I could share those with you, but only the account user can see their favorites...otherwise it'd be a great wishlist tool to send people!  

I've been 'window shopping' Etsy for several years now, and even bought one or two things.  (The only site in this post that I'd known of before the 'In the Fun Lane' blog.)  It's also been a great place for art inspiration when I was stuck for ideas on some of my art project assignments at JBU...theirs every form of it, from clothes, to print-making, to party decor, etc.  A lot of their shops and items have really inspired me to make things, and even made me want to open a shop and sell some of them...maybe one day.  Until then I'll just have to live vicariously through my sister-in-law, Claire, whom I was really excited to introduce to Etsy last week.  I think she may even be opening her own little shop there soon, and I'm so excited for her!

(Oh, and you have to visit this super fun interactive 'shop by color' page, even if you have absolutely no interest in shopping there...is just fun for your mouse!)

^ {Update!  Claire did, indeed, go the Etsy route and just opened her own little shop there, selling cute & useful memo boards.  Check out her shop!}

Pinterest

Ok, so I thought of another thing to tack on here at the end (even though it's not a boutique).  Pinterest.  This thing is pretty great.  It's a site where you store all your online finds that you want to remember or save for later, in picture form.  Like all of you that have those 'inspiration' file folders on your desktop, filled with JPGs you stole from websites you won't remember later, when you look through the pics.  ;)  Anyway, they let you create 'pin boards' for any categories you want, and you 'pin' each photo to those boards, when you find anything online that you want to keep.  Plus it saves the original URL link so you can always go back to the web page it was from.  You can also follow other peoples boards, to see what they're pinning...so you can share your own finds with others.  You should definitely check out what I mean, by just viewing mine here:  http://pinterest.com/KWightArmstrong/

And I can explain stuff or help you get started if you have any questions, too.  You will love this!

--

So those are my main stops for creative inspiration in every form.  Definitely check them out, and at least click on the links, if you don't feel like reading through my descriptive texts (but please do).  

Come back here anytime to visit these sites I've compiled.  And I'd love to hear how you liked them, what inspired you...and what places you enjoy, that I haven't listed here.  Send me your favorite inspirations, and we'll spread the love.  Thanks, & I can't wait to hear from ya!  

Happy Creating :)

-Krystal

Glass

I've always been enchanted with glass, especially colored glass, in pretty much any form- stained glass, perfume bottles, glass art sculptures, even practical things like vases, cups, and pitchers.

I grew up with a few pieces like this around the house,
my dad was a fan.

From my visit to Notre Dame

I especially love when those latter things (even in their clear, colorless forms) are filled with hued liquids, add a splash of sunlight, and it's a thing of pure beauty that warms the heart.  For this reason I've always favored glass to the porcelain mugs that coffees and teas are traditionally served in...they just make the beverage so much prettier and more appetizing, I think!

A cup I took at an outdoor cafe in Amsterdam

So when this new trendy coffee & tea shop, Pour Jon's, opened up in down town Siloam, I was was thrilled to be served our tea in these super cute little glass teapots & cups.  I've gone back to enjoy tea with my husband & friends several times since.

I've always wanted a pretty glass teapot/kettle, and have had them on my registries & wish-lists for a few years now.  I've even admired some really cool ones at Starbucks for awhile.  I've been wanting these certain pots that allow for loose-leaf tea steeping, with their built-in filters.

Click for webpage

But after enjoying a few of the pots at Pour Jon's I noticed that theirs were provided by the Republic of Tea company, and I've officially added their individual personal pot to my list.  Probably the coolest part about them, apart from their simple glass shape, is their clever spiral wire filter that sits in the spout to sift out any leaves from pouring into your cup!  So perfect!  And so pretty to watch all those beautiful tea leaves steeping in the pot without a worry :)

I was just excited about this new little addition to my future dream home.  I can just picture having this pretty little pot and a whole matching set of those cups & saucers for guests to enjoy tea and company together.  I even imagine completing the image with a few large glass canisters on the counter with favorite flavors of their loose leaf teas.  

When I was younger my dad got us a couple cans of Republic of Tea loose leaf teas (I recall the one with the tiger in the label's picture), but I remember not often using it because we didn't have such convenient methods for steeping it.  So this would be a great way to further the tradition of those yummy flavors I'd see at bookstores, and now be able to enjoy with my own grown-up tea set!

Oh, and while re-visiting their site, I found that I'm also in love with these little tea cups too...see, just soo much prettier in glass, where you can see that beautiful, colored liquid!

Tea cups, Republic of Tea.  I'd personally opt for a few sets of the 9oz version.

Custom Camera Bags!

I almost want to keep this one all to myself.  But it's too awesome to keep a secret!  I just stumbled onto this new little business, Porteen Gear, who makes 'design-your-own' custom Camera Bags.  And these things are amazing, and Beautiful!  And I really, really want one, so bad!

Ms. Porteen hand makes each one for you in 2-3 weeks.  You get to choose the leather panels, the color of the waxed canvas shell, the strap color, the interior canvas color (this is where you get to add a real pop of color!), and the unique fabric pattern that gives your bag its own individual style!

They really are perfect!  Heavy duty materials, quality craftsmanship, great storage, and style.  I love that it's made perfectly to fit a DSLR snugly, plus 2 detached lenses, or a flash.  (Looks like it would fit our Canon 7D just right, since she shows hers with a 5D inside!)
It's got great front pockets for lens caps, a pen, and an iPhone; and a great big easy-access front zipper pouch.  There's another perfect Velcro interior pouch that fits an iPad, with foam padding between it and the exterior shell.  Oh and there's the handy foam padding walls that fit inside to protect your lenses & camera body, and they move or come out to customize the storage space/shape inside.

The whole design is just so perfectly utilitarian, and beautiful!  I sure want to carry it around!  It's also really practical, because any photographer that travels knows that thieves know what camera bags look like, and we usually have to cover up the camera brand on the neck strap or not use it at all, to keep from making it more attractive and easy to spot as something worth snatching.  So these pretty bags help conceal what's inside making it less of a target.

She even offers other fun useful stuff, like Gift Certificates, and these wrist straps so you don't have to worry about dropping the camera (I use an annoying less cool version on my tiny point-n-shoot, so this would be a great idea for something like our 7D).

 
And Porteen Gear will also be offering equally-stylish full camera straps (which also solves that aforementioned problem of advertising your high-end camera brand to the world).  Judging by her preview photo, they're gonna be really cool.

You can visit her web site/blog for all the details and customizable options.  But you order the actual product through her Etsy* shop, where she sets up your custom item to order.  Her shop also offers the Gift Certificates that include the shipping amount so the recipient doesn't have to worry about a penny!
The other little extras include- the fact that she sends you a FREE cute little zipper pouch for passports, or whatever, with every bag, and apparently she does a really lovely job with the presentation; gift-wrapping them for no charge, too!

Okay, so I might have gotten a little carried away, and sounding like I was paid for this endorsement or something (I wasn't); I haven't even touched one yet.  But you know when you just find a great product, and get really excited about it?  You gotta share!  And so I am; incase one of you is lucky enough to get one, so that I may then live vicariously through you, until it's my turn ;)

Oh!  And even if you don't order any of the products, she's a got a pretty useful blog there too, sharing traveling and photography tips & tidbits along the way.  I already learned something useful with her advice on keeping these forms in your new bag when traveling abroad, so that you won't have to be stuck paying reentry fees for your gear that was already bought in the US.

Alright, so that was my PSA/wishlist post of the day.
Happy March, by the way!

*Oh yeah, and if you've never heard of, or visited, Etsy.com....you're missing out.  It's a site for small online businesses to solely sell their hand-made goods.  Each Etsy shop offers something amazing from handmade jewelry, clothes, paper goods & stationery, to all kinds of art, and useful tools & trinkets!  It's like a giant arts & crafts bazaar or cool online boutique mall.  If for nothing else visit their shop-by-color page and scroll around on all the colored bubble dots!

PS- (sorry it keeps getting longer)  Porteen Gear also has a new smaller bag design that features a nifty circle pattern on the lid.  Check it out here too  (Though I'm still a fan of the big, original bag).

2011 New Year's card, letter

Hi, All!
So I've already been kindof of bad at keeping in touch here with the blogging, so I think this is the perfect post to just share our annual Holiday Letter with you!
We were so busy having fun with family (and then catching flu) over the Christmas break that we never got a new photo of us for a Christmas card, so we ended up making a New Year's card a little later.  Then school started and all the new projects along with it, so many of them didn't get sent out until pretty late in January.
I'm not very good at getting things mailed/sent in a timely manner especially with our current schedules.  I think I actually have a couple more to try & send out that I didn't have addresses readily available for, and now, to tell you the truth I've kindof lost track of who I've already sent to...so, especially if you're family and you haven't gotten one in the mail yet, send me your current mailing address!
Until then, here are photos of what we sent out and I'll post the typed letter below for you to just read here, digitally :)

We Love you all, and please forgive us for our scatter-brained unorganized methods of communication!

Here's our christmas New Year's card

Here's the front/back of the pretty envelopes I designed to match:

Our letter had to catch up from missing last year's, so it was a little long and needed both sides.  Here's the front:

And the back of our Armstrong family letter:

Here's what the letter says (this version is even cooler than snail-mail because you can click on all the links to see cool images/web pages/videos of what we're talking about in the letter):

January, 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

        Happy New Year to You!  We hope this almost-annual letter finds you well, that this New Year is already starting out promising, and you were able to bring 2010 to a close with loved ones and lots of rest over the Holidays.
        We just enjoyed our 4th Christmas season together as the Armstrongs, though we haven't been so successful at wishing you well & keeping in touch for all of them.  We mailed out our Calvin & Hobbes themed card & letter in ‘07 for our first Christmas, then we were only able to send e-cards w/ a family letter in ‘08 (which can still be viewed in my 'notes' on Facebook), and last year was so crazy you may not have heard from us at all!

It has definitely been a very packed last few years for us.  It seems we've been 'busy' at every turn, since we transferred to John Brown University for our Cinema degrees in Spring ‘08; and we finally just accepted that this was probably going to stay the current status until we finished.  But we are now finally almost there!  

        Obviously we've had a ton of stuff going on since our last update, and one of the biggest was the completion of what we're calling our Senior thesis project.    We're required to produce a Senior Cinema production for our degree, & Andrew and I co-produced a 17 minute short film called From Below, last semester.  It is a sci-fi story, based on Plato's Cave Theory, set in a dystopian society.  It was a huge undertaking, that several of our advisers didn't think could be pulled off, but in the end we were able to hold an official theatrical Premiere at the Siloam Springs 6 movie theatre to a fairly full theater of around 75 people!  We both put a ton of work into almost every area of production, but specifically Andrew did a great job Directing it, and I (Krystal) got some great feedback for my Production Design work.  And Andrew's brother, Frank, gave us amazing lighting as our Gaffer.  We're quite proud of what we accomplished, for a no-budget student film with major time & resource constraints.   You can view it (and many of our other projects) at  Vimeo.com/AndrewArmstrong

        The other thing keeping us so busy last semester was the great opportunity we had working as Student Producers for the video content of the brand new JBU Website, which was just rolled out this month.  We worked super hard with a small team of 3 other underclassmen, and our great boss, Jacob Roebuck, to complete a number of videos you can now see up on the JBU home page (JBU.edu) as well as the 'majors videos' around the site, like on the Cinema page, etc.  We both did a lot of work on different videos in each of these various capacities- directing, producing, shooting, artwork, and conducting interviews, etc.  It was really rewarding to see our professional, quality work now 'published' on an official University web site, which has already got great reviews from the school President & others.

Perhaps even more exciting, though, was our opportunity to intern on the set on of an independent feature film, Searching for Sonny, (complete with well known Hollywood actors, & experienced crew members) this Summer.  We spent literally every waking hour for 3 weeks, working on-set or driving to & from Andrew's generous Grandparents' house to sleep a few hours inbetween work days.  It was hard work, but so very rewarding.  It was a great experience, and as our first narrative movie set w/ a budget, we learned so much more about how things work.  We both did a lot of common Production Assistant stuff, but we also both got to work closely w/ a lot of important people on set too, like the 1st Asst. Director, who took special interest in us and kept Andrew under his wing as a Director in training (which actually got Andrew credited as an Additional 2nd Assistant Director!).  We also got to do things like pick up actors from the air-port, & assist them on set;  Andrew got to drive several of them around a lot (Masi Oka, Minka Kelly, etc.).  I spent a lot of time in Wardrobe where the ladies there really took a liking to me, and on my last day I got to be on the camera crew where they taught me a little on how to use the Red camera, hands-on!  We were both on-screen extras a few times but Andrew even got a couple short roles all dressed up as a cop, complete w/ lines & fake facial hair!  We came away w/ a lot, and really had a blast.

I think there are a few other things that have happened in the last couple years, but those were the big ones for us.  This year, when we graduate & leave this little college town in NW Arkansas, we cannot wait to see where God will lead us after JBU!  If it's simply back to Dallas, where we call home, we'll be overjoyed to be near friends & family again.  But there are even possibilities of the film industry in Vancouver, BC (Canada), which would be just as exciting of a new start!  Either way, we know God has great things in store, and we're excited to discover them soon, thanking Him along long the way for the joy & blessings inbetween!

        Oh, I nearly forgot, on that note, we recently started a little family blog:  Andrew-and-Krystal.blogspot.com   There are only a few posts so far, but we'd love for you to come visit, look around, leave comments, & subscribe or become a 'follower,' so we can keep you in the loop on what these new changes will be as they are uncovered along the way.

We love you all and pray that this coming year, (or heck, even this new decade!) is really filled with His Love, Peace, and Blessings for each of You!  And we'd love to hear from you along the way, as well!  Happy 2011!

Much Love,
Andrew & Krystal Armstrong
Andrew-and-Krystal.blogspot.com

"Vintage" Style

  

Ok, so this might be more modern typography than vintage, I just liked this letterpress (by Capsule)

So I've been going through a real 'love of vintage style' phase for a while now. Not necessarily implemented in my own clothing style yet, but I've had a real thing for it, and love it when I see it, and maybe one day when I can buy a whole new wardrobe, I'd love to infuse it with a lot of new pieces like that.

Letterpress Biz Cards by Two Paper Dolls

I have a sneaking suspicion it all came from a combination of falling in love with vintage letter-press style before I started to get ramped up for the Typography class I knew I'd be taking for Graphic Design here... and having watched Good Night, and Good Luck. I may have always appreciated things about these styles, but it's become more obvious to me in the last few years. This year I'm seeing it come up more referred to as "the Mad Men look." I haven't even seen this show yet, but I think I'd like to. From what I've gathered, I may need to be kindof wary of the content, but the setting & fashion of the time is certainly appealing.

Costume design of Mand Men

So this "look," as far as fashion goes, is really just late '50s / mostly1960s inspired clothing. There's something about it. It gets back to a time of more easily defined/identifiable roles as far as masculinity & femininity; which is kindof refreshing. Ladies were definitely, and quintessentially, feminine. Pretty hair, cinched waists, heels, nice jewelry, pearls, bows, faces made up. Men in their well-tailored suits, ties, and the hats, oh the fedoras! (swoon) Of course I'm idealizing it, but it seemed a very classy time, with a definite sexiness to all that polished simplicity.

 

As I said, this vintage style has also piqued my interest in the Graphic Design area.  I'm really liking older natural looks with texture, and imagery from that time. Though when it comes to paper goods, I admit my taste for older style may actually encompass a much wider time-span, as I see myself drawn to old woodblock prints of things like antique cameras and bicycles, etc.

I adore the blockprint bunnies of Oh, Little Rabbit

TheCraftPantry

Some really cool 'vintage' style letterpress, by Adam Ramerth

All that to say, it's really fun & inspiring. Makes me want to get really creative somehow. So right now, while I can't afford to infuse my wardrobe with it at the moment; I'm hoping to maybe make this year's Arties a "Mad Men" theme...because back then they had some super stylish parties!

And Rachel (my future sister-in-law) has talked about letting me do the invitations & print work designs for all their wedding stuff this Summer...and I would love it, if she would let me work in some of that style/theme in those pieces of her wedding! Especially the letter press stuff. They'd go especially perfectly with her colors of Tiffany Blue & Red :D

Neuhaus Design

MattsonCreative

That's a Wrap!

Principal Photography for From Below, our Sr. Project short film production as Cinema students is officially wrapped! And we celebrated with a Wrap Party tonight. Our last production day was this Saturday, but we did have to go back for one quick pick up shot on Tuesday night that we lost from a corrupted file...but it was all good because we also had the chance to go ahead and do some Publicity/marketing photos for posters, DVD & disc art, etc. Within the last 24 hours I created this movie poster for the wrap party tonight so we could have it printed out to unveil. We had two, and got almost everybody from the Cast & Crew to sign the posters with a silver sharpie. (If you didn't come to the party, & helped with production, please let us know so we can get you to sign them too!)

It was a pretty fun little party, a chance to thank our awesome team for all their endless hours, help, and dedication. Andrew and our awesome Editor/Script Supervisor, Katy, cut together a quick blooper reel, a production still photo loop to roll while people came in, and a few rough cuts of some new scenes no one had seen yet. We had a celebratory cookie cake, punch, & popcorn, and we were so happy to get such a nice turn out. I think most of our cast/crew, and supporters were there with just a couple missing.

The scenes are looking good, and the bloopers were really funny...and those weren't nearly all of them. I think it will be really fun to have an official complete blooper reel for the DVD. All of our cast and crew will be getting a copy and a credit, and obviously some fun memories & experience!

The room was filling up in anticipation!

Tucker came in late & missed all the scenes we showed, so we had a special 2nd viewing for him & those that stuck around

The Director & our two Stars!

It's due on December 8th for our Senior Project class, so we should have a really nice finished product then. Though we may make some more final adjustments to really perfect it after the course deadline too, but intime for the portfolio show we'll be in for Sr. Portfolio class next Spring during our last semester.

Obviously our post production team of editors, music composers, & audio guy still have a lot of work ahead of them, and I've got a lot more promotional material & artwork to design, but we're looking forward to a great finished piece. You should be able to follow along in its progress on our Foothold Productions blog too. And Andrew just made a Facebook 'Page' we'd love for you to "like." Look for a sidebar link to Foothold's blog, coming soon.