Long time no blog!

I always thought it suspicious when bloggers disappeared from their online life with no indication as to why. Did they die? Did something horrible happen to them? Were they mugged and their laptop taken? Or, most likely, did the aliens win?


I am sad to admit that I have been that kind of blogger over the past year. I won't make up excuses because I know I have been spending my time well and fully, though sadly at the expense of my jewelry business :( Over the past year, we moved from Los Angeles to Kansas City, I enrolled in a hospital residency program, we bought a house, adopted another dog, and on and on and on. Just as the past year has been busy with a ton of random things, I too have managed to get myself fully involved in a tom of random projects - all of which has compromised Bead Up's time yet have led to another super fun hobby/business. That's right, I've picked up another craft... Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you... Batter Up:

Yup, watching Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes has left me thinking, "Hey, I bet I could make something fun and delicious, too!" So I took it upon myself to learn. After making a big ole' raspberry lemonade cake rolled in fondant and polka dots, I took it into work to get rid of it. Instead of coming home with just an empty cake platter, I came home with orders from people who wanted more! Though I never had the intention of selling my experiments, I have had a blast being ::paid:: essentially to get to know my cake making tools and techniques. It's a win-win! 


After a lot of thinking, I have decided to expand Bead Up to include it's sister project, Batter Up! Bead Up, Batter Up, and a link to this blog can be found at my newest website, christynk.com. 


As soon as I fully move into my new craft room and unpack a bunch of new Bead Up supplies I picked up while in LA a few weeks ago, Bead Up will be back in the swing of things! Stay tuned, and thanks for staying loyal!

I love you, Wednesdays.

Because, seriously, Friday is still 2 days away.

I love you, Wednesdays is my bloggin' attempt at a.) shutting up about my products and sharing the love of others' with others! and b.) sharing sources of inspiration that often stands behind my jewelry and creative process. In honor of my wedding anniversary coming up, this Wednesday I am lovin' my favorite color/design scheme: Black and White polka dots and Red Roses. Thankfully I am not alone, look at these great finds!

fabricfarrago, charmsnfindings, thecrochetdiva, JulieAnnA, risamay, AlasMyDear, kaityscreations, DaogreerEarthWorks, sweetside, OneManPaperShow, fotostrudel, leosmani, HopePhotoArt, meringueshop, PuppyDogsNPolkaDots, mollyannemake Make sure you visit their Etsy shops!

I would like to say that, for the record, I am pretty sure I STARTED the polka dot fad. Really. I started buying/making polka dot things back in 2003 - long before Target's One-Spot was exploding with Polka Dot stationary or the scrapbook stores saw the value of investing in everything dotty. Before he even asked, I told the Hubs that I would only marry him if he was cool with a black and white polka dot wedding (with red roses). He figured that, since he was the dude, he wasn't allowed to have a say anyway, and thus gladly obliged. Haha - sweet. At first finding polka dot things for the wedding was hard. Then the rest of America caught onto MY fad and we had stuff coming out of our ears. For the Christmas before our wedding, about 9 out of every 10 gifts I received had something to do with dots or red roses. Even our engagement party theme - and cake - was black and white polka dot themed (made by my dear friend Kris, click here to see the website I created for his cake business!). Before long we had more than enough black and white polka dot napkins, plates, cards, ribbons, even stamps. And when people heard of our theme and saw something dotty there after, guess whose house it ended up in? Don't get me wrong, I was totally grateful for all that we had been given. But it spun out of control after awhile and before we knew it, I had more dots than I knew what to do with. I had three wedding showers and an engagement party - all polka dots and red rose themes. Thankfully the dots weren't too out of control during the wedding - and no one told me they were seeing spots by the time the party was over! Here are a few of my favs:

I wore a Target swimsuit cover-up dress the day of my wedding and matching b/w polka dot flip flops! And yes, that's a fuzzy bride/groom hat on my head. Don't ask.

OUR. CAKE. ROCKED.

For their gift, we gave each groomsman a dotted tie with their initials monogrammed on the bottom.

A few ladies from church decided to make us a quilt with Black and White quilt squares, each signed by a wedding guest! The finished quilt now hangs in my craft room and is BEAUTIFUL!

The tables were adorned with real roses in vases, rose petals, rose candies, favors, one-use cameras, and polka dot napkins. Overload yet?

My mom spent months making these faux red rose balls for the white chairs going up the aisle. After the ceremony we brought them into the reception hall and put them on the head table. Two for one! (photo by good friend Josh)

We also had a retro photo booth at our reception, which turned out to be one of the main attractions of the evening! I provided the scrapbook materials, and everyone put at least one of their snapshots from the booth into a scrapbook right there, which became our guest book! (spread the love at their website!)

This is what happens when you have a scarf and photo frames you don't know what to do with.

I even tried to show the black and white lovin' in our outfits. We requested that the guests all wear black and white, which turned out perfectly and added an extra dimension of fun. Everyone looked great! Especially my saucy bridesmaids! (photo by Corey - click on his link to see more of our wedding pictures featured on his front page!)

So, what colors inspire you today?