Our Featured Guest Star- While He Was Napping

Today, we are welcoming Krista from While he was Napping. Krista comes to us all the way from Nevada. My buddy, Tom Selleck and his mustache wanted to make her feel at home. He had elaborate plans to turn the Green Room into a casino in her honor. I had to veto it as I told him that just because you’re from Nevada doesn’t make you a gambler. Heck, I’m from the south and I do not own a single pair of Daisy Duke shorts and grits kinda gross me out. So he decided instead to set up the Monopoly game, make some snackies and invite a few of his friends over. I think he is pouting…

So he invited Brad Pitt, The Situation and Simon Cowell. I’m not quite sure if my Green Room can hold that much ego, but I guess we’ll find out. Unfortunately, Brad is babysitting so he had to bring all of his kids and they are currently eating all the cheese doodles and touching the walls with their orange fingers.

The Situation and Simon both got into an ego match right away and have pulled off their shirts. Which I may have to put a stop to as I’ve seen enough of the Situation’s abs to last me a lifetime, and then there is Simon. Well, lets just say that the Seinfeld episode involving the “Manzier” or “Bro” applies. I think I’m going blind… Brad called Angie and asked permission to take off his shirt, but was apparently told no. Which I’m sorry about because that certainly might have made my day. And totally would have made up for all the orange fingerprints.

So while the Monopoly/ego game continues, lets take a few moments to talk to Krista.

Suzy: Tell me a little about yourself, your family, your other hobbies…
Krista: First, I wanna say “Thanks” to Suzy for having me, I’m so thrilled she asked me to come hang out! Uhm, well, I am a twenty-something wife and stay at home mommy. I have been married to my Mr. Right for just over two and a half years now. My husband is my best friend in the whole wide world. He is in the Army National Guard, so we get to experience the unique lifestyle that is the military. The only way to really understand it is to live it. My Mr. Right and I have one adorable little boy that keeps me on my toes (in running leaps and bounds, trying to keep up with him). He is so full of curiosity and mischief. I call him my exercise program.

Krista: My other hobbies include photography, designing digital scrapbook kits, hanging out with my boys, baking, traveling, and find other frugal ways to have fun. Creating keeps me sane.

Suzy: When and why did you start blogging, and where would you like your blogging to lead?
Krista: Well, I started out with a family blog to keep our family and friends updated on our lives. And because I’m horrible at keeping a journal. That way I felt a little responsible to actually record things! During our first year of marriage, my husband was gone with the Army a lot and I had to find things to occupy my time. Enter crafting! I’ve always had a creative side and I’ve been sewing since I was in junior high. I took to our little house like a mad woman with my paints, vinyl, and sewing machine.

Krista: I had a friend introduce me to Etsy last winter. I opened up a shop and set up a blog with the hopes of getting rich and famous. However, back in real life, my son was dealing with chronic ear infections, my husband was prepping for deployment and then he lost his civilian job. And I had exactly 4 Etsy sales. Things were tight to say the least.

Krista: We ended up moving quite abruptly and life was thrown all out of whack. Things finally settled down enough and I decided I wanted to try again with the whole business idea around the end of July, after I had been blog stalking a few craft blogs. Since then I’ve been posting at least once a day, Monday thru Friday. What started out as trying to grow my business has turned into becoming a part of the craft blog community. It feels good to make a sale, but nice comments and watching my number of followers increase are what really make my day! It’s so nice that people I don’t know can appreciate my work. One day, I’d love to be a big blog… but I’m ok being a little people too.

Suzy: Name a few of your favorite websites that you go to for inspiration.
Krista: Well, I was addicted to A Girl and a Glue Gun. Still am, but don’t quite have the blog stalking time like I used to. Takes a lot of time to run your own blog. Also enjoy Love, Actually. It’s my inspiration for my Thoughtful Thursday pieces. Recently discovered The Dating Divas, Remodelaholic, Momma’s Kinda Crafty, All Thingz Related, I Heart Naptime, and so many others… And, while I do enjoy the “big blogs”, sometimes I prefer the little people. They aren’t as intimidating and I feel like “if they can do that, so can I!”

Suzy: You seem to do a bit of everything . And you have so many special events coming up. Can you tell us about them?
Krista: I swear I have craft A.D.D. Actually, it’s more of a sense of curiosity. I see something and I think, “Wow, that’s so cool. I wonder if I could do that? I bet I could.” My husband and I actually make a great team when it comes to this. I tell him my idea and he helps me figure out a way to make it happen. He’s the logic to most of my projects. He’s also more of a perfectionist than I am, so he probably deserves the credit for some of the aesthetically pleasing aspects of my projects too.

Krista: I do have a TON of stuff happening at While He Was Napping. I was filling out the calendar and almost sent my head spinning. Am I crazy? Guess we’ll find out. We’re gonna have a lot of fun though. I recently started a Weekly Link Party, Weekend Wander, that starts Friday evening and lasts til midnight Sunday night. I love hosting parties, so it was really only a matter of time before I started doing it online as well.

Krista: I have a couple special features coming up in November. Follower Features and Etsy Exclusives. I’m excited to start those. I’m still looking for people to feature so if you’re interested, send me an email. I’m also doing a big Etsy sale the end of November. Perfect timing for Holiday gifts (hint, hint!)

Krista: There will also be a 12 (week)Days of Christmas event starting Dec 1st. I’m gonna show you fun, inexpensive ways to bring the Holiday spirit. This is my favorite time of the year and I want everyone to celebrate with me, regardless of what you’re celebrating.

Suzy: With the husband and the baby and your real life and all, how do you make time to blog? I know first hand how time-consuming a good blog is. How do you schedule it all in?
Krista: I’ll be honest, I’m still trying to figure this one out. It’s tough to get your name out there and find ways to distinguish yourself from everyone else. At first I was so competitive. I felt like I had to visit all these blogs and leave all these comments and link to all these parties and promote all these events and add all these links back to parties and blah, blah, blah. It was all about the numbers to me. I wasn’t enjoying it and it got to the point where I had to decide whether I really wanted to do this or not.

Krista: I’ve relaxed a lot and have come to a point where I blog for me. Not my Etsy shop, not because I have a schedule, not because I need my followers to increase or my traffic stats to rise. I do it because I want to, and if people like it and want to follow along with me in my adventures, I welcome the company. It’s all about quality, not quantity.

Krista: I have also learned to always put my family first. The time we have together isn’t always abundant, so I try not to blog much on the weekends and other times we do get to be together. That’s our time. (I’ll admit, I do link to parties, leave comments to those who link to Weekend Wander, and browse other link parties on the weekends.) But, the blogosphere comes after my family.

Suzy: I believe a crafter’s space tells a lot about them. Can you tell me about yours?
Krista: Oh my. I was dreading this question. Well, here’s my sob story: My son was born in July 2009. The hospital bills arrived shortly after. My husband had a good job, although the hours were long. We were using the extra money to pay off the bills. My husband’s company was a start-up and the previous investors (before he had found Biotech Sektor Aktien kaufen) abruptly pulled all the funding. Everyone lost their jobs in a heartbeat. I found this out from a text message my husband sent while he was drilling with the Army. He found out from a buddy he worked with. Surprise! So, now we have no job, no money and no prospects since my husband would only need employment for a few months before his unit deployed to Iraq. Out of desperation, we asked family members if they knew of any jobs. My dad called about 9:30pm on a Friday night and by Tuesday morning we had our first load of stuff packed and headed southwest. I guess we were moving.

Krista: What does all of this have to do with my craft space? Well, we moved in with my parents (and, unfortunately, are still here). I don’t really have a craft space. It’s our bedroom, which thrills my Mr. Right. NOT! When and where ever I can find an empty space, I craft. I’ve joked about changing my Etsy shop’s name to “Please Move Me Out of my Mom’s House”. But someday, I will have a craft room that is to die for.

Krista: I am going to be doing another giveaway once I hit 300 followers. It will be something from my Etsy store. I haven’t decided whether I’m just going to pick something or if I will leave the choosing to the winner. I don’t have any sponsors, but if there is any interest in sponsoring While He Was Napping, please let me know. I will continue to do my daily posts, Monday through Friday. If anyone has a desired to be featured, please contact me at whilehewasnapping@gmail. I will be doing a BIG sale in my Etsy shop from the 26th through the 30th of November. I will also be adding quite a few more items, so make sure to check those out!

Looks like Simon might have won the game. He gave The Situation a hand mirror and promptly stole Boardwalk and Park Place. The Situation hasn’t noticed yet. I would congratulate Simon, but last time I spoke with him, he felt the need to judge my outfit, which started out with, “I’m not being rude but…”

I still haven’t recovered.