Hi! I'm Krista! It's great to meet you! I'd love to tell you a little bit about myself.
My husband and I live just east of Dallas, TX with our 16 year old daughter. We also have an 18 year old son who is off in college. We have called this area our home since 2012.
I grew up in South Texas, in a semi-small town between Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Growing up, my family had a little bit of land and we raised show goats and had a couple horses. I remember heading out right after school on horseback with one of my good friends and not coming back home until the sun went down. We would spend hours riding our horses all over the back roads. It was a great childhood and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Another thing that I picked up in my youth was a love of sewing. My great-grandmother would sit me on her lap as a baby while she was sewing. As a young child, I learned the basics of sewing and as a teen, I jumped into garment sewing. I competed in sewing competitions through 4H and even started designing some of my own dresses. My junior year of high school, I made my prom dress on a vintage treadle sewing machine. My mom still has that treadle machine.
In my early 20s, I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival for the first time and fell in love with historical costuming, especially corsetry. I started making my own corsets and garb.
When I became a mother, especially after my daughter was born, I started sewing children's clothing. My daughter, H, had so many custom dresses as a child! I still loved renaissance costume sewing and noticed a huge lack of children's garb. My kids loved going to the renaissance faires, but not many people were selling clothing in their sizes. So I started making my own. That's when my first business was born, MaeFlowers & JuneBugs.
Having a daughter, and being a little fantasy-obsessed myself, I was excited to see my favorite embroidery designer release designs for fairy wings. But I didn't just want to embroider them on a shirt, I did that first and it was kinda boring. I had to go big with it! My embroidered fairy wings started to take on a life of their own.
As adorable as they were, I knew they could become so much more! Over the next few years, I was constantly changing and improving the design. They started out as small wings that attached to a bodice with velcro and became large, double-sided wings that could be worn with elastic straps or could be held in place in a corset with no straps. The largest pair I ever made had a wing span of just over 3 feet.
However, as a homeschooling mom with kids who were active in sports and other activities, I didn't have the time to devote to having my own shop at a renaissance festival, so I ended up closing the business.
When H was about to start 7th grade, she decided that she wanted to play club volleyball, so I ended up returning to the workforce to fund club fees and tournament expenses. I started working at a daycare and fell in love with the infant room. After 3 1/2 years, though, I needed a change. I was able to take a position at my kids' school in the special education department.
Last year, I started really thinking about what I want to do. My kids were both in high school, with my oldest was about to graduate, and I want to do something I love when they're out of the house. So I started planning what Krista Gets Creative will look like. At first, I just wanted to offer custom shirts and embroidery, but the "Creative" part of my soul has taken over and I recently got into (i.e.- addicted to) making tumblers. But I couldn't let go of my love of fabric, so all of my tumblers feature my favorite fabrics! I also do enjoy my sewing time, so I am offering small sewn items, like lanyards and wallets.
I outgrew the name Krista Gets Creative, and in July 2023, I rebranded as Grunge+Grace. My name is inspired by my love of both grunge fabrics and music, plus God's grace, without which I couldn't do any of this!
I hope you enjoy the things that I create and they at least bring a smile to your face!