New Spring Stitched Bow Necklaces

Well well, I'm a romantic at heart. What can I say? As some of you may know, I recently quit my day job to fulfill my dream of working full time through my Etsy account. I'm a metalworking artist, a beading artist, and general costume jewelry designer. Yesterday was my day "off" but what did I end up doing? It was the most perfect Spring day we've had yet in Michigan and I perched myself up on the picnic table in the backyard and stitched all day long. What I came up with are these adorable little bow necklaces and soon to come . . . shoe clips. My love for shoes is understated so far in my blog. I'm a bit of a shoe-a-holic. I admit.

Hi, my name is Rose Kren and I'm a shoe-a-holic.


Let me know what you guys think of my new stitched beaded bows!

This little Something Blue will be made into shoe clips for a special Spring bride.

Week 2 - Killed It

Hey guys! It's week two of my new work out plan. I've been working on incorporating better regulated food into my plan. Trying to eat six times a days is killer for a non-chef! BUT, I still move forward. A GNC is perfectly placed next to my gym and I picked up some protein meal replacement shakes to fill in my two snacks between meals. I also picked up some stomach and thigh fat burning liquid to take before I eat. We'll see what it does! :) So far I'm happy with the results. If you missed the work out plan it is as follows:

-10 minutes of intense interval cardio (2 minutes as fast as I can, 2 minutes with huge resistance)
-Weight lifting core body focus
-10 minutes of intense interval cardio as above
-Weight lifting arms
-10 minutes of intense interval cardio
-Weight lifting arms
-10 minutes of intense interval cardio
-Weight lifting core body focus

(I then flip the arms and legs out every other day)

Progress thus far . .  .

Products from GNC:

GNC Total Lean Shake Vanilla Bean: Protein Meal Replacement (between meals)
&
Re-Body SafSlim: Breakthrough Belly Fat Solution in Tangerine (take twice a day before meals)

Failboat

If you follow me as of late you know about my new workout plan. I'm sincerely enjoying how rigorous it is. It's incredibly difficult, but I'm seeing results so quickly that I love it. However, yesterday I tried to squeeze into the "best" part of my day. Which landed after church before lunch. Fail! I was so incredibly weak compared to my usual vitality. I still made it through, but could really see a difference in my performance. I came home from the two hour long escapade at the gym and walked sluggishly inside the house. My husband saw my need for food instantly and, thank God, jumped to make me an amazing plate of pecan encrusted salmon over a bed of whole wheat noodles and veggies. Thank GOD for an amazing HUSBAND!

Lesson learned, plan OUT my food! I had eaten a healthy breakfast of Heart to Heart cereal by Kashi. Had plenty of water, but needed some serious protein.

NEW addition to plan: EAT every meal and try to incorporate two small snacks between meal.

I'll let you know how this goes. I'm working on getting a protein shake . . . any good suggestions for females?

Healthy is Pretty

I was at work one day and this girl, a sophomore in college, starts going through her feed on Facebook. One of her girlfriends had posted a picture of her "Box Gap". She makes a sound of disdain and I look at her, "what?". She says, "Have you heard about this Box Gap thing? It's all over Tumblr and now girls my age are taking pictures of their Box Gap to show the world".  She visits Tumblr's site and goes through feed after feed of pictures of girls thighs right below the pelvis. Even more disturbing was the feed of girls desperate to get the same results on their body.

I believe 100% in being a healthy beautiful woman. I believe everyone can be beautiful in their own way. This was a flashback to middle school for me. All the girls throwing up in the bathrooms. The girls saying I REALLY looked good after I had had the flu for two weeks not able to eat at all. That kind of impression sticks with a girl. It took a fantastic husband constantly reminding me of MY personal beauty to get my head out of that mindset.  Here's what I've found online so far about this horrid popular body style:

First of all, it's a matter of how wide your hips are. So if you've got narrow hips girls, I'm sorry you're most likely not to have Box Gap. Second, who needs sticks for legs? You have to get around don't you? I think I could strangle a man with how strong my thighs are, what's sexier? :)

Below are pictures I found online and comments real girls left on Tumblr:

The same girl who added the words above wrote from the quote below: Can I be skinny now?

MAKE NO MISTAKE, HEALTHY IS PRETTY.

This is me. I work out five times a week and eat really healthy. I have NO box gap. But I'm pretty sure I could strangle a man with my thighs :)

Home is wherever I'm with you

My husband and I got married and things were oh so perfect. Sure I'll make coffee, would you love a foot rub? Everything came so easy, until we had to pick out the coffee table. He grew up with vintage furniture and chests, while I was raised with glass and metal accents in a relatively updated house. Not to say one is better than the other, we were just in totally opposite ends of the spectrum. While we found our "meet in the middle" ground and steadied our minds on Cherry color wood accents, we've started finding out personal style together. These are some pictures of the home currently. It's by no means finished, but on it's way to reflecting ourselves more. Accents include: rustic wood and polished wood, wainscotting, wood floors, aztec patterns, heavy quilts, prints and color, shiny metallics, seashells and beach sand. What do you think?

I work OUT!

So originally when I started this blog I just wanted it to be about me and my life. My husband was gone working as a general manager for a restaurant, and as we all know that means 80 hour work weeks. I was home alone with the dogs A LOT. So I thought it'd be more of a journal.

Over the past couple of months it's merged into somewhat of a blog about my business .sprouts. I design and create metal work jewelry all by hand. It's a fantastic job and I couldn't ask for more. My lovely followers have made it lucrative enough for me to quit my day job and do what I love full time out of my own home! It's incredible.

Then my love for design and fashion came into play and my husband (who no longer is a general manager, thank God) began taking pictures of me in fun colorful outfits. My friends urged me to begin incorporating fashion into my blog.

AND NOW . . . I've always been into health and fitness. My husband and I try to grow our own vegetables in the garden of our backyard every summer, eat off the land. We're pretty much down to chicken and fish, veggies, rices and beans. We're not big bread eaters or dairy eaters since I'm lactose intolerant. I've always been a runner. For the past three years I've ran the 25K Grand Rapids River Bank Run (that's 16 miles for those who aren't into Kilometers). It's the largest one in the USA marking at over 20,000 runners. It's an incredible feeling to run with that much energy around you! And to see others help one another across the finish line. Last year I saw a veteran run the entire race with a United States flag, talk about some pride in your country! It's absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever been a part of. Well, this year I'm upping my training to include more weight lifting in addition to my cardio routine.

 ROUTINE:

-10 minutes of cardio (2 minutes fast paced - not much resistance + 2 minutes of huge resistance x repeat for ten minutes)
-Back and Stomach exercises (core techniques)
-10 minutes of cardio as above (if running I run on 5.8 for 2 minutes and then 7.5 for two minutes x repeat for ten minutes)
-Leg and Arm exercises (limbs)
-10 minutes of cardio
- Back and Stomach exercises
-10 minutes of cardio
-Leg and Arm exercises

This routine takes me about an hour and a half to do. But it's working! The picture of me on the beach was just in December. I was running a month before that. And I've run a little since then, but tore a muscle in late December and was off of my leg until February. I incorporated running/elliptical loosely to about 3 days a week to build my leg back up.

Then for the past two weeks I've been running 4-5 times a week, and the past week changing it up to the routine above. It's been so encouraging so far so I thought I'd share. I didn't read this plan out of a magazine or anything, I just took the bits I know about exercise and made my own routine.

 

Just Another Studio Monday

Yesterday I did get out 5 orders in the mail and it was technically my day off. But when you love what you do so much, you do it even in your spare time. So yesterday, I set my husband up with a new video game and new surround sound headphones (which I, by the way, find redundant when we already own surround sound. . . why would you want headphones, not that I mind) and got myself to work in the studio. These were things that I found myself creating. More ideas to come!

All of them are available on my Etsy site if you're interested! https://www.etsy.com/listing/128218759/dry-bones-staggard-ring-sterling-silver?ref=shop_home_active https://www.etsy.com/listing/128217624/home-is-wherever-im-with-you-sterling?ref=shop_home_active https://www.etsy.com/listing/128216403/treble-clef-sterling-silver-ring-with?ref=shop_home_active Thanks for looking folks!