IMP AND PETAL
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • BLOG
  • HAIR EXTENSIONS
    • Prices
    • Links & Info
    • Custom Orders
    • Gallery of Styles
  • ACCESSORIES
  • SHOP
  • CONTACT
    • JOIN THE MAILING LIST
    • SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES

The Spirit of Giving : An Imp And Petal Love Bomb

12/16/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture


  By now, most of you have experienced at least one of our Love Bombs. Every so often, we pick a cause (anything from awesome projects that need help, to struggling people that need a little extra kindness sent their way), and put a call out to our tribe to try and send a little love in whatever way they can. The idea is to expand the reach of the cause as much as we can, shower support upon them and make someone's day AWESOME. 

This week, for our holiday edition, we asked you all to let us know if there was a cause you would like us to consider. Dana Eskes, one of my most cherished clients, would like to tell you the story of the Brann Family.  Take it away, Dana! 



Picture
PictureSebastian & his late brother Taylor
I’d like to introduce you to the Brann Family.  A.J. and Jessica were married on May 19, 2007 and reside in Holland, Michigan. Together, they have four beautiful little boys: Taylor, Sebastian, Edison and Baxter.

I do not personally know the Brann family, but they are from my community. The children’s hospital where their sons have been/are being treated is a place my family knows well. We have a son who has been seen there many times over the last 13 years.

I have a very close personal friend who has three adult children. I’ve known her and her children for 14 years and consider them to be an extension of my own family. Her sons were childhood friends with A.J. Brann. My friend’s sons met A.J. through a mutual friend when they were about 10 years old. They were on a Rocketry Team together, and A.J. also played football with one of the boys on a homeschool team. They were good friends for many years. They have shared the Brann family’s story with me, and I am sharing it with you.

The Brann family has been on a heartbreaking journey with FSGS. FSGS is a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering units (glomeruli) causing serious scarring which leads to permanent kidney damage and even failure. FSGS is one of the causes of a serious condition known as Nephrotic Syndrome.

More detailed info on FSGS can be found here: http://nephcure.org/

Taylor was diagnosed with FSGS in January of 2013 at the age of 4. He spent several months courageously fighting the disease, but sadly he passed away from complications of FSGS on May 27, 2013.

In December of 2013, Sebastian was also diagnosed with FSGS. He has been hospitalized many times this past year as he battles this disease. A.J. and Jessica’s parents have been caring for the youngest two children while they have been at the children’s hospital with Sebastian. This week Wednesday (December 17), Sebastian is currently scheduled for a nephrectomy to remove his diseased kidneys. This will be done in hopes to stabilize his condition. After the surgery, Sebastian will then begin dialysis. If the hospital is able to stabilize Sebastian, he would then be a candidate for a kidney transplant. As the family awaits Sebastian’s surgery, they have been stunned with the news that their youngest son, Baxter, may have also developed FSGS. Preliminary tests show he is spilling protein, but it will take a kidney biopsy to give a definitive diagnosis of FSGS. This will likely be performed next week (the week of Christmas, 2014).
Picture
Picture
Due to the time he had to be away caring for Taylor during his illness, A.J... lost his job. He is a talented musician and videographer. Securing gainful employment during this time has been near impossible for him as he needs to be with his wife and his son during his hospitalization.
They have a Facebook page where you can follow their journey and offer support and encouragement:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Brann-Familys-Journey/310545679067665

I’ve personally witnessed this community of artists come together in amazing ways to support those in times of need. Please join me in coming together now to shower this family with love to help lift their spirits during their time of greatest need.
Picture


There is a GoFundMe campaign currently running to help the Brann Family with the costs of medical care not covered by insurance for both Taylor and Sebastian.
DONATE HERE!
Cards and gifts may be sent via postal mail to the following address:

Sebastian Brann and Family
Room 702
Helen DeVos Children's Hospital
100 Michigan St NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503



Thank you for anything you can send!

Peace & Love
Dana

*hands out tissues* Everybody good? Now go squeeze your kids/pets/parents/everyone you love and get back here to start doing what you can to help cradle this family in a net of warm fuzzy love and comfort. 


HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP: 


DONATE to the GoFundMe campaign. If you've ever heard the term "American Health Care Crisis", I do not need to explain why this is so vitally important. 

Send cards, gifts, letters of support etc. to the hospital. We wrote and asked AJ if there was anything they or the boys needed. He graciously said they were pretty much good on all necessities, although he would really like to have a laptop so he can try to double task working and being at the hospital with the kids. One of you out there has to know someone that knows someone that can hook this guy up with a shiny new computer. Faith in humanity testing, ready set go.

A.J. is (as you can tell!) a phenomenal photographer. Support his art by following here: 
 https://www.facebook.com/AJBrannproductions and if you're a Michigan local, book a casual shoot with flexible hours, just in case. Understanding clients are the BEST.  

Also, scared moms need chocolate, bath bombs and massages. Just sayin'. That pretty lady up there in those pictures needs a virtual hug just as much as those precious kids. Sebastian is my son's age. I just can't even imagine. 

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO IS SHARE THIS STORY. You never know who's hands it may end up in, and how they might be able to help. I will put share links below. Please ask others to send some love and pass it on. 

I know you guys will make this beautiful family smile. Let's make some magic and shine it on bright!  

❤ Kristina

Credits:
HUGE thanks to guest writer Dana Eskes for being one of the single most generous and caring people I have never met.  May love flow back to you eternally, my dear. Many, many thanks. 

All family photos are the property of and borrowed with permission from the Brann family.  (All our love to you guys). 
0 Comments

10 Things you (never) wanted to know about me

12/11/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
Recently I've been putting out a lot of social media prompts inviting you all to introduce yourselves a little to me and to each other, and it's been really gratifying. So many names I've seen pop up over the years are finally getting little tidbits of information attached to them, and I feel like some of you are starting to build friendships with one another, or at best that little red flag of recognition is there when you happen to meet in other communities. Social media is pretty awesome like that.  Community is rad!
So, in light of this recent call for connected-ness (and thanks to a prompt from the ever supportive Robin Waters of Peacock Dreams), this blog is going to detail some random facts about your very own Wizard Behind the Curtain:  Kristina Smith of Imp and Petal Dreads & Accessories.  Feel free to skim over the things that might interest you and leave the rest, it got a little lengthy! <3



Picture
It's pretty darn common in the handmade world for small businesses (especially online) to come second to a "day job". Well, my "day job" is actually a night job, and it happens to take a back burner to this here wacky world of whimsical delights. A few times a month I head into a salon downtown at which I cut, color and install extensions into clients' hair.  While I really enjoy that part of my job, I put the majority of my efforts into creating my form of art here in the home studio and maintaining the business online. The amount of hours I work unpaid is immense.  All of my marketing, web design and maintenance, email-answering, design consulting, social networking, etc. is done by me, personally, and off the clock. During studio hours (of which I typically get between 5 - 25 hours per week), I am working mostly on creations, and usually on dreads.  Any profit from my designs goes directly into our rent and my student loan from cosmetology school. There is rarely anything left after that, but when there is, it always goes back into the business for things like business cards, printer ink, a new steamer after I've violently run mine right into the ground, or materials to work on pre-made designs or new prototypes. 

Getting lost in that world of color and texture is my ultimate happy place. Music blaring, rainbows swirling, ideas burning holes in my brain...  that's my everything.  That's why I go through life with decade old underwear. I'm not even kidding. I totally wish I was kidding! 

My ultimate goal for Imp And Petal is to put enough in, and build it up to the point where I can give another creative wonderful person or two a job working with me, and being able to add more readily available merchandise to adorn the bodies and hearts and souls of all these amazing people that keep coming back to tell me how I've helped them to find themselves somehow. Helped them to feel empowered, beautiful, strong. I want to do that for every single person that would like me to, forever. I want to be able to hold HUGE charity events. Offer pay-what-you-can dread sets every once in a while. Spread my art and my love as far as it will possibly go. 

You know, typical stuff.  


Picture
No, guys, seriously. It's like... really bad. 
But it doesn't matter at all, because I am absolutely CRAZY IN LOVE with it. I don't know if I have loved any hobby this much ever.  Why my mother didn't shove one of these magical four-stringed wood and plastic contraptions into my hands when I was 14 and horrified and angsty and miserable and said, "Hey, kid, take this and go work some shit out" I will NEVER UNDERSTAND.  I mean I guess she tried, with a piano. It isn't the same. (I still love you, Mom). 
A few weeks ago, I managed to have the honor of handing my shitty little Makala Dolphin over to probably the only famous person I have ever felt even close to calling my hero; the woman for whom I owe my nerve to pick the thing up in the first place; and asking her to sign it. That was the best night ever.  I probably wouldn't have had the courage to do it at all if it weren't for Whitney over at DarcRainbow.com. She said if I didn't take it and hand it over in the signing line, she would intentionally neglect to  learn to play the mini accordion she has.  I expect all of you to assist me in making her follow through on that promise.  Maybe one day we'll do a little US road-tripping tour, installing dreads, doing private dreadmaking lessons and playing really bad music for people we love in living rooms across the country. ;)
Picture
My signed Uke and copy of The Art of Asking, by Amanda Palmer. I recommend one of each.

Picture
If there is any way to make me love you instantly, it is with a bath bomb extended in my direction. "Please, go peacefully enjoy this magical experience." Yup, a bath bomb for sure.  Or a bubble bar. Or a massage bar. Or a shampoo bar. Or perfume stick. Or face scrub. Or... or.. or... 

Seriously though, never in my life have I been so madly in love with a product line. I would marry LUSH. For real. 
(That ain't no affiliate link yo, I just really love Lush, dammit). 

Picture
Picture
Some of you probably know this already, but I'm married to a blacksmith (Day Job: Produce manager at our local grocery) and we have a little boy, Lo, who is two parts terror and one part perfection.  I'm allowed to say that. I'm his mom.  
He's 3. Sometimes he says really hilarious stuff which I try to keep a running tab of via twitter. Most of the time I want to lock him in the basement. I'm stopped of course by the fact that we don't have a basement. There are days, though, when I'm pretty sure I just want to go ahead and make one to put him in. Dig it out. With my bare hands. 

What you should be taking away from this is that I hate every three year old in existence. Don't get yours near me, thanks, I have had quite enough. Also, the next time you're quick to judge some lady that looks like she hasn't showered in days, shaved in months, has a coffee stain running right over her left tit, a twitching eye, and is trying like hell to reason with a young child with absolutely no patience in the world remaining, you should switch off the judgeblinders and go offer her a (very large) cup of coffee and a kind word. 

(Seriously though, I love my kid. Mostly. Ask me again in about 6 months).


Picture
This one's hard to write about. I am undiagnosed. I can't even bring myself to see a specialist.  #1, because phones freak me out.  Driving there, if I don't specifically already know the route to get there, freaks me out. Walking into an unfamiliar office, really freaks me out. Having to talk to anyone other than those I have talked myself into talking to (ie: receptionist, doctor) totally freaks me out. How much it will cost sends me over the edge.  

We're getting invited to children's birthday parties now, (which are hell for anyone, anxiety or not... unless I throw them, in which case fun is had by all and I'm not even sorry for bragging about it) and just... God help me. 

Anti-anxiety medications are always bound together with depression medications... and while I also struggle with depression, much of it stems from my problems with anxiety. I don't really fancy the thought of tackling them in reverse order. Also, I don't want to mess with my creativity.

 So this is all a battle I am smack in the middle of and scared, all the time. Not sure where that's headed. For now, as long as I can make beautiful things, I'm okay. 



Picture
It took a crafty writer to pull me away from Chuck Palahniuk, but over a decade ago when I was 21 and miserable, cleaning rich people's ridiculously large houses for a living, I stumbled upon Coraline as I was putting away the children's monstrous mess of toys. The cover was haunting. I cracked it open. I couldn't stop reading. (I was let go not long after... whether it was related I will never know). Henceforth every time I picked up anything of Neil's, I was his, completely. I haven't read it all. I have to pace myself.  I have to save the sweet nectar of fresh, delicately balanced fantasy horror to last me as long as possible. My favorites so far though, if you happen to be curious, are Neverwhere, Blueberry Girl, and two short stories; My Last Landlady and October In The Chair. 

If there were ever a mind I would like to crawl inside and find a safe place to peer out at the scenery for a while, it would be his. 
Picture
For Gaiman's Blueberry Girl, Illustrated by Charles Vess

Picture
My strongest asset in my writing is my ability to be descriptive. I loooove reviewing things. To the point it's like a weird guilty pleasure. I savor that moment of going online to give my new mascara a thorough review like it's a piece of pie I'm waiting until after both a workout and getting all the house cleaning done, to devour in sweet sweet bliss. 

It's possibly a little unhealthy. 

So, if anyone has anything they'd like a detailed and brutally honest review on, get in touch!?  >.<

Picture
Speaking of writing... 
Someday I want to write horrible YA Novels. You know, the ones that are so bad they're great.  and possibly trash airport romance, as well. Because, satire! Maybe something real. Maybe. 


Picture
Picture

I was fortunate enough to escape the worst of things. I had a mouth on me, and was tall. Stronger at a younger age. I scowled a lot. I guess that kept me out of trouble. I caught a few rocks, mostly a lot of sodas. (Which, even at 30 miles per hour is not exactly a laughing matter). Mostly my heart was broken. The worst of it wasn't the kids hating other kids because they were different. It was the adults, the teachers, the administrations that told us to just STOP BEING DIFFERENT. 


"You are better than this, Kristy. We know you can try harder." "You'll never get a boyfriend looking like that." "Why do you wear all that black around your eyes? No one will take you seriously." "No one will hire you looking like that." 
All those cliche movie lines, I heard them all, in real time, directed at me in utter condescension.
"You'll never make a living out of a ridiculous fad hairstyle." 

Yeah?

Watch me. 

"Scrubs" They used to call us. "Park rats". All the kids who were odd, in ripped jeans stitched back together with rows of safety pins, smoking cigarettes out on Morse Street between classes. Girls like me with mosaics of marker doodled over the knees of our jeans. Creatives. Outspoken kids. Sad kids and Scared kids. Loud kids. The beauty standard broken. 

The sporty upperclassmen would roll by in truckloads, all piled in the bed of a Ford so big you wondered what it was compensating for. They yelled threats. Threw rocks. Sodas. Worse. Ambushed the boys and took turns taking punches. Assaulted the girls with words or hands. Or worse. For no reason other than how we looked. 
Picture

Picture
This requires no explanation. 

So in closing, thank you. You all give me a reason to keep going, keep creating. You fulfill my needs on so many levels, and I truly hope all of you hear me say that. Whether you've placed an order with me in the past or not, just by being here, to share a tiny sliver of your lives. Your support means everything to me. I love you. 
Thank you. 
Thank you.
Thank you. 

Now, for a bonus round, 

Picture

I know it well, apparently. 

Picture
♥ Kristina
10 Comments
    Picture

    About the Author

    Kristina Smith is the owner and primary operator of Imp And Petal. She and her family live in the beautiful Southern Oregon mountains, trying to make the world a better, more interesting place through their imaginative art and other creations. 

    Categories

    All
    Buyer's Guide To Synth Dreads
    Love Bombs
    Personal

    Archives

    May 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    Buyer's Guide To Synth Dreads
    Love Bombs
    Personal

    RSS Feed

    Wanna help support Imp & Petal and make it possible for us to take the time to keep sharing valuable information, free to all, from our blog? Click the button and send us a donation. 
    THANKS, We love you!!!!
Copyright © 2015 Imp And Petal. All Rights Reserved