From Our Nest

Kristina grew up in Escondido and quickly found her love for art and all things creative thanks to her Mom and Granny Jane. Won quite a few awards in school and unlike math, these things came very easy to her. As a kid, anything fashion or craft related was a favorite. If it was by Crayola, she had it... her favorite things were Light Bright, Barbie Fashion Plates, Spirograph, Home Ec, Puffy Paint crafting, accessorizing and matching her outfits (they ALWAYS had to match), My Little Pony, Care Bears and lots of Rainbow Bright. If it had anything to do with Art or Fashion, she was all over it. Sports? Not so much.

Knowing that all she ever wanted to do was study fashion, she started working in the industry at Nordstrom, went to college and studied Fashion Design and after college relocated to Orange County from San Diego when she met her future husband. While always knowing her long term goal was to be in the apparel industry, she worked with many different companies gaining corporate experience and landed her first fashion job in OC at St. John for a bit. Now having 5 years at Draper's & Damon's under her belt, she's busy being the glue that holds the entire corporate and and field retail division together.

Kristina and Jesse have lived in Rancho Santa Margarita for almost 11 years with their basset hound Daisy, who is undeniably spoiled rotten. They both attend Coast Bible Church and are involved with the High School ministry with the Harrison's. Their days are filled with work and their nights and weekends are filled with friends and family.


Jen grew up in Escondido loving to craft and create from a very young age. As a kid she would create and style looks for her and little sister Angela from her dads shop rags. She loved to build forts and tree houses with her 3 siblings and always up for adventure. She grew to love fashion and looked forward to somehow work in the industry. Her family always said she would grow out of it but she KNEW otherwise!!

Jen has been married to Doug Harrison since 2005. Doug has been a teacher at Stoneybrooke Christian school in Ladera Ranch for ten years. He also leads worship at Coast Bible Church and they both serve in the Trek youth group together. Jen thrived in her career in fashion working for so many great companies: Nordstrom, Surya Inc, and St John Knits until she took time off in 2011 to start a family.

Currently Jen is working overtime being a mom to Charley Sue (18 months) and is pregnant with Baby #2, another girl due in May! Twirpy is such an important part of her life because it allows her to create and work on special projects in addition to the everyday tasks of being a wife and mama.

Back To My Roots ~ Kristina chirping!

You know, some people are placed in your life for reasons you can't even begin to imagine. You keep the memories close to your heart and even if you lose touch, if it was meant to be... they always come back to you. That's certainly the case here! As Jen said earlier, we had been connected on and off over the years but when we found each other again it was at such a crucial point in my life and I knew I needed more. More church, different friendships, etc. One thing that I literally always hoped for was to get back to my creative roots and art background. I love my job but it doesn't leave me much time to craft, paint, draw, etc., so when Jen and I reconnected it was as if her love of crafting and mine brilliantly and seamlessly collided. Craft night after craft night, I was hooked once again and Twirpy Woods slipped away from a dream and turned into reality. I literally hadn't picked up my art supplies in over 10 years but now I had the perfect excuse to. Well, I may have had to buy a craft cabinet to put all my new supplies into but that's an entirely different story (and I still am trying to find a space to keep all the wood... because I'm not sure it really belongs in the dining room). I really owe Jen so much for all the different reasons and things she's brought back into my life and has done for me, but getting back to being creative is at the top of my list. Sure, there are nights where I'm up till dawn getting Twirpy stuff ready for a show the next day, but I absolutely love it and I don't know what I'd ever do without it. Or her.

Birds of a Feather ~ Jen chirping!

Justanocgirl & sassystar together again! Kristina & I met while working in Active for Nordstrom in 1999. We both loved clothes, boys, and having a good time! Needless to say we weren't able to take much of our paychecks home, but instead were constantly using our employee discount to add to our FABULOUS growing wardrobes!! K & I formed a fast friendship working and playing together. Nordstrom was THE place to work and we ran in the coolest crowd, dancing and living the dream!
I went off to college in Chicago and Kristina and I fell out of touch. Fast forward to 2006ish and Doug and I randomly started bumping into each other around town here in Rancho Santa Margarita!! How funny that K had been living in the same town and we didn't even know it! Doug & I invited them to our annual Halloween parties and we started to walk and reconnect. I was working at St John at the time and told Kristina about a job there. She ended up getting the job and worked in the corporate office!! CRAZY stuff!! One Sunday I remember K posting something about getting back to church on Instagram and I told her she should come to Coast Bible. They ended up coming and now they serve on the Trek Youth team with us. Oh how God works in amazing ways!! Kristina also shares my love for crafting and when I was beginning Twirpy Woods she was SO helpful and excited for me. We decided to partner together...lets me honest I could NEVER have done it without her!!

Twirpy Gets a Name ~ Jen chirping!

When deciding the name of my little bird house business I really wanted the option to sell other wood items down the line. So it made sense to somehow incorporate wood in the name. Lots of spit balling went on…so much goes into a name! I also wanted something memorable and catchy but also something that was unique and different. A name that NO one else had (I mean are you surprised?). :0) Many people helped to give suggestions…House of Tweets, Woody Goodies, Wood Werks. Mama T for the win again came up with Chirpy Woods, which we eventually tweaked to Twirpy Woods.

How Twirpy Hatched ~ Jen chirping!

For Christmas 2012 my family decided to have a DIY secret Santa exchange. Knowing all the handy men in my fam I added birdhouse to my list wondering if anyone would attempt to make. I was delighted and excited to receive 3 rustic and charming custom made birdhouses from my Dad and brother. Weeeeee!! I couldn’t wait to put them in my backyard. Everyone was so impressed with how cute they turned out. Mama T said “Hey, Dad should make the birdhouses and Jen can paint and sell them!” I kinda laughed and thought yeah right. But the idea kinda grew on me. Daddyo started working on prototypes and at the end of January he had built over 20 mini birdhouses. Everything was falling into place.