I Make Kickass Earrings, I do Mud Runs and I Dabble in Magic.

Where to start? How about this? I DID IT! I freakin’ did it! I ran the 2013 World Famous Camp Pendleton Mud Run!!! It was amazing!

Okay, I got that out of the way. Now before you continue reading this entry, click here and go read the other post about my mini weight loss journey. It’s cool, I’ll wait…

Okay, did you read it? Did you see the part at the end about me running in the race with my dad? So you kind of have an idea of how big of a deal this was for me. I wasn’t going to blog about the race because as I have said in the past, I try to keep this blog just about crafting. But a friend convinced me and even gave me the title. I added the magic part because I thought I would just keep you updated on EVERYTHING I’ve done in the past couple weeks and I think it’s pretty cool. So… “I make kickass earrings.” You know this if you’ve kept up with the other entries, so I will skip that part. There may be a small crafting part at the end but we will see. Let’s get to the fun part.

So, I’m a runner now. I can definitely say that. I run almost everyday. My dad is so proud. So when I said that I would do the Mud Run with him it was like the best thing he’d ever heard. Now, quick back story. The Mud Run is 20 years old. My dad has been running it for the last 15 years. And when he runs it, he wins it. He isn’t always the first guy to cross the finish line, but he is damn near the front and he always places in his age group. My dad is 52, this race is a 10k (approx. 6.8 miles) and he has ran it in 44 minutes in the past. I think his best placement is 11th overall and that is out of at least 3,000 runners. He is a beast!! My friend that gave me the title (Steph at Orangespoken) says my dad looks GI Joe, “..or the Navy equivalent.” He is just awesome. And that gives me something to both strive for and be afraid of. Not so much afraid in the sense that I am going to let him down, more in the sense that I know what he can do so I may let myself down. But the days came and went leading up to that day, June 9th, and when I woke up, I was ready.

I wouldn’t say I trained for the race. When I found out it was a 10k I just thought I would have to be able to run almost 7 miles without stopping. That was sort of my personal goal I guess. As the months went by, I just never got up to that distance. I don’t think I couldn’t do it, I just get bored running alone sometimes and didn’t want to do it. That doesn’t sound like a true runner does it? But it’s hard for me because I run on the treadmill a lot with my daughter watching TV in the room next to me. I don’t want to have her sitting there all day long. And when I run outside at home in Yuma, it’s 106 degrees by 9am and I don’t want to run in that heat. I want to live. But I was consistently running 5 days a week and adding a bit of ab work in there so I was preparing as well as I thought I could. My best friend said, “You know most people start with a 5k.” Guess I’m not most people.

Another goal I have had, even without a race in my future, was a bit of a superficial one. I don’t want abs of steel, well let me rephrase, I can live without abs of steel, I can live without my weight being a certain number. But what I really want is to get rid of the loose skin on my stomach. If you read my Lean, Mean post you saw that I had a 9lb baby and I’m only 5ft tall. So I have some nice stretch marks and some lovely extra skin. So my goal was to feel comfortable wearing only a sports bra and shorts to run. Let’s just get to the race part and come back to all these goals later.

So here we are, race day! Up at the butt crack of dawn to drive an hour to get there and ready to go.

The race took place at Camp Pendleton, a Marine base, so naturally there were Marines there to pose with runners.

In this photo, my dad is pointing to a very large hill. I don’t do hills. That is something I didn’t train for and I paid for it. When I am in San Diego with my parents, sometimes my dad and I will hike up a mountain. The next two days I can barely walk. My thighs just give out on me. I asked my husband about why this is because I have muscle in my legs. My legs are super muscular. He explained that there are two types of muscle. The kind that you use for quick use and the kind you use for endurance. He compared it to a guy who lifts weights or does leg presses. That guy has the type of muscle to lift massive amounts of weight but can’t run a long distance. Well, I can handle that comparison but I definitely need to work on hills.

Here we are, ready to go. And I’m just wearing my sports bra. Goal met!

This is the course. I will give you a rundown. First, you just start running. It’s mainly on the pavement to get us to the mud part. But about halfway through the first mile, here comes the fire hose. They had a fire truck BLASTING us with ice cold water. It wasn’t very hot that morning so this was shocking. You know the feeling when your spouse dumps ice water on you in the shower? I know it’s happened to most of you so you know that feeling. It’s shocking, your breathing changes. It was crazy but awesome. First mile is done and we ran it in under 8 minutes. Whoa! That is super for me. I knew I could run fast but that still surprised me. Then comes the Steeplechase. This was a small wall you had to climb over and then you land in a mud puddle. My dad flies over this no problem. I land in the mud and fall down and get stuck. So I am already completely covered in mud. So much fun. Next is the beach and that was just running on sand. Bleh. Then comes the first hill. I am doing good, I am running SUPER slow but still running. We were part way up the hill and my dad puts his hand on my back to keep me going. He tried to encourage me, “Okay, just around this corner is the top of the hill. Keep pushing it. You’re doing great.” Ya, they changed the course a bit this year so my dad had no clue what he was talking about. That hill went on forever. So I walked a bit. I had to. I walked maybe a minute and got back into it. Then I said, “So now the key is the to not look ahead.” There was a GIANT hill ahead of us. We walked up. There was no way I was going to run up that hill. I told my dad that I can easily walk up these hills faster than I can run up. I did see one dude sprinting up the hill and I may or may not have yelled a few obscenities his way. All in good fun of course. So we get to the top of this hill and there’s the cargo net. That was simple. You climb up, you climb down. The only issue here was the amount of people waiting to do the same thing. The other people definitely slowed us down. So we keep running, up the next hill and at the top is a row of hay bales we had to jump over. They put this obstacle at the top of a hill obviously to weed out the weak. But I did it. Then comes the part where I super excelled and was even better than my dad. At the bottom of the first downhill was a big wall and a mud pit. I didn’t excel yet, haha. But I managed to get through pretty good. Then they had cargo nets very low to the ground that you had to crawl under while in very wet mud. Being short came in super handy right here. I crouched down and blasted under those nets. I mean, I was running full speed and passing everyone else. I had to wait for my dad at the other end. Then came a small mud hill under another net while being blasted with the fire hose again. This hill was a bit of a challenge but the fire hose was amazing. At this point you are so hot and muddy that you are welcoming the ice water. Run, run, run some more. At this point we were more than halfway done and I feel like once I passed 4 miles, the rest was a piece of cake. Kind of like Forrest Gump said, “I figured since I ran this far, I might as well keep going.” Plus, oh I forgot. Our bibs were yellow which meant we were in the second wave of starters. The first wave wore pink. I had been passing pinks all morning. Goal met. I may not be as fast as my dad but I was faster than a large number of people. YES! So okay, running more and then we get to the mud pit/walls/tunnels. The pits are fun because you just get covered in mud. But it is also hard to run afterwards because your shoes are full of mud and they are heavy. This last wall I needed help. The wall was in a mud pit so you kind of sink down when you try to get a jump start. So I try to reach over the wall to get a grip and because I am so short, I couldn’t even reach the other side of the wall. So I got a boost. No problem. They had guys stationed there to help, plus I had my dad to throw help me over. Run through another mud pit and then run through tunnels. Excelling part two. I had to wait for my dad again on the other side because he had to crawl through the tunnels, I just hunched over and ran again. I wish there was a better way for me to describe this, but just try to get the mental picture. Maybe try to picture the difference between “Mini Me” and a normal sized person. I’m the midget. LOL! So then the slippery hill. This hill was at practically straight up. They had robes along the sides thank goodness because it was a river of flowing mud we had to climb up. I walked of course. A little more up hill and then we got to the last obstacle, the over/unders. These were horizontal telephone poles at different heights you had to climb over and go under. I showed my skills and went OVER all of them. Then we finally had a nice downhill to run. We were on the home stretch. The last mud pit obstacle.

Here we are both crawling through it. And you had to crawl. Boy did my knees get the grunt of this torture (pic later).

Here I am getting out of it. Look at that mud. This was some sort of imported mud that just cakes on and sticks to you.

And then we ran through one more pit and crossed the finish line. (we are there in the middle of the pic)

Don’t we look awesome? Seriously one of best times I’ve ever had. And I did it with my dad which makes it more memorable and awesome. He had his Garmin watch with him so if you care to see what we did, click here.

A couple days later we got the official results.
I came in at 1hour 12 minutes. I think that is soooooooo awesome! And I came in 17th in my female age group of 25-29. That is probably the biggest age group in the race so that makes me super proud. And look, 339th overall. There are at least 3,000 people that run this race each weekend (it’s so big they have to spread it out over the entire month) so I am more than happy with my results. I freakin’ did it! And on top of everything else, I am so happy that I had a small fan club there to watch me. My husband, daughter, mom, gma, mom-in-law and 2 family friends were there to watch us. And the couple days leading up to the race, my husband was telling EVERYONE what I was doing. He won’t tell people, but he was super proud of me. So that makes this experience spondiferous!! (I had to use another word besides awesome and amazing).

Here’s my knees a couple days later. At the bottom of that last mud pit was just rocks and more rocks. My poor knees. Today I think they are finally done being scabby knees. I looked like a 12 year old for a couple weeks.

So okay, the craft part. It isn’t anything I crafted but you know from my other posts that I come from a crafty family.

My dad burned this for me and gave it to me after the race. Too cool! I also commissioned him to make me a shadow box with my bib and the dog tags we got for finishing. I will post those pics at some point.

Now let’s get to the magic part. I will try to make this quick since this blog is just getting longer and longer. First let me say that these last two-ish weeks have been different for me. Being a mom is my favorite thing. One thing that changes when you become a mom is that you no longer are the center of attention. EVERYTHING is about your kid. This has been an interesting time for me because it shifted back to me for a minute. We came here so I could do the race. It was all we have/had been talking about. And now this magic thing had turned back to me as well. So while I appreciate all of the spotlight, I’m ready to get home and get back to just being Mom.

So okay, the magic thing. One of our good friends, Derek, is a magician. He’s great. He is absolutely wonderful at magic. He is doing two shows (now one) at the San Diego County Fair this month. He is doing his usual stage magic and then he has an illusion set up for the finale. Well, his assistant ended up not working out and so I offered my services. Friday night I learned the trick, Saturday we practiced, and Sunday we performed. I am not going to say that I am the best, but I am pretty darn great to have learned and performed this no such short notice. I don’t have any photos of videos of US doing the trick, but I do have a link so you can see what it is. It’s called a Sub Trunk illusion. Derek is shackled and locked in the box. I get on top of the box, lift a curtain, the curtain comes down and Derek is on top of the box and I’m inside the locked box shackled. It’s pretty freaking sweet. Here’s the link to see it. It’s done a bit different but the illusion is the same. Fast forward to about 7:00 minutes. HERE!! We are going to be back at the fair Sunday the 23rd on the Showcase Stage around 6pm-ish if you happen to be in San Diego and read my blog. Maybe someone will take photos and video this time and I can share that.

So, 2700 words later and you know a little more about me and my life. I will be in San Diego until next week and then I will be back home and getting back into the crafting stuff. So if you aren’t interested in this stuff, hang tight, the art will return.

Happy Hump Day!!!!

Yuma and Me are Like Peas and Carrots (A half crafting blog)

Title taken from one of my all time favorite movies. Second in line to Legends of the Fall. Why do I love a movie where EVERYONE dies (sorry if that spoils it for you)? Mr. Pitt of course. And if you want to know more about things I obsess about, check out my Pinterest board all about Me.  But anyhoo, back to the normally scheduled blog post. Yuma, Arizona. Not the first place I thought I would live. But boy am I happy to be here.

I grew up in southern California. When I was 19 I got married and moved to North Carolina. I had never been anywhere past El Paso, TX (except right before I got married but that’s a technicality). So I’m on the east coast. At first I was scared. I didn’t go outside too much. I was so happy to be with my husband and that was all that mattered. I met some people but it wasn’t until a couple years in that I met some really great friends and started to find out more about this east coast place. We lived there for 7 years and did so many things. We traveled all around the state. Sometimes we would drive 3 hours to Charlotte just to eat some tacos from Jack in the Box. Yes, they are THAT important. We saw the mountains, the beach, we drove to Virginia, my husband took me to D.C for the first time. We had a life there. We had a house. We became a family. We had “family” there.  So, when my husband got orders to move to Tampa, it was a bit tough. We assumed that we would love it there and then after his 3 years were up we would move back to NC and get right back into where we were before.

Boy were we wrong. At first, Tampa was awesome. But then maybe that was because my best friend (from NC) drove there with us and stayed with us for 2 weeks. I had brought a piece of “home” with me. We drove around and went to the beach and were having a blast. When she left, it all sunk in. Here I am, in a brand new place, no friends, starting all over again. Plus we are a one-car family so it’s not like I can go and explore. But, I made the best of it. I was cool with not having too many friends and being cooped up in the house all day with my daughter. Who am I kidding? It sucked. And how does a housewife make friends? She doesn’t. I am totally outgoing but I will not walk up to someone and ask them to be my friend. And it’s not like I can go out to a bar and meet people. That is just asking for trouble.  And I absolutely LOVE being a stay-at-home mom. But not having any sort of time alone is hard. Even my daughter would get sick of me. Sometimes you just need some space. One nervous breakdown later, I knew a few things had to change. I needed more ME time. I could bore you with even more details, but here’s the gist. I started making friends. I made some really good friends. And then I moved away.

We only stayed in Tampa for 2 years. But I’m not sad. I never felt a connection to Tampa. At first we thought, this is just like San Diego (where we are both from). There’s the beach, the big city, the weather is similar, this is awesome. But that faded quickly. Big city can get boring. And there wasn’t much to do that didn’t cost money. My daughter and I miss being able to go outside in the backyard to see dolphins and manatees. I truly miss the friends I made months before I left. But when people ask me if I miss Tampa, my answer is easy; No.

When people would hear we were moving to Yuma, they seriously thought my husband had done something wrong to get here. No one could believe that he asked to come here.  I would tell them, “We used to vacation in Yuma,” and they would start to laugh. No seriously. I totally know my way around. We moved here just a few weeks before my favorite car show, Midnight at the Oasis.

Even now when I meet people from around the base, the first thing they do is complain. “Welcome to Hell” was a sentence we heard more than enough times when we first got here. We just laugh and listen to them complain and then when they ask how we like it here, we always say the same thing, “We love it here!” And it’s true. We have done more things in the 3 months we have been here that we ever did while we were in Tampa. We explore. We go off-roading. Last week, my husband and I went hiking all day. And did I mention for that the first time in almost 10 years we live within driving distance of home? I’ve seen my parents almost every weekend. I used to see them every few months, maybe. We have seen our friends. One of our friends actually already came out here to visit us. And he’s already making plans to come back.

Being happy is all about finding the best in your situation. And I feel like crap saying that after I just bashed Tampa. But we really did make the best of it. It just took a little time for us to make the best of it. But, I am pretty damn happy here in Yuma. I feel like I am meant for desert living. I say that now before the temperatures are around 130 degrees, but really. Sometimes when we are out rock hounding my husband will be hammering rocks and I will just sit there and stare out into the desert. I listen to the wind, I feel the beating sun on my shoulders (super tan shoulders) and I am just happy. I’m happy to live here. I’m happy to live in such a tiny place that I can ride my pink beach cruiser around to get the mail or go to the grocery store. I am happy that my daughter gets to spend so much time with her grandparents. I am happy that my husband found new hobbies. I am happy that he’s happy. People look at photos I post of us and they say, “Arizona looks good on you.” Yes, I think it does.

So let’s get to the crafting part because you know that’s what makes me really happy. So I finally got settled and opened my shop again. I was getting a few people asking me to paint things, do the normal stuff. Then one day while we were checking out an old abandoned mine, I found a super cool shiny rock. My husband said, “Wow! That’s the find of the day.” Little did we know it would get better. We walked around to the other side of this hill and the ground was littered with these little guys.

These are rose quartz. It’s hard to tell but they have a purple or pink hue to them. When I saw these, the first thing I saw were a pair of earrings. Now, when we first got here we bought a rock tumbler. After I found these I told my husband we needed another one.

Out came these beauties. Can you believe that those are the rocks I found? How awesome is that? And with those i made…..

A super one of a kind pair of earrings. I found the rocks, I tumbled them, I wrapped them and made them into earrings. So super cool.

I made these with quartz that I found that hasn’t been tumbled. Just a couple of rocks I found turned into a beautiful pair of earrings.

Then of course we were in Quartzsite (a town you may have heard of) and we happened upon a gem/rock store and I bought a bag of rocks. These have already been tumbled but still, pretty one of a kind.

I was there for at least 30 minutes picking through the rocks trying to find “pairs”. So keep your eyes out on my Facebook page in case you want to buy a pair of earrings. Hoping to make a couple sets with a rock pendant necklace too.

The main idea of this post? I’m a pretty happy gal. I got my family and my rocks and “that’s all I need.” (The Jerk)

Featured Artist Sale

Hey guys! Today is the first day of my Featured Artist sale. Hop on over and check it out. All profit goes to Jackie; I am not taking any sort of commission.

Click Me!!

A Family of Sticks

A very long time ago, like 8 years ago, I made a plaque for some friends. I found some cute cartoon couples online and painted them along with a couple dogs onto a piece of wood. I actually forgot about painting it until a few months ago when that same friend asked me to do the same thing again for a friend of hers. I had her send me a photo the one I made for them and i started laughing. I could not believe what it looked like. It was cute, yes, but not even close to the things I paint now as far as, well, it looked like crap. LOL! Okay, not crap, it just wasn’t my best work. Of course that is the opinion of the artist and we are our own worst critics. ANYWAY, she wanted me to paint a new one and we came up with the idea for stick figures. You can actually do a lot with a simple stick figure. She asked me to do the little girl as a princess, the mom holding a new baby and the dad in ACU’s (Army uniform). So this is what happened.

Super adorable. The photo doesn’t do it justice, especially is the ACU’s. They came out super awesome. Right after I posted this to my Facebook page, TONS of people wanted one. Unfortunately I posted it right before I moved, so people had to wait. And wait they did. As soon as I was settled, I painted this one.

Like I mentioned in one of my last posts (In a Nutshell), I paint these with as much detail as you like. Favorite colors, hobbies, or work attire. The dad’s uniform in this one is what they call Tiger Stripe pattern in the Air Force. I wasn’t sure if it looked right but when I showed my husband he said, “Whoa! That looks great. It looks just like it.” When my husband says it looks good, I know it does. Speaking of husbands, the wife (the girl that asked me to paint this) showed her husband and he was totally impressed and excited. Kudos for me when the husbands get excited over silly art projects.

Back to my friend whom I made one for many years ago…here’s their updated one.

You guys know where to find me if you’re interested in one.

A Featured Artist (sneak peek)

If you are a Facebook follower you have seen that I was planning on featuring a fellow artist friend of mine. That time has come. And if you are a blog follower you get a sneak peek of what’s to come.

First, my friend is Jackie. She is a fellow military wife and stay-at-home mom.  She is new to the crafting world but is already making her mark selling to her friends and family and having a couple booths around the base we live on. Her big seller is earrings but she also makes other jewelry and bookmarks. Her items range in price from $15-$25 and those prices all include shipping.

The way it’s going to work is this…

*May 3-May 11 Jackie will be a featured artist.

*All of her items are going to be displayed in an album on my Facebook page.

*It is going to be a BUY IT NOW type sale.

*All purchases must be made through PayPal and paid for by 5pmPST the day you ask for them.  Her email address will be displayed on each picture so there is no wondering where to send the money.

*If you want to purchase something, comment that you are buying them and send your money.

*If you do not pay for your items by 5pmPST that day, they will be re-posted for someone else.

*All items (regardless of sale date) will be shipped Monday, May 13th.

I am not taking any sort of commission from Jackie’s sales. I will however, add a coupon in each envelope for a discount on your next purchase from Me. I just ask that you LIKE my page and continue to follow me and see what else I have to offer. But this feature is just about helping out a fellow artist. We all need somewhere to start and with my 350+ fans I thought this was a great way to get the word out about Jackie before she ventures off into the world of Etsy or other crafting sites and/or businesses.

So here are a couple examples of what’s to come starting Friday. Orders will not be taken until Friday and only from Facebook.

The next ones are made from spoons. So awesome! So creative!

And then an example of a bookmark.

Hope to see you later for the feature!

In a Nutshell

Okay, it has been WAYYYYYYY too long since I wrote an entry. I won’t bore you with the details, but lets just say that it’s taken me a bit longer to get back to Life. But I am happy to say that I am back, feelin’ good, and ready to be back in the swing of things in the crafting world.

If you aren’t a fan of my Facebook page (you’re missing out) you missed that my Etsy page and Facebook page are back up and running. A couple weeks ago I officially reopened Chrissy’s Creative Creations! I am so excited. I have a photo album that gives everyone the gist of what I do and what I love. A lot of you have seen some great examples of my work but in case you haven’t, here it is.

Custom art is one of my most favorite things to do. I have created pieces for my customers for their kitchens, kids room, and outdoors. Most recently, the stick figure families have become a huge hit (it’s the photo on the top right). I make each family member to look like they do in real life. I use details like favorite colors or favorite activities to make them special and unique.

The picture says it all, but these are handmade baby items. The changing pads are made with a double layer of felt on the inside to make them super soft for your little one. The breastfeeding covers resemble an apron without the tie in the back and they velcro on the top for easy on and off. The burp cloths are also made with felt and are washed prior to shipping for easy and quick use and softness. Each item, except the plastic wipe container, is machine washable and dryer safe. Even the pillow can be washed. Currently, I have a couple changing pad and wipe holder sets for sale and the owl baby set pictured, but these are usually custom made. You just tell me colors, baby room themes, and any other details and I work my hardest to find the perfect fabric.

Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. So much fun!! I always have something in the jewelry world made and ready to ship. But custom is my favorite. Just ask!

I love to make custom items for kitchens. I hear that here in Yuma these will be a hot seller with some of the folks living in their RV’s. I need to make a bunch and get the word out. Only problem with that is all the people in their trailers are headed out now, headed to cooler parts. Oh well. Next season.

I have a few place mat sets available for purchase but again, mostly custom to match your kitchen. I do have a bunch of pot holders and coasters for sale. I made those from scraps and just keep them on hand. Place mats are made with your favorite fabric and a piece of felt inside. Totally machine washable.

And last, I love to try tons of new things. Whether it’s something I find on Pinterest or just something I think up, I will try almost anything.

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Ways to contact me…

* Here. Shoot me a comment and tell me you would like to order something!

* Facebook. The business pages actually have their own email now. Head over to the page and click on MESSAGE.

* Email. Emailing is the best. chrissyscreativecreations@gmail.com

* Etsy. etsy.com/shop/Gwenniesmom I don’t have too many things listed right now, but the most popular ones are there.

I send out invoices for all my orders and I prefer to do that via email. So when you contact me please include your email address. I also love to text so if you are comfortable with that, email me your number and we can converse that way. That works great when I am trying to get a drawing or piece of jewelry just right. It’s so easy to snap a quick pic and send it to you to see if it’s what you want.

As far as payment, I prefer paypal because it’s super easy. I do take checks but just keep in mind that I do not start a project until the check has been cashed. I take credit and debit cards as well. I do NOT accept cash unless you are local and bring it to me (or I’m at a show).

 

I am always looking for new projects and new fans and ways to get the word out about what I do. I appreciate every one of you for following my blog and would love for you to follow my Facebook. Share my posts and photos and keep up to date with everything. There is always something new going on with me and my art.

I’m Moving

I don’t remember if I posted this here yet, but my family is leaving Tampa and headed west…to Yuma, Arizona. We couldn’t be happier. While we will be living right smack on the middle of the desert, this is the first time in almost 10 years that we will be within driving distance of family and we are soooo excited! So, what does this mean for my craft business?

In the long run, it doesn’t mean anything. Just that I may start to paint cacti instead of palm trees. But for short term, it means that I will have to close up shop for a bit while my stuff is packed up and in route and while I get settled. So….I have a few dates set. Since we haven’t even set up an official day to move yet, these dates could change so check by my Facebook page for updates as I may not get around to updating my blog.

Feb 1 is the last day to buy anything from me.

Jan 15th is the last day to order anything custom (sewn or painted items).

I am going to add an album to the Facebook page soon with all sorts of Valentine’s Day items, so check those out and order soon for that special someone.