Starting a new life with my family.

Hi everyone. I have been very busy. We have done the unthinkable, the unimaginable and have made it work. Everyone thought we were crazy. What did we do? We dropped everything and moved with with very little money. We packed up our three children, what we could fit on our 21 foot re-purposed boat trailer, in our Jeep Cherokee and in our Scion XB. We sold some stuff and packed up the rest in my mother in laws garage. We left Phoenix, AZ to pursue a better, small town life and a more relaxed life in Oregon. It started mid December 2014 and here we are in the beginning of February and I should start work next week. We have made permanent residence in Reedsport, Oregon. The kids are so much happier and so are we.

First craft project was to make something to decorate these brick walls. I have seen many blogs that use books for craft pages. I really like this, however, I don't want to rip up one of the few books that actually got to bring here. Ironically, the very next day, I went to the laundromat and found a Christian story book lying there, left to inspire someone. Perfect, I thought, just perfect, inspirational and meaningful, this would be great. Right away I started twirling the pages into cones and created two big flowers for the wall. Thinking about doing a third.

My first attempt at Mod Podge.

Living in a crowded house, I have been missing having a crafting table. While all my other tables are too large to bring out of storage. I found a damaged not so great looking desk in the garage. I decided that I could put my computer on this desk and use the table I had my computer on as my craft/sewing table.

Now, how was I going to clean this up. I scrubbed away at it, but it still had stuff stuck to it that I couldn't get off. I look on Pintrest almost everyday and have been wanting to attempt a mod podge project.

Things you need:
Homemade mod podge (50% elmers glue and 50% water)
A brush
Paper that tickles your fancy, scrapbook, pages  from your favorite novel, magazine or ? whatever you like
A spray can of some indoor/outdoor waterproof sealant and CLEAR

I cut my scrapbook paper out in two different sizes, one as a large square and the other in rectangles, for the top part of the desk and then for the keyboard tray, I cut them smaller.

I started by placing the homemade mod podge on the desk in area at a time as I worked it. Just lay the pieces of paper down, one at a time, while re-brushing the tops of the paper with the glue mixture before laying down the next piece. Carefully lay them down. As I learned along the way. You can end up with a creases, bubbles, or by moving the paper too much, rip it.

I went back later the next day and re-brushed the papers that needed it, as they were starting to peel up.

The day after that I went down to our storage unit for some other things, and I found what I thought would be the most perfect top spray. It was by the brand Krylon; but this wasn't ordinary spray paint it was epoxy, indoor/outdoor and waterproof. Well, the test spray showed me it was white, so I headed down to our Ace Hardware around the corner. They only had three clear paints to choose from. I discovered it after I was told that there was no such thing as clear spray paint. They had just a regular clear indoor/outdoor by Krylon, one for just wood and one that was from automotive to wood. So I thought the Krylon would work the best.

My husband sprayed it on for me, the whole can was about four coats worth. As he was spraying I discovered some issues, you started to really see all the excess gunk that still sat on the table.

If I do this again, I will put a base set of papers down and see how it covers up the flaws.

It came out wonderful looking. I really love how it came out. I can't put a cup on the table though. So next project I think I'll have to check out Home Depot or Lowes for some more of a heavy duty clear spray.

Totally doing it again.

The most coolest markers ever.

I've just discovered what I want for Christmas. They are called Chameleon marker pens. They allow you to blend your color from light to dark with one pen. I didn't really understand how this could be possible until I watched the video on their website. Check them out at http://www.chameleonpens.com/?utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign

Website is back up

I have repurchased my website and am still in the process of getting it all set up.
www.craftylittledesigns.com
I'll let you know when it is working.
I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The worry jar

Let me tell you a little about what is going on in life. My family of five has hit a little bit of financial hiccup and have moved in with the Mother-in-law and our 6 year old niece. So, in a three bedroom, two bath town home; we have three adults and four children living together.

Sure is busy busy.

It really isn't as bad and as tight as you would think. Grandma's bunking with the baby, because they both like to sleep in late. The 6,7 and 9 year old are sharing a room, three beds side by side fills the whole width of the room. Then My husband and I have the master, filled with as much stuff we couldn't put in storage and my computer desk.

To help with the hassle of "Why do I have to pick up if they aren't" between the kids, we started a worry and hey jar. 10 cents a worry and 5 cents a hey. I'm off to the store this morning to get some glue to whip up some homemade mod podge to create the jar. I'll post up the project soon.

My favorites

Let me tell you a little bit about my favorite things.
Besides my wonderful supportive husband and my three courageous proud and adorable children. My favorite people are Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Cray Grant and Doris Day. There just is something about them, how they are in movies, how they posed for a picture, how they lived. I just love it, and wish I grew up in those times too.
My favorite art period, is Baroque and Art Nouveau. I love the architecture, the events in history and those wonderful stained glass windows of the Baroque Period. In Art Nouveau, I love it all, especially the interior design of the time period where outside meets inside.
Oddly enough my favorite artist wasn't from any of these time periods. The Renaissance painter Titian is my favorite artist by far. I love how he painted as he saw it. Detailed up close and blurry far away. He took the risk to draw differently and used the boldest colors of the time. My two favorite are the Assumption of the Virgin and Sacred and Profane Love.
This why you might see my art being realistic, bold, Gothic, old fashioned, retro, classic and full of nature. I am a Graphic Designer, but I consider my self an Illustrator foremost and a crafter second.

Die Cutting Duck Tape

Of course I got this idea from my 9 year old daughter. She just had her birthday party and a duck tape jewelry kit. As I was helping her out and seeing how they suggest to stencil cut out hearts and stars, I thought, "Why not die cut a flower and put it on a barrette, headband or a pin for her backpack.

First I tried taking thin strips of duck tape, layering side by side on a piece of cloth. When die cutting this, I discovered that some are much harder to cut than others. The more fibers in the duck tape, the easier. Those that are thicker and more glossier and smoother didn't cut very well and I had to trim it with scissors.

It still came out fantastically impressive looking. Now if only I had a die that was thicker and could cut better, which I could design and order some. I am finding out that these thicker metal dies, known as deep dish dies, will cut most of the things I like to cut.

I used some regular Hello Kitty duck tape, put on some wax paper and cut my butterflies out. They cam out so adorable, that they will be on sale on my Crafty Little Designs Etsy store, right after this. https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyLittleDesigns

I opened up my shop on Etsy!

What's New....I opened up my shop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftyLittleDesigns

In this shop, for now, I am only selling die cuts from dies made from recycled aluminum soda cans. Great for cards, scrapbooking, and crafts. If you like my die cuts and are interested in a die, please message me as I have lots of them for sell. Thanks for stopping by.

Rethinking......

Sorry everyone, but my website is down. I haven't done very well this past year and want to rethink the direction I am going. I need to think of something that is different. I have been exploring with different thoughts and have come down to a few different ideas. For starters, I need to find a new website host as my last one I was not pleased with it at all. I am going to start creating some templates and making some videos to share with everyone. I have lots of ideas of crafts up my sleeve. I just need to find some time to create them.
My husband has been building a tree house and play set for the kids in the back yard and I'll show you the cool things I have planned for decorating it. However when it is 110 to 120 degrees outside this summer, none of us want to be outside, unless we are in the pool.
As far as crafting and hobbies go, I like to do it all and dabble in all sorts of things. I like paper crafting, quilling, paper mauche, decoupage, sewing, needle point and drawing with every type of media.
I would like to take you on an adventure of what my family I like to decorate. I would love to offer you awesome detailed dies and stamps to add to your collection. So my journey is changing and I hope you follow me through my journey.

Cutting aluminum can with dies.

Have you ever experimented with cutting different materials?
Well, I have been curious. As a Graphic Designer at Dies Direct, I see lots of different uses for the dies and requests on people asking if a die will cut what they need it to. So, here is what I am doing....I am going to experiment on my own, with what my dies can and can't cut. First up on the list, Aluminum can.

You might say, a can going through a die cutting machine, that won't work. So, don't be silly, I am cutting the can first. First, I stabbed a hole along the top neck of the can with a little peering knife, because it is my sharpest knife. Once I had a hole made, I put in my scissors and cut off the top, then down the spine, and around the bottom.

It really was easy to cut, I used kid scissors actually. Now I came to the conclusion that the can is round, how can I flatten it? So I put in the eBosser to see if it would flatten it. it didn't work, this was as flat as it got after a few times in the machine.

I just went for it, I put the die on it and put it through. I tried it without the 'E' plate, first because I wasn't sure if the can would cause too much tension. You really only need the right amount of tension to be successful, to much tension to often will break your machine. The final outcome was that no E plate, didn't work. So I tried it again with the E plate and wow it worked.

 The die cut was more vibrant and sturdier than a paper cut. I fell in love right away. I just had to cut them all and see what will happen. The butterfly here has pierce points and they did pierce.

 I am so excited to show you all this fantastic crafting idea. An aluminum can. You could really emphasis your card by showing them they are a real Squirt or you have a Crush on them.

 Perhaps, even use a beer can.

 What will I cut next.......stay tuned..........

Another round shelf project or two or three.....

Hi. I had gotten four of these round thick cardboard things from my work. I painted two of them purple for my daughter and two of them green for my oldest son. While I showed you what I did with the first one, I finished a second one and started on the two for my son.

 This time I cut a bunch of strips of paper, roughly a 1/4" wide and I used my fancy cutters, switching up the type of cuts to add a variety.

 Using my quilling tool, I rolled up a bunch of these and let them loosen out to different widths, to add variety. I glued the tip of the paper and let them dry before adding them to the shelf.

 Here I made a quilled flower about 3" big and added some rinestones and one of my Crafty Little Designs butterflies to the top of it.

 I made a second flower, and since it didn't glue very well to the shelf, I placed two of my Crafty Little Designs Spiral flower die cuts behind it.

 On each of the sides, I added a bow, a Crafty Little Designs Flower Flourish die cut and a clip of some decorative paper. My husband creatively decided to place a flame-less candle in the shelf making it glow up really nicely.

 For my son, I had to try to think of some way to decorate it with out flowers and butterflies. So I cut strips from my cardboard like paper and wrapped them around at an angle. since the strips didn't quite fit all around, I added a nice wide area of just the paper to close them together.

 For his other one, I created a checker board effect. I cut a sheet the same width as the shelf, then I measured it into four equal parts. Since my paper strips were still the 11" length of the page, I just cut them down inch by inch, surprisingly only needed to use three sheets.

More to come with Andrew's shelves. I don't have a hot glue gun yet, or had the chance to run over to the craft store and buy one. Once I do, I will be placing some old hot wheels on these with other decor.

Really Awesome Homemade Shelf for $0

While being a mother of three young children, the newest being only two months old; I like to find cheap and fun things to do. I really don't like spending money and love creating things. While I am running my own company, Crafty Little Designs, working full time at Cheery Lynn Designs and raising a family, it was really hard finding some time for a project.

What you need:
Dies, which ever theme of a decoration your aiming for
All kinds of pretty decorative paper
Random broken pretty things ( I have these once were shower hooks butterflies
Ribbon
Fishing wire thread
Paint
Glue, all kinds of glue depending on heavy duty you might need
Wall Braces, about two for each shelf
Something for a shelf, how about really thick cardboard circles(like I'll show you)

At work, as it is a manufacture of dies and other metal things like signs and photometals; we get in a lot of packing materials.
Something comes on these big circles made of really thick cardboard. Well I asked and took a few home.

Here's a look at the finished project:

 I started off with some paint I actually picked up for free when Ace Hardware was giving away a quart of free paint. I went in and got a purple , then my husband when in and got a green. I've been using these paints on more than one project. It comes in handy getting your kids favorite colors.

 Then I cut a few strips of different ribbons and a hole bunch of dies, in all different papers. I assembled some flowers using the brads and they easily pierced through the ribbon to hold them on.

 With the thread....I used a needle and pierced through the butterflies and tied them off. Then on the front of the shelf, I sewed it to the ribbon, while on the back, I sewed it into a tiny piece of scrap paper and then glued the paper to the back of the shelf. Making sure the paper was small enough not to show past the edge.

 I used Epoxy to glue on the big broken butterflies. For everything else, I used Martha Stewart's clear craft glue.

All along the top half of the circle shelf, I used my four Crafty Little Designs dies, for sale at craftylittledesigns.com.
I added embellishments throughout.
Hope you have fun making something out of nothing.

I'm Back!

Hi fellow crafters. I have taken some time off from pushing forward with my business, to bring my newest addition to the family in to this world. I had my third child on June 24, 2013. His name is Ian Robert Wallace. His middle name is after my father and his first name was a just a last minute decision. He was the most difficult of our children to name. But he is the cutest and most handsome baby I've ever seen. He is so content and doesn't cry nearly as much as our children.

I am now finding some time to work on designs, projects, getting a design team together and more.

Stay tuned......

Fourth of July Chipboard container

 

I purchased a $1 Chipboard Container from Target in their little $1 section in the front of the store, it's always filled with craft ideas and fun little things for the kids. I took my Crafty Little Designs Spiral Flower die and Flower Border die, and some flag like themed cardboard paper.

I discovered that using a cardboard like card stock, does not allow the die to emboss it.

On the side of the chipboard container, I lined the borders along the top and bottom. The great thing about this border is that even if you trim it or just connect different strips together, it always works and matches nicely. I glued the three different Spiral Flowers along the center, adding a little jewel to add some extra flair.

On the sides of the container I put the three different papers on top of each other to create a different effect. As with the border, I wrapped a full length of the border from the front and back around the corners to the sides. I then clipped the border in a different color to match up nicely along the top. As for the bottom border, I clipped them on the stems, rather than the swirls, still having them match up with the next border.

This is a nice little craft to make for a napkin holder for your 4th of July BBQ, or make a different one for each utensil, fork, spoon and knives.

About Me.

Tiffany Wallace - Owner and Designer
http://www.craftylittledesigns.com
Hi. I am a wife and mother of three children. I have a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online. Art and crafts have always been a part of my life. My mother, an artist herself, has always shown be great ways to make art apart of my life and to see art even in the most unlikely places. Now, with this business, I am showing her some great ways to use stamps and metal dies.
I stumbled upon paper crafting recently when I found a job at PMA Photometals/Dies Direct/Cheery Lynn Designs (all one company but three) here in Phoenix, AZ. I have always loved math and learning to take my designs but keep it with parameters where every line has to be a certain width apart and each corner a certain degree of roundness, made me feel like this is what I was looking for.
Dies are an awesome thing; I never knew they existed until I started creating them at work. I love the possibilities you can do with them. When I play with a new die, the possibilities of things to do with them just start whirling in my mind. Metal dies can also cut felt and fabric, they can take you beyond paper and be used to make your daughter a beautiful headband or use the cuts to add design to your quilt or apron. With paper you can take the die cuts and create wall pieces, mobiles, and cards, decorate an Easter egg, a memory box, scrapbooking and so much more. Quilling is also a new craft I have picked up on and I am having lots of fun rolling up and shaping and gluing my creations together.
I enjoy crafting with girlfriends and my children. As of now, while my business is still growing, the women in my family are my design team. As the business grows, I will eventually turn my stamps from clear polymer stamps (red tinted, but clear) to the clear acrylic stamps that you more often see in stores. When I make this transition, I will still be able to offer custom stamps in the clear polymer stamps.
I still currently work full time while trying to make Crafty Little Designs successful. My third child is due to be born July 1st 2013. I want to be able to better provide my family as well as spend more time with them. I thank each and every one of you that is helping my lifelong dream of having my own business come true.

I design for you.

I want to know what designs you are looking for. What die or stamp do you wish you had? Let me know your thoughts. I enjoy listening to others ideas and giving you what you want.

I am a graphic designer, currently working for the company that makes all of the dies for many of the companies out there. I know what is popular and what sells and am creating many designs for them. I started this company to have the freedom of thinking outside the box and creating what I want. I am still new in this industry and am learning as I go along.

I have always done crafts growing up and really enjoy them. With my third kid almost here, due next month. I want to make a better life for my family and do something that really interests me. I only discovered dies last year and immediately fell in love with the amazing things they can do. Quilling is another fascination I was introduced to recently. What else do you like to do?

Flowers and butterflies, what else could a girl need? Join in on my blog and give me your thoughts.
THANK YOU!
my store: http://www.craftylittledesigns.com

Scrapbooking page

 I wanted to create a scrapbook page showing you all of our dies.  I am also working on creating some embossing sheets and played around with that too.

 I bordered the pictures with our Flower border. It fit well in girl and boy colors.

 Each feature of the dies can be used separately as well as the whole. Here I cut off the large flower on the flower flourish and trimmed pieces off of the flower border to create my own flower.
The pink flower doily up in the corner, I placed tape, on the back of the paper, prior to cutting it with the die, so my cuts wouldn't fall out. I then pushed out only the ones I wanted to with ease.

I put three of the sentiments stamps on the page. I used Marvy markers with them, coloring the stamp and then stamping it. The word Smile, I stripped the colors then I embossed it with a circles embossing sheet I am working on. Love, I embossed it then I stamped it. The word Family fit perfectly in the banner from the Love Birds stamp set.

The white butterfly, above, I die cut it then I embossed, the picture doesn't it do it justice. The Spiral Flower, I die cut it, then I put tape across the back of it and then removed the shim (E plate) from my eBosser to just barely cut the tape. I then was able to rip the tape off cleanly around the edge of the paper, keeping it all behind it. I sprinkled a fine white crystal glitter on it and stuck to the tape. You can either then color on top of the glitter to create something bold, as I did on a few of the areas. Or simply color the back of the tape to create a stained glass effect. You can do this by using s variety of colors and randomly color blotches of them. If held up to the light, rather than on the dark paper I put it on, it stands out beautifully.

These dies and stamps are available for purchase at http://www.craftylittledesigns.com

Free Shipping

Crafty Little Designs is offering FREE Shipping to the USA through USPS until May 31st. Bonus: If you purchase two or more items we will send you a 20% off coupon. http://www.craftylittledesigns.com

This is our Flower Flourish die.