Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Mystical Creations by Trina

Yep, its been awhile again since our last post.   It's not from lack of desire.....time seems to be the evil.

We've seen some great crafts done by our members on the Crazy Craft Buys Group members this year.    I have been trying to find some time to start posting again and figured.....Trina's blocks are beyond awesome, I want to show them off!



A large portion of our group does vinyl work.    We have done vinyl on glass blocks before and they are hot sellers. 

Then Trina posted these and we were blown away!  She has been selling tons of them to her customers.


So....a little about this super creative lady that hates talking about herself!
She has crafted since she was 13 years old (she won't give present age -giggle-).  She started as a passionate sewer.    Then she got herself a plotter a few years ago, dabbled in paper products then onto 3D work.     Then somewhere she made that step into the vinyl world.   
Her father did body work on cars which included adding racing stripes to cars.   Sounds similar to me growing up and adding stripes to cars!  
Vinyl was just natural for Trina.   But.....Trina doesn't want to make the same thing as everyone else.   She loved the blocks, but she wanted to make a statement with her glass blocks, she wanted bold colors, wanted them to stand out.  So after some thinking, some trials and errors.....she found the method that she wanted.   But......what stood out to me, is the fact, she wasn't done.   She goes a step further and adds to her blocks.   Her blocks aren't the standard ones....they have feet to them, gets them off the surface adding a great upscale look to them.
I know its a bit late for Christmas, but if you are looking for that perfect gift for someone, the one that has everything......this girl can hook you up with THE PERFECT gift.    

Stop.....I know some of you are thinking.....  these are for girls......

Nope......you can have that favorite team night light in the man cave, the boys room or wherever.   



Oh....did I forget to mention....she makes a lot of other things.   



Please stop by Trina's Mystical Creations, give her a like and you may just find that absolutely perfect gift...even for yourself!


If you are a crafter and enjoy crazy fun craft projects and want to join the club, just send us an email at crazycraftbuys@gmail.com   

If you just enjoy crafts and want to shop for these gorgeous blocks, visit Trina's page at 


If you need cups, always remember our folks at Save A Cup



Saturday, June 21, 2014

Paper Insert Tumblers

I do apologize that there hasn't been a post in awhile.  My plan was at least every other week.

We have and have had some awesome buys in the Crazy Craft Buys Facebook group.   Currently one for Oracal patterned vinyl and one for E6000, ATG tape, Scor Tape and ATG gold and much more.  Remember, if you want to join, send an email to crazycraftbuys@gmail.com requesting membership.

Saveacup has a new flash sale (http://www.saveacup.com/flash-sale/)  up for the Awesome Pacific cups, kids tumblers and the Paper insert tumblers.     We get a lot of questions on the Paper insert ones.

Lisa from Kutz It Out made up a bunch of samples one day to show the versatility of these cups.   Since then, a lot of us have used them and tested them.   Some of us have even put them in the dishwasher (not recommended) to see what happened.  The papers have stayed completely dry.   Now if you have a precious photo in one, might be best to take it out prior to washing, but....I know I don't.  lol

The paper insert tumblers are a standard size tumbler.  Remove the lid, then unscrew the inner cup.   Insert a photo or awesome patterned paper or cardstock untilizing the included template and bang, you have an awesome personalized cup.     If you do vinyl work, add some vinyl letters on the outside and you just took it to another level.


Great gift idea for the Bridal party.  You could vinyl their names and match the paper to the wedding colors.

I think Lisa made this one for me. 

You know all the gorgeous Christmas patterns that come out every year.  You could make some great Christmas cups for the family get together!

This one can be for the guys or girls.  Put a Pink Browning buck on  there and......yep, think I need to go make one now for myself!




Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Layered Sugar Skull done in adhesive vinyl

A few weeks ago a cup with a sugar skull was shared on the Crazy Craft Buys group that one of our members made.   Layering is not unheard of in small vinyl work for cups, signs and other handmade items by our members.   But I go to looking at this cup and realized just how many colors and layers and detail were on this cup.   I wrote the artist and begged to share it and a little about her.  Thankfully, she said yes!


Michelle is originally from Southern California and moved to Arizona almost 7 years ago.   She's a busy lady raising two beautiful little girls, 7 months old and a 4 1/2 year old.   She is very lucky as she is married a to a wonderful  man that is very supportive.   She considers herself a very lucky lady. 

Michelle has been crafting for about 5 years.  She is like a lot of us as she sees a crafting item on sale, say like a Sizzix die.  She loves the die, but....doesn't have the Big Shot or other cutter, so she's off to buy the Big Shot.  

Michelle discovered the cricut while she was pregnant with her first daughter.  She wanted to make scrapbooks.  She found the Make-the-Cut forum and discovered vinyl shortly after.   There is a ton of talent in that group and she was able to get a lot of inspiration from it.   That wonderful supportive husband of hers, replaced her cricut with a Silhouette Cameo and she has never looked back.  She loves the Cameo!

Michelle loves crafts of all types including stamping, scrapbooking, sewing and many others like a lot of us.   She is finding out that weeding vinyl designs is relaxing to her.   (I have heard this from several of our members and it boggles my mind as I hate weeding.)     Her daughter asks for a cup, Michelle jumps online, finds a design, traces it, perfects it, then is cutting it out.  She is obviously a Disney fan which shows in this fabulous cup.



 Michelle loves Mexican Art, partly its her heritage and culture, the other is the bright bold colors seen commonly in Mexican Art.   Most of the cups she makes with vinyl have a lot of colors.   She found the sugar skull she liked, then started working on the tracing in MTC (Make-the-cut).  It took her almost a week just to trace and split the design.   The cutting, weeding and layering took 1 1/2 hours to do.    She used registration marks to get it to line up this beautifully.  She uses regular clear contact paper with no problems (very good to know tip!)    She is going to attempt the wet method for layering her next cup. 


Michelle isn't afraid to try something new.   This cup should be an inspiration to any of our vinyl crafters out there including me.  I have to admit, I have shied away at amounts of color.....  I don't know why.  I layer huge items on a regular basis, but something about this much detail is just scary.   Michelle has proven, it can be done, you just have to try.   She used Oracal 651 vinyl and clear contact paper for her transfer tape!  Her cups come from where else.......SAVE A CUP!  

Remember, if you want to join the CCB group, send an email to crazycraftbuys@gmail.com    If you have emailed in the last week and still aren't on there, send us an email again.  We get some glitches in Facebook sometimes.  



Monday, March 24, 2014

Cindi's Creations

Cindi Dickerson from Cindi's Creations has shared some wonderful items she makes in her "spare" time.  Cindi is a member of the Crazy Craft Buys group and has proven to be a true CRAZY member.  

We at Crazy Craft Buys wanted to share her work with you.



Cindi makes some gorgeous items using adhesive vinyl.   She is another great inspiration to any crafter.   Cindi works for the Federal Government helping farmers with farming.  She has been married to her wonderful husband, Don for 25 years.  Don also works full time with Dupont.  Don and Cindi both farm on the side.   I'm not really sure, but somehow Cindi manages to craft in her "spare" time.   I am thinking she doesn't sleep much!

Cindi is definitely inspiring me with this wall decal!


Cindi loves the outdoors, fishing, her pool in the warm summer months.   She loves her flower and vegetable gardening.  She adores the ocean as in her words "rejuvenates her and calms her soul".  I think any of us that love the ocean know exactly what she means there.   

Cindi mentioned to me while telling me about herself that she adores pink flamingos.   She says her yard and pool area are full of them.  I think this summer we may have to feature Cindi again and get some photos of her flock of pink flamingos!

Some of Cindi's awesome Monogrammed bracelets!   


Cindi is truely a fun and busy woman.  I dont know how she finds the time, but she somehow does as her crafts are gorgeous.  Stop by her Facebook page and give it a like and tell her hi!   
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cindis-Creations/151521091539001



Cindi adds a lot of detail in the eggs and the grass for this Easter pail.   That little bit of detail can make a design just pop!  Perfect colors too!

Mason jars for a true country wedding!

She's got the perfect wedding gifts covered as well!

Thank you Cindi for letting use post some of your awesome work on here.   Hopefully some of our wonderful followers stop by to say hello and do some shopping!

If you want to become a member of Crazy Craft Buys and enjoy some great savings on craft supplies, jewelry and who knows what we will have a sale on, send an email to crazycraftbuys@gmail.com.  It is a facebook group.  We are working slowly on getting a yahoo group up and going as well.  

One of our upcoming buys is exclusive to Crazy Craft Buys adhesive vinyl and matching heat transfer vinyl. 




Thursday, January 23, 2014





One of our recent buys has been Iphone cases.   The ones above and a different style.   We've had a lot of questions on applying vinyl to them, so we made a short tutorial on how to apply vinyl to them.   This is Oracal 651 adhesive vinyl.   



Feel free to post questions here.
If you would like to join the Crazy Craft Buys group, send an email to crazycraftbuys@gmail.com    Most recent buys besides the iphone cases have been guitar pics (great for necklaces and earrings), pillowcases, floating lockets, adhesive vinyl, flasks and......     


Sunday, November 10, 2013



November brings so many things to so many people.  It brings the 30 days of things we are thankful to on facebook.  It brings a houseful of family around the end of the month where they are suddenly thankful for all of us, even if you don’t talk the rest of the year.  It brings cooler temperatures, changing leaves and for some it bring a time of remembrance.  It bring Veteran’s the time we make sure to let those that have and are currently serving our country how much we appreciate them.  It also bring Epilepsy Awareness month.  A time that people with Epilepsy focus on bringing more awareness.  It also brings a time when those of us that have lost someone to Epilepsy are reminded of the evil ways of this illness. 

Epilepsy affects nearly 2 million Americans.  Despite this alarming number, most Americans do now know how to properly recognize and respond when someone is having a seizure.  If you saw someone having a seizure, would you know what to do?

One in every ten Americans have had, or will have, a seizure at some point in their lives.  Learning about the condition could help save a life or prevent serious injury to someone having a seizure.
Did you know that more people die each year from a seizure related incident than die from breast cancer?  My son was one of those people.  Andrew went to sleep and never woke up.
Each November we make a donation to a reputable Seizure Awareness charity.  This year we would like to include you.

For a $5.00 donation you will get an Andrew’s Wing’s T-shirt, please state your size.  We have S, M, L, XL and XXL.  This includes your shipping, or you can choose our Andrew’s Wing’s Cookbook, written by a very popular recipe contributor for Gooseberry Patch and Taste of Woman among other publications.  If you would like to donate $10.00 you will get one of each plus a bracelet.






We are not stopping there.  If we are able to donate at least $100.00 with your support,  we will put your name into a drawing for a wonderful surprise.  What does this have to do with this industry?  Each $5.00 you donate puts your name into the drawing for yet another exciting item.  How about a full case of Pacfic Acrylic Double Wall 16 oz tumblers.  This is a $68.40 value.  This is a win, win for you.  This is a win, win for Epilepsy awareness.



Please send donations via paypal to lcanon@swbell.net (marked as gift/friends/family).  In the subject line please put Epilepsy Awareness.  In the message section please give us your mailing address and your preference of cookbook or t-shirt and what size you need.  Thank you for your support.  We will let you know how much we donate in December.  WE plan to donate the first week.

In the meantime, thank you for your support!!!  Get seizure smart today: Get Seizure Smart Today

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Floating Lockets and Cups on Sale and Special Vinyl

Crazy Craft Buys has a ton of awesome sales going on right now.   We are all getting geared up for Christmas!

We have some terrific buys going on for lockets and charms right now.  

Stop by




Then Lisa has a buy on a different type of locket with a lot of choices




You need to become a member of Crazy Craft buys.  We post updates every few days on the status of prebuys there.  This helps us to where we aren't answering a lot of emails on when/where.  Just email us at crazycraftbuys@gmail.com and request to join.  We will send you a facebook invite, then you follow the link, then we will approve you. 

Sylvia has a fantastic buy going on for some awesome adhesive vinyls to try out.   


These are group buys, get wholesale pricing for items you want and use!

Then Save A Cup has an awesome flash sale going on right now for several styles.  These are all great for adhesive vinyl or if you are screen printer, they work great too!





If you join Crazy Craft Buys Facebook Group - and we are slowly trying to get a yahoo group going as well, you can see a lot of p hotos for inspiration.   We will do a blog on some of these items very soon.  But in the mean time, join a group of crafters that loves fun, hates drama.  Just send an email to crazycraftbuys@gmail.com  and we will send an invite to you.   

Monday, October 21, 2013

We had our first blog that offered a prize.  All you had to do was leave a comment on the Transfer Tape article and you were entered to win a $5 Gift Certificate to HH Sign Supply, Saveacup or Signwarehouse.    
Vanessa Jo is the winner.  Winner was chosen via random.org number generator.   Vanessa Jo, please contact us for your price.  You can email us at crazycraftbuys@gmail.com  or on the CCB board if you are a member.
Congratulations Vanessa!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Transfer Tape Basics and Review of the GT Plus Medium Tack Clear Transfer Application Tape for Adhesive Vinyl

First off, I want to say any reviews on this blog do not reflect the opinion of the group Crazy Craft Buys.  The group consists of over 2000 members and they all have their opinions.  Any reviews done are from personal experience of the author.  

First, lets talk about transfer tape or also called application tape for adhesive vinyls.
Application tape is used to transfer a cut image from vinyl onto its final destination place.  One of the biggest struggles in the adhesive vinyl industry, whether its a crafter at home making gifts for friends and family to the large scale sign shops, is picking the perfect transfer tape.  I have to come to believe, there is no such thing.   There isn't one transfer tape that takes care of everything.   A lot of the large sign shops use only the paper transfer tapes. For the crafter and the businesses that do mostly cups, window decals and things like that where they use a lot of layered designs, they use mostly clear.  

The 2 most common application tapes are a paper type - similar to masking tape in consistency and then there are clear tapes where they are like a plastic.  

All of these tapes have their specifics.  If you do only indoor vinyl graphics and use vinyl like Oracal 631, there are tapes that are best for that.  If you do only outdoor graphics and use vinyls like Oracal 651, 751 and 951, then other tapes are best.   And then, 651 is different from 951 in which tape may be best.    See......frustrating!  

Depending if you do the dry method or wet method for applying - that adds to the choice of application tapes.  Some are specifically made for it and some are not meant to use with it.  



Then!!!!!!!   You have low tack, medium tack and high tack.   See, you are already pulling your hair out, now you are to the tackiness.   I have pulled my hair out and spent hours reading reviews.   I broke down and have bought rolls of a lot of tapes.  One problem, is I do small and large scale designs.  Another issue is if you sell your decals to a customer for them to apply.   All of this is why there is no one perfect application tape. 

If you do a lot of layering designs like a lot of folks that do tumblers with the outdoor vinyls, you almost have to use a clear transfer tape.  https://www.hhsignsupply.com and http://www.signwarehouse.com carry a few clear ones.  HH Sign Supply even offers it by the sheets if you are just starting out.     Buy a thinner roll, like 6 inch if you want to buy a roll as this is a good size for doing cups, frames and more.   If all you have is a 6 inch roll and have a 10 inch design you have to do, you can layer it, just be careful when removing the application tape that it all comes up as one.    One of the bigger complaints on the clear tapes - is they will sometimes leave some of their adhesive on the vinyl after removing.   This is HARD to remove.   I do a lot of banners and large designs.  I've had this happen a lot.  I finally discovered that baby wipes (non oil) cleans it quite well.   Straight alcohol never worked for me.  I have switched to using paper tapes for my banners, no residue and just friendlier.  

I do a lot of designs for boats, aluminum hunting boats where they are straight metal or have the matte camouflage paint jobs.  The clear tapes are hard for the customer to use.   The tape wants to pull the design back off the boat.   I have used it enough where I have no problem applying the graphic.   But someone who has never used application tape and is suddenly doing a 5 or 6 foot graphic struggles.   I am finding some of the paper tapes are better for this and am still in the process of testing.   I basically do some designs and have friends and family try putting designs on cars and boats heading for scrap metal.  

One of the best information articles I have found that tells a lot of basics on application tapes is here:


On to a review of GT Plus Medium Tack Clear.   I got my roll from HH Sign Supply.  I started with an 8 inch roll then got a 12 inch roll.   Overall, I love this tape.  When I started with vinyl, I did mostly double wall tumblers and painted wooden signs.   I have since done over 2500 tumblers and over 100 signs.   I do a lot of layered designs on the tumblers.  The GT was perfect for it.  However, on occasion, if I had a design where a large surface was vinyl, it would leave some residue on the vinyl.   Not always and not often, but its a pain to clean up.  Overall, unless I find one I like more, which I have 2 more sitting here waiting to be tested, this is my go to tape for cups.  

On the painted wood signs, it does pretty good as long as my paint is completely dry.  If its not cured, the tape sometimes will try to pull some of the paint off.  When I am doing distressed signs, I don't mind this a lot as it kind of gives the chipped look in some areas.  I also have a customer that buys a lot of 18 and 24 inch decals from me that applies his designs to painted wood.  He hasn't had any problems with it and he had never used application tape until he started buying designs from me. 

So....perfect tape....nope.   Overall, except for the customer that does the large signs, my customers can't use it.   When I do the large designs for boats, the customers have a very hard time getting the decal to adhere to the metal (normally boats).   Now....this could be they aren't cleaning the metal enough, maybe the metal was too cold.  I don't know.  But I want my decal to be proudly shown on their truck, boat or whatever.   They loved that it was clear, but just couldn't get it to adhere.    Now.....I could try a lighter tack tape, but, then it has issues picking up Oracal 651 and 751 sometimes.  Papertape is what I am converting to when I sell a design to a customer where its going on items like this.  Its just easier for them to apply themselves.  

I do a lot of monogram and small single layered designs that I sell on etsy.   If I know what item its going on, I can use the GT, but if its not glass, I don't like using the GT on it as I am afraid they won't go by the directions and they will have difficulty using it.   I am testing a transfer tape for this for an overall clear.  So far so good, but won't do a review on it just yet.  



I am hoping you liked this article.  We are striving to make this an awesome blog with tons of followers.  We want to recognize some great crafters, some great businesses and more.   We plan on doing a lot of giveaways, but really need more followers.   October 20, we will do a random drawing on all of the people who have commented on this post.  Winner will receive a $5 Gift Certificate to Sign Warehouse, HH Sigh Supply or to SaveACup.   Be sure to post a comment and be sure you leave an email or a way for us to contact you.  

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Double Wall Tumblers

A lot of the members of Crazy Craft Buys do tumblers.  We do them for our friends and family, we sell them on our etsy sites or at local craft fairs.  This is a great gift that can be personalized but doesn't cost a fortune.    Some of the members are old pros at these and some are just learning.   

This is just a few of the designs t hat have been done for customers and friends.





We try to  help the members learn all these techniques.  If you want to join, just send an email crazycraftbuys@gmail.com   along with your name and email address.  You will get an email from Facebook, follow the directions, then when you get a message that says you don't have access to the site, be patient, we just need to approve you then.   

We are working on prizes for the blog.   You may want to start practicing commenting on posts as we will be doing random drawings on who leaves a comment.  We will announce it, but would love to see people following and commenting!


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Scouring the web for videos to learn some tips and tricks on what our followers do a lot of.  With almost 2000 on our Facebook group and other groups, want to give you an easy place to find some inspiration.  We found this basic video on youtube for teaching the wet method.   

Feel free to comment and post your tips and tricks.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Silhouette Studio Tracing Tutorial by Cute as a Bug Creations


Cindy from Cute As a Bug Creations is a member of our Crazy Craft Buys Facebook group.  She has been a joy to have in our group.  She is a super talented lady!  She has made quite a few videos that we will be featuring here.   


Blogger won't let us embed the video here.   Click on the link for a super video on how to trace multiple colors in Silhouette Studio.