Hi! My name is Alex.

I have a REALLY hard time writing "about me" things. But I'm gonna give it my best shot, okay? No chatgpt*, no AI*, just good old Alex and how I got here. (which also includes a good long info dump)

(*I REALLY hate AI - just by the way. I stopped using it wherever I could in September of 2025)

I'm 27, I have 2 daughters (7 and 4 at the time of writing this), and I'm married to my middle school sweetheart (that's a weird one, huh?), I love allllll things crafty. Crochet, painting, drawing, digital design, 3D design, web design, diamond painting, face painting, I mean...I could go on forever. If it's artsy - you can count me in.

I've been using polymer clay since my mom handed me a couple blocks at the age of 8. I've been an entrepreneur as long as I can remember. Selling hand sculpted polymer clay dragons on the bus to my friends, all the way to now - selling digital products to my crafty friends 🤪

I'm the oldest of 12 kids, and my parents were highschool sweethearts. Both of my parents are artsy and smart as all get out. I dreamed of living a life like theirs. Funny enough, my mom ran a digital product business (crochet patterns) back before it had become super popular and kind of pioneered what was the standard for a "good" crochet pattern.

My husband and I got married just 6 days after I turned 19 and I had graduated high school. We couldn't wait! We had been dating since I was 13 and had overcome a long distance relationship since I had to move states away 8 months after we started dating. (Big thanks to our parents for fostering an unbelievable kind of love! It felt like everyone assumed our relationship would fall apart any day, much less that we'd get married. Our moms worked hard to keep our relationship together for as long as we wanted to stay together.)

I didn't have hopes for college, I just planned on getting by with my babysitting and facepainting gigs while I worked at starbucks. I didn't think I was smart or creative enough for college (thanks undiagnosed AuDHD). My husband was a firefighter/EMT. A year after we got married I quit my starbucks job due to an awful boss and a few short days after, discovered we were pregnant with our first after being told I would struggle to have children due to PCOS. I was happy I had quit because I was SICK. I threw up multiple times a day EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. (I lost 60lbs).

She was born in 2019 and she was BEAUTIFUL. (I love her so much.) 6 months after she was born and she couldn't hold her head up, or sit up, and started having very visible seizures. After a terrifying couple of months and ER trips we found out she had a stroke in-utero that left half of her brain damaged/dead. After trying several anti-seizure meds with no luck, we started talking about brain surgery. A few months before her brain surgery we were blessed with another pregnancy.

(again...I was sick every day of that pregnancy. Lost 40 lbs.) I was 5 months pregnant when my oldest had her brain surgery to separate one side of her brain from the other. It was a several hours long surgery filled with extreme anxiety and fear. We had so many people praying for her/us. God is good, and brought her through the other side...SEIZURE FREE! Our life truly changed that day. It's hard to remember how scary the seizures are now. Due to the stroke she has very little mobility in the right side of her body and can not stand, walk, or dress herself (currently! We have high hopes she will be able to eventually!) A few short months later we had our second beautiful daughter.

A few blissful months after the birth of our second daughter my husband randomly started having intense chest pain (remember - he's an EMT and was 26 years old), I rushed him to the hospital with our 6 month old in tow. They didn't have any answers for us. That was the last day he worked.

He had unknowingly caught covid at some point in the last year before he stopped working, and despite not showing any symptoms of covid when he caught it, he got Long Covid. He increasingly became more fatigued, was in pain, and struggled like he had never struggled before. So the day I took him to the ER led us down a road of unanswered questions, doctors that just shrugged their shoulders, and my husband losing his job.

It's now been over 4 years and I've built this business to support my family. I am sole income earner and caretaker to my husband and children. I started out making hand sculpted motherhood figurines (none of them sold), and moved to polymer clay earrings at the request of my mama. I did okay but wanted clay cutters that I really couldn't afford. So then began the deep dive into 3D printers.

I spent weeks researching and trying to convince my husband and myself that the investment into a 3d printer was most definitely the way to go. (spoiler alert! It was! lol) I ordered an Ender 3 Pro and it was a test in patience and sheer will. It took me a few hours to put it together but I was SO excited. The first several dozen prints came out SO poorly lol. And I hadn't even begun the dive into making my own cutters yet!

It took me several weeks to get a decent cutter, and I started selling tools way before I should have (shout out to the makers who took a chance on me and supported my efforts in the beginning!) it took me several more months before I started making professional quality clay cutters. Once I realized I loved creating tools more than making earrings I went full throttle into selling clay tools, completely dropping selling earrings.

I put all of my love and heart into my tool business "The Pudgy Art Bandit". I spent months trying to keep up with the trends, always trying to be unique but also somehow what everyone wanted. Turns out that's not really possible lol. I built a large community of clay makers who loved my unique cutters and their wide bases. (not sure what I'm talking about? Look up "The Pudgy Art Bandit" to check them out!) I had a shoulder injury in 2023 that caused me to close down my shop in early 2024. I wasn't sure what I was going to do and kind of floundered for a bit.

My friend asked me to teach her how to make clay cutters in Fusion 360. I sent her a video and she said "You make it look so easy! You should teach!". I then really missed The Pudgy Art Bandit so I opened it up again in June of 2024 but with the designs I REALLY wanted to do. Well who would of thought - they were SO well loved! Then after LOTS of requests, I released my Fusion 360 Ultimate Course and formed The Crafty Clay Babes. The course covered clay cutters, and very surface level texture rollers, organizers, stencils, and bead rollers. It was also a hit!

Then in September of 2024 we got hit by hurricane Helene and through the chaos of having to transport my non-ambulatory daughter so much I re-injured my shoulder. I then closed down The Pudgy Art Bandit for good and focused on making The Crafty Clay Babes the best it could be. Since then I have created over 8 courses, 700+ clay cutter files, and have had over 800 students join me on the journey!

There was something so lovely about the hair pulling beginning that brought me here. Over the last 4 years I have learned the ins and outs of the 3 different brands of 3D printers I've had, really figured out slicers, and have run into just about every single printing problem out there. I really, truly believe it's so I could do what I do now. I love that I can help fellow polymer clay artists jump into 3D printing without it being scary or overwhelming. I love that I can be the go to person when a clay maker is having trouble with their prints. I love being the "Clay Cutter Lady" as someone once called me in a Facebook group lol.

I really, REALLY love what I do. I'm very passionate and get excited to see what my students are up to and love when their creations surpass mine. Every day running The Crafty Clay Babes is a gift. I'm so very grateful for all of the people who made this possible. It really is a dream come true. Thank you.

Special Mentions to the following for their impact on The Crafty Clay Babes & Me. These are not in any special order, and there are SOOOOO many more I'm missing I know. I'll be adding more for sure!

Lena A - my very sweet sister who works on hopes and dreams alongside me

Carrington - For encouraging me to 3D print and being my first tester and customer! I love you!

Catherine - I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your pep and can-do energy, I loved those early days with you

Kaitlyn S - Founding student who encouraged me and supported CCB from the beginning

Linda V - Founding student who continues to encourage me and teach me new things

Stephanie S - Founding student that brought valuable feedback to the beginnings of CCB

Lisa M - Founding student who has always been so kind and supportive (love her work too!)

Alicia N - Early student that amazed me with her cleverness and encouraged me

Monik N - Founding student that has a special place in my heart and also pushed me harder than anyone else to release my Fusion course. Without her I'm not sure I'd be here.

Misty Peterson - Founding student and one of my very good friends, has encouraged me when I'm so very low and I'm so grateful to her

Nancy W - Gave me hope of bigger things and lifted me up when I was down

Barbara A - Sweeter than honey and I didn't know she'd be a light I'd need (thanks for praying for me and encouraging me friend <3)

Rosemarie M - Fellow special needs mama and business owner that picks up with me right where we left off

Ramona T - Great encourager and gave me feedback to bring CCB to where it is today!

Mya Nichol - For being the best business coach out there! Thank you for helping me make my dreams come true!