Every 2nd Counts - Cupcakes & Kisses

Since my birthday is this week, I thought I would make several E2C birthday cards using the Lettering Delights SVG sets that I recently purchased.  For this card, I used the Birthday Sparkles SVG set.

As you can see, I used the cupcake image with the flower on top.  I used MTC software to size and I cut the image on my Cricut Expression.

Make sure you come back every day this week to see more E2C cards made with LD SVG sets.

Supplies:

Card Base - Blue Dot Paper Shop White and the card measures 4.25" x 5.5"
Solid Color Paper - Martha Stewart Turquoise and Unknown Yellow
Patterned Paper - The Paper Studio Jung-a-low Bung-a-low Baby Glitter Stack for the cupcake wrapper and DCWV Fall Glitter Matstack White Glitter Paper for the cupcake top.
Sentiment - Hampton Art Happy Birthday Clear Stamp Set
Diecut Image - Lettering Delights Cupcake from Birthday Sparkles SVG Set
Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan
Circle Punch - EK Success 1/2" Circle Punch 
Corner Punch - We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper 
Crimper - Fiskars Paper Crimper (used on the cupcake wrapper to give dimension)
Gel Pen - Uniball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Accessories - Silver Stud Rhinestones

Every 2nd Counts - Welcome, Baby!

Here is a E2C clean and simple (CAS) card that I pulled together in no time and all paper except the card base was in my scrap bin.  Hope you enjoy!

Supplies:

Solid Color Paper - Blue Dot Paper Shop White and The Paper Company Light Green Cardstock
Patterned Paper - The Paper Studio Jung-a-low Bung-a-low Baby Glitter Stack
Sentiment - Inkadinkado It's a Boy Baby Clear Stamp Set
Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan
Scallop Punch - Stampin' Up Scalloped Edge Punch

March Daycare Door Name Tags

Here are the March Door Name Tags that I created for my DD's daycare classroom.  I created my own 4-leaf clover SVG file and used MTC to size and cut.  I also used Lettering Delight's font LD Delightful to print each child's name on each clover. 

I actually printed the file directly from MTC based on a tutorial created by Jin Yong over at Under A Cherry Tree.  She has many great tutorials on using MTC and LD graphics and SVG files.  Also, check out her Lettering Delights gallery for inspiring project ideas.

Little Crafty Hands

I often wonder what these little hands will create when they get bigger.

As I was going through my daughter's diaper bag last night, I found her first paper crafting project and my heart filled with joy!

On 2nd Thought - Dance

I am inspired most by Kristina Werner.  I follow her blog on a weekly basis.  This card she posted back in 2009 is the inspiration for this O2T card.  I did not have the same supplies so I used her overall layout to create my own version.

Supplies:

Solid Color Paper - Blue Dot Paper Shop Cream
Patterned Paper - K&Company Instant Pages 12x12 Pad, My Mind's Eye unknown stack names
Stamp Image - Inkadinkado Thoughts for the Day Clear Stamp Set
Background Stamp Image - Hero Arts Music Background Cling Stamp
Ink - Stazon Saddle Brown and Timber Brown
Corner Punch - We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Chain Punch - EK Success Scalloped Circle Chain Punch
Edge Punch - EK Success Large Scalloped Circle Border Punch
Accessories - Buttons, String, Brown Ribbon and CLI Pink Staples

Negative Space

My art teacher in high school used to always repeat "look at your negative space" or "be aware of the negative space" when we were sketching a still life or working on a portrait that I now naturally look at negative space shapes everyday out of habit.  That habit came in handy when I was working on the previous post E2C Get Well Soon card and I needed a small heart.  My mind jumped to this Martha Stewart All Around the Page Loops Heart punch set that my Mom just gave me this past weekend.  As you can see in the photo below, you get a bunch of tiny hearts from the negative space that would normally end up in the trash.

I have actually used the waste paper or the "negative images" from border punches several times and I figured it was a useful tip that I would put out there for you.

The heart I used on my card was the larger heart from the corner punch.

Every 2nd Counts - Ms. Katie Get Well

This is a quick Get Well Soon card that I made for my DD's daycare teacher who has been sick and in the hospital the last few days.  This was a really quick card to pull together and other than the card base all the papers were in my scrap bin!

Supplies:

Solid Color Paper - Blue Dot Paper Shop White and PTI Hawaiian Shores
Band-aid Colors - Red and 2 shades of brown I think are from a Colorbok Stack I picked up from Wal-Mart a few years back.
Patterned Paper - DCWV Fun in the Sun Glitter Stack
Stamp Image - The Paper Company Greetings Clear Stamp Set
Ink - Stazon Black
Provo Craft Cricut Image - Indie Art cartridge (cut at 3 1/8")
Corner Punch - We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Heart Punch - Martha Stewart All Around the Page Loops Hearts

Too much stuff!!

Do you ever sit in your crafting space and look around at all your supplies and get crafters-block?  You have so much stuff and could create almost anything, but you seem to not be able to create anything?

So you start flipping through crafting magazines or surf the internet looking for inspiration just to give you some sort of direction.  Then that card or scrapbook page jumps out at you and you are on a mission to re-create it only to find out that you do not have the same supplies.  So you have to make a few compromises here and there to use this paper instead of that or this stamp instead of that die-cut.  Eventually, you end up creating something completely new that strangely enough doesn't look like the original inspiration piece you started with.

This happens to me ALL the time.  I have ideas swimming in my head all the time.  I can make almost anything, but I usually end up with nothing.  Or what I do make ends up in the trash because it didn't end up looking the way I pictured it in my head.  (Don't feel bad for the scrapped projects...my Mom usually plucks them out of the trash and gives them a 2nd chance!)

That is what this blog is really all about.  It's my way to show you how I struggle through the "art" of crafting and arrive at a finished product that I am proud to share with you.  It is also a way to appropriately recognize the other crafty sites and bloggers that inspire my projects.

I hope to work under several labels to keep things simple since my crafting time is so limited.  Be sure to look for what I am going to call:
On 2nd Thought (O2T) - This will be where I show you how I take some inspiration item(s) and make it my own.
Every 2nd Counts (E2C) - This will be where I show you how I create those 5 minutes or less CAS cards.

Thanks!!

Abbey

Welcome!!

When checking out any new blog, I always check the archives section and find the very first posting just to see the reason behind the person creating the blog or how they welcomed the world. 

So what is my reason behind creating this blog?  Well, there is no good reason other than I just wanted to...everyone else has one so why not me!! 

Oh and before I forget...welcome!!