retro kitchen redo

i am finally making some progress on my kitchen redo. in fact, i think i can see the end approaching quickly. i think i started it back in april…yikes! usually i like to get a project/room finished quickly, but i got stalled on this one when i ran out of white paint. yes, i painted with white paint, you can pick yourselves up off the floor now! i decided to go retro with the colors and painted the cupboards two shades of aqua, and decided the best foil for them was white.

aren’t those little salt and pepper shakers the perfect mid-century modern touch? (at least i think so, i’m typically more of a rustic/shabby chic girl.) the countertops on one side of the kitchen are white with the gold speckles, like this:

on the other side there is a long countertop that is formica that looks like butcher block. i thought it would be better if the two counters at least sort of matched, so i painted the long counter white. (kilz white with the primer already in it) so now i am using my zig metallic gold calligraphy marker to make the gold dots. here’s my progress so far:

what do you think? am i pretty close? it’s gonna take awhile, the counter is kind of long:

i even changed out the light switches and plug ins for white ones. i was a little nervous about that, but i consulted my trusty Readers’ Digest Do it Yourself book, and i only got one tiny little shock.

thanks for stopping by!

quirky scrapbook in progress...

so i have this printer's drawer that i no longer put little stuffs in because i am not a frequent duster. and if you don't dust the little stuffs, they start to get icky. which means that my drawer has been empty for some time.

i wanted to make it into a scrapbook of sorts, but some of the spaces were just so tiny. i tried a few different ways of pounding gently removing some of the dividers, and ended up having good luck with a very sharp very thin saw.

initially i planned to paint it, but what i really wanted to do was collage old catalog pages all over it, not just the background. i have some catalogs from 1915 - one Sears and one Ward's - and they have the best photos and descriptions ever.

here's what i have come up with, so far:

lots of layers and lots of mod podge. now i just need to figure out how to put photos and embellishments on it without covering up the whole background. in the meantime, it's hanging on the wall, providing me with inspiration. and amazement at the prices way back when.

thanks for stopping by!

a little note

i changed the music player so it doesn't start automatically; you have to click on the arrow. i have been wanting to do this forever, and finally figured out how...it took one click.

i have a cool new "scrapbook" to post tonight! :)

scrapbooker = card maker?

so if you are a paper scrapbooker, it should logically follow that you could easily make other paper crafts, such as cards, right? not necessarily. at least not for me. i like to make cards, i just have a hard time getting started. coming up with a design. choosing the type of card.

i've seen where some scrappers make a layout and then a card right away, before they clean up. that way all the coordinating papers and embellishments are right there. it saves them the time they would have spent picking out what products to use. this is a really great idea and i love that it sounds so efficient and effortless. i guess i have trouble switching gears?

others start from a sketch, either one of their own or one of the many that are all over the internet or in idea books. i love to look at galleries online and at idea books. sometimes i'll see a beautiful color combination or paper combination that i would never have thought to pair up, and think i will definitely try them out. but when i sit down with my supplies, the ideas don't translate well for some reason. not sure why?

which leads me to another strategy. scraplifting, or CASE-ing. Copy And Steal Everything. (both of these are fine, as long as you give credit to your source.) i get inspired by most everything i see, but i really don't like just following along and gluing paper 'a' to card stock 'b'. must be the rebel in me. ha!

cards are so much smaller than my favorite 12 x 12 pages, maybe that is one reason why i feel constrained before i even get started? maybe i'm over-thinking it. shocker, that. i guess i'll just keep at it and see what happens.

thank you cards are always handy to have on hand:

 

 and general 'happy' cards are fun to send:

 

do you recognize the bird? :)

if you have a strategy you want to share, let me know!

 

fun with sizzix & alcohol inks

every once in awhile i'll start scrapping and get sidetracked making an embellishment. like today when i was using the big kick to emboss and die cut shapes for an upcoming project. i had a stack of acrylic packaging that i have saved, and decided to use that to make "ghost" shapes. except i wanted to make them show up a little bit. in the past i have painted the edges, but the paint was across the room. (lazy scrapper alert!)

however, the alcohol inks and staz-on ink were within reach.  i did figure out that if you want to use both staz-on and alcohol inks on the same piece it helps to use one ink per side.

here are my favorites:

why does my scanner cut things off? i had it right in the middle. arg. all four edges of the frame are wavy.

have you made your own embellishments lately? i'd love to see!