Water Stamping and Finally, My Kitchen

Hi everyone.  I know, I have been bad.  Not coming around much and all...but I am busy...what can I say?  The kitchen tho is finally done!  woo hoo!!!! 


And I am here and today with a simple technique, water stamping. You will need your distress inks, a blending tool, your stamp, embossing ink, and your project, here I chose to use a tag.

Ink the tag with your ink blending tool.  Remember, add more ink to get bolder, deeper colors.

Apply embossing ink to your stamp.  This will help the water stick to the image.  Mist your stamp with water and press firmly onto the inked background.

As the image dries, you will see it start to fade.

I am using this tag for a birthday present.  I added some gorgeous Marion Smith Vintage Trinkets, a simple Prima flower, and a bit of a Prima flourish as well as a few scraps of paper to my inked and stamped tag.

So, are you ready to see the kitchen?

I so need to clean my windows.  hee hee

my cooking space.  loving having all those burners. 

Wonder if I can get fresh flowers ever week?  hmmmmmm

My coffee bar, you know I love coffee, right?

There are still a few little things.  I am going to add another shelve over the coffee station, at the top.  Don't know what I will put there...maybe more coffee stuff.  Just seems to need to be more filled.  And the hood...well, if you look closely, you can see it is not square.  So it had to go back and we are getting a new one. But soon, I hope.  Anywho.....

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs.

Nancy

Sorry....

I know, I say that all the time, but really!  I am.  Life has just been crazy busy with the kitchen remodel and the last weeks of swim season.  I have had meetings just about every night and of course there are always a few extra glitches in the schedule.  Just to keep things interesting.

So, before I bore you with all my problems...how about if I share a few of the projects I have eeked out some time for.

First up, using a super cute sketch from my friend Heather...Ainsley!  She loves posing for the camera.  We shot these on the Fourth of July, right before we left to go watch fireworks!  She is growing up too fast.  She loves fashion!

Pink Paislee Starlight, Basic Grey chipboard alphas, Michael's Jewels.

 And here is Mackenzie at the overnighter.  I used some GCD papers that Heather sent me a while back.  They have just been sitting in my stash.  I really need to declutter.  If anyone is interested in coming and doing it for me???  hee hee  I probably wouldn't even know if half of my stuff went missing.  KWIM?  It is a disease!

GCD papers, Maya Road journaling tag, Prima Butterfly, American Crafts title

And finally, Brighton.  Another one of Heather's great sketches.  Brighton loves (or I should say loved, they broke last week at summer camp) those sunglasses.

Fancy Pants It's the Little Things

OK, so there is the scrappy stuff.

Did I mention we are in the home stretches of the kitchen remodel?  Here are a few photos.

The cabinets and granite/marble (the island is marble) are in for these photos.  Kevin even managed to get a bit of the tile in so we could begin to see how it would look. I even managed to fill them up.  Goodness it feels good to be out of boxes.

Of course, I say I am out of boxes...but there are still bunches of them in the garage.  sigh.  Some of for a shelving unit we will need to put back up after paint.  And others are boxes we need to go through and get rid of things.

This is really cool too.  My microwave is in a drawer.  Yep....it is a drawer.  We didn't really  have any upper space to put it, so it is in the lower cabinet.  Very convenient.

I love my new faucet!  So I had to share.

I really should go run and grab some more photos.  The tile, including the mural is in.  The hood is in, although it needs to be replaced as there was a manufacturing error...sigh.  I guess one glitch isn't too bad.

But first....I have got to get back to pushing paper for the swim team.

Hugs.

Nancy

Let's Get Distressed

When Kristina told me that the Your Memories Here store would begin carrying Tim Holtz distress inks I was thrilled.  These are a tool that I use on just about every layout I make.  So, I thought it would be fun to share with you a few different ways to use them.   Today, let's start with a simple distress.

For this technique you will need your inks, a water mister (I picked mine up at the dollar store) and a heat tool.  I like to use water when I am distressing as I feel it gives the paper more of a worn texture.

Begin by crumpling your paper.  Here I chose to use a simple manila tag.  Remember to always start crumpling your paper from the center, it just makes it easier.  Next, simply rub the Distress pad over the project.  You can work with one color,

or layer them for more depth.

 next, mist with water...

then dry with your heat tool.  I find that drying the inks allows me to control the flow of the ink better.

 And finally, because I love a bit of bling, I spritzed my tag with a bit ofTattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

 a fun stamp....

and my tag is ready for a project.

And on the kitchen front....

 Not much happened to day to take a photo of, because a good portion of the day was spent hooking up gas and electric to .......

My new range!  So thrilled, six! full size burners.  ah.....

Well, off to do some tidying up before dh comes home.

Hugs.

Nancy

Hello Again....

Hello!  Look at me!!!  Two days in a row!!!!  Seems like old times.  Hee hee

Well, I have another layout I completed, this time from a sketch at Sketchabilities.

Pink Paislee -Daily Junque papers and white alphabet, Prima florals and bling,  Glitz Designs tiny alpha.

These are photos of Ainsley blowing bubbles in the backyard.  What better summertime activity is there...just hanging out and blowing bubbles.  The Pink Paislee papers were the perfect bright, summer colors for these photos.  I added a few Prima flowers and a bit of Prima bling.

And guess what else is a fabulous summertime activity?  Adding cabinets to my kitchen!  I am so excited to be in the putting it back together stage.

By the end of today (this photo was taken last night), the cabinets should be mostly in as well as the range!  Woo hoo!!!!  I can see the end in sight!

Hugs.

Nancy

Long time....

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  But with the end of school and the start of morning swim...couple that with some funky weather and a horrible cold that had me in bed for two days......

Well, enough about that.  Here is a fun layout I just completed using a sketch from Once Upon a Sketch.  I used some fun papers from Crate Paper for their color challenge and a bunch of Prima flower.  I love all the different styles of flowers that Prima makes and had a great time mixing them together with some Maya Road on this layout.  

Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe, Prima Marketing florals, Maya Road flower (large pink), American Crafts Thickers.

I added in a few Prima pearls and a fun little Prima bird that I painted with some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  I also painted a white Prima rose with the same Glimmer Mist to make it match a bit better.

I love the way all these pink and yellow florals played off my niece's photo.

Oh, did I mention that we are now 1 1/2 weeks without a kitchen?  I showed you what my kitchen looked like once upon a time.  How about a photo of what it looked like at the end of last week?

Lovely huh?  Well, let me say, the few days my contractor has been here this week didn't help it much.  hee hee

I now have electrical boxes, and new recessed lighting (I had cans before, but they were incandescent, which is a huge no-no now.)

And this monster duct is for my new vent hood.   Much bigger than the old one, but then my new range is much bigger as well.  Tomorrow they run the gas line.  Then inspection and we can begin on making things pretty.  Drywall and cabinets next week...I should have appliances by the end of the month.  Cross your fingers.

Hugs.

Nancy