The Kitchen Remodel - Non Stamping Post

Many of you may remember me talking about remodeling our kitchen last spring/summer. I had quite a few request to share pictures and am finally getting around to it. The photo above is after it was completed, but I'll start with some before and during pictures before I show the rest of the after photos.

Here is a look at the old kitchen.  It wasn't horrible, but it lacked storage in a big way. You can see I had cereal boxes on top of the fridge, bread in the corner, not to mention clutter (and this was on a good day). The ceramic tile counters, aside from being dated with those wide, dark grout lines, were starting to fall out and some were cracked or broken. The counters were the driving force in deciding to do the remodel. They needed to be addressed, so we had to decide whether to put new counters on a kitchen we weren't happy with or invest in a whole new one.

Here is another view, this time from the family room looking into the kitchen. Another issue was the style of the cabinets didn't suit the style of the house. They were short and stubby and country looking, but the house has angular, modern lines and tall ceilings.

Our family room is very narrow and the only place to put the TV was up against that counter/bar/pony wall, which looked terrible. There was always a tangle of cords and wires for the misc. equipment. The refigerator was right on the other side of that wall and there was just barely enough room to open it and nobody could walk by if you were standing there.

Well, those are just a few of my complaints, I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Here is a look after we tore out the center counter area and put in studs for the new wall. Mike did most of that part. I just added the cross pieces and did some electrical. We added a lot of cross pieces to provide extra support because of the cabinet configuration on the kitchen side.

This one is with most of the cabinets ripped out and patching the wall. You can see we kept the sink cabinet in as long as possible. Once that goes, the clock really starts ticking to get it done. Hard to live without a kitchen sink.

Now for the after photos. I got a longer counter. The sink used to be offset to the right and now it is centered in front of the window. I love the corner cabinet with the swivel shelves inside.

The upper cabinets used to be 33 inches high, now they are 39 inches and seem to fit the design of the house better. The counter tops are Silestone and darker in person than they are looking in the photos.

Another angle. The stove is moved over to the right about 20 inches and over laps where the refrigerator used to be. I now have plenty of elbow room on either side of the stove and you can walk by even if the oven door is open.

Where that lone counter/bar/pony wall was, now sits the refrigerator with a pantry on one side. With the refrigerator moved, I now have a work triangle. I never realized how important that was until I had it. It really does make a difference.  

A different angle of the sink. I love having the large single sink. This was something I had been contemplating for some time and nearly forgot when we were looking at sinks! I've never been one to fill up two sinks, one for washing and one for rinsing. Most stuff goes in the dishwasher and for the few things that get hand washed, I just squirt a dab of dish soap and wash it with a bit of running water. The great thing about the single sink is practically anything fits in it. My oven racks, largest roasting pan, even my big cookie sheet fits flat in there.

Another view from the family room. This used to be a really dark area of the kitchen. The tile backsplash was one of the last things we finished. Mike did the cutting for me, while I measured and then laid the tiles after he cut them.

Another view from the family room. Here you can see the new finished wall along with the TV area. We built in conduit for the cords, so they get run inside the wall to the TV. Got that new TV just in time for the NBA finals last year. Mike is a Laker fan, so that was timely.

Another view of the TV wall and the cabinets on the other side.

Same cabinets, slightly different perspective.

And here is the cabinet that is the reason it took us so long to complet the remodel. I really love having this tambour corner cabinet for the toaster and bread and such, but we came close to giving up on it. When it first came, the sides were unfinished, so we had to send it back. Since it was the designer that ordered it wrong, the manfacurer wasn't in a big hurry to get it to us, so it took three months! In the meantime, we coudn't complete the trim work or tile that had to go around this cabinet (at least the rest of the kitchen was done). It finally got here and I when I took it out of the box, it was damaged! Yikes! Back it went. This time it was the manufacurers fault, so it only took three weeks to get a replacement. It was delivered to Home Depot. They called us to come pick it up. They lost it! Yup, they really did. They did eventually find it and we got to take it home. By then it was early fall and Mike was too busy with work to take time off to finish everything.

I had the designer bump out the sink a bit so I would have a little extra room behind the sink. Really glad we did that! We also had them make us a matching windowsil from the same Silestone as our counter. That is really cool since it was wood before and I do a lot of splashing.

Well that was probably a lot more than you wanted to know. Thanks for letting me ramble on about non-stamping stuff. I hope you have a great day!

Make a Splash

Note - One of the photographs from my Spellbinders note card box a few days ago and the corresponding measurements had some errors. The measurements are all fixed now. So sorry if this caused any confusion for those of you who followed the tutorial. Thank you to Phyllis and Rhonda for bringing it to my attention!

Hello! Today's card is one I shared at the last release party, so it may not be new to all of you. I used Aslea Hopkins fabulous new set, Make a Splash.

I used Copic markers to color the octopus, starting with RV19.

Added RV25.

Then added RV23.

I filled in with RV21.

Then added RV25 to the dots and RV19 to deepen the shading a bit in areas.

For the background, I sponged Memento Summer Sky and Bahama Blue. Then I stamped the scallop bling image from Bring the Bling, along with a few of the jellyfish from Make a Splash. The octopus was cut out and adhered with Pop Dots. I used a scallop square Nestabilities die to to make my card base from Pure Luxury Passionate Pink.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Simple Joys

Hello! Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments you left on my Grand Calibur post yesterday, and for all the lovely comments you leave so often. I'll have another GC 3-D project coming up in a few weeks. The card above is one I showed a sneak peak of a few weeks ago, for my new set, Warm With Love. I'm just now getting around to sharing the tutorial.

I stamped the small swan scene, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, on Pure Luxury white cardstock. Then I used circle Nestabilities to cut it out, sponging Memento Summer Sky while it was still in the die.

Sponged lightly with Memento Danube Blue.

Masked the top with a sticky note and then sponged more Memento Danube Blue.

Removed the mask and took it out of the die.

I stamped the swan a second time to color and started with my N5 Copic marker.

Added N3.

Added N1, then used my blender pen to soften the look. I used E00 on the beak.

After coloring, I cut out the image and adhered it to the background, using Pop Dots. For the shadow in the water, I used N3. Then I added ripples to the water using B24 and an opaque white gel pen.

I cut another layer of white with my Labels 9 Nestabilities and sponged Memento Danube Blue while still in the die.

I scored some lines on the white cardbase, using my Scor-Buddy and popped up the layers with Pop Dots. The sentiment is also from Warm With Love.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a wonderful day!

A Grand Thank You - Part Deux

Hello Monday Morning! Today the Gina K Design Team is having a second blog hop to thank Spellbinders for their very generous gift of a brand new Grand Calibur to each member of our team. We have made some special cards and projects to showcase the new Grand Calibur and why we are loving it so much! Thank you so very much Spellbinders!!! 

You can find my post from the first Spellbinders Hop here.  If you came here from Tami Mayberry's blog, then you are on the right track.

I'm still loving my GC and pulled out my Grand Labels Four , along with several other Spellbinders dies to make this note card box and cards. All the images are from my newest stamp set illustrated for Gina K Designs, Warm With Love.

On this card, I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags,  Circle Nestabilities and Scallop Circle Nestabilities. 

I used Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities and this week's StampTV challenge sketch for this card.  The circle is Pure Luxury White cardstock, sponged while still in the die.

And here is a side view of the box. I used the two largest sizes in the Grand Labels Four set for the flap and flap panel, and cut them using my Grand Calibur.

And here is a look at the box, with the flap open. I love that I can now make boxes and give them this great finished look by using the GC! All the details and instructions for my project can be found below, but for now, hop on over to Tina's blog to see what fabulous inspiration she has to show you! 

To start, I cut a piece of Pure Luxury Sweet Corn cardstock to 11 by 4.25 inches.  I scored at .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10 and 10.5 inches. This piece with be the bottom, front and pleated sides of the box.

Next, I rotated the cardstock and scored at 1 inch. 

After scoring, trim as shown. 

Next, fold and crease along all score lines. Add strong tape (I used Scor-Tape) to the bottom and the last section of the pleats.  Set this piece aside while you make the back/top section.

For the next piece, I cut another piece of Pure Luxury Sweet Corn cardstock to 10 by 6 inches. Then I scored at 3.75, 4.5 and 9 inches.

To get the beautiful curved detail on the flap, I slid the cardstock (the 3.75 inch side) into the largest of the Grand Labels Four die. The six inch wide cardstock was a tiny bit too wide, so I made a tiny snip with my scissors, so it would fit perfectly. 

After positioning the cardstock carefully with the die, I ran it through my Grand Calibur. The wide platform of the Grand Calibur allows you to use much larger dies and cardstock that common cutting machines. This is my favorite feature of the GC!

Here is a close up view of how I snipped the cardstock. I needed the box to be a full six inches wide so my envelopes would fit inside. 

Here you can see how it looked after cutting the flap. I folded and creased the score lines.

 Next, I assembled the two pieces together by adhering the two bottom sections, overlapping the back bottom over the front bottom.

Then I adhered the pleated sides to the back. That created the basic box. 

I used magnetic snaps to keep the flap closed. I placed the first one on the box front. 

Then I moved the flap into position and let the attraction of the magnets help me place the one on the flap in the correct spot. 

I cut a piece of Pure Luxury White cardstock using the next size smaller Grand Labels Four die.  I cut a straight edge so that it was 3.25 inches high at the center, then placed it back in the die to sponge. I used sticky notes to mask a narrow border along the straight edge. I used Memento Cantaloupe ink to sponge.

I removed the panel from the die stamped the fern image several times, using Cantaloupe ink. Then I adhered the panel to the flap on my box, covering the magnet.

I cut a panel for the box front, to  2.75 by 5.5 inches, then masked the edges with sticky notes. Then I sponged with Memento Cantaloupe ink.

 I stamped the fern on this piece, using Memento Cantaloupe.

 Tied a ribbon around the panel and adhered to the box front, covering the magnet.

I used Copics to color the butterfly, starting with RV19, 

Added RV23. 

Then used my blender pen to spread the color a bit. 

Added Y13. 

Then added Y17. 

The iris, also from Warm With Love, was colored starting with Y17. 

Added Y13. 

 Then I colored with the outside edges with RV21.

Used YR000 to blend. 

Added RV23. 

Then RV25. 

For the stem, I started with YG03. 

 Then added YG23.

The images were cut out and adhered with Pop Dots.

Thanks for hopping along with us. I hope you have a wonderful day!