Kitchen cabinet re do

Hey yall!! WOW It has been like forever since I posted here!! so sorry!! This year came in like a whirlwind and is spinning us around.  Tons of emotions and tons of projects and tons of new recipes and ohhhhhhhhhh not nearly enough hours in the day!!  I so think I am becoming obsessed to make and do as much as possible in a short amount of time and in doing so am loosing my mind and whatever little and I do mean little organizational skills I do have!! LOL  All is good!!  Life is good!!
So hubby bought a small farm, I am in shock yet but not going into details I just didnt know about it til it was a done deal.   There is a darling old 1900s farm house that needs some updating.   Paneling in every yes every room!  LOL but I can fix that!!  We are going to plan on renting this house out for summer weekend or weekly rentals it is between 2 nice tourist towns and would make a great country retreat.   My first project is doing the dark brown kitchen cabinets into shabby, farmhousey, primitive rustic country love!  I fell deeply in love with the sagey green color paint I bought for my snowmen signs and have lots of that so on it goes!!

So here is part of the kitchen.  These cabinets are really built solid and heavy.   I like the details on the inlay but as you can see are dated.   Ok my friend referred to the wallpaper on this wall "willy wonka lick paper" LOL that is gone!!  ripped off quickly. 

After sanding and applying a light coat of primer the first one is painted.  This is only one coat but it did cover pretty well I thought. 

I  applied a bit of antiquing medium and then drybrushed some white here and there. 

I love that color so much couldnt wait to hang em back and see if this color would work.  They looked plain so with some drybrushed black around the edges that made em pop!

Here they are up and looking pretty good,  I loved the handles so farmhousey, I was at first going to paint them either black or white, but I like the patina on them just sanded a bit and they look good.  So now to figure out what color to paint the bases I dont like all the dark wood around the doors.  I am leaning towards a nice light almond or cream or maybe even light off white that can be distressed and antiqued up to match.  WHAT are your thoughts??

And I did make up a new item for market last week a spinach and cheese crostada!! OH MY what a delish and pretty treat that was!~!

flaky pie crust with the addition of a bit of cornmeal topped with the steamed fresh spinach, ricotta, parmesan, and romano cheeses, and a bit of seasonings

buttermilk biscuits

I did do a nice egg wash on top so they browned up beautifully. 

 here is a better clearer pic of the rustic crostada. 

and another cabinet one. Gee I wondered where that pic went to!! LOL

Hope yall have a great day I will be sharing all I do on the farmhouse and surely wanting opinions so please leave em for me!!

THANKS

HUGS

Darlene

 AND THIS SATURDAY FEB 2nd IS THE ICE BREAKER FESTIVAL IN SOUTH HAVEN MI!~ stop on by we have a great market and some wonderful vendors/crafters coming for ya!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~and SIMPLY~~

Family altered wood blocks

This was the first of the family sets I did.  I sooooo love this paper and will do another one similar.  The rod was a great thrift store find, now need to figure out what other rods I can use.  I am thinking maybe of making one for a sewing room with dowell and old spools on the ends.?? I can see it now! Better get in the craft studio and create art!! YEAH!

Here's another set of blocks I finished yesterday.  Spring which will be here before we know it!! YEAH!! Using K&CO ephemera pack I added some frames and flowers and cut out some tags for in back of the letters also.    A pearl is added to each letter and adds just the right amount of "bling" prim bling that is!

This was in our yard the other morning!  Green grass one min snow the next..   That is michigan!!

I dont think I shared a pic of the dream blocks I did.  They are strung on some great bluish grey vintage seam binding.  Gosh love that stuff!!

 So that is all for today I am working on yet another set of blocks and also some of my altered coffee filter books for babies.  Just not enuf time at all!!  Plus I need my lovin cuddlin time with my boys ya know!!

Have a great afternoon!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

snowed in???

*** we are expected to get 10 plus inches tonight!***  Finally snow snow & SNOW!!!
So gee whiz what is a gal suppossed to do???? I say a weekend of nothing but crafting and creating and playin with paper, glue, paint, scissors, stickers, and wellllllllllll everthing crafty!!!  YEE HAW!! happy happy I dont have to do anything until monday!!  Well I may just go to the kitchen this weekend and make some jam.  But then again maybe not!~! LOL

I think I shared this idea last week but in case yall dont remember I am working on some things for the shop.  Scrapbook paper, wood blocks I cut from my scrap heap, chipboard letters, paint and glue........

All I have to do is wait for the last coat of paint to dry on the rod and I can tie these letters to it. 

Dream banner finished.

 Here is another family block sign done.  U can see I tied each one of the letters on the rod with vintage seam binding in dark brown. 

I used all scrap pieces of paper I had.  This one has words stamped on it and I love the green color with the brown chipboard letters.   I used alot of this paper for my altered books I did,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, which reminds me I need to make a few more of them I only have a couple of them at the shop.. hmmmmmmmmmmm great idea for this weekend!!

After adheering the paper to the block I dry brushed antiquing medium ontop then stamped some postage stamp images on each one and also flourishes.  Black drybrushing on the edges makes them pop!!

So before I crafted I made some of my espresso cookies that have espresso cream filling and some decorative chocolate drizzle.

These are just the cure with a cup of joe in the am.  or as an afternoon snack, or a midnight snack with a cup of cocoa or cold milk.  

Something new here.   My chocolate dipped strawberry brownies.   I started out with my decadent chocolate brownies then topped them with some strawberry butter cake but before spreading the cake ontop of brownie I added some mini chocolate chips.  YUMMY!!  YUMMY!!   Also did a batch of "chicken scratch turtle" brownies which are chocoate brownie with homemade caramel sauce swirled on top then pecans and coconut mixed in.   Those are yummo too!!  I wanted to take pics but my card on dig cam was full!!! dangit! 

I will hopefully be OPEN at the shop next friday!!   Winter markets are going great and it is so nice to see our customers and meet new ones that didnt realyze we are there each week!! 

Hope yall are enjoying your thurs and stay safe if you are experiencing this winter storm too!!  Since we didnt have any snow it is kind of nice now!!  I just want to get it over then we can get into spring!!  My favo favo time!!  WEll summer is awesome, and fall is a favo favo too lol LOVE all the seasons!! 

Take care and have a blessed evening!!

HUGS

PS>  have yall checked out pinterest lately???? so many ideas my head spins each time I look at all those awesome ideas!!  stop on in!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

spoon ornies

I finished these guys up late last night and wanted to post em quick this morning.  Busy day at kitchen today I have 3 markets this week so candy making and baking today and hopefully time in my studio when I get back! 
I bought this big box of old silverware at a flea market this summer and there was only 2 big spoons in the whole box, at least my mom and I found some at the thrift stores this weekend so I could make more.  I do have 6 more on my work table right now that are drying.  It takes a bit but after sanding and basecoating this guys are fun to do.

Obviously this batch was just snowmen but the next ones are with sheep too. 

I bend the handle part of the spoon back and make a twine hanger with little homespun tie.

quicky took a pic of em hanging off a box in my studio.   A rusy bell is attached to a litle curled wire embellishement.

Some glitter and on a couple I used some tiny little stickers from in my scrap stash. 

They are coated with lots of triple thick glaze and some teeny tiny shimmery glitter.  Happy with the way they turned out.  I will be back later to share another round head snowman creation and also hopefully the other spoons will be finished.

Have a great monday!!

Hugs

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

one of my thrift store jars...

I did get a couple things done last night and finished this guy up using one of my .20 cent thrift store jars.  I made a round head snowman head and painted his face then did a nice coffee stain on him for that distressed aged look.

These jars are perfect for this.  You really cant see it but I did put a feather tree in the jar, attached down with some E 6000, some glittery snow flakes and a string of mini white lights.

On the front I speckeled it with snow and added a couple pieces of some scrapbook gem flourishes and the words let it snow.   

The cheesecloth scarf is perfect for him with a rusty star.

The black stovetop hat is just osnaburg fabric painted, sanded, and then rubbed with some cinnamon.  I have 6 more of these guys hanging on my clothesline in my craft studio drying, cant wait to make something with them next.  I also painted some old large spoons we found and basecoated some tins for painting snowmen on.  Lots to do today!!  Hope you have a wonderful sunday!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

I'm BACK!!

Wow FINALLY!~!  Our puter caught a virus friday night and poor hubby has been diligently working on it!!  We have alot of protection but gee one got thru.  It was spyware that latched on and kept telling me we needed to purchase a program to delete it, well long story short we are back and hopefully this wont happen again!!  II was sooooooooo lost without my puter!! 
Today hubby is having some oral sugery so I will be back this afternoon to start sharing my special projects I have been working on.
I did do up a spring mini banner and also an altered photo frame and some cards along with a spring altered sign so far.
It is pouring here and we have possible flood warnings, my poor pasture is just flooded, it was 50 degrees out yesterday and boy alot of snow melted so that doesnt help with the water situation. 
Glenn winter market is saturday so I am goin to make some new recipes I want to try out.
Raspberry walnut brownies (with our homemade red raspberry preserves) some cherry almond oatmeal cookies, and some pierogies on the menu!!  All my recipes! 
Hope yall have a beautiful wed!!~
Talk more in a bit!~
HUGS
Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Mondays color challenge and a present!!

Oh my goodness!!  I got something yesterday (THANKS MOM)!!!!   anyways it is goin to have my busy busy and I think it will open a whole new line of creative tresures for me!!  I have wanted this for so long but never broke down and bought it.    Now that I have it I have sooooooooooo many thing running thru my head!  there are endless things to create and I think this is goin to be a wise investment!!  I even got the same color of this a my birthstone!!!  SO THE FIRST PERSON TO GUESS WHAT IT IS AND LEAVE THE COMMENT ON TODAY"S POST WINS A LITTLE PREZZIE FROM ME!!!  
And today's color challenge over at CR84FN::::  brown, red and tourquoise.

I cut layers of flowers out from a vintage hymnal and painted each one with barn red paint.   Antiqued and distressed each petal then layered them with lots of foam dots inbetween layers so they POP off the card.

Thinking of you is cut out of some aqua color paper that I distressed with my beloved TIM HOLTZ distressing ink in walnut.

A couple of flourishes are stamped in black and added to the backround.  Tourquoise and brown dotted grograin ribbom. 

A close up of my flower

AND the things I will play with this afternoon and MAKE aRt JeWelRy!!  I took apart one of the old royal typewriters I bought in sept at the flea market.  I love these and I just know the ideas I have for them welllllllllllllllllllllllllll...........................I wont want to sell the jewelry I make!! LOL 

Here's the card!~!~

I hope and pray Old Man Winter is not too hard on the US as I see the whole country is having this winter storm!!  They are callin for 14-25 inches here!! WOO HOO!~! snowmobiles may have to go out this week!! YEAH!! YIPPEE!! YEEE HAWWWWWWW!!*****  when u live in Michigan you just gotta love snow!! ** and we do!!   TAKE CARE, BE SAFE, and STAY WARM!!

Talk more soon!

HUGS

Darlene

 ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~