Giddy Up Mazatlan Layout

This was a fun little layout.  Aren't these little donkey's cute!  Love them!

http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/2017/02/challenge-382-down-on-farm.html farm animals

Game On Layout

I absolutely love these little bears.  A few months ago, I saw the cutest layout with little black bears. I was going to buy some when I found this little guy in my collection.  He was originally a brown bear, but I thought "I bet he will be cute as a black bear."  And I was right.  He is a cute little black bear!  I made a few of him and did a layout called "Love you 2 pieces" with puzzle pieces, but I had a few left over.  We had the opportunity to go to a cabin for a family vacation and when we go, we often play games.  I thought wouldn't those little guys look cute on a cabin layout with all of us playing cards....yep, yep, and yep again!  LOL.  Sadly, all these little guys now have homes.  I like him well enough, maybe he'll show up another time somewhere else.  But until then, he looks adorable on this Game On layout!

http://diecuttindivas.blogspot.ca/2017/02/challenge-305-animals.html animals
http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/2017/02/dlart-february-linky-challenge.html AG
http://kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com/2017/02/lm-322-colorphoto-inspiration-challenge.html red, white, black
http://tuesdaythrowdown.blogspot.com/2017/02/tuesday-throwdown-331-favorite.html favorite embelishment - die cuts of course!  Are there any other embelishments?  LOL

Bathroom redo using General Finishes Java Gel Stain

Well, it was time to do some updating in our home.  Having used General Finishes Java Gel Stain on many furniture projects and a kitchen in a cabin, I decided it was time to do some updating at home.  Here's my bathroom before and after.  It took me about a week to stain and paint and it took my hubby 2 days to do the tile but all in all, I love it.  I wanted to do my kitchen also, (which I did in another post) but I didn't want my cabinets to be quite this dark.  This bathroom has no real light in it so the stain which is actually a really dark brown, looks black.  Not the look that I wanted in my kitchen, but I love this look in my main bath which my son uses and he loves it too!  Not bad for a couple weeks of work!  Do you love it too?  If you want to see my kitchen, go here:   Kitchen Redo - General Finishes Gel Stain Completely different look with a mixture of java gel stain.  Love that stuff!

Kitchen Redo General Finishes Gel Stain - Mixed Stain

What a labor of love!  After many years in our home, our flooring in the kitchen needed to be replaced.  Well, since we were updating the floors and the fridge shelves had broken and ice maker quit working, and the kitchen faucet was corroded in hard water that wouldn't come off anymore, I decided it was time to redo the whole kitchen, cabinets as well.  Our cabinets were in wonderful condition and I still loved them but they needed a little updating.  I thought about painting them white but really like the warmth of wood.  So...what is a girl to do?  I refinish furniture and have used General Finishes Java Gel stain, but I knew that I wanted my cabinets darker, but not that dark.  So I bought brown mahogany, antique walnut, and then Georgian cherry.  None of them produced the color that I was looking for.  So....what is a girl to do when tackling a project of this size by myself and knowing that this was the product I needed to use in order for my sanity to make it out alive but also knowing the color wasn't right?  Start mixing stains of course and when you get it right, you'd better make sure you mix enough to do the whole project!  LOL.  

So after mixing a few batches of stains, I decided I had found the perfect color.  It even matched the wood floors in my dining room.  It's funny how it works on a project like this.  After only 1 coat of stain, I decided that the color that I was going to do (2 to 3 coats), might be a little too dark still on so much surface.  So I continued on with one coat and loved the result.  It is just dark enough to update them, I can still see the wood grain, and if I want to go darker another time, I still can!  All in all, I am loving the result.  We have the floors done, cabinets done, new faucet, and all new appliances.  Now we need to do lighting, counter tops and back splash, but for now we are taking a break until spring when we can open the windows while we work.   What do you think?  Dark enough?  Not dark enough?  I actually love the warmth and color and it's my house, so it's a win win for me but I just wanted to throw this out there in case their are other people who would like to update their cabinets, but maybe not quite as dark as the General Finishes Gel Stain.  Mixing it was easy, so give it a try.  In my case, I had already bought all the colors.  Might as well try to use them and it worked perfectly!  Maybe you can find just the right color for you too!  Good luck! Oh, just so you know.....I have used gel stain on probably a dozen projects and the ONLY way I have found that you can get away with anything less than 3 coats is to apply with a foam brush and then DRY brush immediately.  To do this kitchen, I actually used 3 boxes of  2" chip brushes.  The color is actually more even in person than the lighting shows in the after photo, but hopefully you get the idea.  Give it a try, especially if you are just going to replace your cabinet anyway.....what could it hurt?  Start with a junk dresser, a thrift store shelf or something that is inexpensive and you'd get rid of anyway.  That's what I did and now I've done a ton of projects, even selling some pieces for fun!  It's time consuming, but in my opinion, so worth it!  

(And just in case you were wondering what color I was going to do and ended up going lighter....here is the same stain with 2 coats.  Still love it but afraid it might have been too dark in my kitchen.)