Happy New Year!

The New Year is here and it's time for new beginnings.

First and foremost I want to wish you all a happy and healthy 2011!

If you are anything like me you have a ton of un-finished projects just sitting around waiting for the chance to be finished and loved. I have some that have been started at least 3 years ago. This is the year that they all get finished. From the quilts to the baby blankets and the scrapbook album for my mom. (although I can't take all the credit for that one not being finished, it's a project that my sisters and I have been working on for some time now)

Here is the first project that I am going to finish.

It's my fist attempt at knitting (which I am teaching myself as I go). I started this cute blanket for my niece when my sister in Law was pregnant with her, needles to say my niece is over 2 years old now. I have a little less than 60 rows to go until it is completed.

I made my first shoe this past week. I have seen them around for a while and found a blog from a fantastic women named Terri Heinz with a tutorial on how to make them. This was my first time with very limited products. The card stock was colonial white then stamped and inked with 3 different colors. I then embossed using my cuttlebug to give it a bit of texture. The ribbon used is from Close to my heart and others that I have had on hand.

Here is a link to Terri's blog and tutorial on how to create a shoe of your own. Have fun! http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/2010/01/elegant-shoe-tutorial.html

My custom valances

So I have been looking everywhere for curtains that I like for my Dinning room. I couldn't find any. We looked high and low, all that we could find were the ready made ones, but I wanted a certain type of print. So we looked into custom curtains and we were wowed at the cost. So I told my Husband that I will make them. We found a great fabric store that has tons and tons of fabrics. I picked out what I wanted and it took me a while to figure out what type of curtain I wanted to do.

Here is what my windows look like before:

So I eventually decided on the waterfall Valance. Love the look of it. I made 3 the other day and had to go back to the store to get more fabric yesterday. I finished the other two valances today.

I do need to make the side panels out of the same fabrics yet. I just have to pick up some lining fabric, which might be a little while and I am o.k with that..... I think. ;-)

Here is what it looks like now:

Right now they are hanging on tension rods only because I am waiting for my bay window curtain rods to come in and I am very impatient and wanted to see them up. lol

I figure that I will do a little at a time to get the look that I want. I still need to put the dangling trim on the bottoms but that will have to wait. I have to keep reminding myself that Christmas is right around the corner and I need to budget the funds wisely. So a little at a time.

When I have everything finished I will post a final photo. It may take some time.

Farks-giving

Hello everyone,

What exactly is Farks-giving you may ask? Well, the Wichert clan has a history of unfortunate misshapes. No matter what the situation is something almost always goes wrong. Whether it be a vacation planned in sunny Bahama's and it rains the whole time or having a tool chest delivered and receiving a level instead. So with all the misshapes the Wicherts are also known as the Farkles, (Much like the Griswolds from National Lampoon's Vacation series).

Because The Wichert children are away for Thanksgiving day, we celebrate it earlier and it has become knows as Farks-Giving.

This year we celebrated it on Nov. 13th. There was plenty of delishious food. Thanks to Gram Wichert. We played games and got to spend time with the family. Alomost everyone got their hair cut too. Katie had her bangs trimmed earlier that day and so did the boys before we left. Once at Gram's I cut everyone elses hair while the rest of the clan played pictionary.

Katie really enjoyed her "special drink". It wouldn't be Farks-Giving with out it. It's Cherries and 7-UP.

And what a nice picture to leave you with. Katie with a beautiful smile and Joe............ well, he's Joe. What can I say. ;-)

Shimmery Dryer sheet Tutorial

I have been asked many times, "Renee, what is the dryer sheet technique and how do you do it?"

So I finally made a video tutorial with the help of my sons web cam. This is such a great technique. I love the impact it makes on my projects. I hope that you will give it a try and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Thanks!

Gift card Holder

'Tis the season to be giving. And what a better way to give a gift card? With this little card you can make a giving gift cards more personal.

I am working on a video that will show you how to recreate the glittery image using the Dryer sheet technique. So stay tuned for that and wish me luck.

I had seen this nifty little thing on the web before then I found this amazing artist who is simply Fabulous! Her name is Teresa Black. Teresa posted on her blog a video form her live stream show on how to create this card along with her 3D Tree. To view Teresa's Blog and her video, just click here: http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/

Digital Fun!

Wow, Last night I played with Studio J for the first time and I love it! I made 2 double page layouts. It was so easy to do. First I just downloaded my photos and then picked the Papers that I wanted to use. Then I had to choose from the many layout options. What a hard task to do when there are so many great ones. After choosing that I got to play with the papers and the embellishments and distressing. It was so much fun. So of course I purchased the 12 x 12 prints of my digital layouts to incorporate them with my traditional layouts in my scrapbook albums. I can't wait to get them. I was also able to purchase the jpeg. file and download it to my computer so that way I will always have my layouts and I can print them from my home printer if I wish. (I do have a wide format printer that would be able to print 12 x 12.

What a great way to make gifts for your family and friends for the holidays. Especially if you need to make more than one book. You can purchase multiples of your layouts and place them into albums as gifts for the grandparents or long distance family. You could even make up a heritage album to give to your siblings. Or even make an album of family events such as a family reunion. The possibilities are endless. Go on over to my MYCTMH website and try Studio J today! No purchase needed to try it out.

Studio J

Wow, how cool is this? There is a write up about Studio J (Close To My Hearts online digital layout center) on craftcritique.com Here is the link to view their website and the article: www.craftcritique.com/2010/09/scrapbooking-with-studio-j-by-close-to.html





The author talks about the pros and cons of every aspect along with the Different options and how to go about creating your layouts. She goes on the discuss the pricing and all the different options when ordering. From ordering and having CTMH print and mail out the digital layout to you and/or having them saved as a jpg. file for you to print out at your discretion. This is a wonderful read to learn more about Studio J. I hope that you take the time to read this article and try out Studio J for yourself today.