Visiting Monschau Germany A Fairy Tale Historic Village

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Today, I'm showing off some old pages I designed many years ago from a trip to Monschau, Germany. I quickly looked through the blog and could not find anything on this album I scrapped. Shocking! Hehehe...

The main reason I'm showing these off is to write about my latest trip to Monschau that I took, last week. As you may know, we travel quite a bit and I'm often doing research on where to go. Looking up places and what's to do there. Often, I can't find enough information. So, I thought I'd start blogging our travels so that others can get a better idea of the area and decide if it's enough.

Above is a fairly simple page with two lovely pictures of Monschau's high lights, the river running through the village and fabulous architecture including fachwerk. Monschau is a very charming, old, smaller village not far from the Belgian border. You can walk through the village in a few hours. It's full of shops and restaurants that are open in the warmer months, but much to our disappointment, closed in the colder ones.

We were there towards the end of November and nearly everything was closed. Some of the cafes/restaurants were open. Though the village is full of shops, nearly all of them were not open. That being said, it is still worth a visit.

Here's a close up of the cluster.

Below, I cut some designs from a design paper. My skills were a bit limited then.

The temperatures were much warmer for the trip I'm showing off. Just wait until you see the next installation!

In the pictures above, is a nice square with all of those tables. We went to that restaurant shown on the bottom. The prices were pretty good and so was the food. Flosdorff has a typical German menu and there's quite a lot to see when you're sitting inside. We were watching people set up the Christmas market much to our dismay. We missed by one week!!! Grrrr...

The page above and below are side by side or double pages. 

Look how simple the pages are. Square shapes, some layered text boxes and that's it.

The colors are mimicked on both pages lending to cohesion and uniformity.

I love the black, bordeaux and beige. They are classic colors which I thought fitting for such an old village.

All year, you can find plenty of places that serve drinks and sweets like beer, gluhwein, apfelstudel and caffe.

The title on the page below is kind'a cool. Note the contrasting colors for poppage. These pics are actually from Butchenbach, Belgium. The area of Belgium that used to be Germany.

Mmmm...pretzels! My favorite and fresh baked, too.

Below, you can see the fachwerk. I wonder why they don't design houses like this any more? Personally, I find today's architecture exceedingly unimaginative, boring and flat out ugly. The mental stimulation of beauty and craftsmanship is sorely missed.

Through the photos you can see that there is plenty of nature in and around Monschau. If you're into outdoor sports like hiking, hunting, biking, etc this would be a great place to visit. It's quiet. There isn't a lot of anything around this area which was exactly what I wanted.

Another simple page with contrasting matting and the same color palette. Look how the text boxes stand out against the busy background.

The red house is worth a gander, too. It doesn't cost much to visit. You can scroll several rooms, tastefully decorated from centuries ago. The theme is fabric because they used to make it there. There's only a tiny bit of history to learn and it doesn't take long at all to go through it. They close over lunch!

Here's a close up.

If you don't have a lot of time, keep your pages simple. Above, I simply rounded the corners of my photos with a punch, cut a few strips of paper and used a huge paper flower with a button center and done. Easy, right?

I designed a large pocket for my last scrapbook page so I could put all of my ephemera in it. I cut around the fun design of the paper and adhered it around the three sides. For pretty pages, use repetition and don't introduce too many colors and or patterns.

I threw this blog post in this spot because I got the dates mixed up for the Love for Templates train. I thought it was this day, not the Friday after. Duh! Hehehe...

Since it is Friday, I did come up with a fun freebie for ya. I'll have another one for the second part of the Monschau posting. Ya have to come back and check it out to see the difference between spring and fall visits. It will take your breath away!

Blogger is preventing me from adding images to the blog, again. So, I can't show ya the freebie. I made a fun, easy digital page and I'm sharing the cluster with text Germany across it. You can click here to download it. I'll post the image in the group if ya want to see it. 

Make sure ya come back next week for the regularly scheduled blog, the train, the chicken freebie and more.

Keep looking for the second part of the Monschau post. It really is a magical place no matter what time of year you go. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog. Happy travels!

 

Thanksgiving Planning with The Cherry On Top

 Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Years ago, I blogged all kinds of ideas in the form of recipes and printables. Find all of the links right here and get cook'n!

This first one covers all of the bases. Starters, main course, sides, dessert...

Here are the sides to check out.

Click here for the desserts.

I've got some fun printable placemats with neat examples. Click on the images to check them out.

Here is what it looks like printed right from your house on your own printer.

I'll be keeping it super simple since Thanksgiving isn't observed in Europe and I'm way too lazy for all of that cooking, prep and clean up. Hehehe...

What I've been doing lately is buying a rotisserie chicken that's all ready to go.

I make my own cranberry sauce because it is way easy and ya can't buy it prepped around here. A recipe is provided in a link, above. I dump a can of corn in a small pot with some butter and salt and heat it through. Since my oldest doesn't like corn, I usually whip up some carrots with a bit of butter and salt as well. The starch changes each year. I love stuffing, but no one else does. You can find the recipe in a blog linked here, in this blog. If the hubs decides to grill a chicken, we can simply throw on some sweet and or regular potatoes to the grill and we're set. Keep it simple if you prefer, but always be grateful.

Thank you for checking us out and good luck with your meal.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Free Printable Holiday Step Card, Vintage Book Designs and More Free Chicken Designs from The Cherry On Top

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I've got a sweet little mix of goodies, today. Some beautiful, watercolor designs from Chai Eighteen with printable ideas. There's definitely a fall vibe going on. We were in Germany last week where the leaves were turning colors and littering the ground. We've got the wood stove going now as well. It seems fitting with these autumnal designs.

Enjoy the new freebies from the chicken collection, Welcome to the Coop. I also put in a few images of The Cherry's most popular blogs, the top hat tutorial, paper dress template and the shadow puppets. In case you missed these fun, popular paper projects, check them out. It's all free.

I showed off Chai Eighteen's designs, above. I used them to make bookmarks and papers. Visit her shop and get inspired!

Y'all know how much I love purple. This shade went really well with Jo's designs. I created a mini collection of design papers, fall designs and this neat tag.

Here's a look at our three most popular blogs.

I started off a traditional, paper scrapper and I've always been a crazy creative. I love fashion and wanted to design clothes, but man! I can't do any kind of needle work at all. No sewing, crocheting, knitting... I can't believe how terrible I am despite all of the training.

At least I could pull off these projects! Hehehe...Above are just some scraps and a cereal box. People were requesting a tutorial. So, I made a template and a step by step for ya.

You'll find free templates or links to free templates for all three of these projects.

This dress was sew easy! Paper, glue and some fun embellishments and you're set!

There's my cutie 10 years ago. We've been around for quite a while, now.

A fan asked if I'd blog more cards and card templates. You know me! I obliged and created this step card. You'll be able to use it as a template. Just click on the image and download it directly. I've got an envelope for ya, too. Use them both as is or use the designs as templates. I designed them all from scratch.

I've got a nifty tutorial on how to put this baby together. It's really easy. The blog is really, really long and full of holiday inspiration. I know this blog is full of links that are no longer working. I do plan on going through every one (nearly 1,000) and fixing that, though most store links won't work just because the blogs are so old and I only sell at Design Bundles these days.

I used really pretty goodies from Design Bundles for today's freebie. If you follow that tutorial link, there's a free coordinating paper over there. Wink, wink...

Grab the collection from Plus.

So, I played with the printable. If you print out the envelope as is, it will take up most of a standard size A4 or 8x11 inch paper. The center is about 5.5x4 inches. That means, you'll have to make sure the card is the right size so when folded in half, it will fit in the envelope. I did make the card to fit, but the size cold change in your computer when ya print. 8x5 inches will do the trick with a little room to play. Use a more rigid paper and check those printer levels for quality.

This is most of the collection that I'm giving away. Today, I've got the 9th free pack. You may have missed a lot. Scroll back and grab them all. There's only one more pack and I still gotta finish giving you the French collection I started that coordinates with my book. I've finished the first draft and I'm experimenting with the format. It's going to be really fun and unique. I can't wait to share it with you!

Enjoy today's other freebie!

Thanks so much for checking out The Cherry. Feel free to show off your lovely paper or digital creations in our group. I may stop using Facebook. I'd go and grab all of the free stuff you can from the albums. If you've got any ideas of another space where we can share our creations, let me know. I was on Instagram, but it didn't exactly take off and I get motion sickness scrolling there. Hehehe... I still have it and could get it started again if there's enough interest. If you like it, let me know.

Oh! I'm also having issues with Mailchimp. I cannot access my account as of now. I have contacted them and I'm in line, waiting .... Days later. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have a fantastic weekend and make sure you find time to do the things you love.

Leopard Print, Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice for Autumn and Halloween Plus a New Chicken Design Freebie

Welcome to The Cherry On Top,

So here we are. The the end of October and I'm sitting in capris and a short sleeve shirt, in Belgium. I was chatting with a girlfriend of mine in Texas and she said it was in the 90's. Nothing to see here, folks. Just totally normal weather. I do love the warmer air, but to what expense? Anyway ...

I hope you're able to enjoy this time of year no matter what hemisphere you're on. Change is always nice and refreshing, for the most part.

Don'cha love cranking up the wood stove? Simmering ghluewein and lighting a few candles? Mushing up some apples and cinnamon in your oatmeal? Mmmm...warm and cozy. We don't even need our stove yet! I still have tomatoes in the green house, for goodness sake. Hehehe...

I digress! I thought I'd show off some fall designs that might inspire you. There are even a few paper projects that might float your boat. Many of my projects are easy enough for kids. If you're a home school parent or a teacher, you can consider adding them to your curriculum.

These leopard and gold, kind'a sassy designs are a touch sophisticated. They'd make great stickers, keychains, door signs, garden flags, mug design, door mats ...

Last week, I showed off the Meow-A-Ween Collection. It is so darn cute! Here are some stickers and one of the designs from the collection. If you like kitties, you'll love Meow-A-Ween. It is an enormous collection. Just type in Meow-A-Ween in the search at Plus or in my shop to see it all.

This is a very easy card.

These templates are super popular. Make them yours and get scrappy!

I was asked to design a kit for Design Bundles with a Halloween theme. Here ya go!

I obviously love designing for Halloween. I wish I had more time! I had even more ideas!

Here are just a few more popular autumn gnome designs you can find in my shop.

You can find the designer of these lovely designs in Design Bundles, too.

The design below is one of my most popular ones. It took me nearly all day to compose it!

This card took me even longer than the design above. Ha! Ha! Ha! I saw one of those funny cards with all of the mascots for holidays on it years ago and thought it was so darn cute. So, I tried to make a design of my own that was similar. You can download it for FREE.

I'm thrilled how much y'all love the chicken collection I've been working on. Thanks for all of the nice comments. I've finally wrapped it up. Here's the latest freebie and there are at least 2 more mini's and I might do another word art or two. I wanted to do something with eggs...Like Eggcellent and Emergency Egg-it. Hehehe...

Here's freebie #8. I've got only 2 more to go. Stay tuned!

I'll put a commercial use friendly version in the shop soon. They'll be a few more pieces in there that are not available for free. I'll let ya know when it's ready.

Don't think I forgot about the Walking Stick collection. The Catalonia Collection (same thing) is also finished or nearly finished. I did finish the first draft for the book. I think it's too short. I kept writing and writing, but wasn't thrilled with the direction. There's a whole lot of potential. I need to sit through it and rethink the direction it is going. I had an idea where I wanted to end it and I got there. I love it as it is. Just not sure about the length. I can't wait to share some excerpts with you and show you the scrapbooking format the book will take.

Thanks again for hanging with The Cherry and for contacting me personally with your lovely compliments. It means so much and it totally makes my day.

I may have to skip a week, here and there. I'm so super busy for the next two months. Someone contacted me about card making. I have a bunch of cards and templates that I designed for Plus. I'll change them up and try to get them on the next few blogs so you can design your holiday cards.

Join us in the group. Consider signing up for the newsletter or scroll back through nearly 1,000 blogs full of scrap-a-liciousness, crafts, cooking and more.

Happy crafting!

The Mega Blog for Halloween Inspiration with Hilarious Cat Designs, Paper Projects, Freebies and More

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I've got a fall filled blog for ya, today. You're sure to be inspired! We'll take a look at my newest Halloween products in the shop and what you can do with them. Of course, there is scrapbooking creations and paper projects for all levels. I've also got yet another freebie from my chicken collection. 

I've had these hilarious cats in my stash for a few weeks, from Chai Eighteen Designs and in a flash, I knew just what to do with them. I love when that happens!

I know y'all like cats, too! Aren't they adorable?

Check out what I've done and don't forget, they are in the Fall section of my shop so they are on sale until the end of the month. Look to the left when you're in the shop and choose the, Fall and Halloween Category and everything on sale will pop up.

Which design do you like best? I couldn't stop laughing at this one.

I was having so much fun with the designs, I stayed up late to finish.

I designed all kinds of goodies with the Halloween kitties. Like these stickers.

and these cute, Halloween gift bags or treat sacks.

I threw these in the shop, last week and finally found some time to play. I turned them into quick pages if you've got no time to scrap. These templates would be great for all kinds of projects like invitations, cards, posters, garden flags...

Add some glam with glitter.

Here's an example on how to use digital scrapbooking templates for sublimation designs.
 

These are the quick pages designed with Harrowing Halloween and the Wicked halloween Templates. The bundle is a really crazy price!

I love these ghost themed templates. Also 30% off!

Y'all! THIS paper project nearly killed me! Hehehe... I was asked to do some kind of popular paper project from an insanely awesome designer, but it was way above my skill level. So, I came up with a much, much easier project that anyone can put together in a fraction of the time. Y'all know me! I'm a little on the lazy side. Well...Maybe not so much lazy as efficient? Hehehe...

This project is pretty insane! I would even call it ambitious. Give yourself a lot of time and I absolutely recommend you read through my tutorials. I've got one on the blog and one in the shop where you can find this really, really fun halloween project. You don't need anything fancy. I don't have anything fancy! Hehehe...Just some tape or glue, scissors and the printables.

I used my Meowaween collection in Plus. Just type in Meowaween in the search and see what you can find. I've got TWENTY products in the collection. It's also cat inspired and pretty fun. Oh and this thing is huge! It will make a beautiful table design.

This is another great, paper project. Block numbers for a Halloween Countdown. This project is mega easy. Make sure ya use thicker paper, but not too thick. There's a tutorial in the shop for the product at Plus. I receive no money for my designs in Plus. FYI, but these are awesome projects. So, I want to share them.

As you may have seen, I used these papers for most of my projects in Plus.

If ya got little'uns, this is the project for you. It's another countdown to halloween project, but you don't have to use the numbers. Cut the mega easy shapes, adhere them at the tips to form a link and link them together like ya did when you were a kid.

You'll love how easy these boxes are. I've got a few in Plus. Print, cut, adhere in a few small places with some glue and that's it. You can be finished in under 15 minutes.

Below is not my project, but isn't so cute?! There are a bunch like this one. It was different and I thought y'all might like it.

Again, I've got more pretties from Chai Eighteen Designs. I love the colors and the touch of gold.

I immediately thought of planner goodies. Pimp up your planners!

Design pages, stickers and other things for inside.

Here's a great deal!

This is your next portion from the chicken collection. I've not named it yet. If you've got ideas, hit me up in the comments.

If you're new, this blog is full of over 10 years of freebies, tutorials, paper projects, cooking, gardening ideas and so much more.

I've been sharing freebies on Friday's regularly. So you've missed a lot. Scroll on through with something delicious to drink. If you've not checked out the group. Pop on over and cross your fingers you get to see my posts. The side bar here, to the right is full of links to the shop, newsletter sign up, my You Tube and more.

Thanks for hanging with The Cherry!