Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Overstuffed with Scrapbook and Paper Crafting Goodies!

Late August to early September is one of our most favorite times of the year for Kristin and I!  Why?  Because that's when all of the newest releases of the season begin to flood into our warehouse! 

Like today - We received a ton of fabulous Prima products!  And when I say 'ton' - don't think I'm exaggerating all that much!

We've all played some version of I-Spy or Where's Waldo, right?  How about we play 'Where's Clint?'  Let me know if you can spot him in the above picture! 


Yes!  It really is like Christmas at A Cherry On Top.  Everyone is busy either shipping orders or making sure the new items find a new home in the warehouse.

 
Flowers and gorgeous butterflies are everywhere!  It's like spring exploded all over!  Don't worry.  Michelle and the ACOT Crew are working hard to make sure the products are available asap.  So many fabulous manufacturers - so many goodies! 

Which manufacturer or line are you excited to see?

We'll try to do a little more product high-lighting here on the blog as the new lines continue to arrive.  

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Check out what's NEW at ACherryOnTop.com now!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Back to School Ideas With Sizzix!

If you have school-aged kids and you're anything like me, you have a collection of snapshots of bright, bushy tailed children holding notebooks or wearing back packs while standing on front porches or running toward a school bus. 

Every pic presents an age progression.  Every picture is the first day of some past school year.  The first day of the rest of their little lives - or something important like that.  However, before the world of the digital camera it might have taken me years to develop a roll of film!  Can you even buy film anymore? 

At any rate, by the time I got around to printing my pictures, I would have absolutely no idea which school year was represented or the exact date.  Yep - I'd usually just guess.

JanetM from our Creative Team gives us a great tip that can be altered to fit your particular needs using Sizzix Dies!  Make personalized signs for those lil munchkins to hold stating the year and/or date!

Back To School 

Pure genius!  Thanks Janet!  No more guessing for me!  Now, to get those pics on a layout and into an album...yeah...baby steps. :)

See more back to school ideas from Janet at ACherryOnTop.com

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Scrapbooking Product Review: Life Is Good by Echo Park Paper Co.

Megamay
Scrapbooking with Megamay (aka: Megan)

Here is another reveal using the new manufacturer, Echo Park Paper Company.  So far, reviews have been stellar regarding the quality and value of the products produced.  According to Megan, the 'Life Is Good' collection is no exception.

all she wants to do
'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' by Megamay

 Here's what Megan had to say about working with 'Life Is Good':

'I have been loving all of Echo Park's releases, so I was thrilled when I got a chance to do a reveal with their Life is Good collection. I couldn't believe how many different papers you get in the collection pack! Most collection packs give you two of each in order to fill out the pack, but this one has so many awesome papers (all double sided) that the pack is filled up with just one sheet of each. It's great because you get so much variety and every paper is gorgeous. So much so, that I almost wished I had ordered TWO packs! Not only do you get 12 double sided papers, but you also get FOUR alphabets and plenty of fun stickers. This is a seriously great value!'

View Megan's complete reveal HERE. She also included a great sketch by Juliana from this month's sketch challenge for inspiration! 


Product Preview:
Life Is Good Collection Pack Life Is Good Element Stickers Fancy Border Paper Echo Park

 

Monday, August 23, 2010

Scrapbooking Product Review: Lush by Kaiser Craft

SarahA
Scrapbooking with SarahA

Here's what SarahA had to say about creating with KaiserCraft's 'Lush' line:

'KaiserCraft's new Lush line is a great fit for so many photos! The colors are very neutral, which make them coordinate well with outdoors, vacation and masculine layouts. There are a variety of patterns in this line, in addition to a few stamp sets, some chipboard and rub-ons. I also love the little Journaling Tag booklet- they're great for layering, journaling and titles!' 

DaddyO
 'DaddyO' by SarahA

This line offers coordinating die cut sheets, journal tags, rub-ons and stamps.  The muted colors are great for paper crafters who enjoy bringing attention to the subject matter rather than the paper or embellishment used.  

silver lake
'Silver Lake' by SarahA

View Sarah's complete article HERE

Product Preview:
Lush bamboo paper Lush Paper Clip Lush Willow Die Cut 


Friday, August 20, 2010

How To Use A Martha Stewart Punch

Article by Cindy Collins (Kimandasmo)

Do you hoard punches, and yet never use them. Or do you think they look pretty but do not know how to use them?

Well then, this is the class for you. I will hopefully show you some techniques that will get you using those punches and thinking out of the box, when you see a new one that you think you might use. Just so you know up front this is strictly a technique class. I will not complete any layouts or scrapbooking projects in this class, but I think you will learn a few great techniques.

For this class I am going to show you how to use the Martha Stewart Modern Garland Edge and Corner Punch. If you do not have these exact punches, but others by her you can follow along and hopefully still get some great ideas on how to use any of her edge and corner punches.


We are going to start with the corner punch. Did you know it has wings? And that those wings are very useful! I did not for the first year that I had them....so call me blonde! They open from either side and actually help you to line up your corners appropriately.


We are going to use a 12 by 12 sheet of cardstock and begin by me showing how to punch all the way around the page. I always start with the corners.



Place your first corner all the way into the "wings" of the punch.  Making sure that both sides are even and it is all the way in the punch.

Press down your punch while keeping your paper still. Your punch should look like this:


Next. repeat this with the remaining 3 corners and your page will look like this:


But that's not all!  View the complete online class at ACherryOnTop.com to see how to move from this step to this:


Cindy also shows us how to 'bend' a punched border to fit your die cut paper:



Start 'Punching With Pizzaz' with Cindy and ACherryOnTop.com!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Scrapbooking Challenges - There's Still Time To Enter!

Can you believe August is more than half-way over?!?!  It's been a busy month here at A Cherry On Top.  We've had our online crop, sales, giveaways, our local warehouse sale and not to mention all of the new products flooding into the shoppe on a daily basis!

I wanted to post a reminder about our inspirational challenges for August!

Remember:

- only one LO per challenge will enter you into the points drawing
- LOs cannot be entered into more than one challenge category
- *please* only enter LOs that meet the specific challenge instructions

Card Challenge - By bluejeans7 (Angela)
Paper or Digital Scrapbooking
 
I hate when I lose my scrap mojo or I just can't seem to come up with an idea to get me started. One great way to get out of that rut is to do a scraplift! So, this month I want you to scraplift my card. I can't want to see all of your scraplifted cards!


Countdown Challenge - By sarahwhithers (Jennifer)
Paper or Digital Scrapbooking
 
For this challenge you will create a layout using a countdown method of items. I will list five different kinds of things (eg. elements, papers, photos) for you to use in your layout. Every month there will be five new items for you to use. This month I thought I'd throw some shapes at ya!

5 - Circle shapes (can be elements, paper, whatever you'd like)
4 - Tags or journal strips
3 - Pictures
2 - Papers (one solid and one patterned)
1 - Large circle shape (must be at least 8x8 in size and can be the shape of the layout or on the page)

You are welcome to use more than these items (eg. 5 tags instead of 4 is fine) just as long as you meet the required list and numbers asked for each. An example is seen below.

 

Digi CT Reveal Challenge - By Janello (Janell)
Paper or Digital Scrapbooking

Remember the Red White and Blue reveal? Well scrap a layout using those colors. It doesn't have to be a patriotic layout, but if you have 4th of July pictures this is a perfect time to scrap them!

Example Layout "Sean at 5" by Janell
 
 
As always, there are many more challenges listed at ACherryOnTop.com to kick start your mojo!  Don't forget to post your entry in the appropriate category (under Current Contests and Challenges) in our Gallery!
 
Happy Posting!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Warehouse Sale Fun!

Every three to four months we get to open up our warehouse to our customers!  This past Saturday, we had our Summer Warehouse Sale.  We love seeing the faces of Members from our ACherryOnTop.com Online Community!

We put out our shingle and the customers came!  Many drove for hours through crazy construction just to attend.

  ACOT Shoppers Browsing Deals

I really did plan on taking more pictures, but we all ended up being pretty busy meeting, greeting and helping our great customers!  I did manage to take a few snap shots before we opened the doors:

Kristin - always smiling!

Michelle was all set to go!

We're planning our next local warehouse sale for sometime in November.  If you're within driving distance, it's definitely worth the trip!  Sign-up for our local newsletter by visiting ACherryOnTop.com!  You can view more pics from the sale by visiting our Facebook Page.

Thanks to everyone who attended and to all of the ACOT Employees who helped!

Friday, August 13, 2010

How To Use A Color Wheel In Digital and Paper Crafting

- Article submitted by Sara K, Creative Team Member of A Cherry On Top.  See more articles and project ideas by visiting ACherryOnTop.com:


A colour wheel? You're serious?


Aren't they just for people who actually went to art school or study graphic design and have to know exactly what colour is going to come out the other end of the printer?
Far from the challenges of Pantone® colours, the colour wheel is actually quite simple, though when you first start using it may seem a bit intimidating. However, when you learn the basics, mixing colours will make things so much easier!


(Colour wheel from: http://www.grandhomedecoration.com/category/walls-and-wallpapers/)


UNDERSTANDING COLOUR CLASSIFICATION

Okay, you see the colours there and you know what they're called, but the little names underneath, as well as the numbers, may seem a bit confusing. So, lets start right at the beginning - like in Pre-Kindergarten.

Primary Colours - You'll have learned these early on. It's pretty straight forward - Red, Yellow, Blue. In a sense, these are "pure" colours, in that they cannot be made from other colours.

Brittany (milmomma) went with red for her inspiration in creating I Love To Travel. "For this layout I featured using red as my only primary color. I tried to stick with all red items and used black and white photos to stand out against all the red."





Jenn (Sarahwhithers) has created this gorgeous layout, Go Yellow, featuring the primary colour, yellow. She shared: "FOr this page I went with the primary color Yellow for my inspiration. And since my cat Merlin is a blonde, what better color to use with him than yellow!"




Secondary Colours - In your earliest days of art at school, you'll have learned that when you mixed two Primary colours, you'll get a secondary colour:

Red + Blue = Violet
Blue + Yellow = Green
Yellow + Red = Orange

Shannon (-Shannon-) created her beautiful page of her husband, Devin, based on the colour orange. She shared, "A great shot of my hubby. We recently did a personality test. There are four colors that represent personality types and his is Orange. What a perfect fit since I chose to do a Secondary color of Orange!"



Sara (keling) created her Make A Wish page with the colour Violet (Purple). "Purple is my step-mom's favourite colour, so a page from her 50th surprise party was a great inspiration."


Tertiary Colours - When you mix a primary colour and a secondary colour, you get a tertiary colour.



Blue  (Primary) + Green (Secondary) = Blue-Green (Tertiary)
Blue (Primary) + Violet (Secondary) = Blue-Violet (Tertiary)
Red (Primary) + Violet (Secondary) = Red-Violet (Tertiary)
Red (Primary) + Orange (Secondary) = Red-Orange (Tertiary)
Yellow (Primary) + Orange (Secondary) = Yellow-Orange (Tertiary)
Yellow (Primary) + Green (Secondary) = Yellow-Green (Tertiary)

COMBINING COLOURS

Monochromatic Colours - When you look at one segment of the colour wheel - for example, Yellow-Green - you'll notice that there are several shades of that colour. The darker shades are on the outside and the lighter shades are on the inside. (see the numbers)

Complementary Colours - These are colours on exact opposite sides of the colour wheel - for example, Red and Green.

On this page, 8 Days A Week, Jenn (sarahwhithers) features the complementary colours blue and orange. She wrote, "This color combo has always been one of my favs so I HAD to use it!"



Brittany (millmomma) created If I Was a Triplet using blue and orange for her inspiration as well. She said, "I went with the complimentary colors blue and orange with splashes of neutrals. I love pairing blue with orange as the color wheel shows it just contrasts perfectly."



Sara (Keling) paired the complementary colours of yellow-orange and blue-violet for her page, The Diary of Anne Frank. She shared, "I knew what colours I wanted to use, but I just wasn't sure of a photo. My son is currently working his way through the Diary of Anne Frank, which he bought at our visit to the Frank house in Amsterdam, so I thought one of these lovely photos would be perfect."



In a reversal, Shannon (-Shannon-) created this self-portrait page, Imagination Out of Focus, using violet and yellow, featuring her favourite quote.




Analogous Colours - These are a series of colours located adjacent to each other in the colour wheel - for example, Blue, Blue-Green and Green.
Instead of a layout, Brittney (milmomma) created this adorable hybrid mini album of her son, Xander's first day of school. "I made this album for Grandma since she will miss her first grand-baby going to school. I left open areas to add the photos and captions. I used yellow and orange for my analogous color scheme for our reveal for this week."



Jenn (sarahwhithers) created this gorgeous page, Le'ale'a using red and red-orange. She said, "For this page I went with the analogous colors red and red-orange for my inspiration. I thought the Tiki Tiki Shake kit would be great with it's red-orange paper and elements!"






Shannon (-Shannon-) created this, Eleanor, using green and yellow-green. "This is one of our friends little puppies, Eleanor. She's so cute!! My analogous colors for this reveal are Green and Yellow Green. Turned out to be more fun to work with these colors than I thought!!"


In creating her Bunnies page with analogous colours, Sara (keling) chose blue, blue-violet and blue-green. "These colours are so calm and serene, just like the fields full of bunnies - that is until my Jonathan starts chasing after them!"




Triad Colours - These are three colours that are equi-distant from each other - for example, Green, Violet and Orange.

Split-Complementary Relationship -  One hue plus two others equally spaced from its complement - for example, Red, Blue-Green and Yellow-Green.
Laura (Art-Teacher) created this sample page, Fine Dining, using the colours violet, yellow-green and yellow-orange. "I used a split-complementary color scheme for this layout of violet, yellow-green, and yellow-orange. I also threw in a dash of red-violet. The colors fit my winery dinner theme but gave a nice splash of energy to the page. Also, I think they bring out the colors my dh and I are wearing in the photo!"




Double-Complementary Relationship - Two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition - for example, Blue, Violet, Orange and Yellow.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Scrapbooking Product Review: Hallowe'en in Wonderland - Graphic 45

megamay
Scrapbooking with Megan (aka: Megamay)

At this summer's Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Show, everyone was talking about the display for Graphic 45's Hallowe'en In Wonderland collection.  There were impressively dressed characters and amazing project ideas!  I'm not sure if there is an award for the most creative booth at CHA, but my vote would have to go to Graphic 45!

Megan had this to say about designing with the 'Hallowe'en In Wonderland' line:

'When I first saw the sneak peek of this line, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I love how it is spooky and Halloween themed, but sweet and whimsical at the same time. I had so many project ideas swirling around in my head and couldn't wait to get started!' 

altered pumpkin treat holder 
'Altered Pumpkin Treat Holder' by Megan
 
You must check out the rest of Megan's Product Review HERE.  While you're at it, take a tour of the Graphic 45 Blog for pics from CHA and more creative ideas using the Hallowe'en In Wonderland collection.
 
Graphic 45
 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Scrapbooking Product Review: Olivia By Basic Grey

Laura Fiore
Scrapbooking With Laura Fiore

Basic Grey's new 'Olivia' Collection is pretty in pink, green and blue!  Laura Fiore worked with this line for her reveal.  Here is some of what she had to say about working with the Basic Grey line:

'I always expect Basic Grey to come up with great papers...that's a given! But their embellishment choices have gone off the chart! So many to choose from!!! If you love stamps, they've got stamps, if you want cute layered felt adornments, they've got woolies,  and if you want journaling spots they have these and these, and even these! There are seriously more embellishment choices than I knew what to do with, so I chose a few of my favorites to work with on these pages!

she loved them 
'She Loved Them' by Laura Fiore
Basic Grey has an amazing following of die hard fans!  Their products have a history of flying out of our warehouse.  The 'Olivia' and (male counterpart) 'Oliver' collections will be no exception!
Product Preview:
candice paper olivia olio rub on book pink prairie doilies