Free Digital Scrapbooking Designs Page Inspiration and Another Fun Free Chicken Design Life is Better with Chickens

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I've got some more freebies for ya, a fun pic of my angry looking chick and some notes about chicken runs. I'm so thrilled you are here.

Above is a little tease at what's to come with my chicken kit. 

I found a really, really cute pack of elements from Design Bundles for some of these designs.

Isn't it so cute?! I love the color palette, too.

There's Daisy! My son got this funny picture when I had him working in the chicken run. As you can see, it is absolutely nothing special. We only have this little space behind our garage. The long and narrow shape is ideal for a run. We only have four girls because our yard is too small for more. Four chickens will fit fine in this size space, but I let mine out in the backyard most of the time.

I do have a little bit of green net that you can just barely see, all the way in the back so they don't jump on their house/nesting house and then over to our neighbor's whose dogs would shred them to smithereens. The side you can't see is a tall wooden fence and a long, high shrubbery from our neighbor's.

I tried planting some plants in the run, but it isn't going all that great. I still have my raspberry bush that's growing well. It's surrounded by a wire cylinder like the one you see I use for my compost. The ladies keep digging all around the new plants despite my huge rock borders. They even started sitting on the one lavender I had left! Grrr...

This was our first batch of chickens that didn't want to sleep in the house where they nest. Every evening when we came out to check on them, they were huddled up behind our house and perched on our BBQ grill. So, the hubs quickly fashioned that open, wooden contraption with spare wood. There are a few perches in there and they love it. It didn't cost us a penny to make and it went together quickly.

You can see the wood chips and hay, under the clear, plastic roof. That was about 100 Euros to construct. It's rather handy, but I'd like another section of it because it gets mega windy and rainy, here in Belgium. Also at the corner of the roof, is a water container. It's easy to clean and give the girls fresh water when it's right there. Be CAREFUL! We had a lovely drown in a large bucket that we forgot to empty. So tragic! I have a large rim around the container to prevent that from happening, again.

You can see my super cool compost heap. All we did was bend some rigid chicken wire or fencing into a cylindrical form and folded over the places where we cut it. It's about 3 feet in diameter and around 5 feet tall. This is also a super idea I found on the internet.

I can easily scoop out the poop from where they sleep and chuck it in my compost bin and or spread it around the run. I have to clean up the run at least once a week. I simply fill in the holes they dig and rake around until it's all evened out and clean. When it gets rather dry, it turns into lovely compost because we also throw our left overs back in the run and the wood chips and poop from the nesting house.

The cylinder is great for our food scraps, grass clippings and garden left overs, too. We don't have any kind of large space for composting. So, this is really great. I plan on putting a few more of them in the run. What the person did whose idea I stole, was add seeds and soil every few inches of compost. She also added some baby plants that she had too much of and stuck them all around the compost pile, too. This way, the girls can pick at it. Add some sticks and the girls can perch on them while they nibble. It keeps them busy. The woman even had a tree growing on the top of one of her compost bins that she replanted when it was bigger. Cool, eh?!

I've got another pack from the new collection for you. The commenting isn't going all that well and I get sick of coming back and forth looking and counting. Hehehe...I need a lazier way to do this. Ooh! It just dawned on me. I could have it where it only takes a few people to unlock the next freebie by asking a question or making up something fun with what we have so far. I hope I don't forget! It will be easier for all of us.

Keep scrolling for the link for the free pack and chicken freebie.

Click here for the second pack of freebies from the Catalonia Collection.

Hilary designed a nice page for us. I love this salmon shade! It looks neat with the blue.

Click here for the new free chicken design.

This image is linked up to the product at Design Bundles.

I'm not sure why I didn't mention where I got the design for the other freebies. I'll do better, next time. Of course, it is from Design Bundles. I have a shop there and because I do quite some promotion for them, I get a free Plus Membership, though not a gold one any more. Hmmm...I will admit, I don't make any money affiliating for them or from the shop. It used to be a lot better, but now it's like a few bucks a year. 

This image is linked up to the product at Design Bundles.

If you are here only for the freebies, then you'll love bombarding Design Bundles freebie section. You can find the link in the side bar, near the top.

Last week I showed off JoCee Designs new endeavor, Chai Eighteen Designs. I recently saw she's got a freebie in her group. Pop over and grab it and say hello to the other fans. Go back to last week's blog and find more of her designs as well as how to get more free stuff from CED.

Thanks for popping in. Enjoy the free goodies and help us unlock the next free pack. I'll be asking that you use the two packs you've got so far to make a fun cluster. As soon as someone makes a GOOD cluster to share with us in the group, I'll unlock the third free pack and give another instruction. Make sure ya tag me! Thanks for your help!

Happy scrapping!

 

Slow Down Chickens at Play Free Farmhouse Design, Digital Scrapbooking Page Layout and Gorgeous Autumn Watercolor Designs from Chai Eighteen Designs

 Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

As you can see by the title, I've got one heck of a line up for you and actually there is even more, but the title would have even been more ridiculous I tried ot stuff it all in there. Hehehe...I've got your next, free chicken design, images of the last two chicken designs you may have missed, another FREE pack from the Catalonia Collection, new beautiful fall designs from Chai Eighteen Designs and another prompt for the ScrapsN'Stories I've been trying to get off of the round.

So buckle up, Buttercup! We're off on one heck of a ride!

This is what the design looks like for one of today's freebies. Keep scrolling for the link.

Here's last week's freebie.

I'll be giving away a mini chicken, farmhouse kit soon. Stay tuned!

Here's the week before last's.

This is the collection I'm giving away. I needed a collection for my summer trip to the south of France and I need designs for the book I'm writing.

Catalonia Collection Help Unlock the Freebies by Commenting Here or in the Group.

Below, you get a sampling of the Catalonia Collection. See how I color picked the papers to match my photos?

Thank goodness we had the pool to refresh in. As you might know, air conditioning in Europe isn't a thing. Very, very few places offer it. Even the kids jumped in the pool a few times. It got as high as 39 degrees when we were there and I got the best tan I've ever had since I left Florida.

We didn't get enough comments for the next pack of freebies, last time I looked. So, you'll have to wait on that. Spread the word around and help unlock the freebies.

Did you know Jo from JoCee Designs is still designing or shall I say, designing, again? I'm showing off a few of her autumn designs and giving you some ideas on how you can use them. Visit her ETSY shop, Chair Eighteen Designs for much more.

I was perusing her shop thinking, what my fans would like and these designs were a no brainer. I know y'all just love vintage stuffs as do I. Though, I am not looking forward to these cold temperatures. We went from 35 degrees to 12 degrees in a day or two?! Ugh! No sun. Just wind and rain for days on end. Remind me why I left Florida for Belgium, again? Hehehe...

If you're a crafter who's crazy about sublimation, you will definitely love Jo's designs.

I love vintage books and typewriters. I'd love this mug! Wouldn't you?

Y'all! I designed these papers in just a few minutes. I may have changed the saturation and levels just a tiny bit. I added layers of texture and some grungy borders to bring them all together for a nice set. You can use them for your scrapbooking or frame them up and hang'm on the wall.

Are you needing a new garden flag to bring in the change of seasons? Slap on your favorite house from the collection and add some simple text and you're set. Maybe ya wanna tweak the colors to match your house?

You've got 16 houses to choose from. I had a difficult time choosing which one to use.

I'd love to live in a house like this. Wouldn't you? It looks so darn cozy. Nothing like the white and black box houses they build these days. I really like the lighted windows, too.

Tell me what your favorite season is in the comments. I think you know mine.

Get this FREE when you sign up for Chai Eighteen's Newsletter.

I'm attempting another Scraps N' Stories in the group with a free with participation prize if you play along. If you decide to do the first prompt, tag me and I'll still give ya that freebie, too. The prize this time is some seriously cute, fall gnome papers.

Scroll all through the blog and find tutorials, free templates, free kits, paper crafts, cooking tips and so much more. There's a search bar to the top right.

Click here today's free chicken design, Slow Down Chickens at Play.

If any of you are jonez'n for templates. I'm designing a fall bundle!

Thanks for hanging with The Cherry!

Free Farmhouse Chicken Design and the First Free Pack from the Catalonia Collection

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

If you were here last week and you're back for today's freebie, welcome again! If ya helped unlock today's free pack of designs, thanks so much. I was relieved to see that it didn't even take a week to get 10 comments when most of my blogs only have that many comments when something goes wrong with a link. Yikes! Anytime ya get something for free, it's always nice to leave a note. No matter whose blog.

Today, I've got a bit of a manage of things for the blog. Of course, I've got that new pack of goodies from my brand new collection, Catalonia. Serdinya is in Catalonia, France. Our vacation was in Serdinya and the book I'm writing also takes place there. At least part of the book does. You'll also find another fun freebie in today's blog. The image below is a fun, cottage farmhouse kind of design with text, "Fresh Eggs". Besides, these two freebies, I'll be adding a little more about chickens that I didn't cover in last week's blog and I'm going to plug in some travel information.

Today's free country chicken design. Keep reading for the link.

Let's get in to some egg-cellent talk about chickens and eggs. Did ya know in most of Europe, eggs in the grocery store are not stored cooled? They are just on shelves like a box of cereal. I was like, "What?!" the first time I saw this. From what I learned, living in Europe all of these years is that when eggs are truly fresh, they need not be refrigerated. I only refrigerate my oldest eggs.

Lately, my neighbors are hitting me up for eggs. So, my stash is a lot smaller than usual. I like to leave at least half a dozen eggs on the counter. Sometimes ya need a room temperature egg for baking and I've been saved a few times by treating severe burns with the white from an egg. Did ya know you can do that?!

Holy, wow! I cannot remember who told me or where I read it, but egg white heals burns and alleviates the pain on contact. Isn't that just amazing? Y'all, check out this true story. I was making home made soup and I filled the bowl way too, full with the super hot, right off out of the pot soup. As I was carrying it, it spilled out and scolded my hands really, really bad.

I immediately grabbed an egg, quickly separated the yolk with the shell and poured the white in my cupped hands. They were so, so red. Both my hands were badly burned. I rolled the egg white back and forth and all over my hands and fingers for at least 5 minutes. The pain was mega intense. I thought for sure I'd be scarred and in pain for hours and maybe even days. To my relief, the pain subsided very quickly and ... I had no indication that I was burned. At all!!! I was totally dumbfounded with joy and amazement.

I'm not sure if I'd do this with a store bought egg or if the wound was open. I don't know if it's just conspiracy to talk so terribly about birds and chickens, but over two decades, we've never ever had any health issues because of our girls. Just be careful if you do this knowing that maybe something could happen.

This is last week's free design. Cute, eh?!

Take a look at Daisy. Just look at that face. Does she look pissed off or what?! My, goodness! She is definitely one of the worst chickens we've ever had. I thought I'd write a bit about chicken personalities because you may not know this, but boy, oh boy have they got a lot of personality. This little lady is mean as all to my brown chickens. She is a good layer, though!

You may have heard of the pecking order. It seems the queen chick is plain old mean. Not just to the others, but to me and my family. Every roost has one or two chickens that just can't get enough food. Have to be the first. Pick on the other girls. It reminds me a lot of when I was a little girl. All of the girls in the neighborhood would take turns being the boss.

My brownies are super sweet. They are nice to each other. They are nice to the mean, white chickens. They make super cute sounds. For some reason, it seems they are more content and happy than the white chickens, which I think are Leg Horns. I more often than not, can pet and cuddle the brown chickens and they never leave me alone. They literally stand on my feet or between my legs and if I sit, they sit on me.

Another thing I think I forgot to mention, last week is that chickens are an awesome means to lower your trash. In my area, they still use the old fashioned, plastic garbage bags. Double, ugh! We have to pay more than 2 Euros for one, lousy bag and it is not a big bag by any means. They are not anywhere near big enough to even fill or line a regular sized garbage can! Now, that we have chickens we only need to put out a garbage can once every two months. Isn't that crazy? Before chickens we needed to put out at least 1 and sometimes 2 bags, every other week.

How do ya like my page? The image quality is terrible. I'm not sure if it is my screen or what, but you can hardly see that I'm holding a glass of wine. If you know me, I'm sure you guessed I was. Hehehe... You can see a lot of whats to come in future freebies with the Catalonia Collection. I love this floral paper, the pretty deep dramatic green foliage and the silk flowers. This image is also a hint at what is in today's free download. Wink, wink!

I really wished I would have changed the color of that bright pink cushion to match the deep shade of red. I do love the vintage bike stamp! Look how big my boys are getting.

When we travel, we often stay at an Air BnB. This was Claudia's AirBnB in France. We were all out of minds when we saw this place! Her backyard was huge and really, really pretty. The first page I posted was me sitting by the pool. We had the entire space. It was amazing. We did have to share the space with Claudia, but she made herself scarce, which was much appreciated.

We were in for a big surprise in the morning. Breakfast! We had no idea breakfast was included. Oddly enough, breakfast is rarely included at the AirBnB's we stay in. Go figure? What the hell does the other B stand for?

BnB's are often the same price, if not cheaper than a hotel room. I do not like staying in hotels. Even the fancy ones. BnB's typically offer a lot bigger space, outside space and are great for families, families with pets and for people who just like more space or their own bedroom.

You'll see that I designed this collection using the colors from the photos we took on our adventurous vacation. I love this dramatic deep red. There's a lot of brown, green and blue shades from all of the stone, nature and sky. Thank goodness the sky was always bright blue. Nothing like the chemtrailed, grey concoction in East Flanders.

Click the image or right here for today's freebie.

Maybe it's wrong for me to say this collection is free because we do need some participation to unlock the freebies. This time, in the comments here and or in our group, tell me what ya did this summer. Where did ya go on vacation? Did ya do a stay-cation? Did you take a trip to the beach or lake? Maybe you planted a garden or installed a fish pond? When we get 15 comments here and or in the group, I'll put up the next pack from the collection, next Friday.

Here's your other freebie! Click on the image for the link.

Thanks again for the comments. It totally helps my blog get more views and that means a lot to me. Activity in the group helps as well. Things are so lame there, lately. I'm not sure if I want to keep it going. I may just keep it all here in future. Though, I love seeing people's beautiful scrapbook pages and creations.

Happy scrapping!

Free Funny Chicken Design and Chicken Friendly Garden Ideas for Your Girls

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

In a previous blog, I promised I'd share my planting experience in regards to my girls and here it is. I'll be showing off my successes and failures and give ya all kinds of tips, tricks and plant suggestions that just might work with your girls. As usual, I've got a free goodie for ya and an important announcement at the end.

I'm so super thrilled you're here!

If you've been following me the last decade, you know how much I love my girls. I've had cats for the past 30 years and just one dog who's still around and I will always prefer chickens. Chickens have been in our garden for 20 years and they are a real treat. Let me tell ya some plus and minus points.

Take a look at my recent picture, above. These are three of my four girls. From left to right, Kato, Ginger and Cinnamon. The other one Daisy, is out of range. They follow me everywhere even when I'm in the house! They follow me outside the windows. Insert laughing emoji! Hehehe...The girls often start preening when I'm around. They totally relax and often come over and preen me, too. Isn't that the sweetest?!

Chickens lay eggs. Did you know that? Hehehe... That's why I bought them to start off with. Actually, my in-laws go to Spain for several months and we would chicken sit. I had several experiences sitting them and I named them much to the chagrin of my in-laws. 

You might also know that I try to grow my own food and I often share my experiences from the garden and in the kitchen. Both my boys have Autism and I found that a healthy diet totally helps with their symptoms. I've got a separate blog full of tips to minimize the symptoms of Autism and for that matter, several diseases. Having our own girls and feeding them right would supply us with more pets, help with pest control, weed control, keep the lawn mown and of course, provide healthy eggs.

This is my new blackberry bush. I caged it in so the girls wouldn't pick at it. They did not seem interested in it at all, unlike the raspberry bush.

I'll start off with the down side of chickens.

They can be noisy at times. I give mine most of the yard, keep them busy with fun distractions and try to keep them in the center of our property so they don't bother the neighbors, too much. They have rather extensive communication and usually make nice, quieter sounds, but they rarely shut up entirely. Like me!

Chickens scratch! Good Lord do they scratch! This last batch of girls is by far the worst. As you'll see, through my photos, they tore up our entire back and side yard this winter, but it was a very wet winter, here in Belgium.

When you plant your new plants you have to protect them in the beginning and for some plants, all of the time, but it's super simple. Just stack heavy rocks around them. You could put up temporary or permanent cages to keep the girls away. Once my plants were established, I could remove the cages. The rocks prevent them from scratching around the base of your plants.

We have butterfly bushes all over. They don't bother with them, but they do like digging around them. They bask in the summer shade and jump at the bugs that visit the lovely smelling flowers.

I look at it as a positive thing, but that could be debated. Chickens are curious and they will roam. Every now and then, we get some girls that escape and some do so regularly. We lost one to a neighbor's dog when he too, escaped. Ugh! You have to have a good enclosure and if you've got predators in the area, you'll have to provide even more reinforcement.

Birds poop, a lot. Chickens are by no means an exception. If they are in a small, enclosed space, you'll have to clean it out often. My ladies have quite a lot of room to roam. I rake the poop to the sides of the yard, under the bushes and I shovel out the poop from the area where they sleep every week or so and spread it around my yard. Chicken poop is seriously acidic. So don't put too much of it, just anywhere.

This is a Christmas Rose. It flowers in the winter and it's super pretty. I did have to enclose it with a cage in the beginning, but the girls lost interest and I could remove the cage after a while. It looks super!

I honestly can't think of anything else. Maybe disease? Once we found a great source to buy our girls, we've had zero problems with disease. They may get lice in the summer from in the egg house, but you can treat them for it by sprinkling diatomaceous earth in the nest/house area and their bathing area. Put a few drops of apple cider vinegar and some crushed garlic in their water and or food on occasion. It's good for the girls and for us. Typically, the lice hasn't been an issue at all. Keep on top of it!

This is sage. They are not at all interested in it. Make sage oil and tea for all kinds of health issues.

In the photo above, I've got a potted sage. It lasts all year and is a super rigid plant that the girls do not like at all. It's a very easy herb and has many health benefits. I'll be able to put this in my green house in the winter. I did have a huge pot with sage at our home in Germany where it stayed out all year and it never died. It flowers often and the insects love it!

I have no idea what the plant is named next to the sage. This one is growing back after being devoured in the winter. It's a kind of fatty plant with pretty pink flower clusters that the insects love. Read carefully. I used to have a ton of this plant all along our house, but for some reason, these girls ate them to the soil! All of these years our other chickens never ate them. It's really weird and they never got sick but, I might not recommend them. As you read, you'll learn that all chickens are different.

None of my chickens like lavender. It's such an easy herb to have and has so many gosh darn benefits.

I'll go in to a little tangent on lavender. It's mega hardy! It doesn't need a lot of water. It can handle a lot of sunshine. The pollenating insects love it and the pesky ones hate it. We hang out in the middle of our lavender bushes and the mosquitos and flies leave us alone. I have them outside of our bedroom window. It's great to deter mosquitos and helps the room smell nice when they are flowering. Ya don't have to replace them each year either. Whoo hoo! I love those kinds of plants. Especially, the ones that you can eat or use for health benefits.

There's Kato in front of the now, huge lavender bush. Our grass is slowly growing back after months and look how trim they keep it! We've not had to mow all spring and summer. I'll admit, that's the first time. Our other girls never tore up the yard so terrible as these little rascals.

My raspberry bush must have been delicious. I had to protect it and I still do. Once it is more established, I'll remove this shoddy, recycled protection.

We have some kind of box or buxus bushes maybe(?)that often die due to some kind of moth infestation. Not when you've got girls! They take care of any and all kinds of insect infestations. Isn't that awesome?!

I read that lavender helps with rats and mice. I did not experience this.

Chickens can be so darn sweet! They often sit on my lap when I sit and relax. They are constantly under my feet which makes gardening impossible. I have to lock them up if I want to get anything done in the garden. They can be mean to each other and I read roosters help with that, but we never had one. Roosters need like at least 6 ladies to be satisfied. (And I thought men were bad?!) Roosters can be nasty as well and of course the noise. If I ever get to have a big yard, I'll consider getting one.

Our chickens live outside all year long and have always done well and we live in Belgium where it can freeze for days.

So, let's wrap this up.

Chickens are amazing pets that provide love, laughter and food. They add so many benefits to our life and our yard.

Here's a list of plants I have that the girls ignore or lose interest in. Some may not be "safe" for chickens, but from my experience, they've never bothered my girls.

- lavender

- sage

- butterfly bush

- berries

- camelia

- rosemary

- lemon balm

- fruit trees of all kinds

- rhubarb (could be dangerous?)

- tomatoes 

- oregano 

- mint 

- hydrangea

My plan is to design a small digital scrapbooking kit with chickens as the theme. We'll see how far I get. I did design this sassy bird. You can download the design and create something super cute. Leave me a comment if you download. When I get 10 comments, I'll release the first part of the free collection, pictured further below. Even if ya don't download, you can still comment to help the others. We're all a team!

I designed an entire collection so I can scrapbook our trip to the South of France. I'll be giving it away pack by pack. You'll have to stay tuned and ya just might have to go to the group for some of it as well. If you're not on FB (Good for you!), contact me and we'll see what we can do. It will be an "Unlock the Freebie" deal where participation is necessary to get the freebie. Comment and help get the ball rolling.

I'm in the middle of writing a book. I've been a writer ever since I could spell. It's been my passion for my entire life. I've written so, so many things over the last four decades. I very rarely share my writing, but when I do, I get a great response. 

I found myself in a rather precarious situation when we were on vacation and it gave me a great idea for a story. The concept is really different than most books on the shelves at your local book store. I'll be using images with a vintage scrapbook flair. It's light. It's funny and if you've liked what I've done over the years, it may be perfect for you or a friend. Stay tuned!

This blog is FULL of FREEBIES. Click the image above for a tiny preview of some of the latest freebies or scroll through the entire blog and download until your heart is content. If you find something not working, mail me or hit us up in the group. You can always support The Cherry by visiting our shop at Design Bundles.

Thanks for checking out The Cherry!