Sunday, February 16, 2025

You Need Aloe In Your Life and Here's Why

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Today's food blog is a bit of mixed bag. It's combining all things Cherry. Digital design, a fun and pretty free printable, food, beauty and health tips. Pretty cool, eh?

The hot topic is aloe. I always knew that it was great for skin and burns. We had an enormous aloe plant in our backyard in Florida. We only ever used it for burns, but it turns out you can and should use it for a lot more.  

aloe gorgeous
Add some fun text to the design. I love the fun, sass of this one.

printable bathroom design
Simply click and download the image.

I've always had aloe plants around me and had no idea just how wonderful they are. I mean, besides how gorgeous they are and er hem, how easy they are to grow and keep alive. Every time I buy an aloe plant, it is tiny. I mean like 2 inches tall and an inch wide. I know, right? And every decade, I have to ditch it which usually entails putting it outside because it is an enormous monster and doesn't even fit in my house any more. Hehehe...

aloe plant

This poor baby got so heavy it fell over and broke. Those larger leaves are nearly 3 feet long! I had no idea what to do with all of this aloe. So, I went on a Pinterest hunt to see what I can do with it. To my delight, there was quite a few things to do with this bumper crop of aloe. Whoo hoo!

Years ago, I blogged about my hair. Lord, my hair! My hair is notorious! Hehehe...There is just so, so much of it and the older I get, the curlier it gets and the frizzier it gets. I tried the flax seed and water recipe, but I think I'm just too lazy for this method. You heat up a bit of water, throw in some flax seeds and shortly, you get a gel. Crazy, right? I have a difficult time separating the seeds from the gel and boy what a mess. I had more on the counter than in my hair. Though, the results were pretty darn good.
 
aloe for frizz
These two images are with aloe.

If you're finding yourself thinking it still looks frizzy, you have no idea where this hair came from. Ha! I found the harvesting of aloe rather easy, but a bit time consuming if you have a lot to harvest. There's also an easy trick ya have to do to get rid of the greenish yellow stuff called aloin. You can read the article I read to find out how to get the aloe out of the leaves.

aloe for frizzy hair
Easy, fabulous results.

I put the freshly harvested aloe in small ziplock bags and put them in the freezer. Every time I need to nourish my hair (twice a week or if I need to look acceptable), I take the pack out and let it thaw. You'll get a bunch of juice that you can put in your hair either wet or dry. Yes! Isn't that so mega fab?! I love that I can put it in my hair when it's dry and not have to blow dry. It is not sticky at all which is even more great. If you do the freezer method and even if ya don't you'll have meat left over as well. This you can put in a small blender or chopper and zap it into a juice which you can also put in your hair.

I put the pure juice in a reused spray bottle and man did that work great, but it got clogged and stopped spraying. No other bottle worked. If you know of one that might, hit me up. It was by far the easiest way to get the stuff in your hair. It was ideal when ya just need to tame it a bit before leaving the house.

Apparently, aloe is excellent for slowing down the aging process. Say, what?! You can find out more about that at one of my favorite sites.

Read more about how aloe can help with diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer and much more.

You can put it in smoothies, too. Make sure you read more about that before you drink. I haven't dared it myself, but perhaps it could help you with a chronic problem you have where nothing else has worked. There are some precautionary measures you'll want to address.

In this blog, I share our lice story. Ugh! We suffered for years with lice and finally found the natural trick to not only get rid of our lice, but keep it away. This is another blog on hair care that I highly recommend. Again, they are all natural ideas and big, big time money saving techniques for dry, curly and or frizzy hair.

I didn't touch much on how easy it is to grow aloe. If you live where it is chilly, you'll have to keep them inside when the temperatures start dipping. I leave mine in year round until that last one that out grew the house. I put it in my new green house where it is doing just great. Despite how mutilated it got after it fell over and I harvest several of the leaves.

Aloe doesn't need a lot water. Honestly, I only ever give it rain water and that's it. It even grows well in areas of the house with little light. I just can't kill this plant and that says a lot. Maybe there is some symbolism there? If you use aloe, maybe you'll live longer, too? Wink, wink...

Friday, February 14, 2025

Visiting Haarlem in The Netherlands A Charming Old Town Full of Wonderful Shopping and Cafes

Welcome to another travel edition of The Cherry On Top.

Since I'm only just designing for fun these days, I wanted to add a little twist via means of blogging about travel and showing off pictures through scrapbooking pages. Change is good, right? Another reason I want to start writing about travel is to help future travelers. I often read reviews and do research on places I want to visit. Sometimes I just can't find good information and or pictures. I want to try and fix that through my travels.

My first few travel blogs covers my trip to Monschau, Germany and the latest one is about Zandvoort, The Netherlands. Zandvoort is very, very close to Haarlem. A 15 minute bus ride and you're there. If you think you may want to add Zandvoort to your trip list, check out the blog and see what you think after reading.

traveling in Europe

Haarlem was absolutely beautiful. If you love old architecture, it's the place for you. In a previous travel blog, I mentioned that we went to Amsterdam. I will be blogging in detail about Amsterdam, soon. Haarlem was such a breath of fresh air after spending a very rushed and busy day in Amsterdam. It's a fraction of the size of Amsterdam and holy wow, a fraction of the people. We did go in the middle of November. The streets had a small trickle of people which you could find the bulk of in the many unique shops and cafes.

traveling in Haarlem, the netherlands
Did ya miss the first Dutchie Freebie?

Honestly, I cannot say enough about the shops in Haarlem. All of the unique little guy shops in my neck of the woods are all but gone. Not so in Haarlem. It seemed to me that more than half of the shops were not large chain store shops. How refreshing? If you're looking for a special gift, it's a great place to go. There are upscale shops as well as a fantastic thrift store (kringloop winkel). The thrift store had a sweet, little English book section and I stacked up.

shopping in haarlem
I'll probably do a little blog about knitting shops since my friend is an enthusiast.

I also mentioned in a past blog about the high tech in The Netherlands. If an Orwellian experience is what you're looking for, The Netherlands is the place for you. Public transport is with a card only, as far as we could see and some cafes have a QR code for the menu. Make sure ya have your card with you, but be double sure to hit up those shops where they do take cash. We can't let cash die. Ever.

My friend and I hung out at a few cozy cafes on the main square, across from the church. It was really cold and very peaceful. No cars are allowed anywhere near the main square. I absolutely love that! Little kids could run all around, free as a bird, but ya do have to keep those pesky bikes in mind. Hehehe...As The Netherlands is well noted for bikes everywhere. We were nearly run down at least half a dozen times and I'm kind'a use to bike culture.

traveling in Europe

The menu choices were interesting. Previously, I spoke of my opinion in regards to The Netherland's cuisine. Personally, it is one of my least favorite foods of the world. It's often unimaginative and like Belgium, nearly every restaurant serves the same damn thing! I just don't get it! Hehehe...Insert that crying laughing emoji. It is true! Nearly every standard priced restaurant and cafe has the same menu. So if you just can't get enough of fried food like fish, potatoes, krokketjes or bitterballen and toastis which is a grilled cheese sandwich, then The Netherlands will be great for ya. There are places that sell soups and more original dishes, but ya have to look for them. Many places offer vegetarian items.

shopping in haarlem

You can visit museums, take a canal cruise or soak up the sun in an outside cafe on the river bank. I was very pleased at the prices for food and drink and if you do go visit Haarlem, put a limit on your bank card so you don't crazy with all of that amazing shopping.

I've got your next Dutchie freebie for ya.

The Netherlands title art

Thanks for visiting The Cherry. Let me know in the comments if you've been to Haarlem or if you think it looks like a great place to visit.

Happy travels!

Friday, February 7, 2025

Adorable Valentine's Day Mailbox Printable, Step By Step Tutorial and Free Lovable Gnome Scrapbooking Mini

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I've got a super, craft-a-licious blog set for you. First, a mega awesome pack of Valentine's Day printables that includes this paper mailbox template printable. There's some cheeky Anti Valentine's Day printables in the shop, a new gnome themed digital scrapbooking kit freebie, Chai 18 Designs new newsletter freebie and a scrapbook page from a friend that I just had to share.

mailbox template and tutorial


Y'all! This mailbox template took me hours to design and get together. What do they call it? A labor of love? Hehehe...It's not too tricky to get together and the tutorial will definitely help. As I always advise, any time you start a paper craft, breeze through the tutorial first, then get started. This way you can gauge the difficulty of the project and see that ya have everything you need for it.

If you click on this link, you'll get to download this mailbox for free. I'm only leaving the link up through the holiday. If ya miss it, you'll have to grab it from my shop. It is available alone as well as a part of this huge printable bundle, shown below.

printable Valentine's Day goodies

I've put all things related to love and Valentine's Day on sale at 50% in my shop. How about showing The Cherry some love and grabbing something you've always wanted?

I designed the stickers and cards below for my boys. It is most fitting and a great way to be more objective about February 14th. This sassy shark with Love Bites quote is great for boys and girls.


love bites design
An Anti Valentine's Day Twist for Those Not So Kind at Heart

I wanted to offer you something special for the holiday besides my mailbox template and had these cute gnome designs in my stash. Ya gotta watch out for that Ai stuff. I'm tell'n ya! There's always something off. The eyes and hands are the first place you need to look. These designs were quite ok. I hope you like them as well.

free valentine's day gnome scrapbooking kit

Click on the preview, grab the download and show us what you create in the group.

cute valentine gnome freebie

I've got a lot of free designs on the blog that are ideal for sublimation projects. Here are a few examples of what you can do with today's new Valentines Gnome Freebie. Cards would be super simple.

printable card design idea

Speaking of freebies. Isn't Chai 18 Designs new newsletter freebie so cute? I just love the little mice. I used one of the designs to make a paper. It'd be easy to whip up a paper pack, journal cards, printable stickers and cards of course. Join her newsletter and get the cool free stuffs.

chai eighteen designs

Cute, eh?

how to use digital designs

Here's my friend's page. I laughed so hard when I saw her post.

super silly scrapbooking page

Let me leave you with a few Valentine's Day scrapbook page ideas from the Love Bug Collection in my shop that's also 50% off for a few days.

ladybug template

Above, is my page with my youngest. This page scrapped crazy fast. I simply clipped in the papers to the template and added my photos. 5 minutes is all you need. If you know nothing about digital scrapbooking, you need to check out this video. There are plenty of videos to get ya go'n.

valentine's day printables
truck template

vintage truck template

digital scrapbooking

I hope you enjoyed today's freebies. Let me know in the comments if ya do.

I'll be back with more travel blogs and more free Dutchie freebies, as promised.

 

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Waste Management At Home Saves You Money and is Better for the Environment Here Are Some Hot Tips

Welcome to The Cherry On Top,

A lovely fan had a question about jalapeños on a previous blog and also mentioned that she too does not like waste. So, I'll address both. It goes perfect with what I was just doing which was cleaning out our little compost bin we've got in the kitchen, next to the sink. Fun!


less waste in the kitchen
This lid closes tightly leaving no smell.

We rarely use paper towels. Seriously, it probably takes us a year to get through a small roll. We only use them when something is mega, mega gross like puke and poop or super dirty. Otherwise, we use rags and wash them. I do use paper towels (white only, no ink) in the bottom of yucky garbage cans and my little compost bin. It helps make cleaning the containers a lot easier and the white paper towels are fine for in your compost bin as is most, ink free, white or brown paper. Line small bins with paper bags from your produce purchases.

I only put fruit, vegetables and old, moldy bread in our compost. Because we have some animals running around, we throw meat products in our county's compost bin along with big greenery and sticks from the yard. Our chickens devour most of the "good" food waste like old, left over rice, meats and even some sauces. Cut up the core of your apples, pears and or seeds from peppers, oranges, etc and give them to your flock and other birds. They eat just about everything which saves us an unbelievable amount of garbage. 

plastic free produce
Just the spinach came in a plastic bag.

Let's say our garbage bags (Yes, our county still uses bags and not roller cans. I know?!) are 45 liters or 12 gallons. It takes us an entire month and sometimes longer to fill one bag. Our county did recently change our recycling system to include nearly all plastics which was a huge help. We have to pay per bag for both garbage and recycles. I kind of appreciate that because we get "rewarded" for being conscious of our waste. How refreshing?!

We don't have to pay anything for them to come and take our paper which gives me huge incentive to buy stuff in paper and not plastic. Again, a kind of reward. Be a conscious shopper when purchasing items. Above, I have a few paper bags from produce I purchased. It is tough finding items not wrapped and suffocating in plastic. I buy laundry soap in a paper container and any other cleaners I can find. As you may know, I rarely use chemical cleaners or beauty products that comes in plastic. Shampoo bars and bars of soap can be packaged in paper. It might sound tricky, but it gets easier as you go. Just as long as you make a start.

Also, there are a lot of microplastics in our foods due to packaging and they've recently found that plastic is miraculously penetrating through the blood brain barrier. What isn't lately? So, eliminating plastic from your life has become even more pertinent.

growing jalapenos in the green house
These are my jalapeños from the green house. They didn't make it anywhere else and they are still there in January despite the freezing temperatures.

The large compost bin out back will turn into fertilizer for our garden and green house. We've got a mega easy, cheap compost system. Click here to check it out and learn more about chickens and your garden.

I just saw that someone has her kids put their junk paper through a shredder and they use that for in the chicken coop. What a great idea! Just watch out for inks and dyes.

cheap compost bin
I throw the girls fresh fruit and veg bits that we don't eat. What they don't eat gets raked up and thrown into the compost. Easy peasy!

Let's get back to those jalapeños. They are one of my favorite spicy peppers and I don't know if it is a fluke or what, but they are one of the few things I planted in the green house that is thriving. It's January and the plant itself is finally looking a bit wilted after weeks of freezing temperatures, but the fruit is still perfect. I never have to harvest the peppers because the chickens and all of the critters that might get in the green house are leaving it alone. Slugs can be an issue in warmer temperatures, I've found.

If you were to have to use them in bulk, here are some ideas for you.

Jalapeno Hot Sauce (This one has pineapple!)
Hot Pepper Honey (One of my go to sites. This one sounds amazing.)
Bacon, Jalapeno Deviled Eggs (Maybe with a little avocado?)

Put jalapeños in your hummus, on your tacos, in breads with cheese, in quesadillas, egg rolls, salsas, soup, jalapeño butter and even jalapeño salt. See! No worries with those bumper crops. If I missed something amazing, link us up. (And I don't mean the missing Spanish accent. Sometimes it shows up and sometimes it doesn't. Hehehe...)

When you get a really good plant, like the one I currently have, keep those seeds. I'll be trying to grow more. I only need one plant for the four of us, but I'll try to grow a few. I can always give them to neighbors that like it hot.

So, there you have a few waste tips and ideas for how to use up those awesome jalapeños. I hope you found it helpful. Keep up the good work in that winter garden of yours and if you're not already mindful of waste, start thinking more about it with your purchases.

Thanks for checking out The Cherry!








Saturday, February 1, 2025

Gorgeous Free Digital Scrapbooking Template for February

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Whoo hoo! Hello, scrap-a-licious fans! I've got another fabulous, free template for you. I can't wait to see what you do with it. Scroll through the inspiration and start thinking what kit you're going to use with this template and what pics.

free digital template

Check out the inspiration!

camera template

There's plenty of room for more pictures. Put a small one just behind the title or go for two circle ones behind the camera. I've got them hidden in the template for you.

digital scrapbooking

Michal and Hilary added a whole lot of detail to their background cluster.

free digital template

I used my free kit and template for the page below. I kept my page a little more simple. I showed this off on a travel blog about Zandvoort in The Netherlands. Keep your eyes out for the free kit and peruse our scrap-a-licious travel blogs.

free digital template

Here's January's template. The plan is to have your template up and running on the first of every month. So, come on back and grab them each month. I'll be keeping you up to date in the group and via the newsletter. (I never spam your mailbox. I shoot for once a month.)

free digital template

Warning! I won't be leaving these links up eternally. The twelve templates will be available in a huge bundle in my Design Bundles shop. Grab those links while they are still live.

free digital template

This is the template for next month. Cool, eh?!

This blog is mega full of free stuff. Seriously, mind boggling freebies. I'm starting to run out of storage for these freebies which goes pretty well with me going through all of the blogs and taking down links for old goodies and updating everything. (It is a huge endeavor which I doubt I'll actually finish. Hehehe...) Scroll through and get the goodies while they are still there.

I'll be back Sunday with another food blog. Did ya miss last week's travel blog? Pop back there and see what awesome freebie I've got for ya!

Thanks a million for popping by the blog. Have a fabulous weekend and happy scrapping.