Insert Ideas For Your Custom Planner and a Free Mini Kit

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

We've got more ideas for your custom planner, some sweet tips, inspiration, a tutorial and mega links for a lot'o free stuff.

In a previous blog, we showed you how to craft up your very own custom, planner with the stash that you already have.  Check that tutorial out, right here.

Take note, that those cute, fuzzy bows and dangling elements attract cats like a magnet. So, keep it away from the kitties.  Hehehe...

We've also provided you with some calendar inserts and lovely goodies to use in your planner.  For January you got a pocket image (tutorial on the blog here) as well as these really cute stickers.  Find it all, for free, right here.

Here's what mine looks like.

If you are looking for February's free calendar inserts, you can find those, here.

We're pimping up the pages in between February, today.

I purchased these cute die cut inserts from a discount store a while ago.  They didn't match my colour palette perfectly nor were they designed to use both left and right sided due to the butterflies.  The size and shape was just what I wanted so I used them as a template on my coordinating papers that come with the For The Record, Tailored kit from Echo Park. 

I don't know about you, but I want to get every inch out my purchased, "good" scrapbooking paper.  So, I always fit with precision.

Tip:  Use a nail file to give edges a tattered look.  Start off gently and push harder or more frequently to get your desired look of wear.

Design a template for punching out your holes in your planner inserts.  This way you don't have to take any inserts out.

There are the two inserts I made for the planner.  The raised, Today, Tomorrow, Forever were on the border paper, shaped as tickets, but even a fussy cutter like me, couldn't handle that kind'a cut'n so I just cut inside those edges for this look.

If you like getting glitter and glue on your digits, then check out some of our other most recent, free hybrid projects we've got for you.

Like this heart shaped basket.

Our coordinating February Cute Cards.

And this pretty nifty, free quick page.

We've also got a mini we are offering on our Facebook Page for those caring souls who leave us a comment there.  Click on our preview to get there and leave a comment and we'll send you the link for this free mini.

We have so many more free hybrids, tips, inspiration, tutorials and so much more, in store for you.  Consider Following us so you don't miss out.

We want to thank you for stopping by The Cherry.  Please, keep in mind that our freebies a plenty are all for PERSONAL USE ONLY.  You're not to resell or claim them as your own.  Thanks!

Happy scrapping!

Obsessed or Hobby?

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

We are keeping up with entries related to Autism on Mondays.  

Last week we gave 10 alternatives to tying shoes because we understand how difficult that can be with Autistic children as well as ageing family, friends and patients.  The week before we gave tips on choosing your battles with students, friends and family with Autism and or on the spectrum.   Today, we'll touch on obsession. What is an obsession and when to worry about it?

The definition of obsession is: preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually and to a troubling extent

We are fully aware of the obsessive types of behaviour folks with Autism can have. Our boys certainly go through phases where one type of toy takes over their life to what might seem to be troubling.  We'll dissect this thought and hopefully bring you piece of mind or at least direction if the obsession is in fact troubling or harmful.

As many of you may know, Thomas The Tank Engine is a favourite amongst many kids with Autism.  Both of my boys were zapped with the fun, wheeling, bright coloured trains and faces.  Seriously, what's not to love?  They line them up, learn about numbers, move all around with their trains.  Learn colours, sing songs...I may have loved Thomas as much as the boys!  I can totally see how Thomas is so appealing.  We used Thomas to our advantage on so many levels.

Believe it or not, there are many positive aspects of hobbies or what may appear to be obsessions.  Let's take a look at some of those.

Hobbies can provide structure, order, predictability and can be used as a means to explain, relate or even help in particular situations.

Hobbies can help, relax and even give happiness.

Learning more and more about something in particular may also be fun, engaging and used once again as a means to communicate when nothing else seems to work.

Finding comfort in something particular may also be used as a means to be more involved socially.

We may have to ask ourselves, are we annoyed with their hobby and therefore think it obsessive to the point of worrying?

When should we worry?

Take a good look at the person when they are doing what you assume them to be obsessed with.  Do they look distressed, uncomfortable or do they look like they are trying to stop doing whatever it is, but can't?

Is their learning being forfeited for this?

Are they becoming less social because of their obsession?

Are they capable of stopping?

Is it causing significant disruption or damage to others?

Is the obsession to the point where it undermines their ability to live and enjoy themselves?

If you answered yes to one or more of these, then there may well be a problem.  So what should you do?

Start setting limits.

Do not take away whatever it is, but do try to minimise the use of it.  Try changing the subject if they continually talk about that something over and over.

Definitely make sure they are behaving appropriately socially.  Be sure to stick with the limits here, for sure.  If their behaviour is making strangers or others uncomfortable, it should be stopped or at the very least, addressed.

Link their interest to something new and try to expand or even evolve it into something new or different.

Profesional help is always an option, too.

With our experience, obsessions were very timely.  Thomas is now collecting dust and gaming is all of the rage.  Months and months of Minecraft, but then quickly, Mario Cart pops up again and in a couple of months something else will take over.

Another question you may want to ask yourself is, how much of this is my fault.  Hehehe...  Did you run out to the store and buy everything you could from Thomas?  Did you inundate them with books, movies, puzzles, colouring pages...We sure did!  Hehehe...We never thought of it as an obsession because it brought so much happiness to all of us and they did play with other toys.

Keep introducing new things to your children and students.  If they push them away, just keep trying. Don't force them.  As we mentioned in another Autism entry, some Autistic kids need time.  Sometimes, a lot of time to get used to a new toy.  They may need to look at it for several weeks, smell it, taste it, touch it, even throw it before they start to accept it.

If there is interest in other things, if they are not hurting anyone or being physically impeded continuously, then you may not have to worry.  Think of it as a passion.

These are our findings through personal experience.  We are not experts.  We're just here sharing our findings because there is a lot of information out there and it can be very watered down or perhaps too technical to fully comprehend.

We keep it light, positive and simple to help the most amount of people.

Thanks for all of your kind words and best of luck with your Autism experience.

If you are looking for more our our entries on Autism, hit up our Autism board on Pinterest where you can find more and all in one, easy place.

Free February Quick Page

 Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Typically, we do hybrids on Saturday and actually, I'm sitting on several of them, but for reasons beyond my control, I have to put them off for awhile.  I did have a hybrid project for you this week because I just couldn't wait until Saturday to give it to you.  Hehehe...  It's posted here, further in the blog.

If you follow us, you'll know that we started giving planner freebies last year and we're continuing on with the new year.  Find January's goodies by clicking here.  Find the first part of Febrary's goodies here and keep scrolling to grab some more.

I always like to show off projects using both digital and traditional skills.  I've been traditionally scrapping for nearly two decades.  It's my first love when it comes to crafting.  I'm really starting to get well into hybrid now, too.

So what is this hybrid scrapping/crafting? Well, it isn't always about photos which makes it a bit more appealing to more creative folk.  It's a combination of computer designing, printing and crafting up what you designed digitally.

Here's a look at a digital design.  I used with our free Cute Cards to make this Project Life style layout.

Here are the cards I used.  I simply cropped the cards I wanted and restored the original when I was finished with all four cards.

Of course, you can use these cards for many things.  Print them out on thicker paper and use them as Valentines.  Use them as a tags or put them in your planner for February just because they are fun to look at.  I'm in the middle of a hybrid project, right now, where I'm using them to create a mini album for my boys for Valentine's Day.  I'm also using them as tags and obviously, used them digitally in my layout.

Here's another of our freebies.  This is strictly hybrid.  You download, print, cut and glue and you're project is ready in mere minutes.  Click here for the download and tutorial.

Now, you have an idea what hybrid is.  I'll be back to show off the albums I made.  We've still got plenty of time until February 14th, right?

In the mean time, how about a free quick page?  Download this page, plug in your favourite photos and turn it into your wall paper, send it to friends or family via e-mail or print it out and plop it in an album.  It doesn't have to be 12x12.  You can always scale it down to an 8x8, 6x6 or 4x4, perfectly.  I do that all of the time because I can't print out at 12x12 and I often prefer smaller albums.

Right click and download.  We're able to display png versions of our images, now.  Yay!

Our freebies are for Personal Use ONLY. Do not resell them or claim them as your own.  Give us a shout if you do download our goodies by commenting, sharing our links, +ing, Pinning...

Thanks for stopping by The Cherry!

Freebie Friday, Destress and Catch Up On What You Missed

Welcome to Freebie Friday with The Cherry On Top.

We'll recap our most recent freebies to make sure you get them all and bring something new, every time!  What a great way to start your weekend.  Grab some sweet free creative stuff and get crafty every weekend.  You deserve it!

We recently started a new board on Pinterest called Destress.  Adult colouring pages are all of the rage and for good reason, too.  One, they say it's almost as good as meditation.  Can you imagine?  You can also find loads of free colouring pages out there and even make your own.  

Keep scrolling to find out  more about adult colouring pages, catch up with all of our recent freebies and hybrid crafty projects and make sure you're all caught up.

We got dozens of adult colouring pages on our new board.  Click here to visit and see what you find.  We also found this great site with a lot of free pages that are really super.  Click on the beautiful image to get there and see all of the different designs they have.

We posted this free dress template recently.  You can use it digital like we did here or...

You can download, cut and use it traditionally.  Get the free downloads, tutorial and an eyeful of inspiration by clicking on those lovely dresses.

Here are our February inserts for your planner.  Click here to get them and here to see a tutorial on how to design and create your very own planner with the goodies you already have in your stash.  We've got some lovely stickers there, too. 

 

These are our free February inserts for your planner.  Use them digitally or traditionally.  Whatever floats your boat.  You can save right from here or get the png version here.

Here is another hybrid project from this week.  We're keeping with the colour theme from our planner.  Click and save, again or click here and get the tutorial where we show you how to assemble this and we also give you two handle ideas.

And that's what we've got for you, today.

All of our goodies are for Personal Use ONLY.  Do not resell them or claim them as yours, please.

Have a super happy, scrappy weekend and join us again next Friday for more freebies.

February Coordinating Freebies

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Staying very busy here.  We thought we'd share our latest, Facebook freebies here with our blog readers.  We know not everyone is hanging on Facebook and we like to see that our freebies are made available to as many people as we can.  As much as we'd love to see you visit our Facebook Page or Pinterest, we'll keep you up to do date and make sure you can download from here as well.

We decided to stick with a colour palette for our free planner inserts and it's based on the paper collection we are using from Echo Park, For The Record 2 Tailored.  The colours are scrumptiously bright, vibrant, fun and very versatile.

To get a look at our custom made planner with tutorial, click here.  You can also find the link for the free January inserts there.  You can download the calendar inserts as well as some fun stickers that you can use any time for any project or just for fun.

Keep scrolling to the bottom to get February's calendar.

If you just love hybrid and paper craft, take a look at one of our newest, free templates.

 All you have to do is right click and save these cute cards to your downloads.  It is a png version, so you can use them digitally as you like.  The coordinate perfectly with February's calendar.

Here is our heart shaped basket.  Made in time for the upcoming holiday or for any occasion.

Isn't it just darling?

Download, print, cut, glue and you're ready. It's made so simply.

Depending on what you want to hold in it, choose your weight of paper.

I always pre fold my projects a bit before gluing.

This is where you glue.  On those tabs, on the red side.

You may have to slide those tabs a bit before you get it right where you want it.  So glue would work better than double sided tape.

Next think about your handles you want.  I'm showing you two different kinds.

The easiest and fastest way to go is just a strip of coordinating paper.  I like to use scraps from my stash. This way you have colour on both sides.  Cut the strip to the length you find suitable, glue both ends and adhere to the inside of your basket.

I really liked my second idea, here.  Keep reading to see how I did it.

I used my nifty, handy circular cutting tool.  If you don't have one, just trace around something around the size you need.  I put my shape templates over the purse to see how big I needed the straps.

Then make another circle, slightly smaller in the inside of your first, larger circle.

Then cut your double circle in half.  I just folded it in half and then cut along the fold.

Voila!  There are your new handles.

Glue them to the inside of your purse or basket.  Look at all of that room in there!  You can put so many in things in here.

One of our scrappy fans put fudge in hers.  I used mine for a mani/pedi kit.

Here is the printout. Right click to download. You can grab it on our Facebook Page as well.  We post several freebies ever single day over there as well as yummy, simple and fast recipes, patterns, crafty projects, inspiring quotes and always something to tickle your funny bone.  You'll love it there so be sure to join us!

Here's February's calendar.  Just right click and save to your downloads.

You are totally up to date with our newest freebies both here and on Facebook.  We hope you enjoy them.  Remember that all of our free stuff is for PERSONAL USE ONLY.  Our goodies are not to be resold or claimed as your own.

If you do download our freebies gives us a shout so we know someone is listening and we'll keep coming back with more.

Happy scrapping!

10 Alternatives To Tying Shoelaces

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Sticking with Autism entries on Monday's, we're back with some images, links, a video tutorial and 10 alternatives to tying shoelaces.

Both of my boys have difficulties tying shoes.  My nine year old has melt downs at the mention of practicing this very important task.  It came up in conversation with a friend of mine who has the same problem with her daughter.  I showed her an image of some elastic type laces I found at our local Brantano shoe store, that we use with my oldest.  They are unbelievably easy to install and use.  She also showed me what she uses.  Both are included in the list.

All 10 of these would be a great substitute for traditional shoe laces.  They are also great for runners, bikers and other athletes as well as for anyone who has difficulty tying shoes.  Personally, I'd love an excuse to STOP running and tie my shoes.  Hehehe...

Each image is linked up to a place where you can get more information and or purchase the product.  Some have videos, too.

These are similar to what I purchased.  Further down is the exact brand.

These looked interesting.  I like the tactile feel.

These are called Hickies and you can get them all over the place in a variety of sizes and colours.

These look pretty good, too.  Very easy to use.

This is what we purchased.  Years later and they are still perfect.  No problems in the wash either.

These you lace through, cut and lock.

More elastic shoelaces.

A different kind of system that also doesn't require tying.

These are what my friend uses.  They have an awesome array of colours.

This is another great system using magnetics!  Easy on and off.

I found this video with a totally different tying technique that JJ might be able to do.  It looks really simple.  Take a peep.  It's only under one minute. I'll be sure to have something awesome for him before I even mention the idea of another shoe tying exercise.  We call it in Dutch, the stick behind the door.  (De stok achter de deur.) This may be bribery, but learning how to tie is something we feel is very important.  I was using chocolate pudding, but he hates this exercise so much, even that's not good enough any more.  Hehehe...  I may have to hang gaming time over his head this time.

Rewarding is for another entry.

Best of luck with either shoe tying or finding a great alternative.