Friday, March 15, 2024

More Free Spring Designs from The Cherry On Top

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

We're back with more fun free spring design. Today, I've got these super cute journal cards. Keep scrolling to see what ya missed last week and get a preview of what's to come.

free spring journal cards

Below, is the freebie from last week. Scroll back and grab them.

free spring stickers

This adorable mini scrapbook is coming soon.
Maybe they'd make great cards for the holiday!

free printable mini album

Put all of these great designs together with the digital papers that are also going to be free, soon.

free scrapbook paper

All of the freebies coordinate great with many of the designs I created for Plus at Design Bundles. Pop over to Design Bundles and see what they've got to offer. You'll be inspired! See if this link for a free month trial still works.

free digital template

It took me forever to get this template just right. Come on back next week and see what freebie is waiting for you. You can always check out our group and visit the freebie album to see new and upcoming freebies.


If you've not heard, I'm closing our shop at GingerScraps. I'm leaving the Design Bundles shop open if you'd like to support The Cherry.

Thanks for visiting our blog. We'll see ya next week.









Friday, March 8, 2024

Free Easter Printables Stickers a Template and Papers are Coming Your Way

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Hehehe...

I want you to keep coming back to The Cherry. So, I've put together some sweet freebies that coordinate. I used designs from Design Bundles. If ya want to look for more papers and more that match with these freebies, pop over to Plus.

free easter printables

Above, I've got a page of 3x4 inch journal cards that you can print or use digitally. There's also some really cute, round stickers. They are very similar to what you can get in Plus. I saved the layered version so I can change them up for other uses. I love the soft, pastel color palette and the cute characters from the talented designers at Design Bundles.

These will be available separately, right here on the blog. Your first freebie is the round stickers. You can download them, right here.

free easter book

The above printable is a mini scrapbook or maybe you'd rather turn the designs into a greeting card? Add a title, text, journaling, pictures ... I've left them blank so you have some creative freedom. I'll have a pack of papers, too! You'll be able to use them together. The image below is my book from Plus. If you prefer it, download and get scrappy. You'll also see a kind of tutorial over there. Use brads to join the pages or staples. This is a simple, quick project. Maybe the kids want to have at it?

easter mini album

Below, is a super fun, layered page layout template. Open it in your favorite scrapbooking software. I sometimes use the software that comes FREE with the Plus Membership. I've got a few videos showing you how to do it. It might be easier than ya think. Keep your eyes out for the template. It will be free on the blog, this month.

free easter template

These papers will also be free on the blog this month.

free easter paper

Each week, this month. I'll have a different freebie ready for you. The freebies on this blog are Personal Use Only. The items in Design Bundles are Commercial Use.

Thanks for checking us out, today. Feel free to scroll back over hundreds of freebies and all kinds of crafty, home making projects including recipes and gift ideas.

Happy crafting!


Friday, March 1, 2024

Crazy Delicious Homemade Apple Oatmeal

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I'm back with the apple oatmeal recipe.

free recipe card

Last week, I gave away these free recipe cards. Keep these in your downloads and save them up with the other recipe cards that will follow. Print them out and save them for yourself or use them for a gift in the future. Maybe add the book to a gift basket for a housewarming gift? I'll be showing you various ways to put the book together once we've got more pages ready.

free recipe card

Besides prepping your apple, this dish takes about 5 minutes to make. I know, right?!

If you look closely, you'll see I didn't include amounts. I'm the kind of person that likes to reinvent the wheel. It's the way I cook! Ya just don't know how much people need. I only ever make enough oatmeal for me or maybe for my son and I. It's always different. I very rarely measure. I wouldn't recommend this for new cooks. I'll write out the recipe in more detail, now.

If you're making this for one person, use a tablespoon of butter or ghee and let it melt. Add your small, thin apple pieces (core the apple if you like and if you can handle it, leave the peel). Cook the apples until they start to soften a bit. I add my sweetness here. Consider maple syrup or local honey for the healthiest option. It depends on how sweet you like your oatmeal. I'd use a tablespoon. I also add my cinnamon here and I like a lot. 1/4 teaspoon or less. Give the mix a good stir and add the oatmeal. For one person a cup might suffice. It depends on how much ya want, right? Always consider organic/bio products that are local.

It is yummy leftover. (Pour some milk or juice over the leftover oatmeal and heat it up a bit.)

Pour over the liquid immediately after the oatmeal. (Room temperature is ideal.)Again, how much depends on how mushy you like your oatmeal. It's always better to under do it than over do it. Always! I just pour the juice, water, milk or buttermilk over the mix until it's all just covered. It will get sucked up fast.

It doesn't need to cook too long. Some people like it with a bite and others well done. Once it is all softened, it's ready.

You can use any kind of fruit in place of the apple. Consider pear, berries, raisins and even pumpkin. I love pumpkin. Ya might be surprised how sweet it is.

Good luck with your oatmeal! Come on back for more recipes, printables and scrapbooking goodness.



Thursday, February 15, 2024

Apple Recipes for Large Harvests, Wood Stove Cooking with Apples and a Cute Free Printable Recipe Card

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I wanted to start blogging more about recipes and food like I used to when this blog first started. We finally got a wood burning stove a few years ago. We did it for several reasons. Saving money on ever increasing energy prices and even more importantly, it's something not connected. We control it and no electricity or gas is needed to use it. I'll write more about that, later.

I realized that I could actually cook on it after a while. I know! I'm a natural blonde. Sometimes it takes longer. Hehehe... I perused Pinterest for recipe ideas and did not find much at all. So, I thought I'd start sharing my cooking on the wood burning stove top experiences since there wasn't much out there.

If ya know me, I like it easy and I like to eat really healthy. So, these are the kinds of recipes you'll find, here.

free recipe card

I wanted to quickly go over some things you can do with apples. We had so many apples because our neighbors had an enormous apple tree and we could pick all we wanted. Our neighborhood in Germany has apple, pear, plum, mirabella, cherry and nut trees all over and people can harvest them. Isn't that awesome? I wish we'd do that in our neighborhood in Belgium. I don't see any public fruit trees. We do have chestnuts and walnuts in a few places, but not a lot at all.

I was on the hunt for things I could do with all of these apples and here's a few things I've made. I'll be back with full recipes, later. Keep your eyes peeled! Peruse the internet or Pinterest if ya want the recipes. You'll find them on my Food Board more than likely.

Apple Juice

We bought a juicer in Germany and it's crazy easy! Since we know the apples are not sprayed, I don't even wash them unless they are dirty. Quarter the apples, place them in the top basket, add water to another basket and heat. After a while, the apples soften and the juice just comes right out into another pan and the juice goes through the hose. Get your containers ready and let the juice pour into the jugs.

I recycled wine bottles and stored the juice in the refrigerator after the bottles cooled. It lasted at least three weeks. We ended up drinking it all before it went bad and if it were to have gone off, I was going to just use it to clean with.

This is exactly what ours looks like. So Easy!!!

Apple Sauce

I even used the pulp from the juice and turned it into apple sauce. The first time I made apple juice, I didn't strain the juice. The second time I did and collected and reused the pulp in my apple sauce.

Apple sauce is also crazy easy. Peel, core and dice your apples. Heat them in just a little bit of water and when they get soft, take a 'tater masher and squish them up. If your apples aren't as sweet as you would like them, you can always add sugar.

You can make the apple sauce and juice on the wood burning stove top. I lay down a towel so it doesn't ruin our wood floor that surrounds the stove. The juice making can be a bit sticky and may be messy, too.

You can make big and small batches of apple sauce. I've not mastered canning yet. I put my sauce in cleaned, recycled glass jars and mason jars. I put the sauce in hot, add the lid and turn it upside down. When it's cooled, I stick it in the fridge, right side up. You can read a lot about how to can. When I get the guts to try it, I'll share my experience.

apple tree
This was our neighbor's tree. Gorgeous, eh?

Apple Cider Vinegar

I told ya how much I like easy recipes. The easier the better. I also limit my use of dangerous chemicals and use as much natural cleaners as I can. Apple cider vinegar can be used for so many things and I use it more than any other cleaner. I also use it for health reasons.

Depending on the apples I use, my apple cider vinegar can be so sweet, it's delicious! I take a teaspoon each morning or mix it with apple juice or apfelschorle. (carbonated apple juice)

I took a cleaned and recycled, glass, sangria bottle and added the cores and peels from my apple sauce, then poured over some filtered water until the apple pieces were covered. I use one of those tea bags that you typically fill with lose tea for over the top. It fit perfect and allows the cider to breathe. I keep it under my kitchen sink. Ya need to store it in a cold dark place. After several weeks, you'll get your cider. You can smell it and taste it. Drain it and pour it in a recycled spray bottle. Maybe you'll get lucky and get a "mother". That's a super thickly concentrated mass that accumulates at the bottom of the jar. You can use it in the bottom of your next batch ya make. I feed my chickens all of the scraps. Talk about no waste.

Apple Oatmeal

I'm a huge fan of oatmeal. Over night oats totally rock! I'll be sharing my gourmet apple oatmeal recipe with you, later. Core and chop some apples a little on the thin side and add them to your oatmeal and let them cook just a few minutes. Add honey, maple syrup, brown sugar ... to your liking.

Use apples in muffins and breads, too.

Here are some fun papers I designed for Plus using cute gnome designs. Some of them have apples included. Those papers might also be great for you.

gnome design paper

 
digital scrapbooking paper with gnomes

Here are the ones with apples.

digital scrapbooking paper with gnomes

cute gnome designs

If gnomes are your thing. I've got this funny free printable card featuring gnomes.

free all seasons gnome card

In my Kreative Design Studio shop, you'll find many more gnome designs.

I hope you like the free recipe cards. I'll be back with more of them along with more recipes. Print and share or keep them for yourself. I'll also share a variety of ways to compose the cards.

Thanks for checking us out.

Friday, February 9, 2024

More FREE Rock'n Valentine's Day Printables and Digital Designs from The Cherry On Top

Welcome to Freebie Friday with The Cherry On Top.

Take a look at the new freebie and get a quick review of what we've given away the past few weeks. Pretty generous, eh? Scroll through this blog and use our search field to peruse over a decade of scrap-a-licious crafting and much more.

I designed these a bit ago and put them in my Kreative Design Studio shop. I'm giving a big portion of the collection away, today. Keep scrolling for the link.

free valentines day stickers

These designs below, are up and ready for ya on the blog. Click the image to get there.

adorable free valentines day printables

These are also waiting for you. See the rest of the collection by clicking on the image.

super cute free valentines day printables

This is more from the collection found at Kreative Design Studio. These designs make scrapbooking so fast and pretty. Just put your pics in the frames and you're set!

gorgeous romantic scrapbook pages

Here's the paper pack.

digital scrapbook paper

Team up the freebies and the goodies from the shop and design and print your own Valentine's Day or romantic and sweet goodies.

interacial valentine's designs

Look how fun Project Life pages are. It's a quick and easy way to scrapbook. Want to learn more about Project Life? Click here. Here's another blog with a paper project life card alternative. Get the kids involved with this kind of scrapping. They might just love it and with all of the free stuff on this blog, you don't need to spend a lot of money at all. Scissors, glue, paper and a printer. That's it!

valentine's day project life

Kreative Design Studio is full of holiday goodies. Here's an enormous collection. Go check it out!

huge valentine's day bundle

I hope you were able to get the free template in the newsletter hop. Me and the other GingerScraps designers will make the freebie available for three weeks. We've already started. So there isn't much time to sign up and get the freebie.

free digital template

filmstrip templates



filmstrip templates

The ladies made such great pages!

filmstrip templates

filmstrip templates

filmstrip templates



filmstrip templates

filmstrip templates

filmstrip templates

filmstrip templates


Here's our February Buffet Templates.

digital scrapbooking



This is the latest Love For Layout Template freebie. Scroll back for years and download dozens of free templates from this blog.

free digital template

Here's the link for today's freebie.


I hope you enjoy all of the free digital designs and crafting inspiration. The blog is full of digital and traditional scrapbooking pages, paper crafts, recipes and so much more.

Leave me some love in the form of comments, sign up the newsletter and join us for scrap-a-licious fun in our group.

See ya for the next Freebie Friday!



 

Friday, February 2, 2024

Love For Layout Templates Train of Free Digital Scrapbooking Page Layouts for February

Welcome to The Cherry On Top, Blog Hoppers!

This year we're going with the same palette for the entire year. This was an idea I brought to the group. Can you imagine how pretty the year's collection is going to be? I'm really excited. Maybe more designers will contribute more templates since we can keep using the same elements, save a lot of time and work ahead.

I love these colors. They are fresh and bright. I hope you like them, too.

free digital scrapbooking template
Download the template and jump to the next stop.

Theresa made a great page with her pup. The black touches look perfect.

free digital scrapbooking template
Share your pages in our Love For Layout Templates group.

If you are in it for the freebies, you'll love the upcoming GingerScraps NewsLetter Hop. Sign up for our newsletter and get this template along with many other designers, next week.

newsletter hop

Feel free to scroll back through our blog for hundreds of freebies.

Again, there will be more big changes coming up. That's the way I roll! Hehehe... I get bored and like to shake things up, often.

My plan is to put Freebie Friday back on the map. I've got THREE Valentine's Day freebies ready for the next three weeks. I also just had an idea to start a kind of marathon of cooking related freebies. I'll be closing my GingerScraps shop soon and I want to still stay busy.

This is the first free Valentine's Day pack. There will be two more. One from yesterday and one more, next week. Pop back to last Friday's blog.

free valentine's day printables

I've always loved writing and have been ignoring that passion for far too long. I'll be combining blogging with cooking, household helpers and more. It's how this blog started more than 10 years ago. This is my aim for now. Something else awesome might pop up! Stay with us for the roller coaster ride. Hehehe...

Are you more of a hands on crafter? I've got a lot of paper craft projects and recipes on the blog, too. Here are an example of each.

paper top hat tutorial
A really fun paper top hat tutorial made from a cereal box.

Check out this amazing array of super fun food for the Super Bowl. There's printable ideas, too!

manly eats for the big game

Enjoy the freebies, the blog and consider following our newsletter, leave comments and pop over to the group.

Happy scrapping!!!





More Free Valentine's Day Printables and Designs from The Cherry On Top

Welcome to The Cherry On Top's, Freebie Friday.

I've got another pack of fun Valentine's Day printables. Again, these designs are pretty versatile. Great for kids and adults alike. Don'cha love that?

free valentine's day printables

free valentines day cards
You get cards and a few ellies, too.

I used items from the huge Bee Lovable Collection available at Kreative Design Studio in Design Bundles.

Bundle of Digital Scrapbooking Goodies

Here are some pages I and the team designed with some or all of the items in the bundle.

scrapbook pages made quickly and easily

You could simply plop in pictures or add your own digital scrapbooking things.

versatile digital scrapbooking templates

What a super fun and romantic page!

digital templates

This is the first freebie from the series of three for Valentine's Day, but there's more!

free valentine's day designs

TOMORROW, is February's free template train. Come on back and grab this great free, digital scrapbooking page layout template and ride the train for even more free templates from talented designers.

free digital template

Here's another train of free digital scrapbooking products offered from GingerScraps. I'll be giving away this free filmstrip template for THREE WEEKS ONLY. You have to sign up for our newsletter and the newsletter from the other GingerScraps designers to get the goodies. The newsletter freebies will be available from February 9th.

gingerscraps newsletter hop

One of the last Valentine's Day freebies will come from this bundle I designed at Kreative Design Studio in Design Bundles. Come on back for Freebie Friday and grab them before the holiday. If ya can't wait or ya want to see more from this huge collection at Kreative Design Studio, head over to our shop and check out our Valentine's Day collection with over a dozen items.

valentines day printables

Thanks for checking out Freebie Friday. We'll see ya again, next week!

Happy crafting!