Christmas surprise in Living color

I received my December issue of Country Living magazine the other day and always look forward to paging through it each time it arrives. It is a magazine that I have known and enjoyed for years. I remember my mom subscribing to it many years ago. She was one of the original subscribers when it began thirty years back. So, I feel like the magazine has been a part of my life, well, longer than even my own family. It is one of only two magazines that I loyally subscribe to and this month I was especially glad that I do.

As I came to a section in the magazine called “Dazzling Holiday Decorating Ideas” I noticed a neat advent calendar made with little matchboxes stacked into a pyramid and wrapped with festive holiday paper. It was then that I noticed the paper used for wrapping the little boxes was my paper that I had designed for K&Company. How fun to see, and what a nice surprise to find in the magazine.

I then flipped to the next page and found little nickel frames hanging on a Christmas tree framing more of my art. Well, needless to say, it put me in a happy frame of mind!

If you are interested in seeing these projects from Country Living and you are not a subscriber, you can learn more by visiting countryliving.com. Once there, go to: crafts>projects> craft ideas for Christmas decorations, to see how these projects are made.

The original paper can be found at scrapbooking shops which carry the Swell Noel collection by K&Company.

Tulsa Time

You can take Macy’s out of the country, but you can’t take the Berry out of Macy’s! Well, it just had to be done. I had to find a Macy’s displaying the Swell Noel collection, and I had to find it now! Living smack-dab in the middle of this country gives you lots of options (just not the option to head to your local Macy’s store to see your art on display). You can go north, south, east or even out to the west and find stores galore. Even though I’d love to visit the flagship store on 34th Street in Manhattan, I thought I’d stick with the midwest. So, we packed up the family and headed south to the Macy’s in Tulsa, and what a time we had! 

Since most men (and sons) don’t seem to have the unlimited endurance for looking at ornaments and ornaments and ornaments, :) Tom, Logan and Grandpa headed over to the furniture department to try out the sofas. Shelby and Grandma stayed with me viewing every detail and admiring the attention Macy’s takes in displaying their Holiday Lane collections.

We also enjoyed visiting with the sales staff who were more than helpful in researching other locations where Swell Noel can be found. If you are interested in finding the collection in your area let me know and I can try to help. I have gathered a very extensive list of stores throughout the country where you can visit your local Macy’s to see the display, unless of course, you live in Kansas City. ;)

Whether you’re living in Tulsa time, or any other time, it is the time to have a Swell Noel!

Stuffing Santa’s Sleigh with Swell Noel

Swell Noel is traveling the globe with a handful of products this year. It all began with papers and stickers and albums and more! The collection was distributed through K&Company, a scrapbooking company and has been spotted on QVC Britian, and here in the states. Some of the items can still be seen on the K&Company website and may be found in some of your local independent shops. However this collection got a head start last year, so the search may be challenging.

The fabric industry got a jump on Swell Noel too. Northcott Fabrics produced the collection under the name Have a Sheri Berry Holiday and many quilt shops from Canada to Australia have been carrying this collection early on to help the quilters get their gifts made for the holiday season. I’ve learned that those who quilt are a little ahead of the rest of us. :)

There is also a set of Christmas cards in Walmart. I don’t know for a fact, but I bet these little holiday scenes will be going global to stay in keeping with Walmart stores. There are four each of four designs complete with foil, rhinestones and dimensional tip-ons. Check your local Walmart any day now and search for the little round sticker in the middle of the plastic box that reads “16 fun cards” surrounded by four Swell Noel designs!

Last, but not least are the Swell Noel ornaments and table top items produced exclusively for Macy’s Holiday Lane brand. Santa’s helpers, well, my dear family and friends have been searching their regions to locate the Macy’s displays and have been sending reports on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. Rumor has it that Hawaii, Puerto Rico and even Guam are catching the wave! So, if your holiday plans send you to tropical places, you know where to spend the time. :) I would go to the beach, though!

As I learn more about which regions of the states are carrying Swell Noel for Macy’s I will try to provide that information in better detail. Until then, have a swell holiday season!

Go to the posting below to see the complete collection of ornaments and decorative items for Macy’s. To learn more about the fabric collection scroll down to the posting dated Friday, June, 26, “Christmas in July.”

Miracle on 34th Street

Kris Kringle himself would be thrilled to work at Macy’s Department Store this holiday season. While he would happily enjoy listening to the lists of toys all the children sitting on his lap are requesting for Christmas this year, there is something even more exciting for Kris and everyone else to enjoy at the department store on 34th Street as well as many, many other Macy’s stores throughout the country. That, my friends, is the Swell Noel collection by Sheri Berry Designs done exclusively for Holiday Lane at Macy’s this year.

The collection consists of a number of traditional styled glass blown ornaments, as well as other ornaments done in ceramic, metal, felt, chipboard and glitter, glitter, glitter! Below are the traditional ornaments.

There are three ornaments that resemble snow globes and also three cute little actual snow globes to hang on the tree.


The next few photos are of the other types of ornaments Macy’s produced. My personal favorites are the ceramic “Swell Noel” and “Merry Christmas” along with the ornaments in pink and green shown below.

I love, love, love these little metal snow scenes and the chipboard and glitter houses in the photos below.



There are a number of table top decorative items which have also been produced as well as three music box snow globes, one stocking, and a Chritsmas tree skirt.

I am certain that this collection will be in many parts of the country, but I also know that there are some states which will not see the Swell Noel collection. They are also not available on the Macy’s website store, as far as I know, so hopefully you live in Swell Noel land, and can get a chance to see the collection in its entirety. Unfortunately, I think I chose a state to live in where Noel won’t be so Swell this year! So, as many of you as possible, get out there and take a picture of all the fun you had in Macy’s at the Swell Noel tree and enjoy it for me too!

Here are two of my favorite pictures from this collection. They sum it up!

What a Joy!

Just like in the stores this time of year, we can’t get through halloween without having Christmas right along side it. Well, the same goes for creating fabric. Just as the Costume Club will be seen for the first time at Fall Quilt Market, so it is with the 12 Joys of Christmas. This is the holiday collection that I have just finished with Nortcott and it will also be on display at Market on the weekend.

This collection really has been a joy to create. It means a lot to me for a couple of reasons for the season! My family enjoys the experiences of Christmas time with all the many activities, music, aroma, warmth, friendship and family that this season involves. The other reason this collection was fun to work on was for the simple fact that it reminds me of all of the wonderful childhood memories that Christmas gives me.

Admittedly, only once do I remember actually going out into the woods with my family and cutting down our own Christmas tree. However, there have been many a paper snowflakes cut in this home; a few consecutive years of trying to make and decorate holiday cookies like Martha can do so easily, and every year without fail my husband’s “vintage” turntable plays the original Goodyear Christmas records from his childhood.

They may not be wrapped in lovely papers with beautiful bows, but the memories we receive from these holiday moments are the best gifts we receive each Christmas.

When you start hearing Christmas music this holiday season and “The Twelve Days of Christmas” has begun to play, over and over again in your mind, I hope you will now think of the 12 Joys of Christmas, and spread a little joy of your own.

Below you will see the twelve different joys Christmas brings to me and my family and maybe it will bring a little to you as well. En-joy!

The Costume Club on Parade in Houston

It’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colors, the air is cool and crisp and the kids are finding the perfect costume (to quote Lucy of the Great Pumpkin) “which is in direct contrast to their personalities” for trick or treating.

Well, it was my treat again this year to produce a sequel to the Trick or Treat Street fabric collection that I did with Northcott last fall. I have had wonderful responses from many of you about that collection and I thank you for letting me know. It is you whooo have made this collection even more fun to create.

The collection, Costume Club, will be debuting at Fall Quilt Market in Houston next weekend. Hopefully, some of you will get a chance to see it. For those not attending, I want to share the collection with you today.

Once again I give you halloween in sweetville. It’s not just the candy that is sweet around here, but the characters as well. I have always loved halloween for the reason that I could create cute costumes for my kids and now for fabric. Halloween at our house has never been about the scary, but a friendly ghost approach. Hope you find this collection just as sweet as Trick or Treat Street. Have a sweet and safe Halloween!

What’s pink and blue and cute all over?

Well, everyone knows what’s pink or blue . . . a newborn baby, of course. Tradition has its place in the baby world and it usually revolves around those two colors. I’m not complaining. Have you seen my studio?

Once again it was time to work on a newborn collection and the challenge is always fun. This time the design focuses on a collection I have called Baby Face. Its name is based on the song “You’ve got the cutest little baby face” and what a fitting visual for what really is to all new parents the sweetest little face they ever have seen.

Getting out of my comfort zone a few steps I headed for other traditional baby basics and found the icons still fitting this theme are baby bottles, rattles, diaper and pins. So, I’ve Berry-ised them and added a number of basics of my own.

When the time comes for that new little bundle of pink or blue, don’t forget that your newborn may just need a few accessories to compliment the cutest little baby face you ever have seen!

Here is the cutest little baby girl collection!

Here is the cutest little baby boy collection!

Gifts from the Heart and Hand

Time to brag on my kids. Time to show of the creative genetics of the offspring.

Shelby, the daughter and the oldest, has been interested in miniatures since she was a miniature. She is very careful and loves attention to detail. She has a wonderful ability to visualize, and as a result she is great at whipping up three dimensional creations without patterns or directions. It all seems effortless when she’s felting or sewing her little critters.

This little guy is a weasel with little berries from the Sheri Berry patch! Shelby made him for my birthday and he lives in the studio with me. No pets are allowed in the house, but a complete menagerie of felted creatures are always welcome in the studio. Shelby has a blog that shows off some of her little critters. If you want to see more go to http://tinyanimals.blogspot.com/


Logan, the son who is a few years younger than Shelby has his own creative style and engineering approach to everything. He is constantly inventing contraptions and systems that could make life easier or better. He hasn’t pattented anything yet, but I believe that time will come soon.

He also created a functional yet endearing little creature for my birthday. It is the birthday-bot and it has more function than flair, as it should, it was developed by the little engineer! It also resides in my studio and sits along side me at the Mac each day helping with the techno-troubles that come my way.


This was just a little insight into what takes place in the home of the Sheri Berry family. Form does follow function in some parts of the house more than others. However, flair always precedes form in the studio!

Gerber Daisies Baby

Sometimes we don’t even realize what is influencing us, and when it is influencing us, but we sense it is happening. Today, as I arrived at the market, the first thing greeting me at the door were these absolutely gorgeous gerber daisies. I have always loved gerber daisies, with their essence of sherbet softness and elegant simplicity. I must have had them in my mind when I was working on the new collection “BabyFace” that I will share soon. The influence from the gerber to the baby is strong. I bet you’ll agree.

Child’s Play

Sometimes work seems more like play. That is one of the things I love about my job. Every time I work on a collection for children or babies I get to work hard at playing. Memories and experiences associated with childhood begin to surface and before I know it a line is being developed.

Child’s Play with Kate and Nate is a collection about the little people for the big people who are raising them. In addition to the alphabets and growth charts shown on earlier posts, is the entire collection of Kate and Nate shown below.