My Joys at Christmastime

I have recently learned about a quilters magazine that wrote a little blurb about the Christmas fabric collection that I did with Northcott, The 12 Joys of Christmas. This magazine is Quilters Newsletter (QuiltersNewsletter.com) and the issue is December/January 2011, page 30.

This collection has such sentimental value to me as it really does showcase the joys our family has this time of year. The holiday season will always be filled with gifts, but so many of the gifts this family receives are those of family time together, memories we are making for our kids to look back on, and our own treasured memories of our childhood with family and friends throughout our past. No beautifully wrapped box with a wonderful gift inside can ever replace the cherished moments we share with those we love.

The 12 Joys of Christmas collection does bring me joy, but this season I remixed the color palette to reflect my Sheri Berry color style and every time I get to put a little pink into anything, the joy is enjoyed by me even more. Here are some holiday cards in the new re-pink-mix colorway.

Take this season to find joy in every moment and with every person you spend this holiday with. Have a blessed and joyous season.

Latest postcard sightings, or shall I say signings?

Time to update the postcard designs for the collegiates. As this year comes to a close and the school year is now half over, I am halfway through the “snail-mail postcard project” that I have been doing with the daughter and a handful of her friends this year. It is probably more fun for me, but I have been told the girls are all about it too. Well, sure, they get fun stuff in their mailboxes, not bills and junk mail like I get. We are now up to sixteen cards and here is the latest installment to share.

Okay, this lot covers the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, week by week, starting with a happy thought that should leave you feeling all warm inside.

A recipe for a hot, spicy, cranberry and orange cider accompanied this card on the back.

A listing of my favorite thanksgiving hymns, poems and songs embellished the back of this one. Yes, “We Gather Together” was among them. :)

General merriment in a winter woodland. Well, we can all pretend, can’t we?

Time for some great flicks all should see at least once in their lifetime, better yet, once a year.

A list of some of the best Christmas stories were encouraged, as the kids will have a few weeks off to sit and read by the fire, or cell, or laptop. That is, when they aren’t facebooking. Rudolph, Frosty, Scrooge and Grinch accompanied Santa in this list of the best.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good read!

Tweeting with My Chicks

Okay, so I’ve been trying to get time to remix my little vintage animals that I started back in the day before I was bloggity-blogging*. The original set has a deer (surprise:), a bear, a squirrel (who ended up as a Woodland Tails character) and a bunch of little sprigs and flowers. I am now reorganizing the menagerie and moving them a bit more toward the farmland look. I now have a little donkey, these tweeters you see here and I’m thinking about a few other barnyard buddies.

I would love to hear any critiquing or opinions on the art as I start developing this new collection. So . . . cluck, cackle, tweet, chirp, but just give me your thoughts on the little red hen and her golden peep. Ooow, and take note—I’m branching out, red is my new pink, ha, ha! Can you believe it? This may be a first. ;)

*thanks Sheree, you’re the cleverest word girl I know:)

The times, they are a-changin’

Okay, it’s time to get an extra hour in your day. How many times have you just wished for one extra hour to get something done? Unfortunately, we can’t just choose that extra hour when we like, but here it is, it won’t happen for another year, and . . . it will be taken away again come spring . . . so take it happily now, because as far as I know, time travel is not yet possible. This is the only way to turn back the hands of time, so remember to do it tonight.

Mural, Mural on the Wall . . .

. . . what’s the cutest of them all? Okay, well, that is if you lean toward the Sheri Berry style, you might just think these are the cutest darn murals for kids’ walls you’ve ever see. Then again, I’m a little biased. :)

I’m delighted to say that the company Murals Your Way has partnered with me to bring 76 designs to their site for people to order Sheri Berry murals for wall coverings. I will share a few pieces here from the collections. However, I encourage you to take a look at the site to see all of the murals available. If you get on the site and cannot find my art, look under the artists section for the name Sheri McCulley, as that is where my art will appear on the site.

The art on the mural designs are from the collections: Tiki Tikes, Sprout, Emma & Ethan, Kate & Nate and Woodland Tails. There are plenty from each theme, so if you have taken a liking to any of these collections, you might just find a little something you didn’t know you were looking for. Some of the murals can be personalized with names, and other alterations can be made.

These murals would be fun for baby and kid room decor, but I think they could be the ultimate visual statement for the walls of day-care centers, grade school classrooms, pediatrician and orthodontist offices and even pediatric units in hospitals. Wherever you find babies and kids, you could find this art!

so . . . who’s the happiest of them all? That would be me!

A Postcard Passion

I remember when my daughter was in 3rd grade her teacher had a great project for the students. She advised the kids to write to each of their friends and extended family all over the country (and even the world) to receive postcards back in the mail. This was clearly an exercise in writing, but also one to help the kids learn about geography and landmarks. I am sure my daughter still has the little box of postcards from that time tucked away in a safe place in her closet.

She has a passion for postcards and a passion for travel and is always the one in the family to send cards from every location possible during family vacations and travels. Maybe this is her way of paying back all the family and friends who sent her cards back in the 3rd grade.

As you know, I am trying to give her yet another reason to collect and save a series of postcards. I send a postcard each week to she and her buds, for no other reason than to brighten their mailbox at least one in the week and remind then that they are being thought of back home. Here is the next installment of the collection.

The campus had “parent weekend” and this card was sent to encourage the girls to decorate and clean up their dorm rooms for their peeps.

Shortly after the school year gets underway, the college invites surrounding academies to bring their seniors to the campus for a few days of college life. It’s a great form of recruiting and gives the kids a chance to see their friends from the school they just graduated from last spring. There is no better recruiting tool than a bunch of students telling their friend about the wonderful college they are now attending. Go Union! Or better yet, come to Union!

A little guidance for the girls in college: 3 keys to success—1. be safe, 2. be sweet, 3. be smart

I am a big advocate of learning about trees, leaves in particular and being able to recognize their traits. I uses to try to teach my kids this every autumn when we would collect beautiful fall leaves and press and preserve them. Now, I’m trying to get the college kids to learn them, incase they didn’t get that course in grade school and won’t likely in college.

You can never be too old to enjoy halloween and yes even trick-or-treating. I expect the kids found a neighborhood to infiltrate or at least had fun in the dorm going door to door. I think my daughter probably dressed as a cat, which was also the first costume I put her in when she was only four months old. I remember her cat-costuming at least two other times in the past. Well, I guess you can’t teach an old dog, or in this case a cat new tricks-or-treats!

Monsieur Noir le Chat

We just got a kitten in time for Halloween, but he is not a cat noir and I don’t think he is French. He is a cute gray tabby, full of mischief, about three months old. He accompanies me to the studio each day and flip-flops (literally) between unruly frolicking and drop dead exhaustion. My keyboard seems to be the favorite place for those exhaustive bouts of slumber and the ultimate kitty toy for playtime. Well, actually, it’s the computer mouse he finds to be the toy of desire, as if he believes it to be the real thing. Hummm.

As I write, his little face is resting on the numbers of the keyboard. So, unless I start a career in accounting, I think I’m okay with this new arrangement. Liking it so far, anyway.

As to the art above, I suppose it is a bit like “life imitating art.” Oh, or is my art imitating life? Well, none the less as Halloween approaches I have a new little model to encourage creativity for the season. Who knows, maybe my next holiday collection will be Christmas Kitty :)

Posting More Postcards

Each week is a challenge, a fun challenge, to send snail mail postcards to my college daughter and a few of her besties. Here are the latest in the lot.

This was sent during the first week of classes when the girls not only had to figure out how they are going to balance their class load this semester, but locate the classes in the most obscure locations on campus without being late. Good luck girls!

Some of my besties have been with me since my college days. There is nothing like dorm life to find the best friends you will have forever.

Mom steps in with great advice, words of wisdom, and just common sense. Eat right! Your body’s begging you.

Everybody needs a little down time and one of the best ways to do so is to let your real life go just for a couple of hours and get wrapped up in a great flick. There’s something out there for everybody. And no, it doesn’t have to be a chick flick. Like I told the girls, a documentary might even count as study time, cuz hey, you might actually learn something.

P.S. from September of 2011: In the past year, this entry has become the most-visited page on my blog, and I'm curious to know why. How did you find this blog entry? Did you search for certain terms on Google? Did you search for something once you came to the Sheri Berry blog? What were you looking for that brought you to this entry? Please leave a comment below to let me know what you were searching for when you came here to help me provide more of it to meet your interests.

. . . the rest of the story

Well, the 24 hour craft craze on HSN ending with a bang. The new Cricut Imagine was an enormous hit. That was expected, at least from my perspective. When I first learned about the machine and was asked to be an artist for its cartridges, I was delighted to join in. This machine really is amazing from everything I could see (all night long:). I have to give a shout out to Jinger (with Provo Craft) and Megan (with K&Co) for the amazing work they did as guests on HSN. The others were great too, but these two girls are special to me. I was lucky enough to work, literally, right next to Megan for a couple of short, but fun years at K&Co. She will always be dear to me (she’s just that way, even more wonderful in person:). I met Jinger a couple of years ago and it is she who got me thinking about the possibilities of working with Provo Craft. I admire them for the talent in which they make guest hosting seem so flawless and easy. And I know it’s anything but easy. Great job, girls!

I learned a few things while watching with the rest of you. I was thrilled to find that my little creatures you have come to know as Woodland Tails were part of the packaged deal when purchasing the Cricut Imagine on HSN. The cartridge is called Nursery Tails, so any of you out there who got in on the buy during that 24 hour period will now be the proud owners of my little creatures, to turn them into many cute and amazing projects. I believe the cartridge will soon be available individually as well. This is what it looks like, above, if you haven’t gotten a chance to see it.

I also noticed that there were a few sneak peeks of some of the other cartridges during the 24 hour marathon. The Woodland Christmas cartridge has been called Snow Angel and it should soon be available as well. I believe it was on the HSN site, but I noticed that it was sold out by yesterday morning. Helloooo, what wasn’t sold out with Cricut Imagine and its cartridges during that craft craze?! This is what the Christmas cartridge looks like.

I’d love to hear from all of you who bought the machine, once it arrives, and you have a chance to start creating with it. May you make many sweet and adorable creations with the little woodland characters and give them a nice home. Oh, and don’t forget to sleep a bit too. :)

Save the date and don’t be late to Imagine the possibilities!

Finally the day has come when I am able to share some long anticipated news about a product I have been working on with Provo Craft. Cricut Imagine, Provo Craft’s newest craft machine will be launched tonight on HSN (Home Shopping Network). My art will be shown and available, as I have been working with them on two different cartridges for this new product. I hope they are going to share information on both collections, but I will watch with you to see which Sheri Berry art is chosen . . . and printed . . . and cut . . and applied to many wonderful craft projects displayed on HSN tonight and tomorrow throughout the day. This event begins at midnight tonight (September 14, and runs throughout the day on the 14th).

If you want to learn more about the Cricut Imagine launch, go to here to learn more about the scheduled events on HSN. If you want to learn more about Cricut Imagine, go to Provo Craft to learn more about this amazing, new machine.

There are two cartridges of my art that should be on display tonight. One is based on the collection Woodland Tails and it is a charming collection of baby and child imagery. It might be called Woodland Tails or possibly Woodland Babies by Provo Craft. Here are a few samples above of the many images this cartridge provides.

The other cartridge in a holiday collection and it is based on my favorite new Christmas collection, A Woodland Christmas. Again, I am not sure if it is called A Woodland Christmas by Provo Craft, but the art should be recognizable to any who are familiar with my style. Let’s see if it debuts tonight or in the morning with the celebrated Cricut Imagine launch.

I have been working with Provo Craft on cartridges that are also available, or will become available, for the Cricut machine. I am aware of one that is out already called Savory by Provo Craft (known by my collections as Organic Fruitation). To learn more about it go here. I have seen it in Walmart as a Cricut Lite product. It is a cartridge that works with the original Cricut machine, and as I understand, it will also work with the new Cricut Imagine. I believe Provo Craft has made it possible for all cartridges to work with this new machine. So, if you already have Cricut cartridges you should be able to use them with the new product.

I will keep you updated as additional cartridges that I have designed for Provo Craft become available. There are two others that should be out within a few months and I will update you on those as I know more about their debut. They are Cricut cartridges, so you should be able to use them for either machine.

So, don’t forget to save the date and stay up late to be among the first to see this amazing new machine by Provo Craft and the cute little cartridges by yours truly!

Snail Mail is still making a trail!

It’s time to send the daughter off to college, which means it’s time to start sending letters and packages and postcards in the mail to her retro mailbox with little window and dial. She’s headed to a dormitory that was built in the late 1950’s, complete with a recessed boomerang ceiling and mosaic tiles of aqua, black and gray that trim the lobby of this blast from the past. It is the same dormitory that housed two of my aunts, her aunts, a few of the cousins of more recent years and now my own daughter along with her cousin, who will room just one flight of stairs above her.

The college is different from the one I attended, but the memories these girls will have while living in their dorm will be much like my own and all of the other women in our family who lived on this campus and called it home for a short but memorable time in their lives. The girls will gain friendships that will last a lifetime, and maybe, just maybe one day they will bring their own daughters back to this same campus to carry on the family tradition.

Since communication is so easy now with emails, Facebook, texting and even the old landline (my fave), it seems to me that the one form of communication that gets less attention these days is good ’ol fashion snail mail. Well, I’m determined not to let it be a thing of the past, so I hope to fill that little mailbox in the retro dorm with postcards every so often to give the girls a little something to hold onto, literally.

Here is the first card I sent to the girls. It speaks for itself, and it’s true of these cousins. They are both amazing girls with wonderful traits. I know I speak for the family, but I’m sure they all agree. We are proud of the girls and hope for the best in their next stage in life.

I have actually discovered that mail being sent to a college campus is truly s-n-a-i-l mail. What takes two or three days to go from coast to coast with the U.S. postal service, seams to change from snail mail to pony express when it hits a campus. I guess the name SnailMail is more fitting than I thought.

Remember, everyone likes to get something in the mail, even if it takes forever to arrive.

Rescue and Recovery

It’s time to bring back my little fire fighter and his rescue pal. This is a collection I started, put aside, and have now recovered due to the interest many of you have shared with me for your love of the little guy.

Right now the collection is just beginning to be fueled, but hopefully it will spark the interest of just the right folks and maybe one day we will be able to see The Little Rescue Crew manufactured into products from fabrics, to paper goods, to bedding for little guys, to pajamas, and even to match boxes. Just the thought of it kind of gets me fired up!

Christmas Season’s in the Sun

We had joy, we had fun, we had Christmas in the sun . . . it seems that every time I work on Christmas collections it’s just about the hottest, sunniest time of the year. The snowmen take it the hardest, but the other traditional icons all join in and help give summer Christmas projects a little holiday cheering on.

I have just completed a project with Woodland Christmas that will be out before the winter winds blow. I will keep you updated on when and where to search for it, and I recommend that you do open before Christmas. None of this “do not open ‘til Christmas” nonsense, or you won’t be able to take full advantage of it.

One of the main icons I was wanting to add to the collection is the little maiden’s beau. It just so happens that indeed she did find her beau in that winter wonderland and she’s wanting to show him off.

Here, along with a few additional icons, are some of the latest Woodland Christmas images added to the collection, ready and waiting for the winter chills to arrive.

The Secret Garden

Everybody has a secret and mine is that I don’t like gardening. I don’t like being outside. I don’t like activities out in nature. I don’t even like the bugs and bees, and especially not the spiders that come with anything outdoor related. I’m not a camper, or a hiker, or even a stroller in the world outside my protective walls . . . and I like it that way.

Here’s the thing though, I love all the beauty nature brings. I love the flowers and trees and foliage and even a few bugs. I love the unbelievable colors and textures and shapes in nature. So, my solution is to create my own little world or nature in my own little way.

Here is my version of the cut flowers I just picked outside to put in a vase in my studio. The beauty is they won’t wilt and die, but on the downside they don’t give off a nice aroma either. This is my one sure way of being able to preserve nature.

There is another little secret about this bouquet of flowers. I can’t share the details with you yet, but they are planning to bloom in one of my projects, that will hopefully be out soon. I will let you know when they start sprouting, and where you need to go to get your own fresh bouquet and become the avid gardener that I am. ;)

Show it to me!

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and the glittering dust has finally settled. I have been mentioning that I would be attending the annual Surtex Show in NYC last week. This is a show for artists like myself who find manufacturers and retail companies to create products together.

This was our fourth year in attendance and I believe if you scroll back though my blog you will see my booth displays over the last three shows. This year, once again we packed up the van and headed to the Big Apple. We are inevitably the last booth to set up and, yes, the last booth to take down.

Many of the artists at Surtex have figured out the convenient basics of displaying for this show, but, oh, not me. While I know they have insight into how to display for the market, I somehow have this little voice in my head constantly saying, “make it more difficult, make it more complex, make it drag out for an entire week.” And with my dear husband always supporting my decision to do it my way, once again my booth became, I think he called it, “the little boutique at Surtex.” Here are the photos of the booth.

The collections I chose to display this year are from right to left: Child’s Play with Kate & Nate, taking up the first three displays, pink, gold and green; A Woodland Christmas, in the corner and to the left of it; Wee Gather Together, in the middle on the back wall; and ModTod, on the left.

The remaining collection that I displayed is in the left corner and around to the left side of the booth. That collection is Woodland Tails.

I want to thank all of those who stopped by the booth. We have been going to this show enough now to see and enjoy friends who also attend each year. It’s always a fun reunion. We also have the privilege of meeting with companies we currently work with and potential clients we are fortunate enough to make acquaintances with.

There is one other group of people I always look forward to meeting. They are other artists who have the same interest in the show which I did five years ago. There is nothing more encouraging than meeting other artists. If it weren’t for the friendly artists I was able to meet before I exhibited at my first show I would likely not be attending to this day. One of the wonderful things about Surtex is the camaraderie that I and many of my friends feel while attending this show. Everyone is friendly, everyone is encouraging, and everyone is in the same boat, doing what they love most, creating.

Until next year, here is to my artist buddies and all of those who I was fortunate enough to visit with at the show this year. Best to you all. Shall we say—same time next year?

’Tis the Reason

It is that time of year again when the cold winds blow, and the icicles hang from the eves, and all of nature is covered with a beautiful blanket of white. Well, at least pretend those winds howling outside are from the winter blizzard and not the tornado or hurricane you are having where you live. We are actually having that weather as I type, and I wonder as the lights flicker if I’m going to still have electricity to finish this entry.

Oh, but if the lightning strikes and the candles are lit it will fill me with the happy thoughts of curling up by the fire, hot cocoa in hand, while preparing for the beauty of a winter wonderland. And that’s what I have been doing for the last few weeks.

As silly as it seems, it is the time of year to get into the Christmas spirit. Admittedly, it is a little hard to achieve this time of year when all I want to do is get out and get a little sun. But, when the joy of Christmas overflows into a magical, woodland setting, all I want to do is step into the scene and enjoy the enchanted forest.

Maybe this Woodland Christmas collection will also beckon you into its land of enchantment where birds sing and rabbits scamper and a squirrel becomes your favorite pet. It’s a little Disney, it’s a little Dutchy, and it’s a little dainty.

Once you step out of the forest you will see that it’s not all syrupy sweet. There are florals and stripes and snowflakes and trees to balance out the charming woodland creatures and their winter maiden. Have a look below and you’ll see what I mean.

This is the collection, at least the spring edition. But who knows, as the cold winds blow in another six months the maiden may happen upon her beau somewhere in that winter wonderland.

Just in case you needed another dose of sugar, I have also saturated these ornaments with the charming woodland creatures.

Gather around and pretend it’s autumn

It hardly feels like autumn outside as the trees are fully green and flowers are popping up everywhere. Yet, here in the studio I crank up the air conditioner, put on a sweater, and imagine autumn breezes twirling colorful leaves about me. So, if that’s what it takes to get in the mood for an autumn collection this time of year that’s okay, because I love just about everything there is about autumn.

I have always wanted to create a collection for this season that is a little bit harvest, a little bit thanksgiving, and a lot of little bitty. Therefore I give you Wee Gather Together.

It doesn’t matter what the season is; if I hear the tune from the hymn We Gather Together I am instantly drawn to my childhood and right back to the Thanksgiving table. I can’t think of a song that better fits the season for giving thanks, and I can’t think of a name that better fits this menagerie of little creature gathering for their harvest.

The complete collection is shown above and below are a few of my faves from the set.