December Newsletter!

We hope you are having a wonderful December and are excited to share our news with you!

December 29th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

December 30th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm.

January 14th: Alcohol Ink Class! $25.00, includes applicator, 3 bottles of alcohol ink, blending solution, and tags and tiles. 2:00-4:00pm

January 19th: Image Transfer Class! Create beautiful altered art using different techniques and mediums for transferring images onto surfaces. $25.00, mediums and materials provided but please bring a small image that you want to use. (works better for beginners to start with something small)

*Holiday Hours: Open until 8:00pm on Thursdays, open from 1-5 on Sunday the 18^th, open until 7:00pm on the 19^th – 23^rd (until 8:00 on that Thursday)

Check out our awesome coupon sale! Lots of great deals for Christmas, simply click here and print!

Now that I’ve got some of my Christmas shopping done, I’m excited about wrapping presents! Not excited enough to do all my brother’s for him (he usually asks me to wrap a ton gifts the day before Christmas J), but excited to get creative with my own. Love to use vintage items and simple things to wrap and decorate gifts and I really liked this blog post on One Charming Party about using simple things to wrap gifts. Click here to see their great ideas! If you don’t have any of those items at home, we have some great simple items at the shop to wrap with too. Baker’s twine, burlap, handmade tags, and paper ornaments make great package decorations!

If you are not as into the handmade gift wrap look, we also have some high quality elegant Christmas gift wrap from Madison Park Greetings and Wooster and Prince!

Happy gift wrapping, and Happy Holidays! We wish you the merriest of Christmases this year! Tweet

November Newsletter!

Cherry Blossom Paperie’s November Newsletter!

Thanksgiving is approaching and it reminds me of the many things I’m thankful for. Thankful that the fall weather has lasted this long and thankful for you, such encouraging and inspiring customers! Lots going on this month including the Holiday Preview on November 20^th. Although, if you’ve been in the store lately, you know that our holiday preview has already begun! 

November 11^th: Vintage Christmas Cards Class! Various techniques, vintage and vintage-inspired supplies provided! $15.00, 7:00-9:00pm

November 19^th: Demonstration on making paper ornaments at the library.

November 20^th: Holiday Preview from 1:00-5:00pm

November 29th: 4-5 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm. (Last Thursday of every month, except it’s Tuesday this month because the last Thursday is ThanksgivingJ).

November 30^th: 6-8 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm. Last Wednesday of every month.

                *We will be open until 8:00pm on the first four Thursdays of December.

Our DIY project this month is the paper tree cutouts featured in our front window. If you are too busy this holiday season to make your own, we also have some for sale in the shop. If you don't subscribe to our newsletter, email lacey@cherryblossompaper.com for the pattern. Cut out the shape (for larger ones enlarge at 125% on a copy machine). Fold sheets of cardstock (available in our store) in half lengthwise. Trace one tree shape onto each sheet of cardstock, aligning the fold line of the pattern with the folded edge of the cardstock. On an appropriate cutting surface, use a craft knife or very sharp small scissors to cut through both cardstock layers on the traced lines. Open up the tree shapes (at least 2) and layer one over the other. Sew the trees together down the center fold with thread and a needle or a sewing machine. Position the tree halves at right angles to each other to stand the trees upright.

 

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October Newsletter!

I’m kind of obsessed with pumpkins. It’s pretty bad, I may or may not have had a nickname in college related to pumpkins because of it. So I’m very excited that October is here! Pumpkin Spice lattes are my favorite and I just read about a recipe where you mix pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream, and milk in a blender for a pumpkin pie milkshake. Pretty excited to try that one. Hope you enjoyed the paper pumpkin DIY from last month and we’ve got another pumpkin themed one for you this month. We also have lots of great news to share with you!

October: “It’s The Great Pumpkin” Sale! Prizes or discounts each time you checkout for the month of October!

October 20^th: Bottle Snowmen Class! $20.00, all materials provided. 7:00-9:00pm

October 27^th: 4-7 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm. Last Thursday of every month.

November 11^th: Vintage Christmas Cards Class! Various techniques, vintage and vintage-inspired supplies provided! $15.00, 7:00-9:00pm

This Halloween DIY comes from the “Dear Lizzy” blog. Basically, it’s jars painted to look like pumpkins and other Halloween themes. But they look darling lit up with candles in them! It could be a fun kid’s project where you tape off the face and let them go wild with the paint, or an easy one for you if you turn them over and spray paint them. Get creative by adding bat, star, and letter stickers that you paint over and then peel off when it’s dry. Be careful not to get any paint inside the jar. I used acrylic paint which will eventually scratch off, so if you want a more permanent decoration you might want to spray a sealer over it to keep it from scratching off so easily. Click here for Lizzy’s instructions. Here is a photo of mine:

Hope you have a wonderful October filled with pumpkins and fun!

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Vintage Circus Inspired :)

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September Newsletter!

My absolute favorite time of year is finally here! The weather, the colors, hot apple cider and so much more.  So much going on here at the Paperie too! We had a great Corrugated Collage Class on Sept. 15^th. Thanks so much to all of the ladies that participated! You are all amazing artists. Here is what’s coming up:

October: Watch for our pumpkin promotion with great savings and prizes throughout the month of October!

October 20^th: Bottle Snowmen Class! $20.00, all materials provided. 7:00-9:00pm

October 27^th: 4-7 year old Children’s Art Class! $7.50, all materials provided. 4:30-5:30pm. Last Thursday of every month.

We also have a couple of people interested in having the alcohol ink class again. Please let me know if you are interested, it would be on a Saturday afternoon.

Another thing to love about this time of year is all the cute and crafty decorations. Here is a little DIY for some fall pumpkins. I cut eight 4 in. circles for the smaller pumpkin and eight 6 in. circles for the larger one from yellow and orange papers we sell here at the shop. I trimmed off the bottom edge of the circles to make it flat enough to stand. Then folded the papers in half and glued them to each other. I trimmed the edges to make sure they all matched. Next I used “Terra Cotta” Ranger ink to ink the edges. Then cut out some 2 and ½ and 3 in. flower shapes using the cricut from green paper and glued them on top of each pumpkin. I cut thin strips of the green paper and curled them around a pencil. Finally, I took a little raffia ribbon, unrolled it, and twisted it together in the shape I wanted, gluing it on the green flower shape with the curls in between. Simple, but sweet. J

We hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as we are and wish you many fall blessings!

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End Table

Happy with how this is looking so far :) Just need to add the feet glides and polyurethane.Tweet

Fuchsia and Ochre

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been super into ochre this year. I've never really been a huge fan of yellow as a main color, but definitely changing my mind. Ochre is such a versatile color, and looks good with so many things. Ochres, grays, and whites make a nice combo. Ochres and teals are great. But recently I've fallen in love with ochre and fuchsia. Such a warm and bright combo.

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Love this color palette

If I had my wedding to do over again, it would probably be in this color palette from Ruffled blog with maybe a few more olive greens thrown in. Absolutely love it! Click here to view.Tweet

It's official, the blog name has changed

So, because the blog is currently more about the store and less about crazy random thoughts I'm having, I decided to officially change the name. Being insanely busy this year with opening my own business has not left a lot of time for blogging, but I will continue to post the shop's newsletter here and hopefully eventually get more time to blog about beautiful things, DIY projects, life operating a store, etc., along with the newsletter. Thanks for checking out our blog!Tweet

August Newsletter

Cherry Blossom   Paperie’s August Newsletter!

Wow, is it August already?  Summer is just flying by! Lots of great things happening here at Cherry Blossom Paperie!

August: Children’s Art Classes ages 4-7, every Wednesday from 4:30-5:30pm during August!

August 25^th: Alcohol Ink Class from 7:00-9:00pm! Experimenting with different techniques on tags, tiles, glass, or metal (can be used on most shiny surfaces) $25.00 (Includes applicator, 3 bottles of alcohol ink, blending solution, and tags and tiles)

September 15^th: Corrugated Collage Class/Workshop from 7:00-9:00pm! Using cardboard and found objects, repurposing them to create signs, cards, artwork, and/or scrapbook layouts.  $15.00 (All kinds of materials provided, but if you have objects you would like to use, feel free to bring them too!)

If you are familiar with a) the internet and b)handmade items, then you’ve probably heard of/shopped at Etsy.com (You can check out our Etsy shop here). One thing I love about Etsy is their treasuries. A full page of items all relating to one theme. So, for our August newsletter, I’ve created a “Back to School” Treasury for you from items for sale at our shop.

Yep, even a few Halloween items thrown in there already! We hope that you’ve all had a wonderful summer and are getting ready to get back into the routines that this time of year brings. If you are looking to make a cute back to school/Fall accessory, I found this great DIY project on the blog of my favorite clothing store. Just click here.  It’s a very cute vintagey fabric flower that is similar to some of the ones we carry in our store. Enjoy!

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July Newsletter!

Cherry Blossom Paperie’s July Newsletter

It’s Summertime! Summer always seems to turn out to be much busier than I expect, but it’s a good kind of busy! Here is our schedule:

Now-July 31st: Celebration Sale! 20% off of wrapping paper and party supplies and 30% off of Landstrom’s Black Hills Gold!

Now-July 27^th: Children’s Art Classes every Wednesday 3:00-4:00pm, $10 per class includes supplies and materials

July 14^th: Altered Book Photo Frame Class 7:00-9:00pm, $27 includes materials

August 25^th: Rescheduled Alcohol Ink Class 7:00-9:00pm, $25 includes materials

Also, our upstairs is now open. We have some new items from some of our consigners and also more pieces that we have made/altered.

         

What in the world is Steampunk?  In the past couple of years I’ve been coming across some very interesting artwork and designs that seem to draw me in if for no other reason than curiosity. Whimsical hot air balloons and old gears and machines intertwined with Victorian lace and roses that is somehow futuristic and antique at the same time, and is definitely imaginative. It draws in the part of me that likes science-fiction and fantasy for its creativeness, and the part of me that likes Victorian design for its elaborate beauty. And while some of it is a little too weird for me J, I love Graphic 45’s “Steampunk Debutante” paper pack. And we have already made some fun things with it!

      

For more ideas on just about anything crafty, Lizzy Kartchner writes a great blog called “Dear Lizzy” and it’s our featured blog for this month. She also has a wonderful book out with Scrapbooking ideas that we are currently carrying in our shop. Check out her blog here: http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/search/label/scrapbooking/

Hope that you are having an awesome summer filled with fun and relaxation!

Don’t forget to “like” us on facebook or follow us on twitter @cbpaperie for more up-to-date info. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cherry-Blossom-Paperie/139823819406507

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June Newsletter!

Summer is here! (Well, almost anyway :-) We are excited for outdoor barbecues, tubing down the river, and sun, sun, sun! We are also excited to share our news with you, along with some other goodies! So here it goes:

June 23^rd: Alcohol Inks Class! $25.00 including 3 alcohol inks, blending solution, wooden-handle felt applicator, and tags and tiles. 7:00-9:00pm

July 14^th: Altered Book Photo Frame Class (back due to popular request)! $27.00 including vintage book, book binding glue, self-healing mat, craft knife, and 2 papers of your choice. 7:00-10:00pm

July: Children’s Art Classes? (If there is enough interest we will hold children’s art classes once a week during July, email me back if you are interested)

Some of you may have noticed the origami newspaper ties in the window this month for Father’s Day; here is a quick origami tie tutorial, great idea to decorate a handmade Father’s Day card with!

Start out with a square piece of paper. Fold back diagonal corners to the middle. Turn the paper over and fold the top point down about ¼ of the way.  Move up a little from the last fold and fold it back up. Fold the top half of the tip back behind the tie and turn it over. Fold each side back to the middle again. Turn it back over to see your tie!

If any of you are like me and love design magazines, here is a link to a free e-zine called Rue http://www.ruemag.com/.  Be prepared for wonderful ideas and gorgeous photos to inspire you! 

Hope you all are getting prepared for an awesome summer, full of fun!

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May Cherry Blossom Paperie Newsletter!

April showers bring…May flowers! And who doesn’t like flowers? We are so excited to share a flower project with you this month, along with guest writing from one of our crafter/artists, and of course our schedule of events.

May and June Schedule:

May 10^th: Embossing Technique Altered Art Clipboard Class! 7:00-9:00pm $25.00 (includes clipboard, 2 tags, one bottle of embossing powder, and 2 papers)

May 21^st: May Crop Party! 3:00-6:00pm Free! Bring your own project to work on and use our tools (cricut, vagabond, cinch, big bite, paper trimmers, heat tool, etc.)

June 18^th: June Crop Party!

June 23^rd: Alcohol Ink Class! 7:00-9:00pm $25.00 (includes 3 bottles of alcohol ink, tiles, and tags)

We have really enjoyed carrying Abby Charlton and Lydia Hol’s fun vintage-inspired fabric flower accessories in our store.  It’s like Christmas every time we get a package from them! We were so excited when Abby agreed to share a little bit about their beginnings…

“It all started in the fall of 2010 when my friend Lydia and I had our very first craft day and created our first hand-made flower using fabric. From that point on, we were completely addicted! We decided to try to give as many homemade Christmas gifts as we could, and so we continued to get together throughout the fall and craft while our children played together and had a blast. Once our gifts were made we didn't really want to stop, so it was then we decided to start a little business named "Holly Bloom" and had our first open house with all our handcrafted goods. We sold pillows, hair flowers, coat pins, scarves, purses, rings, and pretty much anything we could come up with. We do use some new fabrics and materials, but nothing beats finding that special vintage fabric.

After our open house we started our Etsy store (product will be added later in May) and are really excited to see how this year goes. We also love sending our items to Cherry Blossom Paperie! We're so thankful for the opportunity to continue to be creative and hope you enjoy our little goodies and that they inspire you to be creative as well!”

And now for a simple flower project you can try at home. Perfect if you have a few leftover Meri Meri cupcake liners!

Cupcake Liner Flowers:

Take around 4 cupcake liners (alternating coordinating designs/colors works best), put them all together and fold them in half

Then, fold them in half again and stitch across the bottom

 Unfold and cut random slits around the edges for petals, then fluff out and slightly crinkle up the petals

Finally add a button and/or embellishment for the center!

 

Congratulations to all graduates and belated Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you have time to go out and enjoy all the spring flowers!

P.S. You can also find us on facebook under Cherry Blossom Paperie or follow us on twitter at CBPaperie!

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Easter Walk

Wow, what a gorgeous day. So my sister and I went on a walk in the hills behind my mom's house after our huge (and delicious) Easter dinner. I was on the hunt for wild pasque flowers. Not every year, but occasionally we will see some in the hills behind my mom's house. They look like this:

I think that they are my favorite wildflower. So soft and delicate, often hidden, and such a short bloom---makes it so special to see them. So, we went on our walk and this is what we saw:

Along with a much fresher carcass of a deer and a dead cat. Not really the experience I was going for. Kind of a lot of dead things instead of the whole celebrating new life with tiny beautiful flowers blooming for the first time. But the day was saved. When I got home the first of my crocuses were blooming :)

Happy Easter everyone! Hope your day was filled with new life!

"Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4Tweet

April Newsletter

Sorry if this is a little redundant to those of you that read the blog, get the newsletter, and have liked us on facebook!

Welcome to Cherry Blossom Paperie’s April Newsletter!

Spring is finally here! I’m spending as much time outside as possible, can’t wait to get the chance to take photos of baby animals and all the exciting changes that spring always brings. I’m also looking forward to the wonderful Easter holiday. I hope you are too, because we have some great Easter project ideas! And lots of exciting things going on at the shop! But first, thanks to everyone that made our Grand Opening such a wonderful day and for the great classes we’ve had. You guys are awesome! We really appreciate you and are inspired by your creativity.

Here is our calendar of events:

April 16^th: Free Crop Party! 3:00-6:00pm. Come use our tools and machines and be inspired by other paper crafters as you work on your project. There are still some spaces available. Also, if you’ve never seen Tim Holtz’s Vagabond die cutting and embossing machine in action, now is the perfect opportunity!

April 18^th: Mother’s Day and Graduation Sale begins!

May 10^th: Embossing Techniques Class! 7:00-9:00pm.We will make an altered art clipboard and tags using different kinds of embossing techniques. $25.00 (Includes a clipboard, 2 tags, one bottle of embossing powder, and 2 papers of your choice)

May 21^st: Free Crop Party! 3:00-6:00pm.

So, if you read my blog or Cherry Blossom Paperie’s facebook page, you already know that I’ve become pretty impressed with the Webster’s Pages company. I was so surprised that the sister of the main designer and owner was the person that emailed me back when I opened an account with them. It’s become pretty rare to see large companies have a small family-run feel. In reading their blog and dealing with them business-wise, I’ve seen nothing but absolute kindness. And I love their products, so it’s a win-win! They also have a great place on their website to post your own photos of projects you’ve created using their products. It’s an awesome place to go to be inspired or to inspire others. Check it out here. Here are a few of the Webster’s Pages products available in our store:

About those Easter ideas… I know I linked to Paper Crave last month, but they have some great ideas again this month! I love the Easter egg garland made out of paint chips! So, to see all the great ideas they’ve found, click here. Another idea I love is to use natural dyes for Easter eggs. You’d be surprised what a little vinegar and beet juice can do to an egg (or maybe I’m just discovering something you’ve known about for years!). Anyway, here are some natural dye recipes (boil eggs in dye with a teaspoon of vinegar):

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Color	Ingredients
Lavender	Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice Red Zinger Tea
Violet Blue	Violet Blossoms Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Hibiscus Tea Red Wine
Blue	Canned Blueberries Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled) Purple Grape Juice
Green	Spinach Leaves (boiled) Liquid Chlorophyll
Greenish Yellow	Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled)
Yellow	Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled) Carrot Tops (boiled) Celery Seed (boiled) Ground Cumin (boiled) Ground Turmeric (boiled) Chamomile Tea Green Tea
Golden Brown	Dill Seeds
Brown	Strong Coffee Instant Coffee Black Walnut Shells (boiled) Black Tea
Orange	Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) Cooked Carrots Chili Powder Paprika
Pink	Beets Cranberries or Juice Raspberries Red Grape Juice Juice from Pickled Beets
Red	Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Canned Cherries with Juice Pomegranate Juice Raspberries

Happy Easter!

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Trendsetter Papers

So this is kind of dorky (scrapbooking about a blog), but I love the Trendsetter papers from Webster's Pages and needed to do a sample scrapbook page for a class we were having, so I decided to do a page about my blog. The cool thing is I found this awesome place on Webster's Pages website where you can blog about and share photos of projects you've made with Webster's Pages. So if you are a fan of Webster's Pages paper, sign up for InspireMe here.

I also made a little sign out of the scraps :)

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The Ordinary is Inspiring

Um, is it weird to be inspired by the back of a semi truck? Driving to work today, I was behind a semi with ochre colored boards bolted onto two stacked industrial gray trailers. The clean lines, color combo, and industrial look just worked together. Makes me want to paint a modern industrial piece with ochre and gray. There is also the end of work bench down in the basement of the shop that is pretty inspiring. I love the rustic orangey wood with the aqua colored fan.

So, not exactly sure how I will use these inspirations yet, but they are definitely getting filed away in my little brain for future use. :)Tweet

Waiting For Spring

I hear the cherry blossom trees are blooming in DC as I look out over our snow-covered hills. This time of year I’m always so ready for spring, seems like it never truly comes until May here. Lately I’ve been reminiscing about some great spring trips I’ve taken over the years. The most recent was two years ago when I took a trip to Phoenix to hang out with some girlfriends from college. I’ll admit, I was not that excited to go to Phoenix. Warm weather fine, but a dry desert? Isn’t spring all about green? I was sorely mistaken. The cacti and succulents were amazing in full bloom. The scenery was so beautiful that I find myself returning to those photos over and over again just to refresh my memories. And it was warm during the day, but not too hot, and cool in the evenings. Perfect spring weather. We had a great time.

Another spring trip I look back on often was our trip to Japan. Cherry blossoms were a little late blooming that year and we went during the perfect time without even trying. In the Tokyo parks the boughs were heavy laden with blossoms, pink petals already covering the ground. I’m praying that the cherry blossoms bring some sort of small sweetness this year to a country racked with pain.

I love it when beauty bursts into our broken lives and takes our breath away. I just need a little help being patient in between times. 

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March Newsletter!

Welcome to Cherry Blossom Paperie’s March Newsletter!

Spring is coming! And we’re mad (as in crazy) as a March hare about it! Wow, so much exciting news to share. We will be hosting our first class this month along with our Grand Opening! The first class will be on March 24^th and we are super excited about it. We will be creating an altered book art photo frame! And as for our Grand Opening, we have more new products in and a month of business under our belt and are ready to celebrate! We are going to be having some awesome sales, drawings, and lots of fun on March 26^th! We have some great things planned for April too! Check out our calendar of events:

March 18^th: Ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:00am

March 24^th: First class! Altered book art photo frame, 7-9pm (Reply to this email, call 402-376-1808, or stop in for more info and to sign up!)

March 26: GRAND OPENING! Lots of great sales and fun!

April 4^th: Intro to Scrapbooking class, 7-8pm

April 16^th: Paper Craft/Crop Party! 3-5pm

We still have the scrapbook/paper craft survey up on our website. If you haven’t told us what types of products and classes you would like to see, please click on this link.

Our featured blog post for this month is Paper Crave’s “St. Patrick’s Day Printables.” We have chosen to feature this post because it has some great DIY St. Patrick’s Day ideas along with links to actually print out the designs for them. The coasters, goodie bag toppers, and mini card printables are all free, the JHill Design print costs a dollar. Click here to view.

We hope you have a very fun St. Patrick’s Day and are excited for Spring!

Tip: We will be having an extra savings on March 26^th for those who like us on facebook J.

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CB Paperie's February Newsletter

Thought I'd share our February newsletter that we sent out last week...

Welcome to Cherry Blossom Paperie’s Newsletter! We hope you enjoyed visiting our store. It is our goal to inspire encouragement and creativity in others. Our newsletter will be about DIY projects, our favorite blogs, information from our artists and crafters, and anything we find inspiring! We will try to keep it short and sweet, because if you are like me, you don’t have as much time to read and browse as you would like.

A little business to take care of first: If you are a scrapbooker or paper crafter, please take some of that precious time to complete our short survey. To complete the survey, just click here. There are so many wonderful things you can do with paper, stamps, and embellishments and we really want to carry the products that you need the most.

Speaking of wonderful things you can do with paper and embellishments, take a look at our featured blog for this month: Lillybean Paperie. We have chosen her “Bake, Pray, Create” post because it’s February and this is one of our favorite blogs. I was so excited to see that the paper and many of the embellishments she used to create her tags are from Making Memories “Je t’Adore” Collection that we are currently carrying in our store. Hope you enjoy! Click here.

                                 

We hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day full of encouragement and love!

Please feel free to share our ideas and forward our newsletters to others who might be interested!

To sign up for our newsletter, email lacey@cherryblossompaper.com or visit our store. Thanks!

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I'm not a risk-taker. I like the surest, safest option. Decisions are long and tedious for me, weighing every possible outcome because I'm afraid of regrets. But I'm beginning to understand that the biggest risks we take in life have the best possible outcomes. And the few I've been willing to take so far have been defining moments in my life.
The time spent at an expensive college that was one of the best times of my life. My marriage to the most wonderful man I've ever met. Time spent living in China, the country that has forever taken my heart. My commitment to God, which is by far the biggest and best risk, the source of all my other risks. And now I embark on another one, that somehow feels far scarier than the rest. Once in high school, my best friend convinced me to jump off of a damn (definitely the riskiest thing I had ever done at that point). This is like a very prolonged recap of the half an hour she took to convince me leading up to the jump.
Sometimes we just need to be willing to take a risk in spite of fear. And let me tell you, I know a lot about fear. The fear is still there, climaxing to sheer panic at times, but I'm pressing forward. One of my favorite quotes is from Anais Nin: "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." We have good reason not to want to leave the safe, warm, and comfortable. But there comes a time when to remain where we are is stifling and painful. Sometimes we have to step out there and at least try to blossom. To open ourselves up to failure and regrets, for the possibility of the beauty of our dreams. And sometimes beyond our dreams. Just sometimes taking a risk leads to beyond our imagination and affects others in a way we never dreamed. 
So research/contemplate your dream thoroughly. Test your heart, really look inside and see if this is where your heart is at and if this is the right timing. Be ready for hard work and some of the most difficult times of your life. But if your still willing to take the risk after all that, then just begin the process already!
Today I got the keys to the building where I will be opening a retail store. The process so far has been scary, and I have a feeling its about to get even scarier, but so far I've learned and grown more than I ever imagined I would. And I think there is more where that came from.Tweet