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Archive for Community/Philanthropy

My Triple Locks of Love

Monday, January 4th, 2010

cherish-2009-haircut-72

It is strange how your hair becomes a part of your identity, especially if you are an artist.

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that I have always had long hair. Ever since I was a little girl, I had long ringlets and could braid my hair down to my waist.

I later learned about this non-profit called Locks of Love that collects donated hair to make wigs for children. At that point I was ready to get my hair cut for the first time in my life (except for the occasional trim of course). I recently cut my hair for the third time for this wonderful organization (yes, my hair grows really fast!) I sent in all three 17″ ponytails in hopes that they will transform a child’s life. It sure feels great to have short hair again and to give to this cherished organization at the same time!

locks-of-love-hairLocks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.

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Cherish’s Blog Hop, Give Away & Christmas Craft

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

*Painting for Life Christmas Card Give-Away*

This week we are giving away two new “Something to Cherish” Christmas cards, hot of the press to one of you! These are a special part of our 2009 Painting for Life Christmas card collection. They are blank inside and can be used as Christmas greeting cards or even an after-holiday thank you! For the chance to win, just leave a comment in this post with your e-mail address as well as a random fun fact about yourself. On November 24th, just in time to give thanks, we will randomly select a winner from the comments on the blog and a very special gift will be on its way.

*Special Craft Project*

Embroidered Name Christmas Gift Tag & Keepsake Ornament

Embroidered Name Christmas Gift Tag & Keepsake Ornament Embroidered Name Christmas Gift Tag & Keepsake Ornament

Download the PDF craft directions here -For your personal use only please.

*5 things that really inspire you*

  1. Relationships – family, friends, clients & students
  2. Color
  3. Exploring nature
  4. Traveling to new and old places
  5. Music

*5 things we might not know about you that you’d like to share*

  1. I am married to an awesome guy, Benjamin Hummel, who survived not one but TWO liver transplants when he was a teenager due to an auto immune disorder that he was born with. He is an artist, too. I am so lucky to have him in my life. You can see some of his work at www.Painting for Life.com.
  2. During the summer of 2008 I had my first rib removed (the one under my left clavicle) since it was damaged in a car accident (I was not at fault). The dislocated rib caused a huge clot in my left arm several hundred blot clots broke off and passed through my heart and into my lungs. I am EXCEPTIONALLY grateful to God that I am still alive and back in the studio making new art!
  3. I wake up almost every morning with a purring cat on my good shoulder. Her name is Lady Guinevere (Gwinny for short), my little sister named her after she was rescued as a kitten from the streets of Kansas.
  4. To read the last two items, visit the article that CraftForHealth.com just posted HERE.

*5 things going on in your creative world*

  1. I am learning Corel Painter for the 3rd time since its release. I am really excited about the watercolor brushes. Thinking about some hybrid art making possibilities.
  2. I will be exhibiting at CHA for the 3rd year in the License & Design section in Anaheim, CA. My lightbox it stacked with a ton of ideas and paintings for new watercolor embroidery art licensing collections.
  3. Also, as a part of CHA 2010 I am participating in the crafting around the world exhibit and will share art inspired by Sweden.
  4. Our studio is also working on some new digital art products for computers and the iPhone with a new licensing partner . . . stayed tuned for details.
  5. Oh, and did I mention that my husband and I are also excited to share our collection of Christmas cards? You can check those out and sign up for a friends only e-mail update list at www.PaintingForLife.com.

*What’s Next?*

Tomorrow be sure to check out the wonderful work of Joy Hall and feel free to visit and comment on each artist’s blog before the 24th – the more the merrier!

Terri Conrad Designs November 14th

Brenda Pinnick November 15th

Tori Higa November 16th

Joyce Shelton November 17th

Phyllis Dobbs November 18th

Cherish Flieder November 19th

Joy Hall November 20th

Barbara Johansen Newman November 21st

Sharyn Sowell November 22nd

Art Licensing Community on LinkedIn

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

For media inquiries contact:
Cherish Flieder
720-298-9069
PO Box 49
Golden, CO 80402
Press@SomethingToCherish.com
www.SomethingToCherish.com

Art Licensing Community on LinkedIn

PDF RELEASE

The Art of Licensing group on LinkedIn is a professional forum for members of the art licensing community come together and network.

The group was founded in July 2008 by designer and art licensor Cherish Flieder (www.SomethingToCherish.com) as a way to bring those in the business of art licensing together in a supportive and cooperative format.

It now has well over 700 members including licensors (artists, illustrators, designers, and licensing agents) and licensees (product manufacturers, producers, media members, and corporations).

Members find LinkedIn’s platform easy to navigate and a natural extension of their individual LinkedIn profiles. Members exchange helpful ideas, news items, resources, report on trade shows, trends, and share information on marketing, copyrighting and licensing processes.

For information on participating in this group, please visit: www.ArtOfLicensing.com

# # #

About LinkedIn:
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com) is a business-oriented social networking site of more than 35 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

About Cherish Flieder:
Cherish Flieder (www.SomethingToCherish.com) is not only a designer, but an artist in the truest sense of the word, that has skills to help any client with a wide array of graphic, illustrative, and marketing needs. Cherish has been sketching, painting, drawing, and creating little products ever since she was a small child.

Cherish pursues her passion for art and design at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado. Her design studio, (Cherished Solutions, llc, and brands Something to Cherish™ and Painting for Life™), works with publishers, manufacturers, and other niche businesses to achieve their goals in the marketplace by creating designs and illustrations and pairing them with thoughtful marketing objectives. Cherish works on the creation and production of conceptual and cohesive licensing collections, product development, books (especially children’s books), packaging, and other marketing materials.

VISIT: www.SomethingToCherish.com/Media for exclusive press access to collection images, bio and photo, digital press releases and more!

Visual Storytellers Studio Interview

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

I recently joined this new creative group of illustrators known as The Visual Storytellers Studio. It is wonderful format that features new illustrators work on a rotating basis. Founding member and illustrator, Lisa J. Michaels, was kind to grant me an interview to tell me more about this unique way to get children’s book illustrations in front of eager art buyers and lovers on the internet.

What is VSS?

A few years ago, I belonged to a illustrator group called “The Picture Bookie Showcase”. It was started by The “Picture Bookies”- a group of 6 talented individuals who had a blog where they critiqued each others illustration work. They decided that the world needed a place where children’s book illustrators could post their work for public viewing, with the hope of eventually attracting art directors, editors, etc. They began asking other talented illustrators to join them (by invitation only), and the group quickly grew to fifty! It ran for several years, with several of the members being “discovered” and fulfilling their dreams of publication.

Running a group of that size can be a daunting task, even if the site is designed extremely well. The Picture-Bookies eventually decided to close it down due to time constraints and personal success. This created (in my opinion) a huge void for the other 44 participating illustrators. Being part of such a prestigious group gave them something impressive to add to their credentials, as the Picture-Bookies had developed a reputation for excellence and had become well known. To be included was an honor, and it meant you were among the best the nation had to offer.

The “Visual Storytellers Studio” is basically modeled after the “Picture-Bookie Showcase” idea, but we have taken it a few steps further.

What is it’s purpose?

The main purpose of the VSS is to provide a national forum for talented children’s book illustrators to post their BEST work for public viewing. I believe in the “six degrees of separation”, the notion that the more viewers we have, the better our chances of being found by the editors and art directors who will put us to work, doing what we love most, illustrating!

It’s secondary purpose is to bring to the public…parents, teachers, and children, some of the finest illustrations that are being produced today. We can come right into their homes via their computer. They can enjoy new illustrations every week, as we are constantly posting. We also conduct “Illustrator Interviews” with working, published illustrators, so kids (and moms) can learn about their favorite illustrators and what makes them tick! (You can read the first interview on Patrick Loehr here)

I feel the need to mention that the site is free for viewing, and has none of those annoying pop-ups or advertisements that so many other sites have. We want to remain as professional as possible. Nobody’s getting paid for any of this.

Who is behind it?

In June of 2008, my local SCBWI critique group disbanded, and I was left with no one to critique my manuscripts or illustration work. There were several on-line groups, but they were all full, and the waiting list was just stupid! I had been dabbling in website designing, so I thought…Why not start my own group? I knew I was not the only person out there who needed a critique group-duh!

Being a member of the SCBWI definitely has its perks, but I wondered about those who weren’t as fortunate as I was, and couldn’t afford the yearly membership. Let’s face it, writers & illustrators just starting out are far from wealthy! So, I decided that my group would not discriminate and I began accepting non-SCBWI members as well as critters like me, who’d been around a while.

We went “live” on July 23rd, 2008 and ”The Yellow Brick Road” was born! We now have 15 members, many of whom are also SCBWI members and many who are published.  That’s how I met Jill Bergman. Jill needed a writers critique group, and she found my “call for critters” on the SCBWI message boards. Soon after bringing Jill into the my YBR group, she was inspired to start her own critique group (illustrators only) and asked me to join.

Jill’s blogsite, “Our Lil’ Group“ made me start thinking about the Picture Bookie Showcase again. I wondered how many illustrators had been forced to pay exorbitant fees to belong to one of the many on-line galleries that exist on the net. Many charge as much as $300+ per year to belong, only to find that it’s members get lost in a virtual sea of talented artists, on a site were there are hundreds to compete with. I thought, How can editors weed them out from the crowd? Is it worth that much to be lost in the shuffle? I noticed that those who go that route seldom change their listings, editors who do manage to find them-see the same samples over & over. That must be boring!

I knew that I had to do something different. I wanted my showcase back, but it would mean I’d have to do the work. Well, lazy I am not. So I proposed the idea of a virtual “gallery” to Jill’s wonderful group of illustrators, and I volunteered my web designing skills to make it happen. They had all given me something very valuable by letting me join them, so it was time to give back! I also thought of it as a way to pay it forward to the ”Picture-Bookies”, for all the years they had allowed me to be a part of something so great. I have invited many of them to join us, and it feels like coming home!

When did it start?

I started building the VSS site in January, 2008 after explaining to the members what I had in mind. Everyone was really excited, and it reminded me of how I felt when my invitation arrived to join “The Picture Bookies Showcase“. I could feel everyone’s hope come alive. The enthusiasm for the project was overwhelming!

I assembled bio’s, illustrations, photo’s, hyperlinks, etc. for each group member, then assemble a “Meet the Illustrator” page for each of the 10 “spotlight” artists. Once that was done, then I began to put together the VSS site, building it around the logo that we all collaborated on.

On February 4th, 2008, we went “live” with our grand opening for public viewing. Invitations to view the site were sent out to hundreds of e-mail addresses. The list was compiled from lists that each person in the group compiled. I asked them to send me e-mail addresses for all the teachers in all of their local elementary schools, publishers that they had submitted work to in the past, art directors that they had worked with, friends, family members, private students, local libraries, etc. Just anybody who might be interested in children’s book publishing. It took me hours to send them all out, but the hits keep coming!

What are your goals for the next 2 years?

That’s an easy one, growth. We want to be seen and respected. We want to build a great reputation, as a place where the publishing industry knows they can come to find great talent and fresh illustrations that haven’t been sitting parked on a site for the last 3 years! We would like to find ourselves in a position where illustrator inclusion on our site is sought after and coveted. We are very serious about what we do as illustrators. We all feel a great responsibility to produce the best work possible for the parents who buy our books and the children who enjoy them.

How can other illustrators and writers get involved and spread the word?

Illustrators who would like to be considered for a “Contributing Illustrator” spot, need to send me a request/introduction and the link to their website or blog at wscribbles [at] att.net. It will go before our Spotlight Members for the decision making process. We will be limiting the number of invited illustrators, but the exact number has not yet been determined.

We at the VSS would love for other professionals to spread the word! We hope that everyone will come by and check us out at www.vstorytellersstudio.blogspot.com. If they like what they see, we encourage them to pass it along.

Noah & Ellie – Kids that Inspire Me

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

My little brother and sister are amazing! They are about 20 years younger than me, and they are both very active in their community. So, I need to brag on them a bit and share with you their recent accomplishments.

My eight year old little sister, Ellie, is a mini-me. She LOVES to paint and draw for hours on end and is very creative. The last couple years, she has taken up acting and she is quite the ham! She participates in Christian Youth Theater (CYT) in Parker, Colorado. Their most recent production was the Sound of Music and Ellie was cast as Gretl, the youngest Von Trapp child. Of course, I am a little biased, but I tell you, that young lady stole the show!

And then there is Noah, who is 11 years old. Did you know that he was nominated for and WON this year’s 9New’s “9Kids Who Care” award and scholarship? This is amazing! Out of all the selfless and wonderful children out there making a lasting impact on the world, my kid brother is being recognized on TV for his own dedicated service! Noah is one of 9 kids selected for the honor this year! Noah volunteers for numerous organizations including the Denver Dumb Friends League, Boy Scouts of America, Parker Task Force and the Listen Foundation. This young man wants to make a difference!

Noah is a very active boy scout and has managed to successfully earn the ranks of Scout, Tenderfoot. 2nd Class, 1st Class and now Star in only 11 months. He plans to be a very young Eagle scout and is striving to attain that goal next year, while he is still 12 years old.

Ok, now my bragging would not be complete without sharing a few photos. Take a look at the slideshow below.

Channel 9 will host a 30 minute program on Saturday, March 7th at 6:30pm MST to feature all nine 9Kids Who Care 2009 winners.

You can view the 9News segment on Noah here and read more about Noah and Ellie at their blog, Flieder Post.

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