Cheryl Pickett has been making spirits bright since she was 17. That's when she first began creating holiday décor by recycling the naturally stunning materials found just outside her home.
"I just looked around and thought ‘this would be interesting if I did this or that with it,'" said Cheryl.
From the West Coast of California to the far East Coast of Richmond Hill, where she has spent her last 11 years, Cheryl has lived all over the country, picking up the area's native plants, shells or fossils and saving them for a rainy crafting day. The memories of the places she once called home are forever preserved in the form of mantle pieces, Christmas ornaments, wreaths or some other one-of-a-kind knickknack – keeping them alive and well long after she and her husband Wilson left to settle into the low country land of coastal Georgia.
These days, Cheryl uses her talents to create unique holiday gifts for her friends and family – and sometimes, new WaterWays residents – using Richmond Hill's free market of goods including hydrangeas, pear tree fruit berries, magnolia leaves and the tiny blooming flower heads of agapanthus. "Making gifts for people – that's kind of where it all started," said Cheryl.
Most recently, Cheryl created an exclusive decorative series using items that she collected in WaterWays Township. During one of her excursions to the Ossabaw Island overlook at Redbird Creek – a "gem" for finding fascinating relics from Mother Nature – she transformed a tub of naturally stunning blue crab shells, moss, oysters, palm fronds, seeds and tree bark into an impressive array of coastal-inspired novelties in just a few hours.
Cheryl doesn't just use her creativity during the holidays; she also works year-round with Wilson to choose the interior colors, cabinetry and floors of all of the homes that C. Pickett Enterprises builds at WaterWays.
"Every time we build a house, if it falls around the holidays, I decorate the new house with something that I've found like grapevine wreaths or palm fronds," said Cheryl. "I specifically decorate for Christmas."
