At The Picket Fence

When Your Call Feels Too Small

2012-02-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my call feels too small.

But…

“…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

Sometimes it seems as though others are serving Him in much bigger ways.

But…

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6:8

Sometimes I feel as though the way God has gifted me doesn’t measure up.

But…

“ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Sometimes I wonder if anyone notices the ways in which I am serving.

But…

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 6:1

Sometimes I question whether I am making any difference in the lives of others.

But…

“The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers…”

1 Corinthians 3:8-9

Sometimes I wonder if I am really doing what God desires of me.

But…

“Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:1-2

Sometimes I sense that God just wants me to stop.

Source

Be still

Be quiet

Be with him

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

Thank you so much for joining me for this Simply Sunday at the Fence,

Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 53!

2012-02-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy party people!

We feel like Giveaway headquarters around here which is just fine and dandy with us since we LOVE all of you, our friends, and are so excited when we can give you a chance to receive some fantastic prizes!

We have two Giveaways going on right now and there is still plenty of time to enter!

First up we have a

$50.00 gift card to Kirkland’s!!

Click here to enter to win

And there is still time to enter the Empire Patio Covers giveaway!

The winner will receive a
$100 credit towards the patio covers of their choosing
plus free shipping.
(U.S. and Canada residents only)

Now, we don’t know about you, but we are feeling some serious Spring Fever around the Fence these days! So we thought it would be fun to share with you some of the awesome Spring-y finds from a few of our amazingly talented Sponsors. We’ll be sharing even more next week!

From

We love this Gray Wool Hydrangea Pillow!

We are always amazed at the talent of Dawn from

Isn't this Lavender watercolor just beautiful?

From

Reclaimed Wood with Antique Cast Iron Hook

Ann from

has added some gorgeous new pieces to her collection including this beautiful

Cotton Linen Table Runner!

And from

These beautiful Numbered Cloth Dinner Napkins

We will have even more incredible items to share with you next week and we would love it if you would pay these talented folks a visit and check out all that they have to offer!

And...one last thing we want to share with you...Are you following us on

We sure hope so! BUT...We have a SPECIAL REQUEST of you, if you visit INSPIRATION FRIDAY and like to PIN the great projects you see here!

We are asking you to PRETTY PLEASE (with sugar on top) visit the ACTUAL PROJECT and PIN from there! Here's why...

ONE: If someone clicks on your pin and ends up here...they'll be disappointed, because the project they want information on won't be HERE, it will be on the original blog...we don't want to be accused of the old bait and switch...lol and they'll have to search for the original feature or IF link.
TWO: We want YOU...yes YOU, you fabulous, talented, creative and inspiring friends of Inspiration Friday to receive the credit, traffic and acoulades deserving of such amazing projects! We want people to find your lovely blogs through Pinterest and to see your amazing stuff!

SO PLEASE take that extra step to PIN from ORIGINAL SOURCES...it will make Pinterest a better place for all bloggers! Now, if you like what you see here At The Picket Fence that WE create, then by all means pin away from here...we won't mind! ;)

THANK YOU !!

Now, let’s get to our Features from last week’s party!

We love that our sweet friend Ange from The Blooming Hydrangea is taking a “go big or go home” approach with her beautiful master bedroom makeover. Check out how fantastic those coral colored nightstands (thrifty finds of course!) look against that amazing stenciled wall. You rock Ange!

Janel of Hating Martha…Imperfection at its best created these gorgeous Log Moss Gardens. She doesn’t actually hate Martha!

But she does want to keep things real and we definitely appreciate that!

Lisa from Simply…This, That and The Other created these adorable Felt Baby Booties. She is just so talented and you must pay her blog a visit to see more of her creativity!

Miss Kopy Kat shared an amazing tutorial with us on how to turn a Print into a Painting. We absolutely loved how she enhanced the frame as well as the print and made it all look like it belongs in an art gallery!

The sisters of Be Book Bound shared the recipe for these scrumptious Lemon Blueberry Scones.

We love sisters who blog together, especially when they share such yummy inspirations with us!

Now, you know we love having Inspiring stories linked up at our party and we so appreciated reading this one shared with us by Inspired by Family Magazine. It was part of a February Series entitled Loving Your Man When it Hurts and is an honest and real look at the roller coaster ride that is marriage.

We are sure you, like us, have been seeing these two gorgeous kitchens showing up at several features the last few weeks...and rightfully so!!

This first kitchen remodel is from Carmel of Our Fifth House...isn't it fabulous?!

and we LOVE Kelli at Eclectically Vintage's gorgeous new makeover as well! Aren't these wine jug fixtures amazing?!

Make sure you pop in and visit both of these amazing kitchens!

If you were featured today (or have been featured in the past) please grab the featured at button code located in on our Buttons Page found under our header!

Are you following At The Picket Fence on Facebook? Don't forget we feature many of your links during the week on our Facebook Page! If you've been featured there, grab a button as well! Thank you to everyone who shared so many fabulous posts with us last week! We appreciate you!

Now it's time to share with us what has inspired you this week!

Thank you so much for joining us for Inspiration Friday at the Fence,

When you are done linking up head over and party with the other Friday Party Friends:

Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it's time to link on up...here's the rules!

Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
Link Up any post you've written that has Inspired You and will Inspire Others-it can be a home improvement project, craft, recipe, story, devotional...if it inspires link it up!
Be sure to link back to your original post and not just your url (main blog address)
Please post our button (code on our Buttons Page found at top of blog) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! (MANDATORY to be featured At The Picket Fence) Tutorial on how to link up a button: Blogging 101
Visit another guest. Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We try to visit as many posts as we can but as Inspiration Friday grows sometimes we miss some and for that we apologize. It makes us feed good knowing others are visiting people as well! Thank you..it truly means a lot to us!

Are you following us on the new Linky Followers?

Join us by clicking on the “Follow Me” on our sidebar! Visit our Linky Followers introduction post and our Linky Followers Tutorial for more information!

$50 Kirkland's Giveaway!

2012-02-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

We were recently contacted by Kirkland’s asking us if we would like to review one of their gorgeous lamps…um…hello!! of course! We LOVE Kirkland’s!

I’ve been shopping at Kirkland’s for years because of their quality merchandise and reasonable prices. I recently learned that they have an online store!!

I was so excited to receive this gorgeous lamp! It’s the Seaside Table Lamp from their 2012 Collection.

Seriously could the color not be anymore perfect for my dining room?! And, let me tell ya ladies and gents, this is one HUGE lamp!

I love all of the beautiful details.

The more modern feel of the crackled glass and the silver metal finish add a nice contrast to my traditional furniture.

How do you think it looks in my dining room? And, can you tell by my quote I’m ready for spring?!

“No winter lasts forever…no spring skips it’s turn….” Hal Borland

Thanks Kirkland’s for adding a little brightness to my day!

I’m fortunate to have a Kirkland’s close by, but if you are not…well now you’re in luck! You can find most of their lovely items right in their online store, and a few items are available ONLY in their online store so really you get the best of both worlds by shopping from their website.

Here’s some other lamps that I just love from Kirkland’s!

And they have so many other amazing items, mirrors, accent furniture, seasonal decor!

I think you’ll find that you love Kirkland’s just as much as we do! So how about a chance to win a

$50.00 gift card to Kirkland’s!!

Here’s the details and good luck!!

GIVEAWAY OPEN UNTIL WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY, 29TH.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT INSPIRATION FRIDAY.

Giveaway open to continental U.S. only!

If you have any questions regarding this giveaway, here are Kirkland’s official rules.

Here’s how to enter:

Visit Kirkland’s Website and leave a comment telling us what you might spend your $50 credit on if you win! (MANDATORY ENTRY)
Follow us on Linky Followers or by Email or RSS Subscription, leave a new comment letting us know you are following At The Picket Fence in one of these ways. (Optional Entry)
Follow us on our Facebook Page and let us know you do by leaving a new comment. (Optional Entry)
Facebook or Twitter about our giveaway with a link back to our blog, twitter account or facebook page and leave a new comment letting us know how you are sharing the giveaway. (Optional Entry)

See you tomorrow for Inspiration Friday!!

*We received free merchandise to review in exchange for this post, but all thoughts and comments are our own. Please see our Disclosure Policy.

It’s Somebody’s Birthday…Happy Birthday Vanessa!

2012-02-22T09:49:00.001-08:00

From then….

To now…

We've come a long way together!

Here’s to many more years being sisters!

Happy ~~36th~~...er um 20th Birthday Sweet Sister!

I’ve loved you longest, I love you more than you’ll ever know, I’ll love you always….

Be sure to come back this afternoon to join us for a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!!!

Work Lights Turned Gallery Lighting

2012-02-21T13:00:00.005-08:00

While most kids his age have had their rooms redecorated several times, my sweet boy is so resistant to change that he has many of the same decorative elements in his room that he had as a baby!

But, after hearing some of Mom's ideas for freshening things up a bit, he finally agreed to let me do a mini-makeover to his room in a "slow and steady wins the race" kind of way.

My 8 (almost 9...boo...hoo) year old is seriously obsessed with all things electronic and mechanical! So much so that he uses his own allowance to buy old electronics at thrift stores and garage sales just so he can take them apart and study how they work. You should see our garage! At any given time you will find broken cameras, phones, fax machines, CD players, you name it, strewn all over the floor.

This gave me a good place to start when it came to adding more of his "big kid" persona to his room.

My first step was to take photos of some of his broken electronics, edit them so they have a cool vintage-y tint and then had them blown up to 8x10.

They were then put in black frames I already had lying around.

Motherboards are actually pretty cool when you really look at them.

My son calls the big ones "Daddy"boards! Silly boy!

The other photo is of the inside of something....ummm...not quite sure what it used to be since it is kind of beyond recognition at this point. It looks neat though, doesn't it?

Once I had the photos framed and hung on the wall, I decided I wanted to create some cool way to really show them off.

Then a light bulb went off in my brain when I realized that I could use these clip-on work lights.

Get it...light bulb...clip lights...oh I just crack myself up!

I picked up 2 for around $5 each at Lowes.

And by simply flipping the clip around I was able to create a "hook" of sorts by which to hang the light on a nail in the wall. The clip is holding the cord which was then tucked down behind the frame.

I thought it would be even more fun to use colored bulbs!

Now, these are 25 watt bulbs and I wouldn't recommend going any higher than that.

*Work Lights get VERY hot if left on for too long!*

I would also never do this down any lower where a small child could touch them. My son knows to only leave them on briefly and it really is just to create a cool effect more than to add lighting to his room.

They really are more of a "for looks" element.

The only thing I didn't like about this was the cord hanging down along the wall.

So, I picked up 2 of these plastic cord covers which have a sticky backing to hold it in place.

I spray painted them a copper color so that it would look more like metal piping.

My son absolutely LOVES them! I got it all done while he was at school one day so that it would be a surprise when he came home. I think my "cool factor" went up a few notches!

I have a few more things I want to do in his room including painting that armoire and changing out the hardware. But this is a good start and considering that his eyes filled with tears when I took out the rug he has had since he was a baby, I think it might be next year before it is all done!

Oh, I just adore that boy!

Now, don't forget:

There is still time to enter the Empire Patio Covers giveaway!

The winner will receive a $100 credit towards the patio covers of their choosing plus free shipping.
(U.S. and Canada residents only)
So, head on over and enter to win this fantastic prize!

Thanks so much for joining me today at the Fence,

This post is partying here:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesday's Treasures
DIY By Design: Winter Blues Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesday
Chatty Chics: Wild Wednesday
It's Overflowing: Overflowing with Creativity
No Minimalist Here: Open House Party
Stuff and Nonsense: Friday's Unfolded
2805: Potpourri Friday
Redoux: Friday Link Up
You're Talking Too Much: Meet Me on Monday
DIY Show Off: DIY Project Parade

Old Shutter turned “Bow”tique!

2012-02-20T15:00:00.003-08:00

Ahhh….bows and little girls.

They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Peas and carrots.

Chocolate and strawberries.

Me and chocolate and strawberries.

Me and chocolate and strawberries and ice cream.

Me and chocolate and....

Ahem…I digress.

I vividly remember my heart beating faster when I put a bow on my daughter’s head for the first time. Granted they were the headband bows but still…every ounce of femininity in me was thrilled that I had this precious creature to dress up to my heart’s content.

Can’t you just tell how thrilled she was about it?

I loved finding just the right bows for each occasion and when she finally had enough hair to graduate from headband bows to the real deal, the doors of possibilities flung wide open!

And then, there came the day when there was even more hair!

Which of course meant, curly bows entered the picture.

Oh, the sweetness! My heart hurts looking at these pictures!

Her fine, whispy hair has been a challenge at times but at every turn,

those bows have come to the rescue!

But, those bows had started taking over!

And I was spending WAY too much time every morning digging through them to

find just the right one for that day.

So, a couple of weeks ago I asked for some Bow Storage Ideas on Facebook and there were some really creative responses! It got my mind racing with possibilities and also helped jog my memory, which frankly needs quite a bit of jogging to get going...like jogging around the block a few times.

I had completely forgotten about some old shutters I had stashed away and after digging one out and giving it a good cleaning, I got to work!

In my mind this falls into the

"way too easy and simple and kinda embarrassed to even be blogging about it" category!

So, all I did was scrounge up some ribbon (it needs to be a thick ribbon like this grosgrain) and weave it in and out of the slats of the shutter.

I hot glued each end onto the shutter to hold them in place...

...hung it on the wall...

...and clipped the bows onto the ribbon!

I was able to sort them by color which will definitely help our morning routine.

As my her collection grows I can always add more rows of ribbon or another shutter for that matter!

I decided to hang it behind the door in the kids' bathroom so that it was easy to access after combing my daughter's crazy bed head hair.

It doesn't get much more simple than that folks!

And the best part?
Why that it was FREE of course!

Thanks so much for joining me at the Fence today,

This post is partying here:
You're Talking Too Much: Meet Me Monday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesday's Treasures
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up
Embellishing Life: Craft Catwalk
Knick of Time Interiors: Knick of Time Tuesday
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Common Ground: Vintage Inspiration Friday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday
Redoux: Friday Link Up
DIY Show Off: DIY Project Parade
Ask Anna: Weekend Warrior Party

Bloom Where You're Planted…on this Simply Sunday

2012-02-19T06:10:00.000-08:00

A post from the past…..

See this little bean plant.

It may look like an ordinary bean plant to you. But it represents so much more.

See, this is my girl's bean plant. Germinated and planted from a dried out bean hanging out in a half open package of beans purchased a year ago from the grocery store. Who knows how long this little bean has been sitting around in a bag of other dried out beans waiting to be thrown into a pot of water, cooked and eaten. That's what this bean had been reduced to.

But my daughter had bigger aspirations for that bean. She picked that one special bean out of the many because SHE knew the real purpose for that bean; and in her tenacity she set about revealing what really lay deep inside the core of that little legume.

This is one of the many things I love about her, she doesn't know that you "can't" grow a plant from a dried out, withered up bean meant to be cooked and eaten. That even the freshest bean is not meant to grow in fall, outside of planting season. She laid that little bean between wet paper towels, and tended to it faithfully. Giving it sunlight and keeping it damp...and it sprouted!

Then she placed that little bean in a pot and stuck it here

in the kitchen windowsill. Where it was given sunlight, and water, and good soil. And would you know that bean plant GREW! It grew BIG! And even more amazing...it grew new BEANS!

It created new life! Didn't it know it was dried out?

Didn't it know it was October?

Didn't it know it was in a pot and not in the ground?

Didn't it know it was on a windowsill in a house?

Didn't it know that dad had knocked it over and damaged it's stalk?

Didn't it know it wasn't where it was supposed to be? Where it thought it should be? Didn't it know it wasn't in the perfect environment or the ideal situation? Didn't it know it had been hurt and broken? Didn't it know that things weren't "right"?

Or maybe it did.

And it was going to bloom anyway. Right where it was. In spite of it's circumstances. In spite of feeling dried out and useless. In spite of being in a temporary place and not really "home". In spite of having been broken and tied back into place.

See God has a purpose for the bean. It is supposed to grow and produce new beans. Produce fruit. That is it's purpose. And that is ours. To grow wherever we are planted. To germinate what God has put in us. To thrive in all circumstances. To persevere through the dry seasons, through the times when we feel we are just one of the masses and have nothing special or unique about us.

God said in scripture, "For I know the plans I have for you.... plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

God has a plan for you. He created you with a purpose. If he created even a little bean to fulfill it's purpose how much more does he care about YOU! No matter where you are or when you are in your life.

Have the faith of a child, that God will do as he promised. At the beginning of time, he created the bean and promised it would become a plant and produce fruit. He promised you, his special creation, will also produce fruit in your life, if you will just let him grow you where you are and when you are right now! Be a fruit bearer. Be like the bean plant..just doing what God purposed it to do....to grow beans.

Be like my daughter's bean plant.

Forget about your surroundings. Forget about how temporary it feels. Forget about the season not being right in your life. Forget about the people who tell you "you can't" "you shouldn't" "you are dried up" "you have nothing to give.”

Forget the people who have "broken" you... and bloom as God intended you to.

Right here. Right Now. Right where you are planted.

All my love to you,

from a fellow "bean plant" trying everyday to bloom where she's planted.

Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 52!

2012-02-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hey, hey party peeps!!

Anyone else having a hard time believing another week has already gone by? Time does fly when you are being as inspired as we are each week by all of you! Before we get to the par-tay, we have a couple of announcements to make.

First, we are thrilled to have Designs by Tahra joining us as our newest Sponsor!

Her jewelry creations are just gorgeous.

We’ll take 2 of everything please!

You just have to see more of the beautiful pieces for sale at Designs by Tahra!

We are also so excited to introduce you to our newest Friday Party Friend!

Have you met Karen, a.k.a. “Good Time Charlie” of the blog

If you have, then you already know how awesome this gal is! If you haven’t well, allow us to introduce you to her. She is funny and sweet and let’s not forget super talented.

She also regularly risks life and limb to go dumpster diving and has hilarious stories to go along with the treasures she finds!

As an official member of the DIY Club she has done some amazing projects:

Karen also hosts a Friday Linky Party!

And we hope you when you are done joining the fun here at the Fence, you will head on over and pay her a visit and link up your fabulous selves to her party too.

Tell her the gals at the Fence sent ya and we'll see you there!

Also, There is still time to enter this week's Empire Patio Covers giveaway!

The winner will receive a $100 credit towards the patio covers of their choosing plus free shipping.
(U.S. and Canada residents only)
So, head on over and enter to win this fantastic prize!

And...one last thing we want to share with you...Are you following us on

We sure hope so! BUT...We have a SPECIAL REQUEST of you, if you visit INSPIRATION FRIDAY and like to PIN the great projects you see here!

We are asking you to PRETTY PLEASE (with sugar on top) visit the ACTUAL PROJECT and PIN from there! Here's why...

ONE: If someone clicks on your pin and ends up here...they'll be disappointed, because the project they want information on won't be HERE, it will be on the original blog...we don't want to be accused of the old bait and switch...lol and they'll have to search for the original feature or IF link.

TWO: We want YOU...yes YOU, you fabulous, talented, creative and inspiring friends of Inspiration Friday to receive the credit, traffic and acoulades deserving of such amazing projects! We want people to find your lovely blogs through Pinterest and to see your amazing stuff!

SO PLEASE take that extra step to PIN from ORIGINAL SOURCES...it will make Pinterest a better place for all bloggers! Now, if you like what you see here At The Picket Fence that WE create, then by all means pin away from here...we won't mind! ;)

THANK YOU !!

Now, let’s get to our Features from last week’s party!

Jessica of Making the Home a Haven & Nurturing those that live there shared with us

a Dozen Fun Things to do with Kids! This blog is filled with wonderful ideas and encouragement for moms with young children as well as anyone desiring to turn their home into a haven.

We are just slightly crazy for this amazing Boy’s Room shared with us by Maple Leaves and Sycamore Trees! Check out that ceiling. It was made using Pallets! There are so many incredible details in this space that you simply must, MUST, go over and see the entire post.

And speaking of pallets…ummm...wait…what just happened…oh sorry! We were just completely distracted by these 2 ADORABLE children totally stealing the thunder from this darling little pallet table!

I mean, can you blame us? This project was shared with us by Brooke of Start at Home and even though the table was upstaged by those sweeties, we still think this is an amazing idea!

Our mouths started watering when we saw this gorgeous Herb and Gruyere Quiche from Allison at
Main St. Cuisine …she calls it “simple” we call it gorgeous and yummy!

We also loved how Dee Dee of ddzine created one-of-a-kind artwork in her living room when she framed the architectural blue prints of their home. The punch of color it adds is perfect for this already beautiful space!

And speaking of art, we adore the original owl artwork that Vikki from the Quirky Quail created for her new grandson! The colors are so cheerful and fun, perfect for a baby’s room! Welcome baby Oliver to the world, you have one creative Nanna!

And finally, we had to share this amazing kitchen makeover from Jody at Homey Home Design. Jody shared her kitchen reveal and then wrote a follow up post with all of the great tips! Just gorgeous!!

If you were featured today (or have been featured in the past) please grab the featured at button code located in on our Buttons Page found under our header!

Now it's time to share with us what has inspired you this week!

Thank you so much for joining us for Inspiration Friday at the Fence,

When you are done linking up head over and party with the other Friday Party Friends:

Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it's time to link on up...here's the rules!

Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
Link Up any post you've written that has Inspired You and will Inspire Others-it can be a home improvement project, craft, recipe, story, devotional...if it inspires link it up!
Be sure to link back to your original post and not just your url (main blog address)
Please post our button (code on our Buttons Page found at top of blog) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! (MANDATORY to be featured At The Picket Fence) Tutorial on how to link up a button: Blogging 101
Visit another guest. Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We try to visit as many posts as we can but as Inspiration Friday grows sometimes we miss some and for that we apologize. It makes us feed good knowing others are visiting people as well! Thank you..it truly means a lot to us!

Are you following us on the new Linky Followers?

Join us by clicking on the “Follow Me” on our sidebar! Visit our Linky Followers introduction post and our Linky Followers Tutorial for more information!

This Inspiration Friday Party is Sponsored By:

Where you can find an incredible assortment of Typewriter Key pendants, bracelets and much more!

Don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY!!

$100 Empire Patio Covers Giveaway!

2012-02-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

We are so excited about this awesome giveaway!
Because, let's face it. While we may all be dreaming of those lazy days of summer, the reality for most of us is that there are still a lot of cold, wet, windy days ahead.
While the wonderful folks of Empire Patio Covers can't control the weather, what they CAN do is provide you with the assurance that your outdoor furniture will be well protected until the time comes for it to break free and welcome us back with open arms. Hee hee...get it..."arms"...armchairs...oh we just crack ourselves up!
OK, let's get back to the giveaway shall we?!
This incredible online patio furniture covers store is filled with so many options for protecting your furniture from the elements.
With everything from Table and Chair Covers

to Fire Pit Covers

to Sofa Covers

and Ottoman Covers
They even have Waterproof Seat Covers for your car which makes traveling with your furry friends worry free. Dog not included! ;-)

In addition, they offer a great selection of Patio Cushion Storage options!

There are Umbrella Covers

Fountain Covers

BBQ Grill Covers

and even Log Rack Covers!

Empire Patio Covers is generously offering Picket Fence readers the chance to win $100 worth of the Patio Covers of their choosing PLUS free shipping (U.S. and Canada residents only)!

Here's how you can enter to win this awesome giveaway:
1. (Mandatory) Visit the Empire Patio Covers website, take a look around at their amazing products and leave us a comment telling us how you would spend the $100 prize. (1 entry) 2. (Optional) Twitter or Facebook about this Giveaway and leave a separate comment. (1 entry each) 3. (Optional) Follow the Picket Fence through Linky Followers and let us know by leaving a separate comment. (1 entry) 4. (Optional) Follow us at our Facebook Page and let us know you do/did by leaving a separate comment (1 entry)
Best of luck and thanks for joining the girls at the Fence today! Have you joined us at these places?

At The Picket Fence Valentine’s Day Recap…

2012-02-14T04:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine’s Day from the At The Picket Fence…we wish we could give each of you one of these…

but since we can’t share with you any real candy, we thought we’d share some “eye candy” instead! Here’s are recap of all things Valentine found around the picket fence this month!

Up first, Vanessa shared this sweet Heart Garland she made from clearance Christmas items!

And this wasn’t all! She fashioned a gorgeous Tear Drop Heart Wreath from repurposed Christmas garland, talk about a transformation!

During the 14 Days of Love Series from Cherished Bliss, Vanessa shared her Valentine’s Day Advent, perfect for counting down to V’Day with your kids!

Pottery Barn had nothing on Vanessa’s Pottery Barn Knock Off Chair Envelopes

The Dollar Tree came to the rescue once again, with this inexpensive but lovely Ring of Roses Wreath. Heather shares the full tutorial on how to make your own!

You can turn something as simple as candy into creative holiday decor, and Heather showed us how with these cute Valentine’s Day Topiaries.

Heather designed this easy, fun and funky Feather Boa Wreath to display on her Framed Chalkboard.

Heather shared her tutorial on how to make your own Three Tiered Tray and decorated it for Valentine’s Day!

We hope you’ve enjoyed spending this season of love with us and hopefully we inspired you to create some of your own Valentine’s Day Décor!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY DEAR FRIENDS!!
Join us tomorrow for a fabulous giveaway, you won’t want to miss it!

The evolution of a powder room…

2012-02-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

Source

It’s amazing how a room (is a bathroom considered a room?) can evolve over the course of living in a home. There’s always the room you inherit, which may be a blank slate, or in our case was NOT a blank slate. Nor our taste. at all.

Then, there’s the room you quickly fix up because you’ve just moved and you had to paint EVERY room in your entire house in one week including a magenta room, a navy blue room, a chartreuse green room, a hunter green room and a Sponge Bob bathroom. yes. I do not lie.

Then, when you have some free time and when you start to feel a little creative and confident in your interior design abilities and DIY skills you change it once again.

Actually the room, as it is now, is quite lovely.

About two years ago, I painted the oak vanity black.

I added a new oiled bronze faucet (LOVE Overstock for inexpensive faucets), and new oiled bronze hardware.

I removed the builder grade mirror and added a decorative mirror that I picked up at Home Goods.

This was also my first attempt at installing a light fixture on my own. Needless to say, I was quite pleased when it actually worked!

But, as many of you know I have recently undertook a major renovation in our home. This one has included a complete kitchen remodel and a complete dining room remodel. I have installed copious amounts of beadboard and wainscoting and have found I am now helplessly and hopelessly drawn to grays, and blues and crisp white. And the word tangerine is quietly creeping into my vocabulary

So, once again I am embarking on a powder room makeover. This one’s going to be a dramatic one, folks…okay so as dramatic as a powder room makeover can be.

The beadboard and paint started going up over the weekend (I SWEAR I never thought I’d be painting walls BACK to white! ) and some other exciting features are going to be incorporated into the design.

Here’s a peek at my Powder Room Makeover Pinterest Board for a hint at the direction I’m headed.

I’m working hard to get it done in the next week! I’ll be sharing the reveal and the products and ideas that I incorporated into the makeover. So stay tuned!

Join us tomorrow for a Valentine’s Day recap of projects from At The Picket Fence…see you then!

This post is partying with:

Common Ground: Vintage Inspiration Friday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday
2805: Potpourri Friday
Stuff and Nonsense: Friday Unfolded
Redoux: What Have You Redone

A Simple Love Song for a Simply Sunday

2012-02-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

My daughter has a special song for you today.
A TRUE love song!

Jesus Loves Me…and YOU!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Source

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12-13

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"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Luke 10:27

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"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:18-19

Source

"This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

1 John 4:9-11

Source

Thank you for joining me (and my daughter!) for this Simply Sunday at the Fence,

Valentine's Day Features!

2012-02-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Love is in the air!

And we thought we would help to spread it around a little by showing off some of our favorite Valentine's Day Features from the last few Inspiration Friday Parties.

There were so many we decided to divide them into categories!
So, are you ready to check out some incredible talent?

Let's get this love fest going!

Recipes

Raiding your kid's candy isn't the only way to satisfy a sweet tooth on Valentine's Day. Check out these incredible concoctions!

Don't go thinking that Sue from Munchkin Munchies would share with us just any old "box of chocolates". No sir-ee! This is actually a giant cookie!

We love this Cookie Bouquet from It's Overflowing! Perfect for giving to teachers or neighbors...or yourself...late at night...when everyone else is in bed. Just sayin'!

And how about this darling Cupid's Arrow Cupcake by Sweetology?!

These Love Potion Floats from Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats look delicious!

How about these Red Velvet cupcakes shared with us by Food, Folks and Fun. They were made using the recipe from the DC Cupcake Gals. You know they will be awesome!

How cute is this Heart Hot Chocolate and Snack Mix from Dixie Delights?!

Here is a recipe for Gluten Free Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes from Design, Dining and Diapers. Healthy, delicious and beautiful!

Decor
We think the 3-D effect of this Paper Heart Garland from Woven Home is just adorable!

We consider this Button Burlap Heart from Southern Lovely to be some pretty chic looking Valentine's Day decor!

This is one "love"ly Valentine's Day Mantel from Fox Hollow Cottage!

And, of course, Becca from Adventures in Decorating couldn't resist adding some love to her already gorgeous fireplace mantel!

Fancy Frugal Life's Valentine's Day Kid's Table with Pottery Barn Inspired Chair Backs is so darling that we are a tad bit jealous we wouldn't fit into those chairs!

This Love One Another Valentine Pillow from Trish at Uncommon Designs is fabulous!

and we couldn't leave Bonnie from Uncommon Designs out! We fell in LOVE with her Pottery Barn Knock-off LOVE sign

Wreaths
This Cupcake Wrapper Wreath from Alderberry Hill puts a fun twist on the traditional pink and red color combo!

This Rolled Paper Rosette Heart Wreath from Synergy In Me is simply beautiful with it's soft pinks and grays.

We love this fun and Funky Heart Door Hanger from Burton Avenue

How about this Wrapped Ribbon Wreath from I "Shir" Can Craft? So adorable!

Kim at Too Much Time on my Hands made this "Valentine's Wreath from a Bunch of Old Junk" (her words!). But there is nothing "junky" about how fantastic this is!

Fashion
Creative Passages created this beautiful Heart Necklace and she shares just how she did it!

Of course our dear friend Angelina of Ruby Jean just had to go and take it up a notch, or two, or three by creating these positively darling Valentine's Day knickers with matching hat!

These Valentine Rings from Pitter and Glink are a fun and easy way to add a dash of whimsy to your Valentine's Day ensemble!

This Heart Shirt from Southern Lovely is tu-tu cute!

Crafts
You won't believe what Kristin from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia used to make this Kissing Ball!

This Will Melt Your Heart {Box}from The... Late, Young Family is so sweet!

These are some gorgeous French Script Candles from Confessions of a Plate Addict.

And we love the simplicity of this Valentine Clothesline Art from Artsy Fartsy Mama

They are giving gifts in style with these Bath Fizzy Gift Boxes from Creating Home

Valentine's!
Of course it wouldn't actually be Valentine's Day without actual Valentine's, and boy they've come along way since we were kids!
We love these Valentine's Day Fortune Cookies from Sweet Anne and think they are the perfect alternative to the traditional card. She even includes a free printable so you can make these yourself!

These Glowstick Valentine's from Making It Feel Like Home would definitely be the hit of any classroom!

Here's another version from It's Overflowing!

Up, Up and Away Candy Airplane from Love, Laughter & Décor would be popular with boys and girls alike!

If your Valentine’s Day Project was featured today please grab a Featured At Inspiration Friday Button from our Buttons Page!
Thanks so much for joining us for this Love Fest at the Fence today!
This Post was brought to you by:
We hang out at all of these cool places! We’d love to see you there!

Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 51!

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome, welcome you fabulous party-goers you! We don't know about you, but we are seeing some pretty amazing things going on in blogland right now.
You motivate and inspire us every.single.day!Before we get to highlighting some of those incredible projects, we wanted to remind you of the tutorial Heather (her sister is pretty proud of her hard work on this by the way!) wrote about the new way to follow folks in this awesome blogging community.It will take you through step by step instructions on how to make the most of this wonderful new tool for staying connected with other bloggers.Click here to read more about Linky Followers.
AND, be sure to come back by on Saturday when we will have an entire post dedicated to featuring all of the fabulous Valentine's Day Crafts, Projects and Recipes which have been shared at our previous Inspiration Friday parties!

Now, let's get this party going!
Here are the features from last week.

Jan of Our Adventures in Southern Junkin' shared with us her incredible "Lightening Bugs in a Jar" fixture which we seriously covet. Yep, don't be surprised Jan if this goes missing from your porch. Just look for the 2 crazy sisters fighting over who gets to keep it!

Janel, of Hating Martha...Imperfection at its best, shared how she transformed her Ikea table into an awesome and unique piece. The mix of industrial with farmhouse is absolutely fantastic!
If you know us at all, you know we love a good party around here! When we saw the Publisher Clearing House Party hosted by Anna from Ask Anna Moseley, we both decided we wanted to be her “in real life” friends so we could attend all of the amazing parties she throws (and because she is pretty awesome too)! Seriously how hysterical and clever is this?!

Guests were asked to dress up like they imagined they’d look if someone showed up at the door with their winning check! This is Anna’s pastor and his wife…check out the babies “hanging” on her legs…what a riot!

Rusty and Redone created this one of a kind Topiary. We just love how much charm and character it has and that she went way out of the box in creating it!
We “warmed” right up this this yummy looking White Hot Chocolate shared with us by Hollie of The Seven Year Cottage! A perfect drink for a cold winter evening!

So how many of you have already admired this fabulous Faux Capiz Chandelier, from Kelli at A Happy Place Called Home, that’s a West Elm Knock Off? Yep she’s pretty amazing! Kelli possess such talent and tenacity and generously shares her step by step tutorial with, so you can make one for yourself.

Jamie from The Creative Imperative’s creativity shined through when she shared her Slipcovered Ruffle Purse Makeover. People, she slipcovered a purse!! How ingenious is that!? It turned out so adorable…we are wondering what Jamie plans on slipcovering next?!

and last we wanted to remind you about this fabulous opportunity to be a blessing to children who otherwise have not been shown much love in their lives. Susan from My Place To Yours brought to our attention a project full of love and hope and shares an easy way for YOU to show love to others during the Valentine’s season. Please take a moment to read our post or visit Hope Unlimited and if you decide to participate in this project we’d love you to grab the button below designed by Vicki of Curly Willow Collections.

The talented Vicki has made it even easier for you to join us by creating a FREE downloadable card that you can print off and personalize. Thank you Vicki!

And thank you to all of our features this week as well as to all of you who share your amazing ideas, projects and inspiration with us each and every week!

If you were featured today (or have been featured in the past) please grab the featured at button code located in on our Buttons Page found under our header!

Now it's time to share with us what has inspired you this week!

Thank you so much for joining us for Inspiration Friday at the Fence,

When you are done linking up head over and party with the other Friday Party Friends:

Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it's time to link on up...here's the rules!

Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
Link Up any post you've written that has Inspired You and will Inspire Others-it can be a home improvement project, craft, recipe, story, devotional...if it inspires link it up!
Be sure to link back to your original post (MANDATORY) and not just your url (main blog address)
Please post our button (code on our Buttons Page found at top of blog) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! Tutorial on how to link up a button: Blogging 101
Visit another guest. Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We try to visit as many posts as we can but as Inspiration Friday grows sometimes we miss some and for that we apologize. It makes us feed good knowing others are visiting people as well! Thank you..it truly means a lot to us!

Have you noticed that you can now REPLY to comments left on Blogger Blogs? Be sure to check “receive emails to replies” so you can see if we have replied to your comment!

Are you following us on the new Linky Followers?
Join us by clicking on the “Follow Me” on our sidebar! Visit our Linky Followers introduction post and our Linky Followers Tutorial for more information!

This Inspiration Friday Party is Sponsored By:

where you can find vintage repurposed and steampunk jewelry!

Make Your Own Tiered Tray Tutorial

2012-02-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I thought it was about time that I shared how I created my tiered tray that many of you asked about when I revealed my kitchen makeover all decked out for Christmas.

My main focus at that time was showing you how I made my Anthropologie Snow Globe Knock-offs.

But, now that it’s all dressed up for Valentine’s Day…

(Isn’t it sweet!? I love changing it out for the holidays and seasons.)

…I thought it was about time to give you this easy tutorial so y’all can make your own!

It should come as no surprise that several supplies for the tiered tray come from my trusty Dollar Tree…in fact the trays themselves are all from the Dollar Tree! Here’s a list of the supplies you’ll need:

DIY Tiered Tray Tutorial

Supplies:

1 pizza tray (Dollar Tree)
2 pie plates (Dollar Tree)
1 small cake pan (Dollar Tree)
2 wooden candlesticks (Michael’s or Hobby Lobby)
2 round wooden discs* (Hobby Lobby)
1 medium wooden finial (Lowes)
Valspar nickel metallic spray paint (or silver)
glue

Pin It

Directions:

Gather up your supplies.
Using pliers, remove the brass inserts inside the candleholders. This takes some effort but it will help the top of your candlesticks to lie flat when you glue them to the wooden disks.
Spray two light coats of silver or nickel paint over all pieces for tray, including top and bottoms of dollar tree trays. Use light coats to avoid drips.
Once wooden pieces are dry. Glue the two wooden disks to tops of candlesticks, with smaller size down and larger surface facing up. *Here’s what I would have done different. I would have used an additional wooden disk and glued it to the bottom of the lowest candlestick in the tier. This would have helped to stabilize the entire tray better. It’s still secure just so tall that it’s a little wobbly. I think this would have helped, so add this step if you would like.
Use a heavy object to weigh down disks to top of candlesticks for a good adhesion, until glue is dry.
Once wooden pieces are dry, attach them to the center of each tray, starting from largest tray to smallest (see pictures) Allow glue to dry overnight for best adhesion.
Glue pizza tray to top of of second pie plate by applying glue around rim of pie plate and centering pizza tray on top. Allow glue to dry.
Glue finial in center of top tray, allow glue to dry completely.
Paint entire tray with one more light coat of paint for uniform coating.
Decorate!

Did you see my Valentine’s Day mason jar “snow globes”?

I decided since it was still snowy out that it was perfectly acceptable to have some heart filled snow globes, don’t you agree?

I really love my tiered tray! For $12 I think it has a lot of impact!

Pin It

Soon it will be time for the Valentine’s Day decorations to come down…

Pin It

Can’t wait to see what I can come up with for St. Patrick’s Day!

Don’t forget to follow us at all of the fabulous places we like to hang out.

or JOIN US at the newest Follow Feature: LINKY FOLLOWERS!

Here’s our Linky Followers introduction post and our Linky Followers Tutorial if you want to learn more about this new feature!

See you tonight for Inspiration Friday!

This post is partying with:

Stuff and Nonsense: Fridays Unfolded
Common Ground: Vintage Inspiration Friday
2805: Potpourri Friday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday
Home Stories A to Z: Tutorials and Tips Party

Envelope Chair Backer and Giveaway Winner!

2012-02-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

It's time to announce the winner of the

$100 HomeGoods Giveaway!!

And the winner chosen by Random Generator is:

Heather of My Shabby Dream!

Congratulations Heather!

Please send us an email with your address and we will get your HomeGoods card in the mail to you.

And, thank you SO much to the rest of you who not only came over to enter the giveaway, but also left us such wonderfully sweet comments as we celebrated our 1 year Blogiversary. To say we were overwhelmed would be an understatement for sure!

And now for a short and sweet Valentine's Project!

I spotted some cute Valentine's Day towels in the $1 bins at Target a couple of weeks ago.

Is it just me or do those bins just call out to you?

I try to steer my cart away from them but the force of the bargain just pulls it back in!

It took me awhile to figure out what I was going to make with them and then I saw these cuties from

Pottery Barn Kids on Pinterest.

Now, if I had been willing to give an extra 10 minutes of my time and a little more energy, I probably could have recreated these more accurately. But, you know what? I didn't wanna!

So, this is my...

I'm-Lazy-It's-Kinda-Sorta-Not-Quite-Pottery-Barn-Envelope-Chair-Backer-Knock-Off!

Here's what you'll need to make these.

It's a lot, I know.

And this is going to be a really tough Tutorial so prepare yourself!

Turn your towel over so that the pattern you want showing is facing down.

Fold your towel a little more than half-way up.

Using "No Sew" or any other kind of liquid stitch, glue the edges in place.

Fold in each corner so that they meet in the middle and create a point which will be where your "envelope" opens. I warned you that this would be a challenging tutorial....stick with me folks!

Liquid "stitch" it in place.

I went back and added a little more glue to these corners just to secure it better.

Add a button for the cuteness factor!

Tie a fancy ribbon around it to distract anyone from realizing it's a dish towel.

And hang it on the back of your kid's chairs.

Oh look! Someone already has some mail!

I think it probably says,

"Dear Mommy, we know we look at you like you are crazy when we see you doing things like gluing a dish towel into the shape of a giant envelope. But, you know we love you anyway!

Love, Your Rascals"

Thanks so much for joining me today at the Fence,

or JOIN US at the newest Follow Feature: LINKY FOLLOWERS!

This post is partying here:
Chatty Chics: Wild Wednesday
No Minimalist Here: Open House Party
From My Front Porch to Yours: Treasure Hunt Thursday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday
Stuff and Nonsense: Friday's Unfolded
Common Ground: Vintage Inspiration Friday
Redoux: Friday Link Up

How To Use Linky Followers

2012-02-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Last week we introduced Linky Followers to our friends here At The Picket Fence. If you missed the post explaining the premise behind Linky Followers you can read our Linky Followers introduction post which will give you more details on the thought behind this new follower tool. As a quick recap, Brent (the owner of the popular Linky Tools) was asked to help create a product that mimics the concept of Google Friend Connect.

You might be asking why someone would need a replacement for GFC (Google Friend Connect). Google announced that as of March 1st, it would be deactivating the GFC widget off of all non blogspot (Blogger) blogs. This would be any blogs that are self hosted (you pay for it) Wordpress blogs, Wordpress.com blogs, Typepad blogs and many other smaller platforms that are out there. They also recently announced the close of Picnik (a free photo editing website that many of us use)

This has quite an uproar in the blogging community! Many blogs that have remained very loyal and happy with Blogger as a platform are now in the process of switching to Wordpress blogs. Why?

Well there are many reasons, and I won’t go into them in this post, but many believe that Google will eventually phase out GFC for their blogging platform as well. Google owns Blogger, in case you weren’t aware of that and if they believe that a program of theirs is not lucrative to the company as a whole, they will not keep it no matter how much we want them to (i.e. Picnik)

The next question become WHY would Google do this with the popularity of the product. Let me introduce you to Google+.

Google+ is Google’s latest and greatest social media idea. It was created to compete against Facebook. Google is transferring all of it’s products onto Google+. Picnik will be leaving us in April to be replaced with Google Photos, Chrome is on the scene and it has become very difficult to use Google products without using Chrome as your browser (this is because Internet Explorer is Chrome’s number one competition) In a nutshell Google wants you to use Google+ for all of your Google needs, and there is a very real possibility that Google Friend Connect will be absorbed into Google+.

So, what if you don’t want to learn or keep up with ANOTHER social media program like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest? Maybe you are wary of Google in general or have a non blogspot blog. That is where Linky Followers and other options come into play. Here’s a rundown of the following options and some pros and cons of each.

Part 1

Google Friend Connect

Positive

Well established and Familiar
Easy for those with a blogspot (Blogger) blog to use
Will place all blogs you follow on a dashboard and update new posts

Negative

Is going away for all non blogspot blogs (LARGEST ISSUE)
COULD go away for ALL blogs in the near future
No way to categorize blogs making it difficult if you follow hundreds of blogs to find your favorites

RSS or Email Subscriptions

Positive

Ease of use for reader
Readers are easy to access from smart phones, ipads, etc.

Negative

Potential to receive HUNDREDS of emails everyday into email if you follow lots of blogs, cluttering up inbox
Readers NEVER actually visit your blog page which effects statistical data regarding page views, etc. Often Sponsors and Advertisers do not take into consideration these followers in your stats because email and rss subscribers never see your sidebar sponsor spots, ads ,ad campaigns (like Blog Her etc.) unless you include them in a post. (BIG ISSUE FOR MONOTENIZED BLOGS)
There is no option to categorize the blogs you follow to keep track of them. You must scroll through hundreds of posts to find your favorites or those you check on everyday

Linky Followers

Positive

Widget has similar look and feel of GFC
Simple and easy way to follow not tied to any other major platform like Google or Facebook (they will never sell or use your data in anyway)
A concise way to see all of the blogs you follow, all of your follower and their blogs as well as keep track of blogs who do not use Linky Followers at all.
Blogs can be categorized! (Huge plus if you follow hundreds of blogs)
Blogs can be viewed directly in Linky Followers without ever leaving their site but will still record a page view on that blog helping their statistics
User can pull up Linky Followers directory and follow multiple blogs right from their with a click of the mouse

Negative

Blog posts must be manually updated to remain at the top of a followers blog reader (this is because it costs an exorbitant amount to set up a system to continually scan thousands of blogs every second and update a post automatically. Only platforms like Google and Facebook have the ability to do this as of now)
Must go to another site to see blogs you follow (like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc you must go to that site to see your account and to use it.) But once you are at Linky Followers you can stay right there to view all of the blogs you follow. (I will show you how to do this!)
You will have to start over again with followers (let’s face it we’ve all worked hard to build up our GFC followers and many will have no choice to start over and we might all have to at some point)

So, those are the pros and cons we see of the Follower Tools we have used. Now let me show you HOW to use Linky Followers so you have a better understanding of it.

Part 2

(are you still with me?? haha!)

First you will need to visit Linky Followers by going directly to the website or by clicking on the Follow Me option on our widget.

You will need to register a new account with Linky Followers. You will see this screen.

Then you will be asked to register your blog if you have one, if not you can check the do not have blog.

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email to your email address. Click on the link and it will return you to Linky Followers and you will need to sign in.

Once you have signed in successfully, you will see the following screen automatically. Below I have added arrows and text to explain what each area on the pop up welcome screen is for.

If you would like to grab your widget code right away to place on your blog, copy and paste the code in the box outlined in orange on your blog. If you do not know how to do this you can find instruction for placing code on your blog in our Blogging 101 Series.

Please grab the appropriate code for your particular blogging platform as noted on the screen shot. You can also change how many thumbnails appear in your widget right within the code. The default is 64 (ours is set to 100, you can set it to 1,000 if you’d like but it would be one BIG WIDGET!)

If you are not ready at this point to add your widget code to your blog, don’t worry you will see it again and it’s always available.

Once you are signed in successfully, we suggest you immediately add your thumbnail image, this is the image that will show up in people’s follower widget.

See the red arrows above, click on (edit) under the generic thumbnail image to add your personal image.

Below is the screen where you will add your own file from your computer.

Once you have chosen a file the file name will appear and then you will select (upload file).

Here is my thumbnail file uploaded into the photo editing option. Here you can crop your photo to see how it will appear, select Crop and Save when you are ready to finalize your photo.

Notice on the screen below, you can now see the generic photo has been replaced with my photo. If you choose not to upload a photo right away, a generic image will be used for your profile.

Below is a screen shot of Your Dashboard. Beside each arrow below I explain what the individual tabs represent.

First select (Manage Your Stuff). Here is where you will create your profile, set up your blog and preferences. You have two options. Manage Your Profile and Account and Manage Your Blogs. First we are going to manage our profile.

The screen below is where you manage your profile. On this screen you will create your thumbnail message (what people see if they hover over your thumbnail with their mouse), it will show your Full Name, Password, Groups you want to show on your Dashboard Scroller and your profile information.

You can create a profile message that will be seen by other users that can include hyperlinks, email address, etc. You can see above that we hyperlinked At The Picket Fence (which is why it appears in blue)

Once you have SAVED your settings in Manage Your Profile return to Manage Your Stuff and select MANAGE YOUR BLOGS. This is where you manage the blogs YOU own!

Each arrow below has text next to it describing what each function does in Manage Your Blogs.

Here you can see the widget codes available to you anytime you need them!

If you click on the EDIT button under Widgets for this blog (see above screen) You will open the options to customize your widget.

Below you can see the options you have to customize the widget (follower box) on your blog(s). See arrows and text below for detailed description of each option, including adding a featured follower, change order of thumbnail appearance, etc.…oh and look there’s your widget code again! yeah! Once you have customized your widget for your blog, select UPDATE.

Now click on the Edit blog or Update post by your blog name as seen in the screen shot below.

This will expand the area where you can manually update your most recent post, change the description of your blog that appears under you name in people’s readers and enter the direct url to the post you want to update. This is not necessary but the most recently updated posts show up at the top of people’s readers. Be sure to UPDATE when you are finished.

Now return to your Dashboard, where you will see this screen again. On your dashboard you will not only manage your stuff, but you can manage the blogs your follow, your followers, maintain a private blogroll of blogs that do not use Linky Followers. You will also notice a scrolling list of blogs you follow that you can click on.

But the most helpful tool on this page is the Blog Reader.

From your dashboard you will use the Blog Reader (it’s that big orange button) to access all blogs YOU follow. Let’s check out how this works. Click on Blog Reader and you will pull up a screen that looks like this. Below you will see a partial list of the blogs we have categorized as Favorites. You can also pull up your Everyday and General lists in here as well by selecting the GROUP you want to view.

I am using the lovely Alison at Stuff and Nonsense as an example. To see a blog in your reader select the View Blog option. As you can see below, once I select View Blog, Alison’s blog will appear below my grid. (This may open in a new tab on your browser occasionally)

But, I can’t see ALL of her blog. To do that I just need to hide the grid by clicking on the orange arrow….there she is! ;)

Once I am done reading the blog I have selected and leaving a lovely comment or browsing around, I can minimize the blog by selecting the arrow again and can move on to another blog, repeating the process.

I can view EVERY blog I follow right from Linky Followers AND it will register as a page view for them!

I can search for a specific blog I follow by entering their name in the search window, or scroll down through my list one at a time. Just be sure to click on CLEAR when you want to clear out a search and return to the full reader.

Now, let’s pay one last visit to the main page, where I want you to select the Linky Followers Blog Directory. See screen shot below.

This is a directory of ALL the blogs signed up with Linky Followers and it is growing by the day!

Below you can see a screen shot of ALL of the blogs that use Linky Follower (whether they have the widget added to their blogs yet or not) You can scroll down through the blogs and if you see one you want to follow just select FOLLOW ME. (At this time you can also add them into a specific category or move them around in categories at a later date.)

This will automatically add you as a follower to their blog in their thumbnail widget (if they have one) and it will add their blog to your blog reader. If you are already following a blog it will change the FOLLOW ME to FOLLOWING.

The Directory also has it’s own Blog Reader. See screen shot above. By selecting this you can view a blog you might like to follow within Linky Followers. If you like what you see than hit Follow Me…wait that rhymes doesn’t it? ;)

Most recently updated posts will always appear at the top of the directory! A great reason to keep your post updated in Linky Followers!

WOW! Are you still with me, has this cleared up some of your questions about Linky Followers? I sure hope so! So, is Linky Followers for you?

Well, only you can answer that question. Maybe you’ve already joined and were just waiting for information on how to use it. Maybe you joined in the middle of this tutorial so you could follow along. Maybe you are waiting to see if it’s right for you and your blog..that’s okay! We all need to make the best decisions for our own blogs, since they are an extension of ourselves.

Remember, this is just a TOOL to use as needed.

Some need a hammer and some might need a nail gun to do the job, pick the best tool for your needs!

I would suggest considering at least joining Linky Followers and adding your blog even if you haven’t decided on adding the widget to your blog page. This will allow people to find you and add your blog to their readers even if you choose not to use it to follow other blogs. That way if GFC does disappear someday, you will have an account already established in Linky Followers with followers in place.

Do you have anymore questions for me? Any thoughts (yikes I might have opened the floodgates with that. haha!), is your head spinning? or did this help? Let me know what you think!

Signing off for now..but I’ll keep track of the comments and reply here ASAP! Thanks as always for following us…At The Picket Fence.

Technorati Tags: Google,Linky Followers

Christmas Garland turned Valentine’s Wreath

2012-02-06T15:00:00.002-08:00

Now, let's just get one thing out in the open.

There are Crafters and then there are People Who Attempt Crafts.

I definitely fall in the latter category!

Nothing I do will ever be super involved or complex but what I can do is try to figure out how to stretch a dollar and get multiple uses out of an item.

So, when I was packing away my Christmas decorations and carefully wrapping up this berry garland I used on my banister, I thought about perfectly it would work with Valentine's Decor.

But....hmmmm...what do you do with garland?

Well, why not bend them into the shape of a heart?

Stack them together so they are a little bit fuller and then use floral wire to hold them in place.

And, how about instead of just one heart…

…you turn them into 3?

And create a Tear Drop Heart Wreath?!

That’s about as complex as I get folks!
It ain't rocket science but I think my Christmas Garland turned Tear Drop Wreath is pretty cute.
And the best part of all, it was free! I love me some free!

Now, while we are on the subject of Tear Drops and Valentine's Day, we wanted to make sure you knew about this amazing project:

We are so thrilled to be partnering with Susan of My Place to Yours and her wonderful ministry

Hope Unlimited for Children in the desire to bring smiles to the faces of young girls in Brazil through an amazing Valentine's Day Project.

And our friend Vicki at Curly Willow Collections has generously provide the most BEAUTIFUL card created just for this project that you can print for Free!!

Visit Vicki at her blog Vicki Designer Joyful Expressions to download a PDF file of this card!

So there is no excuse not to participate! You can print off this card and include your own personal note for a lovely young lady, hungry to see God's love THROUGH you!

We can only imagine their joy as they open their cards and feel the love coming through!

Please go HERE to read more about how you can be involved in this project.

Thank you so much for joining me today at the Fence,

Are you following us? We'd love you to get all of our updates!

or JOIN US at the newest Follow Feature: LINKY FOLLOWERS!

This post is partying here:
You're Talking Too Much: Meet Me Monday
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Chatty Chics: Wild Wednesday
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesday's Treasures
DIY By Design: Winter Blues Wednesday
Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesday

Simply Sunday...Sharing Hope through Showing Love

2012-02-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

We, like you LOVE all of the beautiful, sweet and fun Valentine's Day projects that are popping up everywhere!
We hope you've enjoyed our projects...and we have several more in store for you! But, we've been introduced to a Valentine's Day project that is far lovelier than any of these.

"Com amor"

"Você é uma menina linda!"

"Saiba que você é amada."

You might not know what these words mean, but they are words every young lady deserves to hear on Valentine's Day!
The lovely Susan, from My Place to Yours, shared with us an extra special Valentine's Day Project that touched our hearts and spoke to our souls! If you have met Susan, you know that she has a passion for an amazing ministry Hope Unlimited for Children, a ministry that brings Hope to children in Brazil, specifically young women who are living on the streets, many trying to survive by turning to prostitution.
Let me share some of her words with you:
As I worked this week, I thought about Valentines Day and my own growing up years. I suppose my earliest memory is of giving Valentines to my friends at school. The list of friends' names that the teacher sent home ... and addressing a card for everyone in the class. Decorating a shoe box with a slit in it to serve as a "mail box" for collecting the Valentines. You, too, perhaps?

Hearts and Cupid became favorite "early" Valentine themes ...And the conversation hearts were always fun! n my (now called) "tween" and early teen years, the "day of love" coincided with diary entries and puppy love crushes.

Eventually, pretty chocolates ...

and pretty flowers ... and dating entered the picture.

Dating ... that human courtship ritual filled with social activities and relational assessment. That critical time in young life when choices affect the future. When conscientious, caring parents pray their children have listened.

But what happens when there were no conscientious, caring parents? When a young girl is abused ... or prostituted ... by her parents? When she's taught that her only value is as a sexual object? How can she possibly understand what true love is?

via Hope Unlimited

That is the reality for most of the girls at Hope Unlimited for Children. The concept of dating and marriage, love and family, evoke feelings of confusion and guilt and fear. But their story doesn't have to end there ...

In Brazil, the Day of Love is in early Summer.

On that day, surrounded by godly women who love them, the girls at Hope Unlimited are taught about true love and purity and what it means to be of value as one of God's highest creations ... and loved by their Creator.

Valentines that come from people who took time to make a few extra Valentines for someone they don't know. People like you and me. It's a very small act that has a huge impact on the way young girls think of themselves ... and how they face the future.

Vanessa and I were so moved by Susan's post! We are going to be spending the next couple of weeks encouraging our friends and family to join us in providing a special "Day of Love" for these young women! We will be sharing our progress in the next few weeks. Would you please consider joining us? Here's how you can help this ministry!

via Hope Unlimited

If you'd like to join us in making Valentines for the girls of Hope, you can be certain you'll bring happy smiles and growing confidence into a young girl's life. It can be as simple as making a couple of extras when you write Valentines to your loved ones ... or you can make an "event" out of it and involve your Sunday School class, ladies Bible study group, mission group, civic organization, Girl Scout troop, sports team ... parents of daughters.

Send your Valentines marked "Valentine Project" to

Hope Unlimited for Children

P.O. Box 2707

Los Alamitos, CA 90720

All Valentines received between now and the end of April will be translated and shared at the 2012 Day of Love celebration.

Here are some answers to questions you might have:

* Most of the girls are in the 10-17 age range.

* All of the girls speak Brazilian Portuguese. (A few speak some English, and many of them are working hard on their English!) If someone wants to include a note, that's great; it will be translated. It's also okay to include a picture of yourself or your family, letting the girl know they're being thought of/prayed for by a friend. (They are very familiar with Americans who love them and very proud to display their Valentines!)

Here are a few phrases that might be useful:

Sua amiga (Your friend)

Com amor (With love)

Deus te abençoe. (God bless you.)

Você é uma menina linda! (You are a beautiful young lady!)

Saiba que você é amada. (Know that you are loved.)

To read more about the Valentine Project, you can visit Susan at My Place to Yours (where she will be happy to answer any questions you have) or at Hope Unlimited.

Won't you consider joining us and blessing these young ladies! Let's show them Christ's love...the best LOVE of all through our hands...Thank you for joining us on this Simply Sunday...

Updated to add: We thought it would be fun to share which readers of At The Picket Fence participated in this wonderful project! If you decide to make Valentine's cards for these young ladies whether on your own, as a family, or you coordinate a group, would you please send us photographs and a little blurb of what you did and we will included it in a follow up post? Let's show blogland what a great community we bloggers have with each other!

Also a BIG thank you to Vicki at Curly Willow Collections for creating this lovely button to help us promote this project!

You can get the code for your own button from our sidebar! Help us promote this worthwhile project!

Proving Pinterest Video Series…Walnuts fix scratches?

2012-02-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Huh? Don't believe me?
Well, take a look at this!

Just in case you don't believe that this really works and because it is hard to tell in the video, here are the Before and After photos from my little "Walnut Experiment"!

Awesome Possum!!

My hubby thought I had finally gone completely over the edge when he came home and I told him I wanted to show him how to fix scratches and then went and pulled out a walnut.

But he is now a believer too!

Please let me know if you try this for yourself!

*This "pin" was originally featured in Real Simple Magazine"*

You can see all of our previous and upcoming possibilities for our Proving Pinterest Series as well as see the original source of the pin by following our Proving Pinterest board and even better we’d love it if you’d follow all of our Pinterest boards!

Thanks so much for joining me today at the Fence for this edition of Proving Pinterest!

Are you following us? We'd love you to get all of our updates!

or JOIN US at the newest Follow Feature: LINKY FOLLOWERS!

Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 50!

2012-02-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Hey there party people!

Can this really be the 50th Inspiration Friday???
That doesn’t seem possible!

But, we suppose that since we just celebrated our 1 year Blogiversary that it shouldn’t come as a surprise. And speaking of our Blogiversary…did you know we have an incredible Giveaway going on right now? It’s not too late to enter to win this:

$100 Gift Card

HomeGoods (also good at TJ Maxx!)

AND an additional giveaway for a $50.00 Gift Card to Homegoods or TJ Maxx on our Facebook Page! So, if you’re not following us over there, we’d love to have you join us!

Two announcements before we dive into our Features from last week.

We want to welcome another new sponsor of At The Picket Fence! The lovely

The Pink Giraffe is very generously offering a discount code to friends of At The Picket Fence. Just put in: PICKETFENCE when you check out and receive a 10% discount off your entire order! Seriously people you will LOVE this website!

AND did you see THIS POST! We want to give a special invitation to OUR readers to become a part of a brand new Follower option! If you were as sad as we were at the news of losing GFC for non-blogger blogs (and the rumor it will go away for everyone eventually) then you will love this new option!

Visit the post to get all of the details!

Now, how about some features?

Our mouths still might be hanging open from when we first laid eyes on this incredible transformation from Ashley of A to Being Creations! She created the most darling Playhouse for her kids by using the space underneath her stairs. You have to see the details on this one to believe it!

Spheres seem to be all the rage right now in home décor and we are so digging these DIY versions made by Jess from Hill Country Homebody! They are constructed using embroidery hoops and she has a fantastic tutorial on how she put these together. Love em!

Jennifer Cooks shared the recipe for this yummy Blueberry Breakfast Cake.

We agree with her that any time you can have cake for breakfast

means your day is off to a great start!

Jennifer also shared with us this incredible Kit Kat Ice Cream Cake! We could definitely see this one calling out to us in the middle of the night to come and take just a "little" nibble. And another one...and another one!

We cannot get enough of the projects being done over at Remodelando La Casa! Cristina has been sharing some of her incredible home renovations and last week she showed us this gorgeous
Fireplace Transformation.

Now, not only is the lovely Abbie from Five Days 5 Ways super funny and super stylish, she's also always up for a challenge. So when she issued herself a Goodwill Challenge to find 3 full outfits in 30 minutes she knew it wouldn't be easy, but we think she really rocked it out! And, she did it with 3 kiddos in tow. She should get a prize just for that!

We love a good upcycle here at the Fence and this DIY Sisal Tray from the Naptime Decorator is just fantastic! You would never know that underneath that sisal rope is an old cookie sheet, would you? Awesome!

And finally, we just love this Chalk/Wine Cork Board created by One More Time! She created this from a $5 Goodwill frame and we think it looks like it belongs in the Pottery Barn catalog. So cool!

Thank you to all of our features this week as well as to all of you who share your amazing ideas, projects and inspiration with us each and every week!

If you were featured today (or have been featured in the past) please grab the featured at button code located in on our Buttons Page found under our header!

Are you following At The Picket Fence on Facebook? Don't forget we feature many of your links during the week on our Facebook Page! If you've been featured there, grab a button as well! Thank you to everyone who shared so many fabulous posts with us last week! We appreciate you!

KEEP THOSE VALENTINE’S DAY PROJECTS COMING! WE WILL BE DOING A HIGHLIGHT POST OF OUR FAVORITE INSPIRATION FRIDAY VALENTINE PROJECTS AND POSTS!

Now it's time to share with us what has inspired you this week!

Thank you so much for joining us for Inspiration Friday at the Fence,

When you are done linking up head over and party with the other Friday Party Friends:

Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it's time to link on up...here's the rules!

Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
Link Up any post you've written that has Inspired You and will Inspire Others-it can be a home improvement project, craft, recipe, story, devotional...if it inspires link it up!
Be sure to link back to your original post (MANDATORY) and not just your url (main blog address)
Please post our button (code on our Buttons Page found at top of blog) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! Tutorial on how to link up a button: Blogging 101
Visit another guest. Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We try to visit as many posts as we can but as Inspiration Friday grows sometimes we miss some and for that we apologize. It makes us feed good knowing others are visiting people as well! Thank you..it truly means a lot to us!

Have you noticed that you can now REPLY to comments left on Blogger Blogs? Be sure to check “receive emails to replies” so you can see if we have replied to your comment!

This Inspiration Friday is brought to you by the following Sponsor:

Affordable Original Art!

Big News For Google Friend Connect Users!

2012-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

We have some exciting news to share for all of us concerned about the discontinuation of Google Friends Connect!

As you’ve probably heard, the popular Google Friend Connect (“GFC”) is going away March 1^st for non-Google blog platforms like Wordpress, and the scuttlebutt is that it will be eventually phased out completely to be replaced by Google+. (now don't panic yet!!) GFC was never really so much an “I follow this blog” tool as it was an attempt at the whole Facebook “friend, like” concept. Now we are being asked to join Google+ but have found like many of you it can be difficult to navigate.

Bloggers know a good “follower” tool is really needed and we’d like to have one that is not tied to a million other services (seems like Facebook, Twitter and Google are linked to everything else on the Internet). One that we can use JUST to keep track of our favorite blogs!

We wanted a simple, fast, easy-to-use and reliable service. Those of us who use Linky Tools and know the owner/creator (Brent Riggs), realized he would be perfect for developing some kind of really easy to use “follower” system. So we contacted him, and he loved the idea.

We along with a few other bloggers were involved with the "Beta Testing" of this fabulous new tool!! And boy did we give it a run for it's money...and Brent graciously listened to every suggestion, question and concern we had! So without further ado we want to introduce you to:

LINKY FOLLOWERS (www.linkyfollowers.com)

Brent has created a FREE (and we all love FREE) service that a group of us mom bloggers have tested and helped develop. He is launching it today and you’re the first to be invited to try it out!

Keep in mind this is DAY ONE of the service… there will no doubt be some bugs that the test group didn’t catch. Just contact Brent (brent@brentriggs.com)… he is great about fixing things fast. Don’t let a bug or an “oops” hurt your first impression. You’re being invited to be some of the first users of this great new tool, and your feedback will help him iron out any problems very quickly.

But, there are already so many amazing options! You can group blogs by Favorites, Everyday and General and even Custom Groups. You can create a Blogroll that includes Blogs that DO NOT have Linky Followers but that you like to keep tabs on, and you can highlight a Featured Follower!!

One last thing, the inevitable question: can my GFC followers be automatically moved over? NO. Google won’t allow access to those accounts but more importantly, YOU really shouldn’t sign up someone to a new service. They should voluntarily sign up themselves. You’ll need to ask your GFC folks (and all your blog readers) to follow you using Linky Followers but its easy, quick and did I mention, free? They’ll love the tool. It’s a cool way to organize and follow the blogs you love.

You can get started by FOLLOWING ME from my Linky Followers widget on this page…

or you can locate it on our sidebar right above the soon to be gone Google Friend Connect widget! We want to invite OUR friends here At The Picket Fence to give it a test try. Just start by clicking on the “Follow Me” option and it will walk you through this easy process! If you have any questions feel free to ask them here or email us and we’ll be happy to answer them, or pass them on to Brent!
We will be watching today and be sure to "follow back" all of our friends who sign up to follow us. Just leave a comment letting us know when YOUR widget is up on your blog and we'll follow you back!
We will be posting next week in more detail how you can customize Linky Followers for your own needs! Remember you can also receive FREE email updates to your email inbox, follow us on our Facebook Page or Pin with us on Pinterest by clicking on the graphics below. See you tonight for Inspiration Friday!

Getting our craft on for…14 Days of Love!

2012-02-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome!! We are so excited to be participating in the 14 Days of Love

hosted by Ashley at Cherished Bliss! A series where several bloggers are showing off their fabulous Valentine’s Day ideas! Up first Vanessa is sharing a fun and special way to show your children in a tangible way how much they are loved.

Valentine Countdown
I have to be honest, I have always felt that Valentine's Day is such a sweet "holiday" but I never really got into it too much...until I had kids! Now I see it as a wonderful opportunity to ~~raid their candy jars after they have gone to sleep~~ not just give them treats, but to have a good old-fashioned love fest and help beat these winter blahs. I decided this year I would create a way for us to count down the days until V-day and also share with my rascals some of things we adore about them.

This little cupboard was a Clearance aisle find at a local store about a year ago.

I thought it would be the perfect place to house our countdown.

I like to think of myself as the "every woman's" crafter...my crafts are simple and easy and inexpensive!

I found these little white paper bag/boxes at the Dollar Tree.

And, each one received a stenciled number to help us count down the days.

I had to get a bit creative in how they all fit into the cupboard!

The kids will take turns each day receiving a bag and discovering what lies inside.

I thought we could use this as a way to speak into their lives and affirm the wonderful qualities we see in both of them.

Of course I couldn't resist adding a little sweet treat along with the sweet words!

On the last day, this is what they will find.

It is the perfect addition to the little Valentine's Vignette I created in the playroom!

Now it wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without a little candy…but instead of eating this candy (okay so we did eat one bag for ourselves. grin.) I decided to do something crafty with it instead.

Candy Topiaries

I created these cute little candy topiaries using Dollar Tree Styrofoam shapes, a bag of heart shaped candies from The Christmas Tree Store (do you have one of these? I LOVE this place!!) and some old candlesticks (one that was even broken, so don't throw those away!) that I painted silver. This is another one of those no brainer crafts…that comes out so cute!

I was able to make two topiaries from one bag of candy and made my third by making a “tree” out of scrapbook paper. This little vignette ended up costing a whopping $3.50 in craft supplies!

So we hope these two projects prove that decorating for holidays like Valentine’s Day do not have to be expensive! It’s the little touches that can make it extra special!

Have you had a chance to see some of the other amazing projects in the 14 Days of Love Series? If not be sure to check out yesterdays Day of Love from Southern Lovely and and then don't forget to come back tomorrow to visit Ladybird Lane Ln!

A big thank you again to Ashley for inviting us to participate and a big thank you to the sponsors of 14 Days of Love!

This event is sponsored by…

Be sure to check back in with Cherished Bliss for a fun linky party and a fabulous giveaway at the end of the 14 Day of Love!

Thank you so much for joining us, and be sure to enter our $100 HomeGoods giveaway going on right now in celebration of our Blogiversary! We also have a $50 Homegoods Giveaway going on right now at our Facebook page, so make sure you’re following us over there to enter to win!

This post is partying here:
DIY By Design: Winter Blues WednesdaySavvy Southern Style: Wow Us WednesdayIvy and Elephants: What's it WednesdayChatty Chics: Wild WednesdayNo Minimalist Here: Open House PartyFrom My Front Porch To Yours: Treasure Hunt Thursdays Decor Chick: Valentine Link Party2805: Potpourri FridayStuff and Nonsense: Friday's UnfoldedFrench Country Cottage: Feathered Nest FridayCommon Ground: Vintage Inspiration FridayCoastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday A Stroll Thru Life: Table Top Tuesday

Happy Blogiversary to Us and a Giveaway to You!!

2012-01-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

We are celebrating being ONE YEAR OLD today!!
Well, WE are actually much older than that (one of us more so than the other...hee hee)(Just hysterical, Vanessa).
But can you believe that this is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of At the Picket Fence?
We can't!
The time has truly flown by and so much has happened in the past year, both to us personally and to this little ol' blog of ours.
The biggest thing that has happened is that we have developed some truly incredible friendships with all of YOU! We have been blown away by the amazing relationships which have developed and how the benefits of blogging go so far beyond getting great DIY and craft tips.
From our first Inspiration Friday when 82 friends linked up their posts to help support our first party to this past week which saw 474 of you show up!!
From that very first week when we squealed and called each other as we made our way to 100 friends to the now almost 5,000 friends we are able to connect with through our Blog, Facebook and Twitter...we've come to cherish each and every one who takes time out of their day to spend with us here At The Picket Fence!
You've allowed us to share our hearts and tears through our Simply Sundays Series and Vanessa's Labor of the Heart Series. You've laughed with us when we've shared our funny parenting moments, or those Good Grief moments we all experience on occasion.
You've inspired us beyond imagination at our Inspiration Friday...y'all blow us away!!
You've cheered us on through major home renovations, complimented our crafts, recipes and projectsand made us feel loved and validated and for that we say THANK YOU and to show you how much we appreciate you we have a fun giveaway...cause it ain't a party without some gifts!!
But first, we thought it would be fitting to share a little more about ourselves since it is our anniversary and all. Several of you throughout this past year have kindly bestowed upon us the Versatile Blogger Award. And we decided it was finally time to answer the much dreaded...Tell us 7 random things about you! So here goes. SEVEN things you didn't know about Vanessa and Heather...y'all asked for it!
First up, here are 7 Random Things About Heather:

We are taking a gamble here that if you learn SEVEN random things about both of us it may be "weirdo overload" and you might abandon us in droves...but we'll go out on a limb and hope you still like us when it's over! ;)
1. I am left-handed. No one else is in our immediate family. Growing up I wore a t-shirt all of the time that said "if the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, than only left handed people are in their right minds!" I thought that was very clever and very true. Just recently I saw an old family photo of Vanessa wearing that t-shirt. Did I mention I am the only left handed person in our family...oh wait this just became about how weird Vanessa is, and obviously not in her right mind...but I digress. ;) Oh hardee har har Heather! ~Vanessa
2. I HATE, LOATHE, GAG over Green Beans. Mom said I literally spit them out at her when I was just a few months old. I still hate them. On the other hand there isn't much else I hate food wise, which is bad. Really bad.
3. I am a total Sci-Fi (science fiction for all you girly girls) geek! Like watched every season of the new Battlestar Galactica series on Netflix in a row, every night, for weeks, by myself, kind of geek! If it's set in space, on another planet, involves aliens, asteroids hitting earth or an apocalypse I'm all in.
4. On the subject of entertainment. I will read just about anything and everything I can get my hands on. I ADORE the Mitford Series....but shhhh...I confess to loving the Twilight Series as well. As in read them over and over again and attended the marathons of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn...so did I just hear some of you running in the other direction? ;)
5. I laugh when people hurt themselves. Not like mortally wounded hurt themselves, but stub their toes, step on Lego's in the middle of the night, bump your head on the car door kind of hurt themselves. I try really hard not to...really I do...if you are ever with me and you hurt yourself, you've been warned.
6. I have moved 14 times in 19 years of marriage...and that's about all there is to say about that since I just broke out in hives.
7. I have a potty mouth on occasion. No seriously. I try and control it but...yeah not really. So my favorite is the "S" word. You might hear it if you ride with me in the car at all...this is because I have a lead foot and everyone always seems to be in my way...no really it's like I'm a "slow driver, school bus, lost person breaking at every intersection" magnet. You will also hear it on occasion when I come home hoping against all hope that the family members who were lounging around when I left might have felt the slightest motivation to clean up the kitchen. If you followed me around in the morning you would hear it several times because I am always running late (oh wait that's random thing number 8). I say it a lot when I screw up the coding on the blog... anyway...yep...someone pass a bar of soap. ;)

Now, for 7 Random Things About Vanessa:

Oooo...I am so telling mom about your potty mouth Heather! Hee Hee! (You mean OUR mom...the same woman who had a few choice words for dad when he secretly shaved off his mustache making him look 10 years younger than her...that mom??)
Ok...so I'm going to ease you into the inner workings of my world so I don't scare you off too quickly!
1. I ~~HATE~~ intensely dislike peas. Doesn't matter if you saute them, drown them in butter, add cheese or any kind of seasoning, I just don't like them. Never have, never will so don't go wasting your time sending me your fabulous pea-related recipes ok?! But I do love green beans so it worked out well that Heather and I could just trade vegetables!
2. I am totally schizophrenic when it comes to my musical tastes. One second I'm listening to a violin concerto and the next I'm rocking out to Def Leppard...their greatest hits CD was in my Christmas stocking along with Hall and Oats and Sade`...what does that tell you about me? I love jazz and old standards (Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald) and I also love Norah Jones and Michael Buble. But on a warm summer day you might find me running errands around town with the sunroof open and The Rolling Stones or Led Zepplin blaring (not with the kiddos in the car of course). I also have several mixed CD's of '80's music...told ya...schizo!
Do you still like me? Cause I'm just getting started!
3. I've only ever gotten highlights in my hair but have never done an all over color. So I have the same exact color hair that I had when I was a little girl with just a few highlights thrown in to cover up the rapidly increasing gray hair. And speaking of hair, I may or may not have just recently come across a photo of me from back in the day which may or may not show me sporting a haircut slightly resembling a "permullet". What's a "permullet" you ask? Not only is it business in the front and party in the back...but the business in the front is permed. I want to say in my defense (not that this is actually true or anything) that I did not know I was (or wasn't!) sporting this "do" and completely blame my mother who was responsible for my haircuts at that age. If that photo actually does exist, it will be destroyed so don't get any ideas Heather!
4. Last Sunday in church I was sitting next to a gal who blatantly picked her nose (we're talking digging for gold here folks!) throughout the entire service which, in and of itself was gross enough. But then when we heard the pastor say that it was time for communion it took the situation to a whole new dire level. Suddenly my hubby and I found ourselves only being able to pray for the communion plates containing the crackers and "wine"/grape juice to come to our side first so that we could pass to her instead of the other way around. Of course, that didn't end up being what happened. The plate was passed to her and as she rummaged with the finger in question through those crackers I quickly realized that I was going to have to do something I had never done before...I was going to have to "fake" taking communion. There was NO way I was going to put one of those crackers in my mouth! So, as the plate was passed to me I gingerly selected a cracker which I then put on the seat next to me and when the pastor indicated that it was time to "break the bread", I pretended to put it in my mouth and chew it up. I think the Lord understood, don't you? As of today that cracker is still in the bottom of my purse which is where I stealthily put it instead of my mouth.
5. And speaking of communion, I believe it is now time for a confession. You all are super special because NO ONE knows this and my mom might just kill me for it. But, once when I went to visit them with the kids and we were looking through old photos I found my 7th grade school pictures and realized why my mom was encouraging me to put on a little bit of blush that day. I seriously could have been one of the vampires in the Twilight series (how bout that Heather?)! Plus I had yet to learn the benefits of tweezers so my dark, bushy eyebrows weren't doing me any favors either. So, when everyone was asleep, I went downstairs and took all of those school photos and buried them at the bottom of the trash can in the garage. I would say that I'm sorry for this act of rebellion, but I'm NOT! I felt as though I was doing my duty by sparing anyone from seeing me that way so technically I'm just a giver, right?
6. For me, being rebellious is not cleaning up the dishes right after we eat dinner. Leaving them in the sink overnight makes me feel kinda naughty...I'm so wild and crazy, right? Sometimes I even leave my pj's on the floor in the closet all day long! Although, from the previous things I've just shared with you maybe I'm more rebellious than I realize...hmmmm...
7. One of my all-time favorite websites is Awkward Family Photos. I literally laugh until I feel sick every time I'm there and when Heather and I were together after Christmas we spent an obscene amount of time going through the photos and crying from laughter! You will find many variations of the previously mentioned "permullet" on this site.

So, are you still going to come back and visit us here now that you know the sordid details of our lives?
We hope so because as our way of saying THANKS for being such wonderful friends and supporters to us, we are going to be giving away a
$100 Gift Card to HomeGoods (also good at TJ Maxx!)

And we are going to make this super easy to enter to win:
1. (Mandatory) Just leave us a comment telling us you want to be entered, please include a way for us to contact you, if you do not have a GFC account or blog. Of course if you want to tell us what you love about At The Picket Fence or how much you love us, how we've changed your lives and made the world a better place...well that's okay with us too..;) (1 entry)2. (Optional) Follow us on Facebook or via Email and leave us a separate comment to let us know you are. (1 entry per following format) *See the links below*3. (Optional) Twitter or Facebook about the giveaway and our Blogiversary with link back to blog post included and leave a separate comment letting us know you did (1 entry)
GIVEAWAY WILL BE OPEN UNTIL MONDAY THE 6th at MIDNIGHT!
WINNER WILL BE DRAWN AT RANDOM AND ANNOUNCED ON TUESDAY THE 7th!!

Thank you again for meeting us here today (and throughout the past year!) at the Fence,

At The Movies Birthday Party!

2012-01-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

It can be so difficult to plan a birthday party for a “tweener”. Not a kid anymore, but not quite a teen either.

Especially when said birthday party is one’s first “boy/girl” birthday party. Parties involving manicures, facials and tea parties just aren’t that appealing to the male gender. But candy, hotdogs, nachos, popcorn and movies certainly are!

When we decided on our “At The Movies” theme, I headed straight for Pinterest (we’d love you to follow us!) and Etsy to look for some fun ideas!

I found Typewink and her adorable Etsy shop, with lots of cute party printables! She has an adorable Movie Themed packet, but the girl and I decided we loved the red, black and turquoise theme of her Carnival set and knew we could adapt it to her movie party!

For $10.00 you receive TONS of cute images to print and use for your party.

Fun things like the pendants to make a Happy Birthday banner. I hung them on twine with tiny clothespin. So cute!

We also printed off these adorable “goodie boxes” and filled them with fun little items, some for the boys and some for the girls.

Our favorite items in this packet though, were the “popcorn box” cupcake wrappers!

The popcorn box cupcakes were quite the hit!

But, I think the Candy and Popcorn Bar might have been the most popular feature of the evening!

When planning a themed party, the attention is in the details!

Little details like wrapping water bottles and the cupcake stand with tickets purchased from the Dollar Tree. Providing movie food like Nachos, Hotdogs and Pizza Bites. And, including cute movie themed items like movie production clap boards and movie themed napkins. Playing games like “guess my character”. And even turning your TV into a "movie screen". Then of course, watching a fun movie!

Adding details like this aren’t expensive, but really add to overall feeling of the party, helping everyone to get in the party mood!

Turn your TV into a movie screen! I added a $2.00 extension rod and a clearance red curtain panel cut in half, tied back with ribbon for a fun movie theater feel! Total cost $4.50!

Of course the best part of a party is always fun times with good friends!

We so appreciate the great friends our children are blessed to have!

Here’s a quick tutorial on making your own Popcorn Box Cupcakes!

Popcorn Box Cupcakes

Bake your favorite cupcake mix (homemade or store bought) according to recipe in cupcake liners, and allow to cool.
Frost with your favorite frosting (homemade or store bought). It does not have to be neat because you will be covering it with your “popcorn.” Be generous with the frosting though, so that the popcorn will adhere well to the top of the cupcake.
After frosting, place cupcakes in popcorn box cupcake holders.
Using a bag of miniature marshmallows, tear or cut marshmallows in half and stick cut sides back together twisting them a little to create the popcorn kernels. It takes a lot of these so we “cheated” and used regular marshmallows on the bottom and the “kernels” on the top.
For the look of butter, mix yellow food coloring in water to dilute and then with a clean paintbrush, brush food color lightly across the marshmallows. Before the food coloring dries, sprinkle with yellow sprinkles for the “salt.”

Crafty types could easily make their own popcorn box cupcake wrappers, but if you aren’t so inclined to make your own, please consider ordering the adorable ones we used from Typewink. (and no I was not paid to say this..I just LOVE her cute printables!)

Wow! Hard to believe a year has gone by and I’m sharing another of the girls birthday parties with you! You might remember her cute Monster, Alien Robot Bash Birthday (yes we can be quite creative in our household. ) from last year! So, a big thanks for sticking around and joining us for another fun party!

We also want to give a quick shout out to thank Cassity for featuring Vanessa’s beautiful mudroom makeover today at Remodelaholic! Please pay her a visit over there!

And, be sure to join us tomorrow for another party…our one year Blogiversary!! We’ve got some fun stuff in store!

Thanks for joining me today…at the movies!

Party Sources:

Party Printables: Typewink
Goodie Idea Inspirations via our Kids Party Ideas Pinterest Board
Decorations: Party City and Dollar Tree

Where this post is partying at:

You Are Talking Too Much: Meet Me Monday
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia: Tuesday's Treasures
A Simply Klassic Home: Simply Klassic Sundays
Savvy Southern Style: WOW Us Wednesdays
DIY by Design: Winter Blues Wednesday

A Special Guest for a Simply Sunday...More Bang For Your Bucks

2012-01-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

We are so thrilled to have a lovely guest with us today!

Kelli from More Bang for your Bucks isn't only one of our incredible sponsors here at the fence, she has also become a very special friend to us as well. She has a wonderful new series going on at her blog right now and you can read more about it at the end of this post.

Now, let's here what Kelli has to share with us today!

A story of obedience, and unfortunately, a story of disobedience

There have been times in my life that I have clearly felt God speak to me to do something, and I obeyed. The peace and freedom that come by doing that are truly indescribable.

My son was born with a liver disease, and we spent lots of time his first 15 months in the hospital. Because our stays were almost always longer than a week, we usually had to do laundry in the hospital. One day, I was coming back to our room after completing a load. I pressed the "12" button, where my small son and husband awaited me in the hospital room.

However, the elevator kept going down, down, passing 12 on its way. I ended up on floor 3. This floor contains the gift shops, as well as the food court. I decided I might as well take a look in the gift shop while I was there. However, I glanced over to the surgery waiting area, which is also on this floor. I know that area well; we spent 9 hours (which felt like 3 years) there when my son was only 7 weeks old.

Landon shortly before his surgery

There was one lone lady sitting in that area, which is uncommon for such a large children's hospital. She was crying. I felt God saying, "Go. Talk to her." I then knew why my elevator had missed the floor I selected. Pretty sure the woman would think I was crazy, I headed over.

She was from a different country, and at first it seemed as though I would not be able to communicate with her. But then I told her that I, too had been in her position only a year before and asked if I could pray with her. She cried even more and said yes, and she and I, women from an uncommon land but with a very common love for our children, shared our hearts with the Lord.

{source}

She smiled as I left and I, I felt as though I was floating on air the rest of the day. I couldn't wait to share with my husband what had happened. I didn't do much at all, but to know God was able to use me was incredible.

But. I wish I could say that every time God spoke to me I was obedient. This sadly is not the case.

When we still lived in our small hometown, there was a man who worked at a pizza place. I knew who he was because I used to work at the bank and would see him there, and because, well, it was a small town. One night, my family was shopping for groceries and ran into this man.

My children were very small at the time, and he went on and on how cute they were, and the kids were smiling at him and interacting with him. I felt God saying, "Invite him to dinner. He's lonely."

{source}

Well, we were busy. I had two children under the age of two, was working part time, my husband was the youth minister at our church and I just felt I couldn't do anything else. Plus, even though I knew who he was, I didn't know much about him. Fear of the unknown, and fear of giving up some of my time, kept me from obedience. So I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, telling myself that when we saw him again (it was bound to happen!), I would invite him then.

There wasn't a next time.

I can't remember the exact details, but very shortly after this man took his own life. The devastation I felt for this man was real, and I was heartbroken that I had disobeyed God.

I still think of this man from time to time, the loneliness he must have felt, that no one cared. I don't know all of his circumstances, but I do know that I disobeyed God because of fear. Now, each time God tells me to do something, this instance serves as a reminder that His way is always best, even if I am fearful, busy, tired, don't really know what I'm doing, it doesn't make sense, I don't have the money, or the myriad of other excuses my mind can conjure up.

Ladies, next time God asks you to do something and you are filled with fear, remember this:

Source: swagbucks.com via Kelli on Pinterest

If He asks you to do something, He will give you the courage to follow through.What fears have you had to overcome?

Thank you so much for sharing this with us today Kelli and thank you all for coming by to visit us at the Fence for this Simply Sunday!

Kelli has been married to her hubby Ben for ten years. Together, they had to overcome a lot of fear before they left their comfy hometown to plant a church in Houston. They have three children: Landon, Allison and Evaleigh.She blogs at www.morebangforyourbucks.blogspot.com about faith, family, food and finances.
Her newest series on marriage- "old {and young} wives' tales" needs you! If you are interested in guest blogging, please e-mail benandkelli01@aol.com to chat!

Welcome to Inspiration Friday No. 49!

2012-01-27T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ok folks...we are going to do something we have never done before here at Inspiration Friday.

We are going to going to give you a glimpse of what happens "behind the scenes" as we prepare to host this party each week.

It goes a little something like this...

Text from Heather to Vanessa or vice versa: "Is now a good time to go through the links and pick our features?"

Reply: "Yes, but there are so many amazing projects how are we ever going to choose?"

Phone rings: "Hey!"

Voice on other end: "Did you see link# (fill in the blank) that had the amazing (fill in the blank)?!"

Reply: "Oh I know!! That one was so fabulous! But did you see the one about the (fill in the blank)?"

Reply: "No but I'm going to go look at it right now!"

Reply: "How do we possibly narrow it down to just a handful to feature when there are so many amazingly talented folks out there?"

And so on and so forth!

Seriously, you are all so talented and creative and we feel honored to even be in your company and to have you share from your homes and your hearts with us each week.

Now, we know we aren't the only hosts having a hard time each week picking which projects to Feature.

There are some amazing parties taking place all over Blogland each week!

And we want to introduce you to our New and Improved tab where we list our favorite

PLACES TO PARTY

Now, not only is this a great way for us to keep track of when those fabulous parties are happening, we have also created a way for other hosts to add their PARTY LINK to that page!

If you host a weekly Linky Party and don't see yours listed on the page already, you can simply add yours to the list under the appropriate day.
Easy Peasy!

Before we get to our Features from last week's party, we want to take a moment and introduce you to our newest Sponsors here at the Fence.

AND

We are so excited to have these amazing shops on board with us here at the Fence and we hope you will pay them a visit and check out their wonderful products!

Now, onto those Features which we somehow did manage to choose!

Desire Empire shared her daughter's darling bedroom created on a small budget. We think it looks like a million bucks though and there are so many adorable details you will want to check out!

Sew Passionate shared an excellent tutorial for making an Easy Bolster Pillow with gathered ends. Isn't that fabric just beautiful too? There are many other amazing ideas and tutorials on this blog and we encourage you to pop on over and pay her a visit!

Kristina from ReMade Simple showed us how to make these lovely Wall-Mounted Vases using re-purposed items. She also includes a fantastic tutorial for this project and has many more creative and clever ideas on her blog!

Now speaking of fantastic tutorials, check out these Coffee Sack Baskets created by Kim of Cheap Chic Home! Love how easy they are and she includes wonderful instructions on how to make them yourself.

Simply Simplisticated shared her incredible kitchen island which was a true DIY project if we ever saw one. We love a gal who knows her way around power tools!

This next idea is perfect for occupying little ones while Mommy is cooking in the kitchen! Michelle from So Here's My Life showed us how to create a one-of-a-kind Magnetic Marble Run made from paper towel and toilet paper tubes. How clever is that?!

And just in time for Valentine's Day we have these Cherry Topped Brownie Bites which were shared with us by Tracey from The Kitchen is My Playground. Just when we think we have finally detoxed from Christmas along comes V-Day and wonderful treats like these!

Thank you to all of our features this week as well as to all of you who share your amazing ideas, projects and inspiration with us each and every week!

If you were featured today (or have been featured in the past) please grab the featured at button code located in on our Buttons Page found under our header!

KEEP THOSE VALENTINE’S DAY PROJECTS COMING! WE WILL BE DOING A HIGHLIGHT POST OF OUR FAVORITE INSPIRATION FRIDAY VALENTINE PROJECTS AND POSTS!

Before we close out our post today, we wanted to take just a second to wish Heather's daughter and Vanessa's niece a very Happy 12th Birthday! The world became a better place on January 26th, 2000 when Mekenzie Leigh entered the world! Mommy loves you Mekenzie, you bring joy beyond measure to our lives. You are my treasure!

Now it's time to share with us what has inspired you this week!

Thank you so much for joining us for Inspiration Friday at the Fence,

When you are done linking up head over and party with the other Friday Party Friends:

Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it's time to link on up...here's the rules!

Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
Link Up any post you've written that has Inspired You and will Inspire Others-it can be a home improvement project, craft, recipe, story, devotional...if it inspires link it up!
Be sure to link back to your original post (MANDATORY) and not just your url (main blog address)
Please post our button (code on our Buttons Page found at top of blog) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! Tutorial on how to link up a button: Blogging 101
Visit another guest. Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We try to visit as many posts as we can but as Inspiration Friday grows sometimes we miss some and for that we apologize. It makes us feed good knowing others are visiting people as well! Thank you..it truly means a lot to us!

Have you noticed that you can now REPLY to comments left on Blogger Blogs? Be sure to check “receive emails to replies” so you can see if we have replied to your comment!