April…April! April! April!
I love April…it means spring, and flowers, and Easter and spring, and warmth..except it’s snowing outside while I’m typing this, but we’ll just ignore that little fact and shout from the rooftops it’s
APRIL!!
I think you all are as ready for it to feel like spring as we are. Our first feature…made us long for warm evenings outside grilling and hanging with friends.
Jamie from Okla-HOME-a inspired us to look towards the summer with her beautiful pergola remodel. Here’s what it looked like before they undertook this project:
Certainly not horrible, I’ll take that pool off your hands for ya Jamie! 😉 , but not quite as spectacular as it could be. And here it is mid-project:
And now here it is in all of it’s new glory!
Um…hello! Fabulous! We are headed over to hang out with you on your new back porch Jamie.
You can read more about Jamie’s great pergola project over at her blog, so head on over and say hi!
Up next we have this great frugal project…can you get more frugal than a $1 folks?! That’s how much it cost Bianca at Walnut Avenue to turn a nice but not very exciting pendant light in her newly remodeled kitchen
from “blah” (those were Bianca’s words) to awesome! She headed to Ikea and found an adorable lampshade for…a whopping buck..yep a buck! Isn’t Ikea the best?! She took that dollar lampshade and made an awesome new pendant:
Yep, this one definitely has more character Bianca! Check it out in it’s new home:
Visit Bianca and see how she made this quick but dramatic change to her pendant light! P.S. We love your post title Bianca…Gotta love a gal who references The Doors in her title. 😉
This next project caught our eye because well, we would love to have it in our house. Jill at Peanut Butter Plaza (how cute is that name?!) took this sad little cabinet and like any good furniture restorer saw it’s potential hidden away in there.
It spoke to her and said, “hi, I want to be painted grey!” okay so maybe not quite like that but Jill listened and this sad little cabinet was transformed into this beauty!
Yes, grey suits her quite well..don’t ya think? Um…love, love, love! The details are what makes this little cabinet so special.
Pay a visit to Jill and see how she transformed this pretty cabinet.
And last but never least, a post that really touched us both. We have featured Dianne from The Inspired Housewife before, but this post had to be shared! Dianne heard about the need to provide quilts and blankets for children and babies in Japan who are currently facing bitter cold during the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. She immediately answered the call for help and went to work creating a very special project:
Piecing the blocks together, and praying over the child this would warm as she ironed it. She lovingly added precious words of hope in Japanese onto the quilt:
“Jesus Loves You”
Thank you for inspiring us Dianne to think beyond ourselves and about others. You can visit Dianne at her wonderful blog and read for yourself the beautiful words she wrote in her post.
I want to take a moment to also introduce two new friends of At The Picket Fence. I was privileged to have some great email conversations this week with these two ladies. I want to invite you to take a moment to visit their blogs.
This week I got to meet Telisa from Sugartotdesigns who makes incredible custom invitations, announcements and cards. Um..hello…I might have another baby just to order some of these:
We’d love it if you’d pay Telisa a visit to see all of the beautiful custom options she has for parties, announcements, prints to frame, etc. They are stunning and reasonable..which is a great combination!
And we also got to meet Gail from Casual Loves Elegance this week. We think we might just show up on her doorstep for our next vacation, her home is that beautiful!
We know…fabulous! Visit her to see some other incredible photos of Gail’s home. She’s lived a pretty exciting life, head over and find out more!
Now, don’t forget to grab your Featured At Button if you were featured at today’s party or during the week as a Facebook Feature! We have started featuring several links during the week on our Facebook page, so make sure you join us over there to see if you are featured! (did I say the word feature enough?? grin.)
Thanks for joining us at the fence!
When you are done linking up head over and party with the other “Friday Party Friends“:
The lovely Courtney at French Country Cottage
And our beautiful friend Alison from Stuff and Nonsense
Now all ya PARTY PEOPLE it’s time to link on up…here’s the rules!
Just a quick reminder we’ve noticed lately several people have forgotten to link back to Inspiration Friday. While we’ve decided we won’t delete your entry we pretty please ask that you take an extra minute to link your post BACK to At The Picket Fence. It’s a pretty standard “rule” for linky parties and is a way to “thank” your hosts for well…hosting the party! Thank you for honoring this mandatory requirement! (I am putting this in bigger font this week…please honor this one request. We have found that again, several are forgetting. If you don’t know how just ask we’ll help ya!)
- Friend At The Picket Fence in some capacity
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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!
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Be sure to link back to your original post and not just your url (main blog address)
- Please post our button (code in the sidebar) or a text link on your blog so others can join in the fun! (MANDATORY)
- Visit another guest Please try and visit at least the link directly above and below you! We are trying so hard between writing posts, homeschooling, and taking care of our families..grin..to visit everyone’s posts. Sometimes we miss one 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!
Link Up!!
This Inspiration Friday is sponsored by our April Etsy Shop of the Month
Thank you for hosting! I saw Natalie’s kitchen and it is so pretty. Cannot believe she found that lamp shade and did all of that for $1
and I am headed to go and check out Gail’s home now!
Kristine
That pool and pergola look so inviting! I would LOVE to just pull up a chair and sit for a couple of hours! Love the kitchen re-do and that lamp! Thanks for hosting the party!
So many great ideas! I really want to build a pergola this summer, and can’t wait to show this to hubby. Thanks for hosting, ladies! Have a fab weekend.
Hi Girls sorry for the double post #33 has to be deleted it wouldn’t link back to me so I had to redo it and I didn’t know how to delete it. Martina
Great features and thanks always for hosting.
Hi there Vanessa and Heather,
I’m all linked up with you on recommendation from Courtney over at French Country. My most favorite blogger ever…. I have a few favs actually but she is definitely the top five.
So far I love what I see in here. Great pergola project! I’ve been talking about adding something similar to our back upper deck. It’s just not the same as being able to have a pool and patio though. I will definitely be back to dig around in your blog a little later. My link looks as it my fall under your Good Grief category.
See you soon,
Shanna
http://www.revampedfrenchmaison.com
Love all the transformations and inspiration! Great party as always!
Heather and Vanessa, I accidentally posted my bicycle cookies again(from last week)and wasn’t able to delete them!? Will you please delete it for me? Thanks! Sue:)
You girls are the best! Thanks so much for the feature! I am new to blogging & I appreciate the encouragement y’all have given me! Thanks!
seriously you girls are way tooooo nice, encouraging, welcoming and awesome over here at the picket fence. i am working on making my blog more user friendly to make payments on so people can get prints quickly and i truly appreciate your feature!!
Just found your blog & linked up too! Can’t wait to check out all the great projects 🙂
Trisha
Hi there girls!! I love the features and that pergola is certainly catching my eye… thanks for sharing and thanks for hosting! Have a great weekend! 🙂
Hi Girls,
Awe..I am so excited you featured my blog today on Inspiration Friday*
Thankyou for the SWEETEST comments… Seriously if your ever in my area come on by!!
I am happy to be in such great company!
Happy Spring*
xo,
Gail
casualloveselegance
What a fabulous pool and pergola!! Thanks for hosting, I’m happy to be at such a fun party!
Nancy
whew…i think we broke the cycle…tho’ i came very close to featuring that light makeover…tee hee…all linked up…have a wonderful friday.
blessings,
alison
Finally…I have something to bring to the party! Better late than never, huh? Thanks girls for being some of the sweetest in blog land!
Happy Friday!
Love, Kristin
Thanks for hosting, ladies, and also for my feature!! I am glad that little $1 makeover got ya’ll to do a happy dance…to a Doors song, of course! 🙂
Congratulations of your succesful blog and linky party! I can’t wait to visit some links. I shared my free cabinet door picture frame #119. 🙂
Wow, so many wonderful things this Friday!! I might be on your page all day. Better start another pot of coffee!
Those are some great features. I’m all linked up…a little late, but here now. Looking forward to checking out all the talent. Have a great weekend.
I;m late I’m late for a very important date..yes that would be with you girls. I am here. I just forgot is all:) Thanks for hosting. Love the inspiration. I have that very same outdoor candle chande in our bedroom.
Thank you, Vanessa & Heather, for your “awesomeness” in creating such a fun blog & blog party.
CAS
I love Fridays at the fence with you girls!
SNOW!?!?!?!?!?!?! YIKES!
I’m sorry to hear that.
I’m mailing you some sunshine, pronto!
Sorry I double booked my reservation to your party-oops I’m #57 and #162-sorry for the mix-up! Claire
Vanessa, thank you so much for letting me know about the link!
I fixed the link so you can delete the first one.
Thank you again…you are a sweetie!!!
Kristine
Hey, back again…just read your other comment regarding being an adoptive Mommy!!! LOVE that we have that in common. I knew I liked you 😉
Glad we found each other. Have a wonderful weekend.
Kristine
Definately a lot of great inspiration here!!
Penny