Custom orders are fun!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I LOVE doing custom orders!  My customers always come up with the best ideas.  Usually the ideas prompt a quick trip to my local scrapbooking store where the hunt is on!  They’re used to my unusual requests by now. :)

Of course you can always find my latest creations in my Etsy shop …or if you’re looking for a custom scrapbook, just pop me an email at apicketfencelife [at] gmail.com!

Clicking on any of the scrapbooks above will take you to my Flickr photostream where you can get ideas for your custom order… or look at some of the other books I’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Technorati Tags: custom scrapbooks,Etsy,Flickr,a picket fence life

Wishful Wednesday

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve participated in Jamie Ridler’s Wishcasting Wednesday.  Usually I’m at work when the prompts come out and I forget by the time I get home!  BUT since I’m still on Christmas break, this is a good day to participate. 

Today’s prompt is:  What do you wish for the New Year? 

This can be such a loaded question.  So many areas to cover…  

• I wish for good health for my family and me. 
• I wish for happiness and love for those around me. 
• I wish for the safety of my “children” while they’re away at college and taking their first steps into adulthood. 
• I wish the economy would get a big boost so there were more stories of booming businesses on the news instead of layoffs and unemployment. 
• I wish no child ever had to sleep on the street again. 
• I wish all women throughout the world had the same freedoms as we enjoy in the U.S. 
• I wish mothers in Haiti had clean water to give their children.
• I wish cancer didn’t exist.

But back in my little corner of the universe…I wish for the confidence and courage to make the changes I need to make to move forward.

What do you wish for?  Stop by Jamie’s blog, see what others are wishing for and then post your own wishes!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Technorati Tags: Wishcrafting Wednesday,Jamie Ridler Studios

Just trying to take a walk…

 

So, apparently a new one of these should have been on my Christmas list this year. 

Perhaps it’s payback for neglecting it for so long…but the LCD display is no longer illuminated.  Urgh.  The competitive person in me REALLY can’t stand getting zero feedback from the machine! 

This morning after I walked, I finally found the owner’s manual…and surprise…there are batteries in there! Certain that this was the answer (and how stupid of me not to think of it before) I grabbed a handful of batteries and popped them in.  Darn.  Still no illumination. 

Plan B…take apart the “hood” and readjust some things (according to the manual, of course). 

Yep, you guessed it…nothing. I left the screws out just in case my hubby can come up with a brilliant answer. Not holding my breath though. The thing is OLD.  Probably about 14 years old.  Maybe it’s time for an upgrade…

California Dreamin’ on Such a Winter’s Day

The Christmas tree is beckoning me this morning.  It wants to be taken down.  Okay, it’s ME.  I want it to be taken down. I wish I was looking at beautiful palm trees along the beach instead of pine trees covered with snow outside my window…and a pine tree in my living room.  The weather report says “sunny with a high of 20 degrees” so far all I see out the window is gloomy white skies and snow floating through the air. The thermostat says 14 degrees.  I want to be where it’s warm…and sunny…and GREEN!

I’ve kind of been avoiding my blog lately, basically because I’ve had little to say. For the last few years December has been a hard month for me.  I start to play the comparison game…and of course, find myself, my life lacking.  I browse through all the usual blogs and websites that normally leave me feeling inspired, but at this time of year they seem to scream at me that I’m not creative enough, I don’t have the perfect house (with perfect decorations), I don’t have breathtaking photos of my kids to scrap, I don’t have enough money for all the awesome gifts I’d like to buy, I haven’t created lasting traditions for my family, etc. etc. etc.  

Urgh.

New Years, however, makes me feel inspired.  Hopeful that the new year will bring a world of possibilities.  New opportunities. And changes in all the places my soul needs them. 

 

Yum...Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup Recipe


4 baking potatoes

2/3 cup flour

6 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup sour cream

¾ cup chopped green onions, divided

6 bacon slices, cooked & crumbled



Bake potatoes. Cool. Peel potatoes and mash coarsely.

Discard skins. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, ¾ cup cheese, salt, and pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and ½ cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onions, and bacon.



Makes 8 1-1/2 cup servings.

A Favorite Film…A Favorite Quote

“Not all who wander are aimless, especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image.” –Betty Warren (Kristen Dunst’s character in Mona Lisa Smile)

I love this film.   It’s definitely one of my favorites.   I drug my kids to it when it came out in theatres.  They were less impressed.  I thought it had an excellent “message” for my girls, the whole “you can be anything you want to be…don’t give up your dreams for a man…etc.” but apparently they didn’t need to hear it from a film because I had already been drilling it into their heads for years at that point.   Plus, I really don’t think they could relate to the 1953 era!!!  I, on the other hand, thought that was an awesome aspect to the film because it was the year my parents got married.  Kinda put things into perspective for me.    

Sometimes to outsiders I’m sure I seem to be a bit of a “wanderer”.   So many (varied) interests and so many things I want to do.  But like Julia Roberts’ character…the wandering is not aimless.  :)

Technorati Tags: Mona Lisa Smile,quotes

The Gift of Grandparents

I love this old photo of me and my brother with our Grandpa.  That was HIS chair…but he was always willing to share it with us!  I also love how my brother is squeezed in beside Grandpa.  How funny!  Of course I also LOVE it that Grandpa’s focus is on ME!  Ha!  Sorry George!!!

My Grandma took LOTS of photos…but apparently she never taught my Grandpa how to use the camera because I can’t think of a single photo of us kids with my Grandma…except at birthdays or the holidays when others took the photos.  Unfortunately that was a tradition I continued.  There are very few photos of me with my kids when then were little.  I was always the one behind the camera.

This is another favorite of the two of us in front of the silver tree at our Grandparent’s house.   We LOVED being at our Grandparent’s house.   Especially when we got to help put up the tree…with the color wheel…of course!  You can’t really tell in the photo but the balls were blue.   I’m sure I didn’t help that year (I was only 3) but in later years I remember being so excited when Grandpa would pull the tree down from the attic in the garage and we got to help assemble the tree.  Usually it was after my cousins and I begged and begged to get it out.   I have to laugh now a little at the simplicity of the tree.  Easy assembly, no lights and a couple dozen balls.  Wow!  Those were the days, huh?!

I’m sure you have awesome memories of your own of spending time with your grandparents.  And, your children may be in the process of creating those memories with Grandma and Grandpa right now.  Grandparents can be so hard to buy for, but what Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t love a scrapbook with photos of them with their grandchildren?   Check them out in my Etsy shop!

You’ll find lots of other gift ideas there too!  Plus there’s still time for custom orders.

Technorati Tags: Etsy,Grandparent Gifts

So Inspired

 

Prosperity is having the power
to create a life of your choice—
to get what you really want,
not just what you’re handed. 
–Ruth Ross

 

Technorati Tags: So Inspired,prosperity

A Snowy Day

Ok.  It just won’t stop.  It’s been snowing now for about 24 hours.  My VERY unofficial measurement is about a foot!   Thankfully I don’t really have anywhere I have to go today and chances are it will be off the roadways at least by Monday…BUT I would be happy to just skip ahead to spring. 

I must admit thought it is pretty and it’s putting me in a Christmas mood.   I had hoped to do a little Christmas shopping last night after work but since we were in the midst of a blizzard (again, unofficial) I decided it was best to just come straight home.  Typically my commute is about an hour.  Yesterday?  TWO hours and 10 minutes.  Not that I was counting or anything.  Urgh.  I really do not like being on the interstate in a snowstorm…in the dark…with monster trucks flying (ok, not exactly FLYING) by me.   I really think that 2+ hours of driving white knuckled and tensed up deserves a massage and a stiff drink at the end of it….but apparently that’s just MY opinion!  :)

Sorry, enough ranting about the weather.   On to FUN things.  Like scrapbooking, of course.  Christmas seems to bring out the CREATIVE in people.  Not that Tim Holtz isn’t creative 365 days a year, but I’m in love with the Christmas tags on his blog this month.  This is day 4 of his 12 Tags of Christmas series.  How AWESOME is this tag ???  I WISH I had even a fraction of his creativity….and his supplies!  :)   I’m starting to pick up a few things here and there but I feel overwhelmed and am never quite sure what to buy…and if I’ll know how to use it once I get it home!  I definitely need to go to Ranger U to learn some techniques.  

Teresa Collins is doing tags this month too!  AND she’s doing a Favorite Things Giveaway each day (till Christmas, I believe).   Go check it out.

I almost hate to put MY things in the same blog post as that amazing tag over to the left….but I do have a few new things in my Etsy shop.  I’ll give you a sneak peek here but stop by my Etsy shop to see the entire line.   There’s still lots of time (okay, maybe not LOTS….but enough time) left to make a purchase for Christmas…even a custom order.  The cut-off for custom work (to arrive in time for Christmas) is December 15th.  After that I’ll be spending time with my kids while they’re home from college. 

Holiday Scrapbook

Mother Daughter Paper Bag Scrapbook

Disney Autographs Paper Bag Scrapbook

Winnie the Pooh & Friends Paper Bag Scrapbook

Enjoy your weekend…and holiday preparations!

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Tim Holtz,Teresa Collins,Etsy