Prints Charming (Paperback)

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Product Description

Does Jane Sandburg's future lie between the pages of her scrapbook?

With the help of her scrapbooking girlfriends, Jane is putting the pieces of her life back together since her divorce from a cheating husband. Her non-profit publicity firm is doing well and her new neighbor, Jake, is causing all kinds of sparks.

But when the Ex returns with a sorrowful heart begging for one more chance, Jane pulls her wedding scrapbook out of the closet to decide if her future lies in the past. With her friends going through trials of their own--adoption, run-ins with the law, and marital trouble--Jane and the girls come together over the scrapping table to make sense of their crazy lives.

Through the diverse and connected lives of four women, Rebeca Seitz creates an engaging story that celebrates the power of friendship and the uncertain-but-exciting world of starting anew.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One
one year later

Jane's tires screeched as she flew around a curve on Bluff Road.

"Girl, where are you?" The excitement in Lydia's voice came through loud and clear, and Jane pushed her foot down a bit harder on the accelerator.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She kept one hand on the steering wheel while frantically sifting through the things in the passenger seat of her Blazer. There was a brush somewhere, she just knew it, but finding anything at seven in the morning after pulling an all-nighter was difficult at best. Exhaustion picked at her brain, but she took it for the victory it was. Her all-nighter had resulted (finally!) in a completed logo for Sisters, Ink. Bleary eyes gave testament to the long hours she'd put into creating the official representation of their scrapbooking group. A box of stationery rested in the passenger floorboard amid granola bar wrappers, a beautiful Sisters, Ink logo centered at the top. Four smaller boxes held their new business cards, printed on her laser printer at three a.m. The skeleton of their web site was even up and running, though none of the Sisters knew about it or the business idea she'd been brewing for weeks.

"Do I need to grab anything for you? This stuff is going fast. There are barely any of the foam alphabet sets left."

"Shoot, Lydia, I barely even know what I need. I'll be there in about two minutes." Jane lunged again, still searching for the brush while trying not to drop the cell phone from her shoulder.

"Okay, but don't let the grass grow under your tires. I'll be over in the baby girl section. I need to find something for Olivia's first bath pages and get ribbon for Mac. What's this big secret you have anyway?"

"I told you I'm not saying a word until we all get to Mac's. Be there in a flash." Jane snapped the phone together and slammed to a stop at the red light. Turning her attention to her still-searching hand, she finally found the elusive hairbrush and grabbed it. A blaring horn sounded, and she realized the green arrow had finally appeared. This business idea had monopolized her mind for weeks. And she had Bill to thank for it, in a way. Without him, she'd never have learned the value of girlfriends.

Jane pushed thoughts of her ex-husband out of her mind. Tires squealing again, she tore into the parking lot of The Savvy Scrapper. Tossing the hairbrush back into the passenger seat, she threw the car into Park, grabbed her purse, and flung open the door.

"Ouch!"

Jane looked up just as her door collided with the midsection of one very tall man.

"Omigosh. I am so, so sorry. I'm just in a rush. The sale is happening, and I'm late and--"

"It's okay." Mr. Tall held his hands up as if to ward off any other car doors she might be hiding somewhere, and she noticed the coffee cup in one hand and bagel bag in the other. Bagels would be so heavenly right now. "I'm fine, really." He set the bag down on the ground and brushed the dust off of his olive green sweater, then looked at her. "I know how women can be when there's a sale involved." He grinned as he knelt to pick the bag back up.

She tried hard to ignore his sexist statement and not remind him of how many guys camp out at golf stores before a sale or sleep in the parking lot to get tickets to a concert.

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, I have insurance, and we can call somebody." Jane shoved her hair behind her ears, willing herself to focus on the problem at hand rather than the sale happening about ten yards away or the way her stomach was now grumbling for coffee and a bagel.

"Really, go ahead. I'm fine."

"Okay, thanks." She turned and made her way around the back of the car. "I appreciate this. It's just that this only happens once a year, and my friend is waiting . . ." She stopped on the far side of the car and looked at him. He could sue if he was hurt, and her luck with men right now meant he would sue and she would lose to the tune of thousands of dollars. "You're certain you're fine?"

"Go." He made a shooing motion with the bag. "Happy shopping."

Her mother always said never to look a gift horse in the mouth, and this was one time Jane would be obeying Elizabeth rather than giving in to her own desire to argue. She practically sprinted to the front door of The Savvy Scrapper, yanked it open, and burst inside.

"Jane!" Lydia was in the front corner of the store, surrounded by pink, yellow, blue, lilac, and pale green. She waved a die-cut of a bathtub and bubbles above her head. "I found the perfect stuff for Olivia and Oliver's First Bath page."

"Great." Jane joined her, breathless. Her cheeks were tinged with pink.

"Okay, here's the deal." Lydia turned toward the back of the store and pointed. "All the Times letters are gone, the vellum is almost finito, and the dog section is getting riffled through as we speak. Where do you want to start?"

"Dog section." Jane stuffed her keys into her purse. "I took great pictures this morning of Mrs. Hannigan picking up poop while stepping in another pile."

"You are so gross. That poor woman, poop obsessed. To each his own, I guess."

Jane scanned the rest of the store, making a quick plan to get the most stuff. "What can you expect? She's lived there since before animals were allowed and tried to stop the changing of the rules. All she wants is a poop-free yard, and I can't say I blame her."

Lydia's eyebrows rose. "You're siding with Mrs. Hannigan?"

"I wouldn't say I was siding with her, just beginning to understand where she's coming from, that's all." Jane shrugged.

"Right. Go on over to the dog section. I'll come over there when I'm finished here. Can you grab me that new paper with the red stripes and dark brown bones? I've got some pictures of Otis with Olivia and Oliver from last week."

"Dale let that pug get near his precious twins? I thought you said the only thing he cared more about than SportsCenter was those babies."

"Dale hasn't seen the pictures yet. You know he never comes in my scrapbook studio. I think he gets hives when he thinks about how much money I spend on this stuff." Lydia waved her hand to encompass the store. "He's probably right."

"Oh, please. Men are never right." Jane turned toward the dog section. "Dogs, on the other hand, are wonderful companions who never cheat and can't even turn on a computer."

Lydia laughed and turned back to the wall of baby-themed paper in front of her, leaving Jane to take care of the dog paper. Stripes or flowers? She didn't want to make the scrapbook too babyish, but she also didn't want it to look too grownup. The papers were all on sale, so maybe she would just get both. Dale would never know, since he didn't come into her studio anyway, and she could give some of it to Mac for Kesa's baby book. She took two sheets of the pink and lime green-striped paper, then two of the blue rosebud ones.

"Men are never right," she muttered under her breath. Maybe Jane had a good point.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159554271X
• ISBN-13: 978-1595542717
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,306 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, the joys of sisterhood!, March 5, 2007

By	Sourdough (USA) - See all my reviews

A light and fun read to distract me from the falling snow, I thought. But I got more: four All-American women of Faith struggling with issues we can relate easily to in our modern world and too often in our own lives. For almost 300 pages, I was invited to sit down at the scrapping table with four warm and delightful women for a time of sisterhood that was at times hilariously zany, and at other times tender, all woven within the kind of authentic, transparent friendships we were created for. Ms. Seitz is to be applauded for the way she preached a tender message without being "preachy," that message being that in the bonds of sisterhood, we can find wise counsel, comic relief, and the often sobering reminder that impasses in marriage and other intimate relationships are rarely the fault of only one. A wonderful first book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scrapping Thru Lifes Woes & Joys, April 12, 2007

By	CatDog Mom (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

Iwasn't sure what to expect when starting this book but once I got into it I didn't want to put it down. I laughed & cried with the women of "Sisters Inc. and even learned a few scrapping tricks along the way. I can't wait to read the next Sister, Inc. book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friends Can See You Through Anything!, March 8, 2007

By	Nashville Reader - See all my reviews

A stirring reminder of the power of women's friendships, these four women laugh and cry together through moments we can all identify with -- divorce, the challenges of parenting, marriage, etc. Set against the backdrop of scrapbooking, this community of women is inspiring and entertaining.