Stamp Salado, Salado, TX

I emailed A Muse Design Team Member, Geeta who lives in Austin, to see if there were any stamp stores she would recommend I visit. She emailed me back and told me of one in Austin, however it was more a scrapbooking store than a stamp store. She also mentioned Stamp Antonio in San Antonio and Stamp Salado in Salado, TX. She teaches classes at all 3 stores. She highly recommended that I check out Stamp Salado so I put it on my list of things to do.

We were going to be in Austin, TX overnight on our way back west. Gerry wanted to go to Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop which is Lance Armstrong's bike shop. We got to Austin about noon and went to the bike shop first. It wasn't all that exciting, just another bike shop. They have a small cafe and we thought we would have lunch there. It was nothing more than a Starbuck's kind of place and didn't have much in the way of lunch items. Gerry got a coffee drink and I got an Italian soda. He bought a bike jersey.

We then got back on the interstate and drove up to Salado which is about 45 miles north of Austin. It is a historic town with lots to see there, lots of neat shops too.

So here it is, Stamp Salado. It is located in what looked like to be someone's home at some time. It is rather small inside, however just packed with all kinds of goodies. I liked the way the shop was arranged. Stamps were grouped according to theme and there were lots of card samples.

This dove card was with the Christmas stamps. I loved the card so bought the stamp. The card base is a dark blue and it looked like a multi color stamp pad was used in blues and purples to stamp the dove. The hope-peace-love was embossed in silver. I didn't see this particular stamp saying.

Here is card sample using the US Marine emblem. The colors are gold and red with the emblem embossed in gold. I thought I would do this card for my Marine (Gerry) so bought the stamp.

Here is the US Army emblem. My grandson Nathanael goes to Army basic training the early part of August.

There was a section of stamps pertaining to the state of Texas. I loved this card of the bluebonnet which is the state flower. I'm sorry the picture got messed up when I downloaded it on here. Don't know what the problem is. Another picture got messed up too. So frustrating. Anyway, I made a card using this stamp. I thought I took a picture of it, however I didn't, so I will post it later. I found the website for the artist that illustrates these particular stamps so I want to get some others she has on her site.

I loved this card with this shell. I bought this stamp too. It is pretty simple yet so elegant. The colors are purple, brown and gold. The shell was stamped in white.

This hedgehog stamp is by Penny Black. I loved this card soon as I saw it so I bought the stamp and made my granddaughter's birthday card using this stamp. It turned out ok. I'll post it later. Penny Black has some other cute hedgehog stamps, in fact all of her critter stamps are adorable.

This picture got messed up after I downloaded it here. The card base is red with green. Red buttons were used for the cherries. I am so sorry you can't see that part.

So here are the stamps I bought.

This stamp set is by Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The stamps are round pegs. The set comes with instructions how to use the pegs. It also gives you a list of the stamp colors to use. I've wanted one of these sets for a long time. I get their weekly email newsletter and it usually includes an instruction video how to use the pegs. So I will give it a try and see how it turns out. The set is called Spring Blooms. The idea is to stamp in a wreath shape, first starting at the north, south, east and west points and then filling in with the other pegs.

Geeta told me I would really love this shop and I did. Sure wish it wasn't so far away. :)) It is actually between Ft. Worth/Dallas and Austin so if we ever make another trip to Ft. Worth, I will for sure be going back down there.

Shopping In Ft. Worth

While in Ft. Worth I shopped at two Stamp/Craft Stores. Hobby Lobby is a Craft/Home Decor Store located throughout the southeast and southwest. They are like a Michael's only better with a lot more home decor items. The closest one to California are in the Phoenix, AZ area. I thought I saw a brand new one west of Phoenix.

I visited the one in Ft. Worth on my own. We had seen it on the Friday we were in town. We had gone to the Stockyards and were driving over to another part of town to eat at a Japanese restaurant Keith thought we might like. So the next day (Saturday) Gerry and Keith were going to go on a bike ride in the morning and after checking with Keith making sure I knew how to get there, I ventured off on my own. I had no problem finding it.

The stamp section was not very large with a very limited amount of stamps. I did find these stamps that I thought were nice. (I am not sure what happened to the picture. It was fine with I downloaded it to my computer, however for some reason I have a line splitting the images in two pieces).
They did have a nice selection of Cuttlebug embossing folders. This one has 5 different butterfly folders. You know I love butterflies!!!

The next 3 are border embossing folders. I have looked at these online at several different spots and have wanted to get them. I used the swiss dots border on a card I made for my granddaughter's birthday. I also have the full size swiss dots folder which I have used a lot.

I really liked this branch with leaves.

I am anxious to do some creating with these folders.

Before we left on our vacation, I asked Gerry to ask Keith if there were any stamp stores in Ft. Worth. The next time Gerry was on the phone with Keith, I reminded him to ask Keith. Keith googled stamp stores and found one that was going out of business.

So after getting to our hotel in Ft. Worth, Keith asked me if I wanted to go check out the stamp store. Gerry needed to find a bike shop to get a rear view mirror he clips onto his sunglasses when he rides. He had left the one he has at home. Keith said there was a bike shop right around the corner from the stamp store. So we went down to the stamp store, parked the car there and they walked around the corner to the bike shop while I shopped. The owner still had quite a bit of stock left, marked down to as much as 40% off.

Here is what I purchased: some VersaMagic chalk ink pads, 5 yards each of 3 different kinds of ribbon by May Company, a couple of packages of 2 different kinds of brads, glue dots and an A Muse stamp.

The owner has had her shop for 13 years and decided not to renew her lease which expired today. Her husband is retired and they want to do some traveling.

I'm Back!!

It's been almost a month since I last posted. We arrived back in Sacramento June 13th after being on our vacation road trip for 29 days. We drove over 6,173 miles. We visited family in LaPuente, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Ft. Worth, TX and Enterprise, AL. We had layovers in El Paso, TX; Big Spring, TX; Pearl, MS; Baton Rouge, LA; Webster (Houston), TX; Austin, TX; Sonora, TX and back again at El Paso. We visited family again in Phoenix and LaPuente before finally arriving home.

We spent 3 days in Ft. Worth with our son, Keith. This visit was probably one of the highlights of our trip. We had an absolute fantastic visit. I've posted pictures of our visit in Ft. Worth on my other blog. Gerry and Keith went out on 2 days for a nice bike ride along the bike trail that goes along the Trinity River. I have some pictures to post on my other blog of those rides. We visited the Stockyards, the Japanese Tea Garden in the Ft. Worth Botantical Gardens and ate at some really fantastic places.

We had some thunder storms getting across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Entering Mississippi it rained so hard, we were doing 20 mph on the interstate with our emergency flashing lights going. The other cars on the interstate were doing the same. The windshield wipers were not doing much good.

We drove down to Destin, FL from Enterprise, AL to see the Gulf of Mexico. That part of the Gulf was beautiful, the water reminded me somewhat of Hawaii. Beautiful green and turquoise farther out from shore.

We did some sightseeing in Louisiana, visiting a plantation, going on board the USS Kidd anchored on the Mississippi River and driving north along the Mississippi River to the town of St. Francisville. We took a ferry ride across the Mississippi River and then drove down on the west side of the river back to Port Allen where we were staying. We also visited an Acadian Village in Lafayette, LA that was on our way to Houston.

Leaving Lafayette we drove down to Holly Beach, LA and followed the coastal highway along the Intracostal Waterway into Texas. While in Webster (Houston) we toured the Johnson Space Center at NASA and drove down to Galveston Island where some of the destruction left by Hurricane Ike could still be seen. The gulf along Galveston Island is not as pretty as it was in Destin. We took another ferry ride over to the Bolivar Penisula which is across the Intracostal Waterway and Galveston Channel. The destruction left from Hurricane Ike was pretty intense there. It was a long 2 plus hour ride back to Houston from there so we turned around and got back in line to take the ferry back across to Galveston. That was a very long day.

In Austin we stopped at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop (Lance Armstrong's bike shop). Gerry bought a bike jersey there and we got our grandson Nathanael a LiveStrong hat. From there we drove about 45 miles north to the historic town of Salado to go to Stamp Salado. An AMuse Art Stamp design team member who lives in Austin told me about the shop. This was the neatest shop. I will have some pictures to post in a later post.

Our visit to Enterprise, AL was the top highlight of our vacation. My grandson's graduation was fantastic. There was a slight delay in starting the ceremony to wait for a thunderstorm to pass over. After the rain stopped, a beautiful rainbow appeared. Our visit there in Enterprise was great and we were happy we made the trip to be there for his graduation. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend with Denise (my daughter). It was fantastic "mommy/daughter time". Also got to spend some quality time with Rebekah and Nathanael (grandchildren) and Stephen (son-in-law) spoiled us at the coffee shop. And got to know Britta (grandson's girlfriend) a little better. She is a sweet girl!


So it's back to a somewhat normal routine. We've had lots going on since we got home and it doesn't look like it will slow any time soon. We've had two memorial services to go to, I am planning Gerry's 70th birthday party for later next month (our Southern California girls from LaPuente will be in town) and I am hosting a Shoebox Card Swap here at our mobile home park the end of August. And somewhere in between all of this, I need to get back to my craft table and get some cards made. Oh, I'm also going to be taking a couple of classes the middle of July with Julie Ebersole at The Paper Garden for AMuseapalooza week. This is when AMuse Art Stamps releases their new holiday stamps. I'm looking forward to these classes because the Shoebox Card Swap is a holiday theme and I need some new stamps/ideas for that event. :))

Thanks for sticking with me and I hope to not be so absent from this blog. :))

Just Checking In

Hi all!! We are still on vacation. We are in Houston, TX, got here last night and leave tomorrow for Austin. Going to the Johnson Space Center today and drive down to Galveston. After T-storms yesterday, it is hot here today.

I am anxious to get home and back to stamping. Its been too long since I inked up stamps!!! Hope to visit Stamp Salado in Salado, TX tomorrow. It is about an hour north of Austin. Geeta, A Muse Design Team member, who lives in Austin told me about the store. The town of Salado is a historic town so it should be interesting to visit.

The plans are to get home on Saturday June 13th. The trip has gone well. Had a great time with Denise and family in Enterprise. Check out my Betty's Ramblings blog to see what we've been up too. http://anewdaywithbetty.blogspot.com I have tons of pictures to download to that blog and am way behind in doing that.

Be back soon!!