Featured Artist / Etsian: Dawn Houser

I have THOUSANDS of rubber stamps. I kid you not. I don't use them much anymore, but I used to collect, buy, use, design, and sell them when I was in high school and I've never been able to part with my huge collection. It is nearly 20 years later and most of them are still boxed up. I have pulled a few out now and then, but I always tell myself that I can NOT buy ANY MORE STAMPS. I broke my own rule when I went to the Stitch fashion and craft event in Austin. I stopped at Dawn Houser's booth and snatched up several packs of the stamps she designed for Inkadinkadoo, including this set with an Asian theme, as well as some holiday stamps. I could not resist her style, and ended up adding about 10 new rubber stamps to my collection. (Aaack!)

I later found Dawn on etsy, the site where I sell my jewelry. Her etsy site [http://dawnhouser.etsy.com/] includes some of her hand knit items, gorgeously eclectic aprons (Oh! I wish I needed an apron!), and sometimes some of her art or collage materials are available. (My wallet is thankful that her rubber stamps have not shown up on etsy.) Dawn also has a wonderful blog about her life in San Antonio as an artist, mom, thrifter, baker, knitter, crafter, reader, and pet lover. Through her blog [http://dawnhouser.blogspot.com/], I discovered that she's also designed stationery for Crane's. I purchased several boxes of these lovely papers for holiday gifts. I hope to one day meet Dawn in person at one of her open studio tours in the Alamo City.

Hunting

I've only been back from our road trip for a full 24 hours and I'm already itching to do more treasure hunting. The problem is, my treasure hunting locally is never as fun as being on the road. I love stopping in small towns and discovering their thrift stores and antique shops. Last weekend the hunt was on as I brought along my handy-dandy Blackberry. Ah, technology... As my husband did the driving, I did the researching on the upcoming towns that we'd be driving through with a quick Internet search. For example, my search for thrift stores in little Evant, Texas yielded this awesome find--the Agape Thrift Store located in the town's main square off US 281. Their prices are super cheap and what could be better than a store with proceeds benefiting a charity?!?

Treasures

Some things in life are treasured in my book. Time with family, time off from work, time to be crafty, time with my friends, time to eat a home cooked meal... I am having a treasured weekend. My husband and I are in Wichita Falls visiting my new family--my mother and father-in-law, aunt, uncle--on a long holiday weekend. The drive to Wichita Falls is a long one, but we have learned to make it a treasure hunt along the way, taking our time to visit antique stores and resale shops in the small town squares along the way. My husband has the treasures that he hunts for and I have mine and we make our way through the narrow aisles of the overstuffed shops hoping to score riches for our various collections before we jump back in the truck and head further down the road. While we haven't scored many thrifty treasures so far this weekend (there's still tomorrow!) compared to other trips we've been on, we've had some quality time together with family, and that's pretty golden. Oh, I did score this fab old jar of vintage buttons in a barn in Bowie, Texas today--but would have missed out on it without my mother-in-law along for the ride. I walked right past it, but she saw high up on a shelf and remembered how much I looooove vintage button jars. Score!