San Antonio Sights

Here are some highlights from Market Square, the large market filled with Mexican crafts. The colors were incredible! I took a trolley from my hotel to get there. The trolley fare was $1 and included a transfer I could use for the return trip. You don't find those kind of prices in New York City!

San Antonio Regionals

Greetings from beautiful San Antonio, Texas! I have been here since Friday, October 24 so I could attend the Stampin' Up Regionals on Saturday. I've had a little time to explore this beautiful city. The weather has been perfect, and everyone is so friendly. Of course I've been to the River Walk, which is just amazing. I went with some friends on Saturday night. We had margaritas and Mexican food in a restaurant on the River walk. Here's a daytime shot.



Here are some of our Regionals projects. I'm not going to list all of the details. If you'd like to know anything in particular, feel free to email me! The stamp set we received was Best Wishes & More, and we also used Scandinavian Season.

I hope you enjoy seeing them! The photos are not the best since I had to work with what I had in my hotel room, but you should get the idea.







Well, it's off to the Botanical Gardens today. I'll try to post again soon!
Blessings,
Barbara

Divas Sketch Challenge #3

This card is for the weekly Divas sketch challenge. I really enjoyed participating in this. It helps you to stretch your thinking! Here's the recipe.

Stamps: Winter post, Sanded BG, Many Merry Messages
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Ski Slope DSP
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze
Accessories: blender pen, white gel pen, markers, felt flurries, circle ice rhinestone brads.

Anna's Sock Monkey

You know how sometimes, just before you fall asleep, your mind wanders? Once in a while, you get an idea and think, "I should turn on the light and write that down!" On Monday, night, I had one of those ideas.

I fell in love with the Sock Monkey set as soon as I saw it in July. At the Stampin' Up convention at the end of the month, there were demonstrators who actually had sock monkeys with them. After poking around on the Internet, I found some sock monkeys that I liked so I ordered them for our grandchildren, a traditional sock monkey for Henry and a ballerina sock monkey for Anna. Anyway, I was thinking about the sock monkey stamp set and thought, "Wouldn't it be cute to make a sock monkey ballerina?"

So here she is, the tutu sock monkey!



Supplies used (All Stampin' Up)
Stamp Set: Sock Monkey
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain, Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain, Hodge Podge Hardware, silver brads, sticky strip, glue dots, needle and thread

To achieve the look of her tutu, I just used a needle and thread to do a running stitch through the edge of the ribbon and pulled it to gather it. Isn't she the cutest?

Blessings,
Barbara

Customer Thank You

I had to deliver some orders today, and I wanted to include a little thank you for my customers! They had attended my Upsy Daisy class and placed orders, so I wanted to give them an idea for another way to use the stamp set. This is a post it note holder design that I came across about a year ago, and I updated it with some new designer paper and in colors. The base is a piece of paper that is 3 1/2 inches by 11 inches. It gets scored at 5", 5 1/2" and 6" and the bottom folds make a "v" shape.




Here are the supplies (all Stampin' Up) that I used:
Stamp sets: Upsy Daisy, Taking Care of Business
Paper: Confetti White, Not Quite Navy, Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Garden DSP
Inks: Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Word Window, 1 3/8" Circle, Large Oval and Designer Label punches

These make great little thank you gifts! And they'd be adorable stocking stuffers done in some Christmas colors and Designer Series papers.

A new name, and a new look

I've been kicking around the idea of changing my blog title for quite some time now, and a little nudge yesterday was just what I needed. "Blessings" was the title that had come to mind about a month ago. My life is filled with them! My faith, my family, the gift of creativity... Sometimes I feel that God is standing over me with a giant watering can, showering blessings on me! I am very richly blessed, and I know it. God is so good!



Anyway, yesterday I ran to Kohl's early in the morning, looking for new throw rugs for the kitchen. Walking over to the housewares department, I saw this sign, and I couldn't pass it up. It is a distressed tin sign that says "Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." I feel that it expresses perfectly what my attitude should be each day. I hope you get used to the new name and the new look!

Let me know what you think!

Blessings,
Barbara

More Decor Elements

Since this sample was shown at the Stampin' Up Convention this summer, I have been wanting to make it. It is another one of the new Decor Elements line, Season of Thanks (#114883, $14.95). These are so easy to work with and produce stunning results!

Next I'd like to share my page for a 6x6 calendar swap. I made one of these several years ago and really enjoyed the photos every month. I just mailed off my swaps and can't wait to see what I get in return.





Here's the recipe:

Stamp Set: A Good Egg (#111018, $20.95)
Paper: Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Sage Shadow, DSP More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Inks: Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Sage Shadow, Vanilla Craft,
Markers: Barely Banana, Summer Sun, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: gold brads, large oval punch, stampin' dimensionals, photo corners punch