Saturday, July 01, 2006

Some random thoughts before I head out to the studio...

While at Joann's the other night, I looked at and priced a large Fiskar's cutting mat with a hand-held rotary trimmer and a plastic/acrylic guide and decided I'd like to have one. Imagine my surprise when I got home and scoured throught the next week advertisement to discover that it is one sale for 50% off this week! I spoke with Don this morning and we are going out to get it later this afternoon when he returns from work. {Having only one vehicle is the pits sometimes! But such is life...... hopefully soon we'll get the Jeep repaired and running once again... hmm, by the time winter rolls in!}

I have a smaller Fiskars mat, scarred and worn from my rubberstamp and mixed media use, splattered with inks and paints that overlapped off of the paper I've inked or painted, sprinkled with bits of markers that ran off edges of paper that I create on. I wonder how it would take alcohol inks, LOL! The only problem is those babies warp when heat from a heat gun is applied..... care to ask how I would know that? {big grin} Anyways, I have sort of reserved it's use to paper use only... and my bookbinding, as I often use it to protect my tables when cutting and covering bookboards. Anyways, I'm planning to keep this new larger one for fabric use ONLY!

Another kewl item, I may purchase is a pinking shear rotary blade! I never knew that Fiskar's even made one. I have several different rotary blades already that I use in my Fiskar rotary cutting device, a deckle edge and a Victorian scallop but I have never seen this one. I'm thinking I'll pick it up although it will sort of cut into the amount of savings from the sale price of the cutting mat itself. I am sort of anxious to begin working on creating my first ever quilt. I've decided to also purchase a few more yards of fabric, one in a lighter shade of solid blue and another in a either a green or a purple; probably a lighter shade of the green most likely. I'll make my final decision when I actually see them. That ought to about eat up the savings I made this last month off the grocery bill, LOL!

I spent some time online yesterday creating a new wish list of some rubberstamps that I'd like to purchase. I know that I'll probably scare the be-jesus out of myself when I add them all up, LOL! But I quickly realized as my list grew and grew that I don't have to purchase them all at once. I can simply divide it up into some smaller orders and order them a bit at a time. I think that I will also leave just a few for my Christmas wish list for Don as he is always asking me what I want and by the time Christmas rolls around I really don't know what to tell him! So, I'm preparing a list for him in advance this year.

Speaking of gifts, today is my dd, Amber's 26th birthday! I haven't purchased a thing for her because I didn't know what she needed. Speaking with her yesterday, I asked her what she'd like and she totally amazed me with her response. She told me she'd just like some cash so that she could apply it to getting Alexxis's baby pictures she had recently had taken so she could give some of them to close family members and friends. I instantly thought to myself that the statement was spoken like a true mom! Always thinking about your children and other people first before yourself. So, I think I'm going to give her some $$$ on the photographs and do something nice just for her. I haven't decide what exactly yet but I do know that I'd like to do something that will allow her to pamper herself a little bit and maybe offer my time watching Alexxis while she does it. A gift card for anice lunch out with a girlfriend, a haircut and color, a manicure, a gift bag of bath and body works with a candle--- something! I'd thought about buying her a few new nice silk camisole top, but then it hit me the majority of her days are spent taking care of the house, baby, and her family so she'd probably have opportunity to actually wear it, LOL! so something pampering would be better. I also thought a quilt and good book would be nice as a Christmas gift for her, she could sit, read, and relax after Alexxis's is in bed at night... hmmm, I better wait and see how this first one goes before I decide to create another one!

Anyways, I need to check my emails, make a few telephone calls, and get Chaos settled in before I head out to the studio so I suppose I should get to doing..... again. The house is cleaned since I cleaned yesterday before the grandbaby came over and while she was sleeping. I even managed to strip the bed, wash our sheets and bedding and hung it outside to dry. It was great sleeping on clean sheets and smelling that crisp, clean line dried scent. Needless to say, both Don and I slept well, and today are ready to start our day!

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