Sunday Afternoon

It's been a busy but satisfying weekend. Yesterday I went across the line to Bellingham, Wa. for the monthly ATC swap, which as always was a card swapping free-for-all. There must have been about 25 people there because I took 22 cards and ran out before I had swapped with everyone. Crazy, crazy!

My pal Heather and I preceded our swapping with a stop at one of the local scrapbooking stores that has a surprisingly good selection of altered art supplies. I really like this store and bemoan the fact that I have to cross the border to shop at it. There were so many things to tempt me, it was hard deciding what to get. I ended up buying some cardstock and using one of their die-cuts to cut these wonderful little boxes that look like the kind crayons come in. I have big plans for these boxes! I also got some more paper. (Oh the lure of paper! HELP!!) Then of course, there was a trip to Stampadoodle which is just over the top. I swear there are about 2000 stamps in there, and I want... oh about 1500 of them. I settled for 2 and then another 2 from Paper Zone next door, just because they were on sale. In any case, I came home full of new ideas of things I want to make. Some things for fun, some for gifts for altered friends for Xmas. I figure if I get started now, maybe I will have them done in time for Xmas!

I was telling a friend this afternoon that this morning dh and I went to this place called Princess Motors. When they first opened it, I thought to myself "Who in their right mind would name a car parts store something so frou-frou?!?" I still don't know the answer to that, but we went in there this morning to look for a brayer. I thought maybe they would have them. They didn't but I did get to snoop through the store. They had soldering iron sets with all the tips, in a cool box for $14.99. I paid more than that for the one I have, no box, no extra tips! WOW! I also saw they had craft utility knives in a box with 6 different blades for...get this: $1.49!! Holy cow! They had rubber mallets in small sizes. I wanted one but can't remember for what, so I haven't bought it yet. Anyway, it's a cool store full of great stuff. I will be going back to get things there! My friend and I had a good laugh about my getting excited about the tools-she is the same way and says "Yeah forget about the flowers and chocolate-give me tools!" A girl after my own heart!

This trip to the car parts store and yesterday a conversation with Heather about finding art stuff in places other than art/scrapbooking store leads me to thinking I should really compile a list of things you can find in other places to use for art. I had started one some time ago-maybe I will have to revisit that. Food for thought!

So...that was my adventure and inspiration for the weekend. Tomorrow I am going to get busy and start some of the Xmas stuff. The only downside is that I can't say what it is or show any of it here till after the fact or people will know what they are getting. Darn!