Presents, Purchases, & FUN!

Although perhaps I thought I'd be art-ing today, it turned out that I had to drive my oldest male child to work, run a bank errand, stop for gas. And then my Lovely Mother called to say she was stopping by for a visit and with some gifties for me. When she arrived, we sat and chatted in my livingroom. We always seem to be doing a swap ourselves -- her bag o'stuff for me for my bag o'stuff for her. I had a sack full of DVD's to loan her, along with the 3 most recent issues of Romantic Home. And Momsk brought me my favorite coffee-ice cream mixture from Cold Stone, a beckoning-with-promises-of-delight book about Beatrix Potter, and a HUGE surprise from one of her co-workers, who is now on My Hero list. Chris F., you cannot imagine how your gift (pictures below) stirred me! Thank you! A bag of leaves from MARYLAND!!! Maryland is the place I consider my hometown. I miss Maryland, especially (especially!) autumn in Maryland. Oh, be still my heart! A bag of autumn Maryland leaves, and suddenly I can smell Rock Creek Park, picture the old mill, walk the path along the railroad tracks to my junior high school, zip up in my mind the thick blue sweatshirt I wore on September afternoons up at the park, feel the whoosh under my back and feet as I would swing or seesaw or self-propel the merry-go-round. All this memory, packed in a bag of leaves. Nothing exceeds this color palette. I have the perfect place to keepsake these leaves. They've traveled so far, too, let them rest in sweet-smelling yellow tissue paper. Nestled together, the way they do on the ground, & in the branches before they airily tumble down. My two favorites. Loveliness.
A leaf-covered, leaf-shaped box for my Maryland leaves. Perfection!

And then? Well, if one has to drive one's youngest male child to the gym, one might as well visit the 99-cent store on the way home, right? This is why I adore the 99-cent store. Two packs of paintbrushes, a soldering iron [to use to cut stencils, I can't find my stencil burner, EESH GIRL!!! There is a reason for that (see last picture in this blog entry!)], packaging tape for transfer-making, and 2 shower curtains for the price of one, to use as drop cloths for mess-making. $5. AND LOOK WHAT THE MAILMAN BROUGHT!!!! These Lyra watercolor crayons represent a MONSTROUS splurge for me. But I had a gift certificate, and the company (Wilde Ideas) was offering 35% off if I ordered before 12/31. My hands are literally shaking at having them here, at last! Ooh. Ahhh. Aren't they lovely? And slowly, slowly, one-by-one, I am building my Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint supply. I don't want ALL the colors, but there are a few more specific colors I aspire to. This is why I don't like to turn around in my studio.! Ok, ok, okayuuhhhh! So I'm a little behind on studio cleaning! Somewhere in this mess is my stencil burner. I think.