The past weeks have been a blur and passed quickly. In addition to helping my sis take care of my Mom, I've changed jobs and now back at my old job which is not as fast paced. So that has helped in reducing some stress in my life. My Mom is doing better and back at home so I'll continue to help with her. We're going through her belongings, sorting, decluttering, packing up what she wants to keep. Maybe in a couple of months she will be able move into a smaller place, an apartment.
I'm trying to rest a bit and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather. But not resting for too long. I've been able to do a little gardening and have some herbs and tomato plants started. I have even been able to work on a little bit of art and on my Etsy shop but it will be a while yet before it's open.
I also made a decision to invest in a die cut machine. Having a limited art budget and working space, I've been debating over die cutters for several long months. I finally decided to go with the Sizzix Big Shot. I didn't want a large, detailed, expensive die cutter so I've only looked over the hand operated ones. I narrowed it down between the Sizzix and the Cuttlebug but finally decided on the
Sizzix Big Shot which I purchased at Amazon. First of all, it's in my price range, secondly I like the look of the base. The longer base appeared to be have the amount of room I'm looking for and sturdy enough to prevent tipping. From viewing some online videos about using the different die cutters, the Sizzix fit my needs. I like that different brands of dies can be used on the Sizzix. I bought five dies to get started with:
Primitive Hearts,
Scalloped Circles,
Sizzix Movers and Shapers Tim Holtz Tag & Bookplate die,
Spellbinders Nestabilities Card Creator Rectangles, and
Spellbinders Shapeabilities Home Sweet Home. I'll experiment with these for a while but I'm sure I will purchase a few more dies that I think I will use often. It just arrived a few days ago and I've already started using it! Anyone else have a die cut machine, especially the Sizzix Big Shot?
Here's a couple of my creations using the large tag, wings, and little hearts dies:
