Rewarding Myself

My 2 piece Fiskars set...

Okay, so there are just things that I cannot make for myself... like a rotary cutter and cutting mat. A little over a month ago, while in the midst of making my MyTie Makeover Mini Bag test purses, I truly got tired of having to move in slow motion with my scissors.

Armed with a "50% off any regularly priced item" coupon from Michaels, I took the plunge and bought myself a two-piece Fiskars set with a 45mm cutter and a small 6" x 18" mat. I paid $17.50 for it. Good deal, as the cheapest I've seen elsewhere is $21.97 at our local Walmart. (And it's $17.80 USD at Walmart south of the border.) For once, eBay wasn't offering up anything great as their prices were well over $40 once you account for shipping.

The mat is small by comparison to some of the others that I saw in the store (and definitely smaller than the ones most of my fellow sewing bloggers are using), but I like it fine. Using the rotary cutter takes some getting used to — and apparently there is a "right way" to use one of those — but I'm getting the hang of it and staying safe!

Then just last week, I was measuring and cutting what seemed like an endless number of rectangular pieces of fabric for this organizer thingamijig that I'm currently making and I thought: I need that transparent plastic ruler, too. Over the weekend, Michaels again offered up a 50% discount coupon, so off I went to get myself an Omnigrid 6" x 24" sewing ruler for just over $13. Another bargain score!

But this post is not really about my new rotary cutter, mat, and ruler, fascinating as they are. It's about the idea of rewarding yourself.

Are you a goal setter? And if you are, what do you do to give yourself recognition when you reach those goals?

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I can't say that I've ever been an avid goal setter, which may surprise those who know me well. (But then they're not reading this.) I tend to take life as it unfolds. Apart from being organized and keeping a schedule (on paper, which is another thing that may surprise those who know me to be a techie), I'm not one to set deadlines and track signposts. It may be because in my previous work life, those were daily requirements.

But I do know that when something noteworthy happens, it's nice to reward myself. A couple of months ago, on September 25 to be exact, I happened to check my Craftsy account and saw that I had achieved exactly 1,000 pattern sales for the year. (Craftsy counts a free pattern download as a "sale"; believe me, I'm not getting rich selling sewing patterns!)

It seemed like a huge coincidence that I would catch it at that precise moment, so it became something to celebrate... especially considering that five days earlier, my first commission payment through the Craftsy affiliate program was released and on its way to me via snail mail.

Marking a significant sales milestone, getting a little bit of pocket money... all in support of a goal that I actually did set for myself a little over a year ago: to transition from student to designer. And since I appear to be making progress on that front, the reward of a rotary cutter and mat set — and ruler — is well earned, don't you think? ;-)