Cheers Hikerbob,
This was one project I was working on as well, although had to shelve it for the time being. I purchased some Nichrome wire and special silicon high temp flexible rubber strips about 1 year ago in anticipation. Completely forgot about the project after damaging my shoulder.
FYI I am considering using a different PCB design software and ordering package
http://fritzing.org/ looks really great for PCB design and small production.
I have both PICAXE and Arduino and may consider one or the other for development. Still mulling over software flow design but this is a good start.