Sadness and activity in the neighborhood

I almost didn't post anything today. I didn't make any art. Instead, I spent the day searching high and low for my stamp cutters. It all began when I took some things I bought on Monday to the basement studio to put them away. I also took my bead making supplies and camera, because I intended to create the bead tutorial.

In order to start the bead tutorial, I had to clear off the work space by putting everything in its proper place. Since I like to keep like items together, I wanted to put the cheap pink erasers with the stamp cutters. I'm not even sure what they're called, maybe "lino" cutters, but they are the tools needed to cut the rubber. What eventually happened was I looked a good portion of the day for them. I looked where they had been prior to the restoration crew packing my craft room into boxes about this time last year, I looked where I thought they might be, and I looked where I thought they wouldn't be. I removed items from drawers, off the shelves, and out of baskets, full well knowing the cutters wouldn't be there. But I kept looking.

Around one pm, I moved upstairs to my upstairs studio. I looked in the tools, I looked in the rubber stamp drawer, I looked in the pockets on the door. I even drug my step stool over to get a better look in all the pockets. Nothing.

The reason I'm so sad is because I had a dear friend who gave them to me. After she died, I told myself I would open the package and actually try making my own rubber stamps. I knew she would have liked that. But I never did. I put things off, like I often do, like I've read that other artists do, like I did with today's post, in fact.

What I felt was sadness, sadness that I would not make a stamp, after my friend went to the trouble of buying this gift for me. Like the stamp making kit (several tools and a block of rubber), my friend was gone. Both are now just a memory. Sadness set in. It set in on top of my art slump. I didn't take a single photo of the mess I made during the search process, either.

However, I have a few tips I will share tomorrow about organizing. Some people even ask me to help them organize their art spaces, so tomorrow I will take a few minutes to show what I've learned over the years. However, today, I will be helping my friend Dana (who was in yesterday's post) begin to pack for her move. I'll be helping create her new studio in the coming weeks, so you'll see what I preach in words and pictures.

Near sunset, one of my friends from the neighborhood called to ask why the police were in front of my house. Actually, he asked in a joking way what I had done that a dozen or so police cars were sitting in front of my house. Not having made any art yesterday, my first instinct was to grab my camera and see what was going on.

As I walked outside my house, this was the scene I saw.

There were nine police cars, a CSI van, and several officers standing around the house just north of mine. I knew it had been empty for awhile, but couldn't figure out what was going on. The friend who called said they had been there for about an hour before he called me. So much for knowing what was going on in the neighborhood.

Police were everywhere, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was going on.

Lots of cars, but no action. Although I didn't get a picture of it, one of the windows in the side facing my house was broken out and the police had apparently chased someone who they thought was in there. They were waiting on a search warrant so they could enter.

One of the policemen came to ask if I was OK and said they suspected stolen property, but not drugs. I should have realized that because there wasn't a drug dog in sight.

Now the action was about to begin. The guys dressed in black are from SWAT.

They came in two cars, all six of them looking like they could take on the world in their bulky protective gear.

It took a bit of discussing,

then they huddled together and formed a single line (which I missed), went up to the door and battered it in.

A bit of excitement in the neighborhood, but no art for today's post. Hopefully, I'll have something uplifting to show tomorrow. I actually started a spread, but couldn't find what I wanted to complete it. So there IS hope!! I appreciate everyone sticking with me through this slump. My sadness has lifted today, I will renew my search for the cutting tools, and if I don't find them, I will figure a way to cut the rubber. Maybe I'll hear one of those 40% coupons calling my name.

I found this link on a friend's blog a week or so ago. Today is the perfect day to share The Moments Jars web site. I couldn't find a way to let them know I was showcasing their site today, but I guess that's not the point of the site, anyway. Maybe you'll have fun reading the memories and post one or two of your own.