Creative Day 8: An Artist's Date and A Card

Today was a good day.  It started off a bit iffy -- I hit snooze and then didn't hear my alarm again, so I woke up late and rushed out the door -- but I had some productive work time, a good meeting with a teacher to plan some professional development activities for the end of the month, and on my way home form work I treated myself to an Artist's Date.  A real one -- exploring, by myself, letting my inner creative child run free (at least for a short amount of time).  I went antique shopping.

I was told as a child "shopping means looking, not buying."  I have no idea if that's true in general, but it was mostly true today.  There is a lovely tiny town between work and home and this town specializes in antiques.  The entire itty-bitty main street is crowded with various antique shops, the occasional wine bar, and, sometimes, when business is good, a malt shop. (Malt Shoppe?)  In summer months people come from far and wide to walk up and down the street and buy overpriced goods that were probably once owned by their grandparents.  I am convinced that I've seen half of this stuff in yard sales for fifty cents or a dollar and now it sits proudly on shelves displaying price tags that almost laughable.  In one shop I saw an old wooden child's chair -- nothing pretty or unique, a bit wobbly -- for $50.  That's when I knew I probably couldn't afford to breathe in there and I should definitely keep my hands to myself.

One shop had, among other things, door knobs, locks, key hole covers, and every imaginable piece of old doors.  Including old doors.  I would've loved to find some cool door knobs for my sister, but again, they were too expensive for me to even look in their general direction.  Somehow, though, I managed to find a box of "furniture key hole covers."  A few happened to be in the $3-4 range and I figured that was probably okay if I could find something that looked cool and if I could think of a worthy project.  I wound up with two and I have an idea for a project -- but I'm not telling what it is yet!

Today after work I decided to buy a few brushes, better brushes, for painting.  While I still refuse to spend oodles of money on something just to see if I like it, I thought that finding a few paintbrushes for $1 each was probably good -- a step up from what I was using without breaking the bank.

My original thought for a creative project tonight was to do some more painting, but then I remembered that a former student is getting married tomorrow evening and I wanted to make a card for her.  Yes, I could buy a card, but I remember from my own wedding -- and so many others -- that chances are the couple will receive multiple identical cards.  I wanted something unique.  I haven't started a wedding line of my photo cards yet, so instead I made a card using a stamp.  Or, more precisely, my thumb and an ink pad.  I think it turned out okay, although it would probably be better if I had red ink.  Oh well!

Does it look like a heart?  I hope so!