Artists Passion

On Tuesday, I received two giant boxes of yarn from a friend who is moving to San Francisco.

I was going to pile skeins of yarn on my bed and take tons of glamorous photos, but that idea was shelved. There’s a yellow jacket in my car.

I usually don’t mind bugs, but yellow jackets sting. Yellow jacket stings make me woozy. It’s a no-brainer. Plus, I don’t know how long they live, so my yarn might stay in my car until I absolutely have to leave to go to my mom’s house tomorrow. Then, I’ll probably drive the entire way looking over my shoulder for an angry yellow jacket, starved and ready to eat my flesh. (Yes, yellow jackets bite. I’ve had gaping holes in my arms from the phenomenon in the past, because I was too afraid of their sting to stop them from chomping on me.)

Instead of glorying in full frontals of a bunch of fuzzy yarn in different textures, weights, and amounts, I’ll say “Thank you” to Marti for providing me with enough yarn to get me through the next year (or at least a few months).

As for turning trash into treasure, I’m a big fan of reusing trash over recycling. Recycling takes up a lot of energy and resources; men and women in the generations before ours didn’t have problems reusing old containers, fabrics, paints, pretty much anything you can think of. Even paper and plastic disposable cups can be washed out and reused, but we throw them out without thinking about it.

Summer, of the Creative Mom Cafe, shows readers how to make candle holders out of tin cans. While she considers them great gifts, I’d be more likely to make them for myself as luminaries. When I was in high school, I volunteered every year for my home town’s holiday walk, which included hundreds of paper bag luminaries, filled with sand and a lit candle. We were considered the fire patrol; we constantly walked up and down the street with extra luminaries, candles, and a lighter, in case luminaries caught fire or went out. Tin cans are a much better sidewalk luminary idea.

Of course, art doesn’t always have to have a function. Thanks to Globally Green Living, I just discovered the art of Shari Elf, who uses found pieces from yard sales and the like to make her pieces. She also earns a lot of money doing so; it’s just a thought. If you don’t have an overabundance of tin cans, consider scouting out flea markets and thrift stores to use other people’s cast-offs in your art.

It’s a little late, but I’m a big believer that we should be thankful for everything in our lives all the time. So, here we go!

1. My mother.
I’m thankful every holiday season she’s still around, and I’m especially thankful for all of the paintings that end up on my walls.

2. Web Urbanist.
I love the urban art and legends I have at my fingertips because of this site.

3. Sugar ‘n Cream and Peaches and Cream yarn.
These 100 percent cotton yarns are my material of choice for all of my knitting creations. Even blankets, towels, and stuffed animals come out perfect when I use pure cotton.

4. Bamboo knitting needles.
I started knitting on aluminum needles. They would soon have dark pits and gouges in the metal. The colored coating would flake off, and the feeling of the metal grating on metal would set my teeth to grinding. Bamboo works a lot better for me. The needles don’t make my teeth grind when they rub together, and the thinner ones eventually bend to fit in my hand better.

5. Play Doh.
This is probably my favorite children’s toy. It is also the bane of mothers everywhere who have to pick the tiny Play Doh bits out of their carpeting.

5. Squid knitting patterns.
I found the pattern I use on Etsy, and I’ve modified it a few times to come out better.

6. Etsy.
I love the patterns. I love the finished products. Finally, a place I can find hand-printed greeting cards, home-made stuffed animals, carefully crafted jewelry, and so much more.

7. Crafting Out Loud.
It’s my local craft fair. It moves from place to place, but it’s a great place to buy more hand-crafted items for holidays, birthdays, and every day in between. Type in “craft fair” and your city to find a craft fair of your very own!

8. Crafty Chica.
She’s witty, outspoken, crafty, and colorful. I love reading Crafty Chica from my RSS feed. She’s everything I’d eventually like to be: a keen professional who crafts, manages a household, and covers everything that crosses her path in bright colors. I’m thinking of making shadow boxes as one of my next projects. Even though I don’t think I have a drop of Latin genes in my gene pool, I’ve always been attracted to the bright beautiful colors and interesting themes in Latin culture and artwork. I love pretty much everything she does, and she has her own video series online for crafting!

9. Paper Magazine.
I love fashion, especially when it isn’t homogenized mainstream fashion. I also love drag queens. Paper gives me walloping doses of both as it covers the newest trends. I like to think of a lot of its coverage as guerrilla fashion.

10. Mac cosmetics.
Mac looks are a work of art. I also consider it the number one makeup line for drag queens, which is another reason for me to wear it. It’s also a great line to wear for artistic photo shoots and fashion shows, thanks to the large variety in products and the high quality of products. Although, Sephora can be a better place to shop, just because of the large variety of products and brands available. Plus, the staff on hand is an invaluable resource if you’re not sure what you should buy.