Knotty Mouse

1. A3-hooks, brushes, pens & needles, 2. A1- My spinning wheel and the table where I make jewelry & stitch markers, 3. A2- my computer screen says ” I will NOT draw as I’m told” 4. A4-handspun yarns, needles & spindles (clicking any one of these links will take you to a larger photo on Flickr)

I think that for me, part of being an artistic person is living with your tools of the trade all around you. I don’t “put away” my yarn because I love being surrounded by the colors and textures.. I enjoy seeing my spinning wheel, knitting needles, beads, hooks, brushes & paints. I’m sure its also partially because I’ve never learned to clean up my toys.. but the main reason its all out is because its inspiring to me.

Its taken me a long time to accept that I am an artist.. I create things.. its who I am.. and its a perfectly acceptable answer to “So.. what do you do?”. I’m so quick to bestow the title on other people “oh.. this? my friend made this.. she’s an artist” but when I’m asked what I do - I tend to flounder around with inane answers and make myself sound rather unimportant and boring. I don’t make resolutions, but if I did.. one of mine for 2008 would be to give myself more credit for my own creativity.

P is for patchouli.. which is one of my favorite scents. Its on the top 3 of scents that I could wear every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy as long as it was good quality patchouli oil.  I have a few bottles from different companies (some of which I use for scenting soaps and lotions.. others for room scents) but  my personal favorite is this bottle from the Body Shop. 

P is also for Perfume… which is another one of the top things I spend my money on.  I love scents.. and I tend to change my perfume depending on my mood. I don’t like commercial perfumes that are found at the counter of your local department store.. mostly because my body chemistry tends to destroy the scents and I end up smelling like I fell into a vat of booze. The only 3 bottles that I have of commercial perfumes are Gap brand ‘Om” perfume, Victorias Secret ‘Dream Angels -Heavenly’ (yeah.. go ahead and laugh at that one.. its rather ironic) and Bath & Body Works Tutti Dolce’ “Chocolate Mousse”. I have entirely too many bottles and vials of perfume oils in the house.. so many in fact that I would be embarrassed to take photos of all of them and admit my addiction to the blog world.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve posted photos of my “precious” on the BPAL forums before..  as their blends are some of my favorites on the internet.

My favorite scents are either “foody” - chocolate, candy corn, donuts, frosting, and other desserts..  or “exotics/incense”- like patchouli, sandalwood, nag champa, clove, cardamom, indian spices, and the like. If someone made a scent that smelled like chai tea (chai masala spices) I’d be all over it. 

O is for Onions. Onions were never a big deal to me.. I don’t particularly care for them but I will eat them in things.. as onion rings, in salsa, but not on burgers or hot dogs. Turns out that onions became very important to me when I married my husband almost 9 years ago - he’s allergic to them! The dehydrated onion flakes in the picture are the only way that evil onions enter this house now.. and going out for food is always tricky. Thankfully he’s not deathly allergic (throat closing up.. etc) but he does get VERY sick to his stomach and WISH he was on his way out !! I’m not sure if ABC along has ended or not.. but I’m going to keep on trucking until I finish the alphabet.. only 11 letters left.