Pencil Shavings

Days Off Mean a Ton of Work!

I have been busy volunteering at the school and trying to find the house under the piles of clutter that I have everywhere.

I am quite likely a typical mom.  I have time off and I fill that time with stuff that needs to be done, instead of enjoying the spring sun on my face, or reading a good book, I find myself hip deep in dirty sheets, or cleaning out the cupboard that is full of plastic containers that don't have lids.

Today I'm washing those dirty sheets and hanging them on the clothes line in the spring sun (hey at least I'll feel it while I'm out hanging the sheets!)  then I have to run out and pick up supplies for my oldest daughter's school project, and deal with book work for our families company before figuring out dinner and taking the kids out for a bike ride (I need to teach the youngest how to stop her bike without jumping off of it.)

Meanwhile, on the weekend I worked up a tutorial for making watercolor panels to paint on (like those Aquaboards that I sometimes see in the store) with that groovy sample of Daniel Smith Watercolor ground.

If you want to see how I made it head over to my Squidoo page and check it out here. (Make Your Own Watercolor Panels )

Go aheaad and give it a try.  Making your own stuff can be so much fun!

Ring the Bells That Still Can Ring

Ring the bells that still can ring,

Forget your perfect offering,

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

~Leonard Cohen "Anthem"

The last few weeks have been so hard for me.  I've felt like I'm being crushed with sadness with sorrow.  I told a friend that I wasn't even sure, that if I could hang on long enough, that there was another side to this depression.

The answer came back to me with calm certainty, "There is always another side.  You just have to hold on long enough."

So I've held on.  Finally tonight I opened my sketchbook and began to work. 

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.  "

And even though I am not fully back into the sun, I can see the light through the crack that I wedged open with the tip of a pen.