Pencil Portraits Drawn From Photos - Pencil Portrait Artist Darla Dixon

What did you do during your Memorial Day Weekend?

I spent some time organizing my art and scrapbooking supplies. I was only able to do a little bit of organizing each day, but I think I got a lot done.

I got some organizing drawer thingies at K-Mart and now I'm able to put adhesives in one drawer, stamps and stamp pads in another, scissors in yet another, and so on. Organizing can blow your mind....like why and where did I get 10 pairs of scissors?!? You don't realize how many of certain things you have until you actually get them clustered.

Then I had the job of sorting through memorabilia and photos. So many drawings by my kids and the hard decisions about which to keep and which to throw away? I also ran across momentos and photos of my dad and of my husband's mother (she passed away in 1978 at age 35). Many of her things are ephemera, even a few cancelled checks, her passport and her Master Charge (looked very different in 1978). I had also received things from her mother, like some of her childhood medical records, her autograph book, etc.
All these things are important to get scrapbooked for my kids, because it's all they'll 'know' of their grandmother. When it ever gets done, I think it will be the most awesome thing...more like a dossier than a scrapbook.

But so much stuff has piled up here, I decided the best way was to just get sorting. I took some large kraft envelopes and labelled them for each project. Even if I can't do the scrapbooking right now, just getting the stuff sorted out will make the scrapbooking much easier later on. I then started putting things in those envelopes as fast as I could, trying only to touch each thing once and not getting sidetracked. I also gave myself some priorities...because what is currently changing is my kids, I will focus on keeping up to date (once I catch up!) on their scrapbooks. Someday when I have time I will work on the scrapbooks of those who have passed away.