Growing up my mother made my brother and me an art cupboard. I loved that art cupboard. It was always full of fun treasure– markers, crayons, construction paper, stickers, paints, and various other knick-knacks. Every so often while cleaning the house, my mother would tidy the art cupboard. I hated those days… they were the worst. She would get out a blank sheet of paper and test the markers. If they had dried out they would go into the trash can. I guess that was understandable since they no longer worked. It was the crayons that were the hardest to part with. She would throw out the little nubs of crayon that where floating around our giant box. Maybe it was because I was over dramatic… or maybe it was because I was an artistic child– with every coloring device thrown in the the garbage bin was also an opportunity to create some great. Maybe it was a control issue…. or that I was just a little kid. Whatever the reason… I was not a fan of “clean the art cupboard day” and was known to shed a tear or two on the days it commenced. Until one fine day my mother suggested that we make giant tie dye crayons out of all my broken pieces instead of throwing them away. Brilliant. I was totally onboard.

read more