How do you manage the copious amounts of artwork that children produce? I get asked that question a lot from friends who struggle to find the balance between saving it all and tossing it into the trash.
A few years ago I bought frames that came with mattes inside the frame. Matting your your photos and paintings gives them a more professional appearance. Matching frames make it seem like a whole ensemble of work. Figure out what size artwork your children usually produce. Then hit your local craft store when they are having a sale and stock up on frames with mattes that have openings the size of the artwork paper. my kids frequesntly use 11×14″ paper, so I bought a few 16×20″ frames that have an 11×14″ opening.
I also bought 11×14″ frames with 8×10″ openings which are perfect for highlighting just an area of a painting. Great for the smaller children’s artwork which is usually just colorful paint splashed all over a page. Take the matte and arrange it over the painting until an area that you like is visible. Cut the painting to fit the frame.
My children love having their artwork displayed. And I love the vibrant colors their artwork usually contains.
Stefanie, from Totally Together Journal, recently wrote a post about the same thing. She has an ingenious idea to use cork boards and 1/4″ round moulding to create an area where her children’s artwork can be displayed and easily rotated. I love this idea for an narrow hallway or back entryway.
Scrappy Art found a way to preserve her children’s artwork in a scrapbook. Beautiful! It makes me wish that I were more crafty, but I am not.
There is a manageable way to keep all of these forever.
Start a file folder for your child on the computer. Scan artwork as a .jpg (picture file) you can make this folder your screen saver on the computer so it switches every so often to every possible creation the kids have made. You could also put all the files on one of the Kodak picture frames that change pictures automatically.
Then use the actual artwork to teach your child how to recycle the paper, so it can become something else great!
Comment by Portia — May 2, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
These are great ideas! I have a door on my pantry and rotate the artwork. I then take the old stuff and put it in an old diaper box (Huggs) and then once a year, go through it all and keep the ones I think are cute and then toss the rest.
However, I should utilize the above tips because my husband (and I) each have a HUGE bag of our artwork from when we were children in our basement. We never look at it! LOL
Comment by Anne — May 2, 2009 @ 9:43 pm