The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Angie at Echoes of Laughter.
Hello Org Junkie readers! I am posting this from Toronto, Canada this week where I am attending not one but two blogging conferences! It’s been a whirlwind of fun and laughter so far. When I last posted here 2 weeks ago, I wrote about how I sorted and organized my son’s special keepsakes as part of his room makeover. In the comments, there was a very good question and it was, “How do you save kids’ artwork?”
Organizing Kids’ Keepsakes
Let’s chat about that for a minute. There are lots of ways of saving kids artwork…from taking pictures of it, to keeping pieces in a scrapbook, to just piling it in a closet, under a bed or a corner. But as a mom who has a 12 year old and a 17 year old, I can tell you that the scribbling, drawing and art-from-school days in my house are mostly over. I haven’t received a new piece of artwork from either of my kids in a long time. I feel so sad that the days of cute crayon drawings are over. I realized a few years back that I really wanted to save and treasure my kids’ artwork in a tangible way that we could enjoy. So I chose to frame our favourite pieces of artwork to create a gallery wall. And if you think you need to make a large investment in frames for this happen, I am here to tell you that any collection of thrift store, re-purposed or yard sale frames will work. And you can even unify the display by spray-painting all of the frames one colour. I have used an eclectic assortment of frames for a budget friendly solution and I can’t tell you how much we enjoy our kids’ artwork hung on a wall in our family room. It’s my favourite wall in the whole house.
Another solution for kids’ artwork is to buy those flat totes that can stored under a bed. Assign one box per child and tuck away pieces when you can. These boxes work just fine to save artwork in those until such time as you decided to frame a piece, or the box becomes too full…at which time I suggest that you cull the collection to just the very favourite pieces.
My overall philosophy is this: if you love it enough to save it, then you should hang it up and enjoy it! Try to include meaningful pieces of artwork in your home whenever you can. And with Christmas coming, I also think it’s a wonderful idea to choose or save pieces of artwork to frame as gifts for grandparents, which make for presents that are both unique and special.
So please share what works for you. How have you chosen to save kids’ artwork? Do you have it tucked away, or do you have a collection on your walls!
Happy Fall and see you in 2 weeks!
Angie’s blog, Echoes of Laughter, is all about filling your home with love and laughter. She loves creative projects, organizing & decorating, cooking, baking, and all things domestic. Angie lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband and two great kids.
Linking up:
Leanne says
We get the XXL ziplock bags, the kind with the woman on the front carrying sports balls in the ziplock bag, and we sort everything at the end of the year and stow it in those. 1 per child per year. They don’t have nearly as much now that they are a little bit older, but these can be stowed upright in a lidless tote bin and are pretty neat. Special things like feathers and rocks and the like are scattered in their room but they each have a treasure box that they are supposed to store this kind of thing in. We all each have a cardboard photo box where very special keepsakes go such as a pair of worn out baby slippers or a photo from Christmas or a commemorative stamp from the year they were born.
Susan says
We have giant portfolios for our kids’ artwork. They stand upright in the closet so they don’t take up much space. Portfolios also are great for larger projects.
Ellen Delap says
Love this post! Lots of moms are taking pictures of their kids’ artwork and making photo books too.