You all know by now that I'm an avid scrapbooker. I always have four albums going ... one for each of the boys and one for me and Grayson. It's a continual struggle to decide what to scrapbook and what to leave out, since I do whatever it takes to fit two years of life into one volume. (Thank GOODNESS we didn't make it to the pumpkin patch in 2009. NO ROOM IN THE SCRAPBOOKS FOR IT.)
I don't keep much (if any) memorabilia outside of the kids' scrapbooks for them. If it's important, I take a picture of it and put it in their books. This goes for artwork, too, and that's what I wanted to share with you today.
If you're like me, your kids' teachers send home lots of artwork from school. I'd say between the three boys, we probably get 15 to 20 pieces of "art" each week. That can range from a couple of crayon scribbles on a white piece of paper to a cotton ball rendering of a sheep to a really elaborate multi-media Star Wars scene.
What in the world do you DO with all that stuff? I keep the really neat stuff and showcase it on the fridge for a week or two, and then it goes into the "pictures to take" pile in my scrapbooking area. I lay out four pieces of artwork at a time for each child, and I take a picture of it.
I do a page about once a quarter (or once a season, if you think of it that way), and I do an Art page in each of their scrapbooks.
If they're at an age where it's hard to tell what their art REPRESENTS, I journal a short description below each picture.
When the timing of the page coincides with school pictures, many times I'll put the school picture on the same page.
This method keeps us from saving too much stuff that would eventually get stored in a box in the attic, while at the same time allows us to have memories of what they were capable of at a certain time. Nicholas has done some incredible art projects for his age, and I'm glad to have them documented -- and he loves to go back and look at them!
Do you have any clever ideas for showcasing or storing your children's artwork?
3 comments:
Do you sew? One of my favorite things that I did with my girls was to let them draw on a piece of 100% white cotton fabric with fabric markers. I turned each into a placemat, using a fabric that they picked out for the backing. They loved doing the project and we have the placemats for daily use. Guess I should pull them out when we have casual family get togethers. My daughters are 30 & 34 now.
Beckie in Brentwood, TN
that is a great idea! I can't believe I hadn't thought of it. one thing I have done is make note cards with pictures of their stuff - using Shutterfly or Snapfish. I have used the notecards as teacher gifts or family gifts.
Beckie, That's a GREAT idea! I will even suggest that to Nathaniel's teacher. And yes, you should DEFINITELY pull those out for family get-togethers. What fun.
3xMom, I haven't made notecards out of them, but I think that's a wonderful idea, too. Thanks!
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