I’m so thrilled to have Crystal here as a guest today. She is a stunning artist who especially loves watercolor! She’s also a mama of 3 young girls and is sharing her wisdom on how to maximize the memories but minimize the mess (and stress!) that piles of art can create in our homes. Check out her instagram @smallsord_art and etsy shop, and read and enjoy! -Bethany
Art, in all forms, can teach us about the world around us and within us. Creativity takes a lot of observation and analyzing of our world and our thoughts. It takes processing those observations and deciding how we feel about them, then putting it out there in an attempt to connect with others.
With this in mind, I strive to encourage creativity with my three little girls as much as possible. However, even as a creative person, allowing my kiddos the freedom to create is legitimately something I struggle with. Like many moms, I have anxiety about clutter and mess, and let’s be real, kid creativity often equals mess.
While there is little I can do to minimize mess while kids are creating, there is something I can do about the aftermath, also known as the stacks on stacks of kid’s artwork I receive any given week.
Over the years, I have come up with a system to keep the memories but lose the clutter and that’s what I would like to share it with you today!
Clothespin Boards
A few years back I had the girls paint a flat canvas, sharpie-d their names on each one and hot-glued a clothespin to the fronts. Now, whenever I receive art it’s clipped directly onto their “artboards”. The girls feel loved and appreciated because their art is displayed and I feel chill and on top of things because I have an easily accessible and designated place for their art.
Monthly Purge
This is the tough part. My girls know that when their artboards fill up I have to go through them and purge. I can usually go a month, sometimes two if I’m lucky, before I need to pull the art out of the clips and sort through. My brutal but necessary criteria for deciding whether to toss is: If I can’t remember them giving it to me, or they don’t specifically tell me to keep it, it goes in the recycling. (One crucial side-note: I have a pen handy to write on the back of papers who drew it and the rough date it was drawn. I can’t tell you how fun it is to go through the old art and see the progress over the years.)
3 Storage Methods
File
This is my go-to end point. Each girl has an art file in my filing cabinet. I tuck most or all of the keepers in their respective files. I believe there are art archiving bins of some sort that keep out moisture and whatnot but I don’t get that fancy. Yet.
Frame
Some of the very special art can be hung on walls. It is similar to my clothespins artboards only you add a frame around the board and only clip one piece of art at time. You can buy cheap wood frames without glass or backing at craft stores and paint them. I’ve seen a gallery wall of kid’s art in a literal rainbow of frames that was TO DIE FOR! (For inspiration and tips on piecing together a gallery wall check out Pinterest!)
Publish
This can be pricey but SO worth it. This is especially great for those creations that are 3D that cannot be filed flat. Simply photograph your kiddo’s art and upload it onto your computer. There are several book making companies and apps but my favorites are Costco and Chatbooks!
Costco’s books are relatively inexpensive and their online program is easy to use. The end result is more like a scrapbook so if you are looking for something simpler for your kiddo’s artwork Chatbooks may be a better fit.
Chatbooks are little square books, just perfect for little hands to flip through and admire. Chatbooks works with Instagram to take your posts and automatically make a book, no work involved, or you can even upload photos and create a custom book!
These few methods have made my art collecting life so much easier, but I would love to hear your ideas in the comments! Thanks for reading and happy creating!!
~Crystal Smalls Ord~
Instagram: @smallsord_art
Etsy Shop: SmallsOrdArt