Storing kid’s Artwork – Kid’s Art Folders

Well I had managed to sort the girls artwork work (95% being Molly’s) but then I had to do something with them. I wanted to create something that would be nice looking but easy to keep up with up as she did more craft at home and more stuff came home from school.

I remembered about Super Organiser Mum’s art album that she had created for her son so I went looking at Spotlight and found the perfect folder. It’s an American Crafts folder and was reduced to just $10 which included the plastic sleeves. I picked up two, one for Molly and one for Jasmin. Later down the track I may upgrade them to We R Memory keeper albums but for now I just wanted a cheap and easy option.

I cut down some A4 white card (I find the 100packs at Officeworks the cheapest) to the 8.5 x 11 inch plastic sleeve size and glued the art work on. For most of them there was some trimming involved but kids rarely draw to the edge so I don’t see this a problem.

I typed little titles up in an A4 word document for each piece of art and printed these out. Then I selected a 6×6 scrapbooking paper pack that I had in my stash and used that along with some coordinating coloured card to brighten up the pages.

With large easel paintings I simply stapled a pocket together to pop the folded work into.

With the artwork that I scanned and photographed I put them together in photoshop to print out at A4 size. I grouped like photos together and added a title. If you don’t have photoshop it doesn’t matter as It’s just as easily to create something similar in a Word or Publisher document. This is how I used to do it as a teacher for my student’s work portfolios. If you don’t know how to do it try googling or look on you tube. If you’re still not confident at this just take photos, print them as normal and glue them on to a piece of card.

Molly is now at the stage where she is drawing people. Her best, most detailed drawing are using pen in my notebooks and on my shopping lists. I’ve scanned most of them but also kept many of them together in another little page pocket I made.

Now because I wanted to make this easy for adding future artwork I wanted to prepare in advance. I cut lots of extra white card to size and have slipped them in pocket pages all ready. Below is a piece of artwork Molly bought home from Pre-kindy. I was her very first so I’m definitely keeping it. I simply popped it in the sleeve and I will add a title later when I have a few pieces to do at once.

And of course Jasmin has a folder too with her first scribble drawings already filed away.

 

If you want to an easier or cheaper option you could pick up a simple file and some a4 plastic sleeves from your local supermarket and just use some colour card/paper to back your titles. It can be as simple or elaborate as you want to make it.

Next on my list is to create more places around the house to diplay the girls art’n’craft. I have a few ideas running around my head. One of the ideas involves a trip to Ikea!

Stay tuned 🙂