Thursday, February 23, 2012

ARTsy Fartsy

If you have kids, you have kids' artwork.
Kids love to create. And they don't want you to throw any of it away. I try to show them that I value their work and their creativity by including their art in THEIR pages. Because for me, the real goal of a scrapbook page is for my children to have a recorded record of their life and my love for them.

Here are some ways I've used their artwork. I hope it inspires you to also take their art and work with it or showcase it in your scrapbook pages.

Flat Logan

On this page I included 2 pieces of Logan's art.
First is a drawing that he drew on a piece of 8.5"x11" paper. I cut off the white edges that were empty so that it would fit better onto my page and allow for more room for scrapbook goodies.
Second, take a picture of your child holding artwork that is 3-Dimensional or too large to fit onto a scrapbook page. By including your child in the photo, it "dates" it at a glance and personalizes it too.

Random drawings

Again, just random drawings my son did. I silhouette cut them so that more would fit on a page. Here are mixed media- water colors, marker, pen, and pencil. But the focus is on his artwork because it is HIS album.

S is for Seashore

This artwork is more subtle but still there. I wanted a playful, random grouping of beachy items. In the random embellies, I added 3 stamped seahorse images my son made in art class. Adding something personal and handmade to a page makes it his own. Will he remember in 20 years that he made those stamped images? Probably not. Will I remember? I hope so.

Preschool Book Pocket

My son's preschool teacher gave us a book of his artwork progress throughout the school year. What a treasure to look back on later. So I left the book as is and created a scrapbook page with a large pocket to hold this gem. Now he can pull it out and look whenever he wants. What a kick it will be when he's 17 or even 37 years old! And it is still scrapbook sized for his 12x12 album.

William, 1st grade

For my son's first grade open house, he made this "self portrait" with a few random facts about himself. When I got to take it home, I couldn't wait to scrap it- still using the yellows and greens that he used and then adding playful touches like a name tag, some mini school pics (that I had extra) and a stitched on folded paper strip with tissue flower. Jazzy, no?

Their own thing

And whether or not your child is the next Monet, encourage him or her to do a scrapbook page with your leftover stickers, pictures, inks, etc. You might be surprised what they focus on.