displaying the children's art

Our kids - all four of them (boy included) - have an ongoing love affair with paper. They write. They draw. They cut. Paper has been an intimate part of my everyday life since SweetP was just starting to scribble. And it looks like it's here to stay. The negative side of this paper-oriented subculture is that there are constantly little bits and growing piles scattered all over the house. Try as I might to harness it all, the paper wins every time. The positive side is that I will have plenty of momentos from our children's younger years to cherish when they fly the nest.
Many of my favorite drawings get displayed for a time on the refrigerator and then carefully put away in my special 3-ring binder. Others that are some of the children's favorite get stored in simple, white paper-sized boxes from IKEA. When the boxes get too full, we start to get rid of a few things, always holding on to those that are the most prized (no one is allowed to toss drawings, paintings, cards, poems, etc. without Mama's okay, though). Sometimes I rescue a discarded lovely and put it in my folder instead of letting them pitch it.
The refrigerator has been fine here, but it's not really positioned in a place where the artwork is showcased. And, honestly, creations x four = a very packed fridge front. Sometimes the papers get to me a bit when all I want to get is the milk and, instead, I'm bombarded with watercolored tulips. So, I've been thinking up some way of displaying the children's art in the kitchen eating area. We eat all of our meals there, and the space has been needing something more personal anyway.


I tossed around a few thoughts, and felt very original and creative when I decided to go with clipboards on the wall. However, then I looked through Ashley Ann's archives to get a good look at her boys' bunkbeds and saw the walls in their room. Not so original of me after all. Guess it's more like forgetfulness.

But, I'm glad that at least my subconscious remembered the clipboard idea. And I'm glad I wanted to see her boys' beds because now I can give her props. I was apparently inspired by her clipboards. I added sticky felt pads to the back so my wall wouldn't get all scratched up by clipboards swinging to and fro as they are wont to do when in a high-traffic area like our eating nook.

I was bothered by the "Office Depot" insignia (did I spell that correctly?) on the clip part of the boards. It just somehow seemed dorky to me to leave them that way. I wandered through Office Depot looking for a suitable way to mask the words, and even asked an employee about label options. Tip: if you're going to cover up "Office Depot" on any of your Office Depot merchandise because you don't care for the way it looks and you're asking a sales person for assistance with that project, choose your wording very carefully. Who knew Office Depot peeps had such an allegiance to their logo? I did not mean to offend. Honest.
I came up empty-handed at the OD, but I went home and punched out some textured scrapbook paper. Maybe I could just hang a tag over the clip and the words would be hidden (?).

Or not. The tag thingy hung over too far. Words still clearly visible. Now, this is not a do or die part of the project. Really - I could have just left them as is. Ashley Ann did, and she certainly doesn't do much in the way of dorky decor. Her house is Inspiration Central. She also seems really cool to hang around with, which I like. Anyway, I could've left things well enough alone. But, I figured if there was an easy way to personalize them a bit, why not?

Back to the scrap supplies. Punched out six holes, used six scrap stickers and good ol' Elmers Glue.

I think I like 'em!

Not sure about the string. I had it on at first, but then I took it off. All together, that many bows looked a little too crafty/handmade to work with the rest of the kitchen. {maybe}

Here they are sans string and all in place :)





So, there's that! Thanks to hubby for the leveling and nailing to get them into a nice arrangement. Now, off to work some more. It's a painting day :)