So, don’t judge me but I am THAT mom who loves saving every piece of artwork, class assignment, and gift each child brought home or presented to me. I cannot be the only one.

It started simply enough. One large plastic bin each year containing my children’s treasures in, honestly, a jumbled mess inside. I would display the newest items, rotate them out as new artwork came in, and finally save each piece in the assigned box marked with the child’s name and year. I was organized but if you do the math, my children are age 7 and 3. That means if I continued my saving of items, as of today I would have had TEN large plastic storage bins of treasures. And counting.

It became unrealistic to continue this trend and I had to minimize while still saving my beloved pieces. Here is what I did:

1. I took one plastic bin per day and combed through each piece. I was able to eliminate about half of the artwork and saved the best pieces from each child.
2. With 50% left, I reviewed each piece and organized the artwork by similarities. If I had numerous items that were duplicates, I only kept one. For instance, between all the Fall activities my children participated in one year there were multiple pumpkin drawings and artwork. I saved one per child for that year. This process eliminated another 20%.
3. With 30% remaining, I enlisted a trusted family member to review each piece and eliminate another 20%. I personally could not eliminate any more pieces on my own.
4. Now with 10%, I sent all of my items to http://www.artkive.com. Artkive is a company that will professionally photograph each piece of artwork and create a beautiful coffee table style book with the photos. I was able to customize the book covers with each child’s name and the date range of the items inside. I was also able to organize the pictures prior to printing as well.

The great advantage to me for sending my items off to be photographed is that they kept the items. I value quality and this option is not inexpensive. There may be other companies who are providing the same service. This is just the company I used. Or if you are a photographer, you may want to take your own photos and create a book through a photo website or local store.

And now I have a beautiful book that my children interact with and visitors love to look through! And no more plastic bins full of artwork.

Just an Idea. What tips do you have for me?

RS