Saving Toddler Art

Which parent hasn't wanted to keep each and every single piece of art their little progeny has produced? But let's be honest, who's got enough room on the fridge for that?! ;)

Back in October, Didi and I got down and dirty doing a little stamp art with some celery hearts. I'd always liked how they looked like finely layered rose petals, and wanted to try stamping with them. So, armed with a banner-length piece of white paper, and copious amounts of finger paint, I set us up on the kitchen floor, and we had at it; everything was under control, until someone decided to take a walk in the paint, and started leaving little footprints all over the kitchen floor. Which is why I chose the kitchen: Easy cleanup!

Look at the smile on that kid's face!! 

TOTALLY worth the mess! ;)

The resulting artwork was so pretty, that I wanted to find a way to save it, but not in banner form. However, in the name of honesty, I DID display it in its full size, taped up to the valance in our living room, Ha! Ha! But after that, it lay waiting for a few months, until I found the perfect solution. And the perfect solution presented itself during our Big NewYear's Cleanup. While moving some boxes out of the laundry room to prepare the space for the Big Renovation, I rediscovered these little glass and metal clip frames that I purchased a few years ago from Ikea. Sadly, I can't find them online to link to, but I've seen these clip frames in many stores, including Michael's and Dollar Stores. They come in many sizes, but these smaller ones were just right for what I had in mind.

Not much space is needed for this, just a flat surface big enough for a self-healing cutting board, and the living room floor for me. 

You could use a pencil to outline your glass, and then cut with scissors, but I much prefer the clean line that result from carefully outlining the firmly held glass using an Xacto knife. (No pencil outlines to erase afterwards).
Just make sure to keep all fingers safely away from the sharp blade while cutting. Nobody wants a bloody mess ruining their art. 

Honestly, the most difficult part for me was choosing the perfect little spots that I thought would look good in the frames. 

Once all the frames are cut out, flatten out carefully, sandwich between the glass and MDF boards, and clip them in.

If you feel so inclined, you could go ahead and cut out the accompanying "mats" provided with the frames, which would act as artistic framing, but the frames were so small, I preferred to cast these aside (though I did keep them, for future use if need be).

So there you have it, a perfect way to safeguard your toddler's beautiful artwork, while still keeping in line with your household decor. I hope you liked this project. I look forward to sharing more of my DIY with you in the future. 

XOXO

Jewels