Tag: scrapbook

Drowning in Elly’s Artwork

Marie Haigh3 Comments

When Elly was 17 months old, I started a scrapbook for her to corral all her artwork. Today, I finished filling it.

Elly is only 3 1/2 years old.

Even our living room wall boasts 4 paintings made by Elly.

Rather than throw out some of her paintings for she is a girl who will produce 10-20 pictures at a time, I even converted a few of her art pieces into cards.

Grammy and Poppy receive a package stuffed to the gills of artwork every few months.

Even still, I do have to throw out some of her artwork or it would literally take over the house. Did I mention that Elly is only 3 1/2 years old?

What scares me is that Elly hasn’t even started school yet. My understanding is that the amount of artwork she will come home with will blow the current supply out of the water.

So, what do you do with your children’s artwork?

Should I start a new scrapbook and try to not exceed 1 scrapbook per year? Should I do as Dan suggests, dump everything I can’t bear to part with in a cardboard storage box, label the year and hide them in the attic. Then, Elly can have the distinct honor of sorting through the mounds of paperwork when she becomes an adult. I dislike Dan’s idea only because it is against my nature to hoard. Of course, scrapbooks are different and cannot be categorized as hoarding – so I keep telling myself.

Should I throw more artwork in the trash? Should I find some more loving relatives/friends (read suckers) to whom I can offload all this artwork onto to?

Help!

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Preserving Elly’s Artwork

Marie HaighLeave a comment

It’s already started and Elly isn’t even in school yet. There is already a massive amount of artwork pouring out of her. Thankfully, her favorite medium is currently modeling clay and the easiest way to preserve such masterpieces is to just take a picture.

Not so with the masterpieces that are made with paint and crayons. Rather, I don’t have the heart to throw out her artwork. To combat the growing stack and to share the love, I already mail stacks of her artwork to relatives. Elly’s grandmother, great grandmother, grandfather, great aunt and dear neighbor have a collection of her artwork. Still I hadn’t quite figured out what to do with all the artwork I was keeping.

While working on the 3rd scrapbook for our family, I realized half was just Elly’s artwork. It made more sense to make a scrapbook just for her artwork. So, that is exactly what I did.

Here are my supplies spread out on my new craft table, another yard sale find. I might be becoming an addict.

I tried to keep the pages as simple as possible so that the feature was Elly’s artwork. The scrapbook can be expanded, which is a good thing.


One piece of artwork wasn’t put in the scrapbook because I just love it. If I saw it in an art gallery, I would buy it. It’s amazing.

Just look at the bright red color, the circular motion and the use of white to balance it all out. It’s good. Artists could learn something from my Elly. So, I decided to frame it instead.

Scrapbook made by a Lazy Person

Marie Haigh1 Comment

I love scrapbooking but, I’m lazy. I don’t use fancy paper, pretty stickers or even photos. My scrapbooks are filled with little pieces of paper that would otherwise be stuffed in a drawer or thrown in the trash.


It’s the same way my Grandmother made a scrapbook when she was a young woman. Her simple scrapbook is a family treasure now. Maybe one day the scrapbooks I made will be treasured by the younger generation.

At least, they will get a kick out of how we pay for things. (My grandmother had movie tickets costing a quarter!).

The only drawback to making a scrapbook the lazy way is that it has become increasingly hard to find an old-fashioned scrapbook filled with heavy, white, blank paper.The craft stores only sell the kind that has a handful of top-loading sheet protectors.