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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Mommy tips: Managing the "school artwork" overload....

Kids have been back in school for almost two weeks and the "school artwork" overload has already started. Every Friday, the infamous "blue folder" comes loaded with a bunch of "cute" (and some not so cute!) drawings, tests, papers, projects, etc... you get the point...I think my fridge cannot take any more pins and magnets to hold the art masterpieces my rascals have created...even the cats have found new toys in the papers that are low on the art display! ;)
So...because I'm not an overly sentimental mother who is attached to every little paper my child lays hands on, I started doing intense research as to how I can throw away get rid of all these projects without feeling guilty.  Let's face it, there's only so many storage bins my garage can handle and I'll probably never look at those again; most of those bins have their fate written all over them, that being "you're out on the next move!"; at least that's the case in our family.
My husband has always claimed he is a "minimalist" and time and time again he has proven this to be true by throwing away unopened boxes and bins that have sat in the attic or the garage without ever even being thought of.  I think somehow his "minimalistic" approach to life has rubbed off on me and I have come to the conclusion that some things just make clutter and have made it a point to de-clutter my life and my living space itself.
I acknowledge there will be many parents who will disagree with me on this one, but I am also sure that many will silently agree with my thoughts on the school project overload that many of us experience.  If you have a pre-schooler or an elementary aged child, I am sure you are familiar with many of these projects that probably make up half your home gallery collection.  Here are some of the most popular, just to name a few: name made out of pasta noodles, hand stamp with eyes and mouth painted on it, pipe cleaner butterfly, any animal made with clothespins, a tree made with little balls of tissue paper, leaf prints, etc.. I'm sure there are so many more and I could probably blog all night if I kept thinking about this list...
So, back to my point... I already said I'm not OVERLY sentimental, but I am after all SOMEWHAT sentimental and that is why I love Artkive, a cute little smartphone app that provides a "clutter free way to save and enjoy my child's artwork".  With this app, not only am I able to save pictures of my kids' school projects, but I can also arrange them by grade, age, year, etc and I can even share "artkives" with friends and family members.  The app is so wonderful that it even offers the option of creating books with your kid's art collection, so for those parents who don't want to entirely do away with the tangible stuff, you can have a book printed with your favorite projects. I just love it so much, even my kids love it...they come home and say "mom, take a picture of this one and put it on the Artkive" and they are now the ones who get rid of the clutter without remorse.  Also, keep in mind that because you're actually uploading the images of your kid's work, the pictures do not take up memory on your phone or tablet.

I strongly recommend this *free* app to all those moms who are looking to organize their kids' artwork in a more modern and technological fashion. I have loved this find so much that I wanted to share it with some of my fellow moms!

Happy blogging! 

3 comments:

Sonia said...

Yay! I was looking for something like this! Will check it out. Thanks for the post :)

Sonia said...

Yay! I've been looking for something like this. Will check it out! Thanks!

Darby said...

That's a great idea! I have been trying to figure out a way to save all of Aubrey's art projects and, like you, am quickly running out of room on my fridge. I'll be downloading this for sure!