Guest Post: Organizing Your Mini's Materpieces

Since moving to New York City and into a smaller space I find it incredibly difficult to find space for all of Harlan’s things. I find myself getting creative with places and even the smallest space can fit something of hers, but still have things left over that take over our apartment and make it look cluttered. My guest post today is from Korrine Belock founder and owner of Urban Simplicity. Korrine works with busy moms trying to balance work and home life, or planning for a life-changing event like a new baby. Korinne will make the most of your time and space, and give you the peace of mind that an organized life brings so you can focus on the things that matter most to you.

Is your little Vincent van Gogh creating artwork that’s taking over your home? If so, I have some solutions to get that artwork under control. Today, I’m giving you creative ideas to reuse your child’s artwork, along with some recommendations to edit and store their growing collection.

Six Ways to Reuse Art
I figured I’d start with the fun stuff. There are so many fantastic ways to reuse your child’s art. Consider these ideas:

Take a photo of the art and make a book. Include photos of your child that correspond with when the art was created. Don’t forget to recycle the original.
Turn the art into wrapping paper and cards for family and friends’ birthdays and other special holidays.
Frame art to display, like a little gallery in your home. How sweet is that?
Cut the art to make bookmarks, if you haven’t entered the age of the e-book. Or use the art as bookmarks for your favorite recipes in your cookbooks.
Use the back of art as scrap paper to jot notes while working.
Mail art to grandparents, great grandparents, godparents, and doting aunts, uncles, and friends without children. Include a description of each piece to make it extra special.

How to Edit Art
So, now the tough part – how do you decide what to keep and what to toss? Editing artwork is a wonderful way to introduce your child to decision making at an early age, so involve your child in the process from day one, as soon as they are old enough to participate.

First, let’s talk about setting some terms. Make a decision about how often you will edit your child’s artwork. This has a lot to do with your child’s age and how much artwork they create. Will you edit once a month or every other month? Whatever you decide, don’t forget to set a recurring reminder in your calendar to get it done.

Next, determine how many pieces you will keep during each editing session. Keep in mind how much space you have for storage. I recommend keeping no more than three. Look at it this way, if you’re saving three pieces every two months, that’s 18 pieces of artwork per year for your child.

Now that you have the terms set, you’re ready to edit. So you know where to start, keep a basket (or tray) in a convenient place to deposit art as it’s created. If you have more than one child, use multiple baskets and label with each child’s name.
After the period of time you determined, sit down with your child and go through the art. Allow your child to pick their favorites to store, based on the number you determined. All other pieces should be reused in some other way (see above) or tossed. For the pieces you store or mail, don’t forget to put your child’s name, age, and the date on the back. If your child is old enough, ask them to include a title for the art. That’s sure to create a few laughs for you along the way!

How to Store Art
The Schoolfolio is a great product to organize and protect art, as well as other keepsakes and schoolwork, with the All-in-One and The Single. Plus a percentage of the sales are donated to the Save the Art Foundation, which distributes the funds to selected youth arts groups. How great is that!

To cut the stress and get organized, visit – www.UrbanSimplicityNYC.com.