I have received some wonderful, generous gifts over the years, but some of my favourite presents have not been purses and jewelery, but rather the handmade cards, drawings, and other creations the children in my life have spontaneously given to me. It is a magical experience to have a little person come up to you with a creation they have made just for you. As special as children's artwork is, if your little Picasso is especially prolific you may find yourself wondering what to do with all of the paper. One solution is to turn some of it into cards and gift tags to share with loved ones. Your children's artwork will be preserved and appreciated, grandparents, aunts, uncles and close friends will be delighted to receive these personal, one of a kind cards and gifts, and they are eco-friendly and cost-conscious too.
My 20 month old nephew was visiting this weekend, and lately he is really enjoying colouring and crafts. I gave him some washable markers and sheets of paper with simple Christmas images (I downloaded ours from Family Fun Magazine here, but you could just as easily draw your own, or trace Christmas cutters), and here is what he created:
Once he was finished colouring, I cut the ornaments out, mounted them onto coloured cardstock, and trimmed the cardstock around the outside of the images. I turned some into gift tags and Christmas tree ornaments by simply punching a hole in the top, and adding ribbon:
Others (including some cut out from scribbles that were outside the lines of the outlines), I turned into Christmas cards by adding patterned paper, ribbon, twine, and stamped embelleshments. This was a great way to use up some of the scraps of paper I had in my stash too. Here's a peek at a few of our cards:
The artist was very proud of his creations too:
What do you do with your children's art?
I would love for you to link this to Hey Mom, Look What I Did at Adventures In Mommy Land.
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