Michelle's Musings: Artwork, artwork, EVERYWHERE is artwork!

It's almost winter break in NYC - the sights, the smells, the very joy of the holidays is upon us!  When I excitedly pick up sons from their last day of school before break, I am thinking of all the cookie-baking, snow angel-making and relaxing we will be doing over the next three weeks. Then suddenly, my sons' teachers hand me a pile - a mountain really - of artwork from the past semester.  I think to myself, "What will I do with it all?  Shove it into a folder and hide it in the back of our storage closet, or leave it in the garage to yellow and crinkle?  Wait until the boys are asleep to drop it in the garbage can, then strategically cover it with more garbage so they never know that Mommy trashed their beloved scribble-scrabbles?"  Tell me...how can I, in my heart of hearts, throw away something as special as this apple tree my 5 year old made me that clearly should be displayed in the Museum of Modern Art?

Enter a genius idea, courtesy of my friend Kelen Bunner - make a photo book of the artwork!  Hang onto their artwork as it trickles (or floods) home over the semester and then photograph it.  You can use a handy-dandy website like Snapfish to upload your photos into an album.  Then just follow the super simple steps to turn your album into a gorgeous photo book, voila!  You end up with an amazing keepsake of your child's artwork.
















Best of all, it only takes around 20 minutes of your time...you can thank me later!