Preserving children's artwork - traditionally and with Studio J!

30 Studio J's in 30 days - day 22.

 

My children bring home so much artwork and papers that if I don't start getting this part of my memory keeping organized I will never make it! lol. So this is the system I put into place.

For each child I have a 12" x 12"scrapbooking plastic storage case for each year of school. I have gone through and sorted the papers that have come home and collected the ones that I think I might want to use/keep. Then once the year is over I will go back through the case and narrow them down to the ones that are the most special. I kept some writing samples, and artwork and of course a few notes sent home from their teachers and their grade cards. My husband scanned all of the artwork and writing samples and we saved them on our computer.

Why scan? First of all, if something ever happens to your books, you still at least have a digital copy.  And second, from being a preschool teacher, I found that much of the artwork the children created could not be used in a scrapbook because of the mediums that were used in the artwork--Tempera Paint, especially chips over time; the fingerpaintings have so paint on such thin paper that it won't lay flat, and often the teachers have to use what supplies are available and they aren't always the best for scrapbooking or preservations—either they are so thin or gigantic in size. By scanning them, you can avoid the deterioration of the less expensive paper, the “warpedness” of the wet paint that wouldn’t dry flat, and other art obstacles.  Once scanned, you can load the artwork into a digital program like Studio J, keep it digital for prosperity, or print it on a heavier weight, and acid free paper like cardstock.  I like the third option for my very favorite pieces.  If you have a good scan, then print a color copy on cardstock and the majority of the time it is going to look just like the original. (an FYI, this is also true for newspaper articles—just make sure it is a color copy to maintain the look of the newspaper).

For Gabriel, I then selected my favorites and uploaded them into Studio J. I created several layouts with the artwork and the writings. By doing it this way, the art is preserved and I can shrink them down to showcase several pieces on one layout.

I also have these fantastic pocket pages (True Fit Folios) that Close To My Heart makes and sells, to place any papers that I want to keep in his book, as well as any originals. 

 

To see a larger view of the layouts, simply click the layout.

 

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