Children's art gallery

I purposefully leave our crayons, markers, and paper where my girls have clear access to it so they can create to their hearts' content. It is good for them to learn how to draw, write, cut, and think by craftsy artsy exploration. However, more days than not this leaves me with a pile of artwork sitting on my kitchen counter. Somehow the pile can grow exponentially if I don't do something with it. Usually that means throwing away their pictures. My one piece of advice about this: do it while they are sleeping.

Then, I ran across the idea of creating a children's art gallery and loved it. I knew the big empty wall in our sun room would be the perfect spot. I gathered old frames I wasn't using, removed the glass pane, and painted most of them a matching color to unify the look. Then I laid the frames on the floor, arranging and rearranging them until I got the arrangement I wanted. After that, I hung them on the wall. I put a nail in the open space of the frame, and hung a paper clip on it. Soon, our wall was filled with custom made artwork .

One of the best things about this type of gallery is that you can change the artwork easily. You just put a different sheet in the paper clip, and throw out the old picture. The only regret I have about it is that I wish I would have used larger frames. I have a few 5x7 frames up, which really don't work well. I need to cut up the picture to make it fit. Ideally, 11x14 frames work the best. As you can see, the pictures are not all perfectly centered or cropped. That makes it easy for me to use, and adds to the charm.

I'm linking up with Works for Me Wednesday today. In the meantime, let me know... What do you do with your children's artwork?