Saving your child’s drawings and artwork can be such a time and space sucker, let’s be honest.  Maybe you really and truly adore each and every item produced at daycare, Sunday school and summer camp.  Maybe you just want to have a rough record of your child’s history.  Whatever your parenting style, here are some ways to honor, display and store those masterpieces.

Your Kid’s Artwork in Real Life (IRL)

Even if you eventually want to take up less room than the real life version does at first, the real McCoy will need some space in your world. My absolute favorite, hands down, is Dynamic Frames.   If you really just need a place to park them after you ooh and ah, then check out these cute little portfolios from Lillian Vernon.  I also happen to love the Schoolfolio; be sure to choose HeartWork Organizing from the list when ordering for an additional discount.

Repurposing Your Kid’s Artwork into Useful Stuff

PrintArtKids.com has a great take on kids art.  They will turn your masterpieces into high-quality notepads, holiday cards, and other paper goods.  Yes, we still need paper in our lives, but at least you can make yours cute and unique.  I can’t wait for my little artists to create something that looks even vaguely like a Christmas tree so I can turn it into Christmas cards.

Your Kids Artwork in the Digital Realm

If what you really want to do is store the memories safely while you make more room in your home, then check out these options.

Most home scanners can handle art on regular sized pages , but then the art is trapped in your computer.  Be sure to backup your data, if you go this route. But oversized art is a problem.  You can snap a picture with your phone, but you may not get great quality reproduction, and the pictures are still stuck in your computer or phone.

www.artimusart.com allows you to save art as either a hard cover coffee table book or as a web gallery that you can share with family.

I am also a huge fan of www.snapfish.com & www.shutterfly.com.  Both are constantly running promotions, especially before the holidays.  You can visit www.RetailMeNot.com to check for current promotions. If you have not used either service, think of them as digital scrapbooks.  You simply upload your favorite photos or scans of your child’s artwork on to their very cute digital scrapbook pages, insert comments if you’d like, and order your own book.  These are very nice quality and well loved by the grandparents!