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From Trash to Treasure
Rated by 1 member
"Mommy! Willie knocked over the trash can!" Julia, 9, bellows from the kitchen. I enter the kitchen to see our very guilty dog, Willie, cowering in a corner, trash strewn everywhere and Julia standing in the midst of it all with a horrified look on her face.
It takes me a second for me to realize that Julia's stricken expression isn't because of some smelly trash object — her eyes are fixed on a piece of her artwork that rolled out of the can along with some dead lettuce. She fixes me with an angry "How could you?" stare, eyes brimmed with tears.
I silently curse Willie for exposing my dirty secret — I dispose of select artwork and math sheets when no one is looking — and then I apologize to Julia. For the record, we do have an entire wall in our kitchen dedicated to watercolors, sketches, collages and any other creation my talented, and very prolific, artiste makes. Unfortunately, I'd need a whole other house to display everything she produces.
Later, as I sorrowfully recount the episode to a friend, she suggests I take some of the extraneous artwork and have Julia give it to relatives for the holidays. I immediately share this idea with Julia, who loves it even though she's still a little stung about finding her canvas in the trash.
The next day we head to our local art store to pick out some real red ribbon to tie around the art after we roll it up. Then Julia sets about choosing which pieces will go to which relative.
"Grandma Mary should have this one because she loves flowers," Julia says as she selects one of her stunning watercolors. As I look longingly at that painting she says, "Sorry, Mommy, it's not for you."
After she's finished, she proudly wraps, ties, and labels her gifts and places them under our tree. Safely away from the circular file cabinet, Julia's artwork lies nestled between the presents ready to be discovered on Christmas day.
I give our dog, Willie, a pat when I see that one of Julia's masterpieces has "Mommy" on the card — guess I'm officially off the "naughty" list.
How do you make use of your children's extra artwork? Click the comments link below to find and share solutions.
Member Comments On…
From Trash to Treasure
I would love to keep everything, but find it nearly impossible considering how many things are sent home! I keep one box a year. I then place a plain colored table cloth - or seasonal table cloth- on our kitchen table and place the remaining items (grouped seasonally - fall, etc.) on the table. I stand (carefully) on a chair and take a picture of a group of items. I eventually place the picture in a scrapbook.
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Hi,
In addition to giving artwork as gifts, we have also used it as wrapping paper (especially some of the big, art easel pieces). My daughter was satisfied with that solution as well.
I've also been "caught" with items in the trash - it is not fun! :-)
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When my two oldest granddaughters were about 4 and 9 they were painting on a roll of meat wrapping paper that I had gotten for them just for that purpose. The pictures were so good that I cut them apart and placed them in a dresser drawer. Then on the last Christmas I spent with them I ask them to bring over a gift that they had gotten for their parents. (they were 15 & 11 by then) I ask them to wrap the gifts very carefully not using any tape and tie it with a colorful ribbon. After the gifts were opened and everyone was ready to leave I gave my son and his wife a frame for each of the paintings. They were ever so proud , and it is something they will always be able to display in their home.
Sherlon
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I didn't want to hurt my kids feelings, So I came up with one drawer for each of them that they could save in. We would go thru the drawer together (once it was full) and have them decide what they are going to keep. It gave them a feeling that they are a part of making there own choices. Don't forget the date, what it is, and put their names on their art work. My girls are now in there teens and they really enjoy looking back on there art work and how much they have grown.
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We have matted and framed some to hang on our walls, and have also used a bunch of them on scrapbook pages, either cut up or whole depending on what the theme of the page was.
Great ideas on here, keep them coming!
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Okay, you can join me in this "dog house." My daughter has gotten so suspicious of my "art trashing" that she actually looks through the compactor sometimes! I'm not proud of my methods for decluttering but there's only so much a mother can save. Thank you for presenting a far more gentle way to contend with the voluminous creations that my little Picasso generates!
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There are some masterpieces that I like to keep, and some that my 6 year old likes to keep. I have school boxes for her special items for each school year, that I can put what I want along with reports, awards ... and anything else I want to keep that will remind me of that particular year.
For my daughter, I had a clear sided, stand up magazine holder. She can put whatever she wishes to keep in it. If something doesn't fit, she must make room for it. Its up to her what will stay and what will go.
We sometimes wrap gifts in old art projects too.
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We have two daughters who love to create art of all kinds, and of course keep it. We have gotten both of them large three ring binders with lots of plastic page protectors. The girls can slip artwork into the page protectors and keep it in their binders without having to damage the artwork itself. It also works well for keeping glittery projects from loosing their sparkle and mosaics from going to pieces.
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I just LOVE your idea! My 6-year old daughter loves to paint/draw and some I keep and other I throw away when she's at school, but she has found some of her stuff in the trash and become upset at me. I also have a folder where I keep her favorite work. I am thinking of getting a locker so that I can put her stuff in there and keep it from becoming ruined. I can keep it in a special place in the garage where she can have access to it. But I like the idea she can give some of it away as presents ( I just hope they save it instead of throwing it away) because she's very good about looking for her stuff.
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I help my children make a scrapbook out of the artwork they choose. Then they have a chose to either take the remaining artwork to hang on their bedroom wall or to throw them away. My kids eventually get tired of pictures that they have taken to their room and they then throw them out. Which solves the problem.
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