For years the girls' art ended up in a box in the garage. I knew I couldn't keep it forever but didn't know what to do with it after its week in the hall of fame (aka hung on the fridge) so my indecision led to clutter. I don't know if I've ever talked here about how ridiculously cluttered our old house had gotten but, well YIKES--like beginning stages of hoarders. So yeah trying to avoid that by having a place for everything. Cue Chatbooks. They make it quick, easy, and inexpensive to preserve your child's artwork sans-clutter. Here's how I do it.


1. As your child's artwork comes home,  store it in an out-of-site place. You could purchase one of these, dip into your collection of Target and Amazon boxes (no? Just me?), or use an under-bed storage container. I simply tossed ours on top of a shelf although by May it did look a bit messy. This is probably the most annoying part of preserving your child's artwork



2. At the end of the school year photograph your kid's artwork. I used my real camera for Genevieve's book but for the two I've made this summer, my iPhone did the trick and saved even more time. If you're looking to keep it quick and easy, I suggest using white poster board as a backdrop but you could use any color or textile if you're an overachiever. ;)

3. Create a new book in your Chatbooks app (or on their desktop site). Add the pictures of your kid's artwork.

4. Arrange and add text (totally optional- I arranged while watching The Office so I'm really not counting those 10ish minutes). HELPFUL HINT: I used the app "over" to add text to Nadia's book. I used PicMonkey (when it was free. BOO picmonkey!) to add text to Genevieve's. I also used this awesome source for free stock images for Genevieve's book. For Nadia's, I simply used one of the pieces of art featured in the book.

5. Order the most adorable portfolio of your child's artwork.

I shared here how after making the first book, I sort of felt like it wasn't necessary. "Do I really need to preserve my child's artwork?" But once I got the book my mind changed. It's such a cute thing to peruse and the entire family (girls included of course!) enjoy thumbing through it. Eventually, they won't bring home oodles of art- even now, Genevieve had much less art in 2nd grade than Nadia did in Kindergarten, so I love the idea of cherishing it and preserving the kids' artwork while it lasts.

Helpful Hint:
I also saved artwork they made with me, art from Sunday school, and little other notes/momentoes I wanted them to remember. Because I also make them a book of their school year I kept this one solely dedicated to artwork or other paper momentoes but you could certainly combine everything for one big yearbook style book- here's a great example of that.

Now for the SPECIAL OFFER- Only for the next few days, use code PRETTYREAL10 to get $10 Chatbooks credit! Pretty awesome right?! You could use it toward an art book of your own or even just to try them out for a regular photo book! If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, you saw that I shared this offer and a lot of other thoughts on Chatbooks (I wish I'd archived it!). It's super worth it! Offer only good through 6/30/18.