Tutorial: how to make a child's art folder

Ah, lovely friends, finally a moment to write to you – it’s been hectic here on Planet Baby this week. I thought I’d share with you a solution for storing all those hundreds of pieces of precious ‘artwork’ children bring home from school. When I’m organised, I write the pixie’s name and the date it was created on the back. Sometimes I forget to. The end result, however, is a thick and unwieldy pile of paper which is usually shoved under Joshua’s bed. I pulled some out to show you – does this make any of you squirm? Hmm, I thought it might!

The other day, the creative side of my brain (which seems to be tuning in again since I made my BYW mood board) recalled something I made at school about 30 years ago which could be our solution. This is what followed. Watch and see how easy it is to make one!

Requirements

This was the fun part for me – assembling the goodies for the older pixies to create their own art folders. I bought some thick white cardboard which was about 5mm thick and had it cut into sheets 50 cm wide by 80 cm long (for the locals, I bought it at Artery and they cut it to size for me). You need two sheets per folder.

Then I pulled out some of my favourite brushes, paints and stencils.

Notice the range of colours – not just blue and green!

And my butterflies had to make an appearance, of course!

Not to mention my alphabet stencils…

Enter two budding artists and we’re set to go!

I helped out with stencilling their names as that was a bit tricky. Joshua then started on his dinosaur stencil – what a surprise!

Miss India, meanwhile, worked on a horse.

While their artwork was drying, Master Sam dabbled a bit as well. He was in his element! Hmm, maybe he’s ambidextrous?

I just adore his infectious giggle! He really seems to enjoy his painting.

The method

The paint now dry, I stuck one of the painted pieces of cardboard to a blank one using blue electrician’s tape as it looked quite striking (until I ran out) and then masking tape. I sealed the bottom together first and then the two sides, leaving the top end open. I needed to use a couple of layers of tape to seal it adequately.

The result

Here’s Joshua. Proud as punch, especially as his mountains used sparkling gold paint. That little red man is him, out with his pet dinosaurs.

And here’s Miss India’s version, replete with a rainbow, butterflies, a cow, a horse and lots of crosses and circles.

Proudly put to use

And here’s how they worked. Joshie’s was first up.

Followed by India’s.

I was thrilled with the results. Now everything is stored flat and neatly in one place and can just be slid under their beds. The whole issue of (ahem) actually *culling* them can be dealt with another day! I loved seeing how involved they were with the whole process, from the choosing of their paint colours  to the brushes used. It looks like 2011 will be the ‘Year of Crafting on Planet Baby’, don’t you think? I’d love to see if any of you try this little idea out – let’s share tips!