displaying your kids artwork without loosing your mind

Mondays are never fun, but everyone in my house is especially bummed as this Monday marks the last week of summer vacation. (Don't tell the girls, but I'm actually thrilled by this news). And since Eve will be starting pre-school (sniff sniff) I thought I would share my favorite tip for organizing the monster that is pre-school art work.

When Amelia started pre-school I loved every stinkin piece of art she brought home. Every piece was incredible. "Obviously my child is an art prodigy", I would think.

Then, she brought home more. And more. At times she'd bring home 3 or 4 things a day. It slowly turned from "what an amazing picture you made" to "another picture...great".

While I love my child, and of course think she's the best at everything she does, it was getting a bit out of control. There were projects everywhere. I think they breed in the night. Like some sort of sick Toy Story movie.

To corral the crafty chaos I put a small out of the way corner to use. This little alcove is off of the kitchen and leads downstairs to the family room, out to the garage thru one door and to a side yard thru the other door. A perfect place to add some craft cheer.

Each month I hang what she brings home on the door(s). Then, at the end of each month I take her picture with that month's display and then we take it all down and throw them away, keeping 1 or maybe 2 to go in her memory box.

Some months there is more participation in the picture than in others. 

We make sure to always get the calendar in the shot so we know which month we looking at. 

And some months I forget to remove the dog bowl before taking the picture.

We've got three years worth of these pictures and it has been really fun to look back at them and see how she's changed and how her art has matured. The paper monster is tamed!

What do you do to keep school projects and information overflow from taking over?