I wanted to share an update about putting the kid’s artwork in a book. I shared about it in 2 previous posts HERE and HERE and have been really happy to see that others have been trying it out.

The Purpose

To cherish the kid’s creative work while also ensuring you can recycle the majority of it and keep your small space clutter-free.

How To Make a Kid Art Book from my Smart Phone:

• Kid makes art.

• I gush over it and tell them that I am going to take a picture of it for the art book.

• I washi-tape the art onto the wall during daylight and take a photo. Then before I forget I save the photo to a folder on my phone. Sometimes I save a bunch of art in my Something Small and then do one big photo taking session.

• Once I have 50 photos in the Folder I edit all the photos at once in Lightroom with the same preset so it’s quick (I still make some adjustments so they look similar). Then I save all the edited photos and delete the unedited ones in the folder (tedious but necessary).

• I then order an art book on my phone with Recently ( I like 50 pages, single photo page). It’s my photo printing book of choice, because of the paper and print quality and that they do the layout for me. You can use my code and we both get $5 off 1c7e87. I choose the Folder of edited photos and let Recently do the rest. Sometimes I order an extra copy for the Grandparents! You are welcome use any other photo book printing company you prefer.

Some art is really special and I can tell it means a lot to the kids, those go on the wall in their bedroom. And after a few weeks or months it goes through the same cycle as the other art.

Also I should note that I do not take photos of ALL the art. I find their art goes in waves or themes and I try to capture a certain type of art that is happening. For example Mae is really into rainbows and unicorns so I capture a piece or two that show how she draws them at this moment in time. As her style evolves I capture another one. Sometimes I take pictures of special lego creations or sculptures. I’ve also taken multiple photos of comic books the kids have made, a great way to save the memory without saving all the objects.

So how are the kids with it? Well they seem to be doing great with it. Often asking me to take a picture of their latest work. They also like to look through their art book together and point out who’s art is who’s.

I have added the Kid Art Book Lightroom preset HERE for download, free for a limited time.

I also made a reel HERE that shows it from the perspective of my phone.