10 Ways to Display Kids Artwork

10 Ways to Display Kids Artwork

We recently heard a neighbor friend say that her quarantine home looks like “a craft store exploded inside.” Can any of you with small kids else relate?? So, what should we do with all those newly created art masterpieces from our kiddos? We want to celebrate all their little creations!

Instead of just stashing all their art in a folder or adding it to "the pile," here are 10 creative & manageable ways to bring some color into your home, celebrate the seasons, & show off your kids' imagination through art.

1. Use tacks on a wall that's not front and central in your home.

So this first one's not rocket science, but it's what works in our home. Our laundry room is on the main level & has gray walls so the art can really pop! I (or my kids) just rotate their art 2-3 times a year in this room leaving tiny holes from the tacks. The way I look it, when the art stops coming home someday, I'll be ready to repaint the room anyway, but until then, I get to be reminded of these little people I love so much while I'm trying to find that missing sock or checking their pockets before they hit the washer. 

Try these Push Pin Clips

2. Thrift frames with glass removed and cork board added.

This is a great option for a more polished look that keeps it super easy to rotate art. Shannon Makes Stuff has great images for ideas. Let the kids have another art project by painting the frames themselves.

Try this cork board.

3. Have Simply Create Kids create a collage poster of your child's art.

This option is a bit more pricey, but well worth the money to have one piece that speaks for many. My kids would love how professional this art display would make their art look.

4. Create vertical art on a string.

The folks at Artful-Kids used a hanging wire to display art vertically allowing for easy rotation. This is a great option if you're short on wall space.

Use this Hanging Picture Display Holder.

5. Use inexpensive IKEA frames in the color that work for your space.

We love how Amanda Medlin created this wall for her boys' room with multicolored frames, but all white or all black frames would be another great option to showcase your child's art.

6. Clothespins are great for art display.

Aimee of It'sOverflowing.com has a great DIY plan to create a fun clothespin line for your kids to be able to change their own art with ease. HYD helped a client design one similar to this last year & it was a huge hit with their four kids.

Try these mini clothes pins.

7. ArtKive it by photographing your child's art with your smartphone.

This is brilliant. ArtKive has designed an app that allows you to photograph the artwork, upload it, and then turn it into books, gifts, or keepsakes.

8. Mount clipboards to the wall.

HYD loves reclaimed wood projects. These from Old House to New Home are some of our favs. Of course, you could use lots of different styles of clipboards that work best for your space.

9. Professionally frame special holiday pieces.

My thoughtful mother decided to pick a couple of my brother's & my best Christmas creations. My brother's is a Santa with no arms, he's a beauty. I did a lovely manger scene that brings back memories but doesn't come close to the fine artistic ability of my brother. It's been over 30 years since we created them & every year, we reminisce & poke fun at each other when mom hangs them. I love them!

10. Keep it simple with a line of twine.

Assortment Blog

Nothing too fancy here. Just find a color of twine or string that works for your space & use clothespins, paper clips, or even colorful hair clips to hang the art. The image above is our favorite using the spools as the anchors to hang. I have a friend who uses the twine method above her kitchen sink with smaller art pieces & it's so cute. She uses her childs' art in lieu of a curtain valance.

Get some twine here.

We hope you find these ideas helpful!

Do you have an art wall that works in your house? We'd love to hear how you're showing off your kids' art.

Read some more helpful blogs dwelling well with kiddos!

These 5 Things : October 2017

1. Find out how to organize your kitchen for under $100 at Target. 

2. The Happy Envelope is collaborating with local a few local photographers for Holiday Photo Sessions. 

3. Knoxville is getting our very own Food Truck Park - Central Filling Station. Coming soon and it's right near our office @ The Hive. 

4. Sarah, from Our Vintage Farmhouse wrote a blog that is inspiring to say the least - read it here. 

5. The 2017 HGTV Urban Oasis Giveaway is right here in one of Knoxville's downtown neighborhoods - 4th & Gill. Check it out! **Image credit: Tomas Espinoza

Entryways for Fall

As the seasons change and the colors start to pop let's talk about spicing up the WELCOME area of your home: the entryway. No matter how big or small, formal or informal, adding some seasonal personality to the entrance of your home will bring that festive Fall feeling we have all waited all summer to enjoy!

First things first, lets begin with what already exists in your space and tidy up our "palate." Start by analyzing the furniture in the area. Take stock of how items are being stored in, on, or under the furniture pieces. Clear out seasonal summer accessories (i.e. expired sunscreen, old or broken sunglasses, sun hats, sandals, etc). Store these items or discard if they will not weather another year. Next, give the area a good cleaning to prepare for the next season of storage and decor. Once the area is clean, bring in this season's necessities like a warm rain jacket, your favorite scarves and hats for chilly mornings, and your coziest pair of boots. This is where a piece of furniture with drawers is ideal for storing small autumn accessories such as gloves, pet sweaters, and your favorite chap stick!

Fall Leaves Coir Doormat // World Market

Now for the fun part, you have curated and cleaned and are prepped for the cooler days and now it is time to celebrate with the fabulous colors of this season. We like to think that the entryway actually begins just outside the front door. We love a splash of Fall foliage on the porch or on the door. This creates the first warm welcome as you or your guests approach your home. This can be done using a fall wreath, a bouquet or two of mums, and maybe some pumpkins. This does not have to be much, just adding a splash of color outside to welcome the season and your guests. If you are just feeling extra warm and spicy you can add a beautiful seasonal welcome mat like this one from World Market as well!

Once you enter the home, the "simple splash" approach still applies. We love pumpkins, gourds, and your favorite fall foliage strategically placed around the room. A tiny pumpkin on a key tray, a bouquet of vibrant leaves or flowers on a table is all you need to add that little festive pop to brighten up this area. We love how Julie over at Little Farmstead embraced the simple beauty of this season by showcasing her fabulous boots alongside some precious pumpkins. We think this is a "gourdgeous" combination :)

Feeling inspired? Need a little help? Well we would be delighted! Check out our October promotion below to find out how to let us Help You Dwell....for less :)

Image: Little Farmstead

** Also, this month HYD is offering an entryway/mudroom organization and refresh for a discounted rate of $75 for 2 hours. We'll help you rethink the way you use your entry way or mudroom... including furniture, storage, and decor.  This is a great time of year to show this area some love, with lots of friends and family sure to be visiting your home for the holidays!
More details by emailing katie@helpyoudwell.com or calling 865.245.9080**

envisioning your space

Organizing and decorating can be challenging. We've found that it's easy to feel weighed down and stuck in the "stuff" that hinders us from loving our dwelling places. Think about the pile of mail on the kitchen counter, the clothes stacked on a chair in your bedroom, the crafts spread on your kids floor, and the mixed up files in drawers of your office... you might already be ready to give up after just thinking about it! 

A fresh approach might be the change you need in perspective to conquer your challenging space. Thanks to Instagram and Pinterest, we've lost a lot of our ability to envision things on our own. We pin the image of an immaculate office and elegant bedroom that are way outside of our budget, and when we shut our computer we settle back into the reality of our lackluster spaces. 

ENVISION.

enjoy these creations as you start to imagine your spaces with new eyes. 
Ashley Dawn Addair is the creative behind the visual beauty below. 

Close out of Pinterest, shut the computer, and open your creative mind. Here are some questions to think about as you re-think areas of your home. 

1. Who will use this space most? 
2. What key furniture does this space need?
3. What colors create the mood you want to inspire?
4. What textures deliver comfort, function and coziness? 
5. How can you create natural/warm light in this space? 
6. What memories do you want to make in this space?
7. How do you hope your guests feel in this space?
8. What current items in this space are you ready to purge/donate?
9. Do you prefer exposed or hidden organization of the stuff essential to this space?

Each space and home and it's people are unique. Don't limit your space by the images you see online, dream up your ideal space and incorporate the specific items you already love and possess. 

Happy envisioning friends! If you'd like some help and direction in your space, we'd love to work with you. 

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*bonus- we stumbled upon this beautiful blog this week and had to share... Simple as That. Here's a link to a post with a free printable calendar "Collect Moments-Not Things"! 

Ways to Display Collections as Art in your Home

col·lec·tion
kəˈlekSH(ə)n/
noun

an assembly of items such as works of art, pieces of writing, or natural objects, especially one systematically ordered. 

Would you consider yourself a collector? You very well may be. 

Collections can be inherited, gathered over the years, bought when traveling, found all at once, created by your own hands, or slowly grow one piece at a time. They can be practical, sentimental, humorous, or all of the above.

We are so lucky to spend time with our clients, getting to know them and their stories. In their homes, we often discover beautiful pieces of history, family memorabilia, and one of a kind pieces of art. To collect is truly artistic. It requires selection, preference, taste and intentionality. 

Collections may be displayed in your home and they may be private. Your reasons for collecting are personal as well. You might collect to display your personality in your home to all who enter, and you may collect to build a compilation of meaningful pieces that will be passed on to a family member or dear friend. We wanted to share some of the most remarkable collections we've come across in the homes of our amazing clients. 

We'd love to see some of your favorite collections. Snap a photo of your collections and tag us on instagram or facebook. Thanks for sharing your treasured collections with the #HYD team! 

*Blog image source: Town And Country Magazine. 

Digital Photo Organizing Idea

Today when I checked my photo software on my computer, I had 29,083 photos. The first problem here is that I need to get many of them off my computer & onto a hard drive so my computer doesn't go kaput on me, but that's a post for another day. The second deal here is,

"How in the world will I ever organize that many photos?!?"

Well, I'll be honest here, I don't plan to go back & organize all 29,083. Thankfully my software does organize them by date so that helps. Over the years, the digital photo world has made gift ideas, especially for grandparents, much easier. I can always go back, by date, & find just the photos I need for a calendar, a mug, a mouse pad, a photo book or a framed photo. Just to be able to do that has been great. But so many times I was just making gifts for other households & not my own. How was I to get these photos into books in my own house?

Many years ago, I took a scrapbooking class from a friend who talked about the importance of our handwriting in a photo book. Now the online books are great, don't get me wrong. They're quicker than making a scrapbook, colorful, & fairly easy to make. However, you don't get to write in them like you do scrapbook that you place photos in by hand.

About 8 years ago, when my oldest turned 5, I had an idea. (Of course, this is before Pinterest when I still had my own ideas.) I had my son make his own scrapbook of the his favorite photos from his first 5 years. I had him write captions in it, add stickers he liked at that age & just let go of any expectations I had for how it would look. It turned out great! At that point, I decided that I would encourage each of my kids to create their own book every 5 years. So far, we've gotten 4 books done & my middle child turns 10 in a couple weeks & we're already gathering photos on a file with her name on it to get printed to make the 5th book.

So, no there are not thousands of photos printed in dozens of books or frames. In fact, we've missed a bunch, but there are these treasures that will be with them forever. And my kids each have books that remind them who they are. They see their own handwriting at 5, 10 & eventually 15. They have looked at those books more than any other book in our house. They show them to their friends, laugh out loud, tell stories about the photos & enjoy them thoroughly. It wouldn't be the same if I had made them or had them done online.

This would also work for us big people too. Take the pressure off yourself of trying to organize all of them. The next time you're inspired, pick a year or three or five or maybe one event & start a file labeled "photos for book," start pulling in your favorites, get them printed & have at it. It doesn't have to be fancy with all the stickers & such, just your photos, your handwriting, your story. Trust me, that's the best one to tell.

"Organize your what?"

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"Twiggy" Artist unknown

Help You Dwell received a strange request a few weeks ago...

"Can you all do what you do in people's houses with my head?"

At the time it seemed a little bizarre but mostly intriguing. We began meeting with this lovely lady and started a journey that has been inspiring to say the least.

In the process, HYD realized that most everyone can benefit from some brain organization.

In America today, most of us are over-committed, drained, tired, and too busy to do things as well as we would like to.

One thing that we have found to be helpful in life organization / time management is to make a list of your commitments:  Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly. Do you feel over committed? What in your life is draining and what is life giving? Writing things down helps us compartmentalize and simplify.  However, list making is not for everyone.

Anna Rusakova

For HYD, the unique challenge of life organization and time management is that each person connects with different ways of thinking.  For some, a list makes everything clear and manageable but for others, like the client we spoke of earlier, a list is more overwhelming than helpful.  Learning how to help a creative, imaginative, passionate artist & photographer make a plan that she can tackle, one step at a time has been really fun. We are realizing that using visualization of the tasks, talking through the scenarios, making clear action plans are some of the key ingredients for getting the brain in order for our dear client. Sometimes it's just more fun to make a mood board or an art journal for your life than to write a list.

Through our research on this journey, we also came across a fantastic resource for artists who seek organization.

www.theorganizedartist.com

Zachary Smith

The brains behind "the organized artist";Ms. Bennett, gives simple, clear guidelines to help entrepreneurs, artists and the like get their projects on the road to fruition.  We learned so much from her experience with many creative folks over the years.  She also has a couple of great books available on her website HYD enjoyed reading through for more specific tools to success.

Once again HYD's cup runeth over as we walk this journey with our client.  Her passion for living life fully is contagious and her commitment to tell the stories of those she walks with will inspire anyone who gets to hear them.  We are learning everyday here at HYD and loving every minute.