Welcome to another Wacky Wednesday project – transforming children’s art.

Do you have some budding little artists in your life? Do you feel like you’re drowning in their artwork?

Once kids get started they can produce art at an alarmingly fast rate. Before you know it you have literally hundreds of pages of paintings and drawings.

Once they hit preschool and start bringing more home, you could be looking for a larger house just to accommodate all the art.

I once resorted to wallpapering a door to use up butterfly paintings my sons did when they were young.

If you’re a little sentimental you may find it hard to throw these masterpieces away but with these clever ideas, you don’t have to.

DON’T LET KIDS’ ART CLUTTER YOUR HOME AND HEAD, TRANSFORM IT INTO WONDERFUL GIFTS AND SAVE MONEY THIS CHRISTMAS

These projects will not only transform children’s art into everlasting keepsakes but also save you money if you choose to give them to loved ones.

In the post How to Prepare Pretty Awesome Preschool Paint Projects, I mentioned using the art for wrapping paper. This is a clever and colourful way to use up some of the art but is not always practical for larger gifts.

In that article, I also talked about laminating the art to use as placemats.

8 GORGEOUS GIFT IDEAS THAT WILL SAVE YOU MONEY

1. ARTWORK COASTERS

Another clever use is to use an egg ring or large glass to draw circles in the art. Cut and glue the circles onto thick cardboard circles then cover with clear contact paper – a lovely set of coasters! They make a unique and colourful gift that friends and family will love. If you don’t want to muck around with the cardboard old CDs also work for this project, though they make slightly larger coasters.

          2. DECORATIVE TIN CAN PENCIL HOLDERS

Wrap the artwork around a tin can and glue into place. Use the art offcuts to make a beautiful matching card by cutting out heart (or any other) shapes and glueing onto cardstock. The tins make great pencil holders and you can make the gift extra special by making a flower pen and putting it in the tin as part of the gift.

               3. PAPER BEAD JEWELLERY

Turn the art into beautiful paper beads you can then transform into jewellery. Just cut long strips of the art, coat the painted side with clear drying glue and wrap (unglued side) around a bamboo skewer (I use straws when doing this with children as they are easier to remove and if they get too gluey and won’t budge they can stay and still be strung up). When dry, spray varnish and then string them onto beading string. I like to mix the paper beads up with wooden and plastic beads.

              4. BOTTLE CAP NECKLACES

Spray paint the front of the bottle cap. Drill holes on opposite sides of the caps and connect using fishing line or bead string. Cut out tiny circles of the artwork to fit inside the caps and glue them in. Finish with spray varnish to protect.

              5. BOTTLE CAPS BRACELETS

Use the same technique but join extra caps (I used eight) to make a bracelet.

             6. ART COVERED BOXES

Save small and sturdy boxes and cover them in the artwork to make wonderful and unique gift boxes – you gain karma points for great recycling! 🙂

               7. ART MAGNETS

Stick the art to a magnetic sheet then cut small heart and other shapes to make fridge magnets.

Make magnets from the art

               8. ART COVERED FRAME

Cover a wide edged photo frame in the artwork and spray varnish to protect the art. Add a photo of the artist to the frame and you’ll have a gift guaranteed to make mama cry.

Hope you enjoyed these tips. If you did, share the fun on Facebook and Pinterest.

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria