Children's Art Gallery

For over 3 years I have been adding the kids artwork to the dining room wall - from the first scribble and brushstrokes to handprints, the numerous collages and more recently, their gorgeous representations of people and animals. The trouble is that I was running out of wall space and it was looking messy, with corners peeling off the walls as the blue tack lost its stickiness.

The inspiration for the gallery came from a mixture of Ikea (those cheap frames again!), Mister Maker ("Lets frame it!") and Amanda Soule's book, the Creative Family (see sidebar) where she talks about doing an annual exhibition of her children's artwork. I want so much to honour my children's creativity. Framing their work was a way of conveying this and I think the resulting gallery is gorgeous.

I used a staple gun to connect a series of pictures with some rustic string. I like the flow that is created by hanging the columns of pictures at varying heights and the fact that you don't have to put lots of nails in the wall. There are more pictures waiting in the wings (I ran out of frames!) and it will be easy to add more to the bottom of each column of pictures.

My intention is to have an exhibition, as suggested in Amanda's book, and allow the children to give some of their artwork to friends and family. Sweet!