This past Mother’s Day my little guy gave me a treasure: he painted a portrait of me in his art class at school.
Here’s how the secret project began: a few weeks ago he asked for a picture of our family for school. I found a couple for him to use and didn’t think to ask why he needed them.
I had no idea what his little hands had been working so hard to create. He is definitely more athletic than artistic, but he greatly enjoys art and works hard on it. I can’t wait to add it to our collection of art.
I have saved my kids’ art since they were little and frame them to hang on our the walls in the playroom. I found black frames at Walmart that came with white mats. I painted the mats with acrylic paint to match the art work (see below).
It’s an inexpensive project that all my friends love and is such a treasure for me. The only problem . . . I need a bigger playroom for all of my kids’ art!
The portrait looks just like you… pouty lips and all! I also have an amazing art collection thanks to my mini-Monets… guess who I stole the idea from
You have you some pretty cute mini-Monets, some of my favorite kiddos!
I love your picture. Savannah is becoming quite an artist herself. One of my goals this summer is to frame and display some of her work, too!!!
Oh you should Kathy, the kids LOVE seeing their stuff around the house!
Precious portrait! I love your custom mats–and agree–I need more wall space for my prolific artists! Love the blog Michelle!
Thanks for your encouragement Amy!
I LOVE this idea!!!! I will definitely need to create wall space, but I would love to look at Hunter, Parker and Skylar’s masterpieces all day!!! I am going to share this idea with Karri too!!! Fun and inexpensive are my favorite things!!
Thanks Billie, you are always so encouraging! Another idea is to put a few frames of their art work in their rooms instead of devoting an entire wall.
LOVE that idea! Now I just have to remember to actually do it:)
Thanks Lisa! I know what you mean about time. I have tons of ideas but finding the time to carry them out is another story.
Love it! My kids artwork is about all I have going on anymore. It is so beautiful. I love your matte idea. For the larger or awkward sized ones I got the glass frames with clips from Ikea and art paper which I cut matting out of to fit.
Susanne thanks for the Ikea idea, that is great. I would love it if you have a picture you could send of the frames with the art work.
Love the portrait, Michelle! That was so sweet of Dubs! And of course, I love the artwork. It makes everything so bright and cheery! Can’t wait to check out more of your zany blog!
Thanks Myndi and please keep coming back to my “zany” blog! I love reading everyone’s comments.
Fun idea! I can just hear you saying to Kent, “Kent, we need to move to a bigger house … I’m running out of wall space in the house again for all the kid’s artwork!”
Thanks Tami. I am afraid Kent will be hearing me for a long time….I am running out of wall space. Oh well, it is fun to dream!
Michelle, you always have such great ideas. I love that this is inexpensive! Keep posting your wonderful ideas!
Thanks Jana, you are always so encouraging. Please keep coming back, I love to read everyone’s comments.
What a great portrait! Love those red lips. Thanks for the idea of painting mats of inexpensive frames. I will definitely try that!
I am thinking the red lips might be my best feature! Thanks for the comment.
I love the idea of painting mats before framing the child’s artwork! I also, have framed a lot of my children’s artwork in cheap frames that Ikea sells which come in primary colors…I just had my kids paint poster boards that I had pre-cut to the size of the frame and they painted large fun art to decorate our playroom. It was a happy inexpensive way to cover all the walls! Now, like you, I am out of wall space…What I have done is bought huge portfolios at the a teacher learning store (They also sell them at Michael’s) and when my children come home with great art that I can’t frame right now, but want to keep, I just put it in the grade level slot and they will have their own organized art collection to keep forever! Thanks for all your great ideas!
Thanks for the tips Mary, keep them coming! I have already shared your ideas with several friends.
I love this idea and the portrait is so precious~ Your son did a great job! thanks for the great tip~
Thanks Shareese! I am sure you have a great collection of art from your boys!
Oooooh…….does this mean MY little guy might be bringing home a picture? I’m hopeful. I have so many pictures of the kids’ artwork that I need to hang up–good to know about the WalMart frames! AND, I love P’s rendering of his sweet Momma
Thanks Lauren! I hope you got your picture from your sweet boy! Mary had a great idea for keeping and organizing your kids art:
What I have done is bought huge portfolios at the a teacher learning store (They also sell them at Michael’s) and when my children come home with great art that I can’t frame right now, but want to keep, I just put it in the grade level slot and they will have their own organized art collection to keep forever!
Oh what a cute idea to custom your mats to match the art work. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the handprints ala Madison. Ugh they grow up so fast.
Thanks Jae, they do grow up fast! Enjoy the time when they are little, before you know it they will be gone.
Love that little guy:) have always wanted to have a wall like that, thanks for the inspiration! Hope to have many pieces to display from the girls.
That little guy loves you! Madison is headed to Kindergarten in the fall. Can you believe? It seems just like the other day Preston was walking into your class. We miss you! Hug those precious girls!
precious!! love artwork made by sweet hands
Thanks Sarah! The crazy thing is watching these little hands grow. It seems like just the other day he was going to Kindergarten and now he is headed to 3rd grade.
I love the picture your son painted. Just to share a funny story, my sister’s 4 yr old did the same thing at school. Drew a picture of her for Mother’s Day. Well he included her boobs in the picture. It is hilarious! When she asked him what they were he replied “those big things under your neck”…
He also included her stomach…which was he drew MUCH bigger than reality.
That is hilarious, I love this story especially “those big things under your neck” Oh how I can relate! Thanks for sharing.
Love the Artwork! Fantastic! I find that children are extremely inventive and creative, they speak from their heart!
Great idea on the wall art…of course great ideas pour out of you always. It’s great for them to be shared in a blog!
And that’s a good thing seeing as my house isn’t so close to Dallas anymore, so I can’t try to find a way to have you come over and help me with such things…
Even I can do this project!
What a special Mother’s Day gift. Also, a great idea for displaying that precious art work. Much better than stuffing it in a box to be stored away and then retrieved to be cried over once they’re grown!
A. Anne
I thought that was Christie’s post….I guess you and Christie look more alike than I thought! I think that Preston drew a horn growing out of your head….hmmmm