Organizing Artwork: The Binder Approach

When kids are babies, they come with lots of cute little clothes and stinky diapers. They grow up a bit and lots of toys are added to that mix. As they get a little older, you get to the lose the diapers but the toys get smaller and hurt your feet a lot more. Then, they turn 5.

Now, we still have all the toys {lots and lots of toys} but we also have lots of paperwork! Seriously, it amazes how much paperwork H has come home with in the first week alone!


My previous solution for the paperwork and random artwork were these boxes. A set for each year…

I still have a set of boxes for this year {thanks, Ikea!} but I wanted a way to organize some of her artwork in a more accessible manner. That way, when grandparents visit, I can quickly pull some out and say “Look what H has been up to”.

Enter the 3” binder. So simple but oh so versatile.

Knowing I was going to keep the binder in a main space of the house, I used one of the Avery templates and created a simple binder spine label.

Then, I took a piece of artwork I already had from H and made that the cover.

Inside, I put clear sheet protectors and tab dividers made to work with sheet protectors.

I write the date on the artwork and then it goes into the sheet protector. 

I use the tab dividers for each year. 

Although, judging from the amount of stuff coming home already, it might be a binder for each year with tabs for the months!

How do you organize all the art and creations that come home with your kids?

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