Hanging Children's Art

     The grandchildren's drawings always make me smile. It's amusing to hear them tell about their drawing and to understand the reason behind why they used a frowning face, the swirly squiggles, or a fish floating in air. I always feel enlightened when they tell me about their picture and I usually end up commenting something like, "Ah! Now I see it!"  Sometimes I will pencil a little of what they tell me on the back and I always add the date.
     I have folders and boxes of drawings my daughters made from the 1980's and 90's. Steve and I still laugh at most of them when we have occasion to take them out. There's Audrey's early drawing of our dog tied to a tree with a little pile of poop nearby. (She drew it like she saw it.) We have drawings of their dream houses and their friends, and many horse drawings. One day I will find a way to display some of them so we can enjoy them more often. For now, I decided to hang some of the grandchildren's pictures because they visit often and I thought they would enjoy seeing their pictures hanging here as much as I enjoy having them.
     I chose clip frames because they are simple to use and there is no need to figure out competing frame colors, sizes, etc. They are inexpensive and readily available at Michael's or online. They are easy to change out as I expect I will do as the children continue to draw and create artwork. I happened to already have six frames in the 9 x 12 inch size. These turned out to be the perfect size for drawings done on copy paper. There was a slight gap between the paper and the frame, so I used construction paper in varying colors behind each picture to set them off in the frame. The added burst of color helped with the effect I was going for.
     The six pictures made this boring, blank wall suddenly appear cheery. There is room for more frames, which is good because there are two more grandchildren due to arrive this summer! As long as I keep the drawer filled with paper, pencils, and crayons, the children will keep us supplied with a lifetime of art... and smiles.