When Nolan was itty bitty and our one and only, we did lots and lots of projects, crafts and in-home "tot school", which led to lots and lots of papers and crafts hanging out around the house. As Acelyn came along and grew, we continued our projects, but not nearly as often, but then Nolan started Preschool and was bringing home 4-5 crafts and fun worksheets a week. I absolutely adore these handmade things and would keep every piece of it, if we had the space. But, coming from a family who kept all of my own artwork when I was small, and then having boxes of it to go through as I was older, I knew there had to be a better way to store all of these handmade goodies without losing the special memories from them.
Chatbooks to the rescue! Over the years, I've learned to snap pictures of each kids' piece of artwork, whether it's a holiday themed craft we made together at home, a creation Nolan's made at school or a certificate he's earned stating his progress, or Acelyn's tiny handprint crafts that I adore. Chatbooks simply takes each of these photos, whether uploaded from the phone, computer, or in our case, an individual, private Instagram account for each child's artwork, and automatically arranges the photos into a simple 6x6 or 8x8 soft or hardcover book. You can customize which photos you'd like in your book, captions, dates, etc.
Another option on the Chatbooks app is to sign up for the Chatbook Series, which creates a new book for every 60 photos posted to your social media and sends it to you! No remembering to make a book... it creates itself for you every time you upload a new photo. Easy peasy, and for just $10 a book, plus free shipping!
Personally, we choose a Custom Photo Book for our kids' artwork, and typically print for every year or Preschool season. For example, Nolan has a Summer School 2017 book with just over 50 pages, but also has a 2017-2018 Preschool Book with over 180 pages, covering his entire school year of projects, worksheets, photos of school parties, and progress reports.
I also create a separate photo book for each kiddo for the special projects we make at home. These books cover a longer amount of time, since there aren't as many crafts, so Acelyn still doesn't have one printed in her short 2 year span of artwork, and Nolan has one covering all of his projects from infancy to age 4.
We plan to continue this tradition of saving artwork through the school years, to save space yet preserve all of their creative work, and we do save the really special pieces, just a few a year, as hard copies that go in their "boxes".
Here are some other tips that I've found are helpful towards a successful artwork Chatbook:
*Take all photos of each piece on a neutral, solid background. We choose to use a plain, white posterboard.
*Photograph in the right light. Always try to get bright, natural light from a window source, or even outside in the open shade.
*Take the photos as soon as your child brings them home from school or finishes them at home. That way you stay up to date and reduce them piling up around the house.
*Create an Instagram account to keep all the photos in one space. If you're anything like me, you take a million photos on your phone, so sifting through them to find your child's artwork from the previous month can be a nightmare. I have an Instagram account for each child, and upload the photos to their accounts right after snapping them.
*Let your child love on them! Nolan adores his books and often pulls them down just to look through them. I believe it gives him a little sense of pride in his work and makes him feel extra special that we're able to print off books just for him.
We've had the best experience with Chatbooks, and to share the love, feel free to use our referral code JENK10 for a $10 credit towards your very own Chatbook! Choose your photos and let the app do the work for you, all while saving those memories that have been stored away in your phone or computer this whole time!
To visit Chatbooks, check them out on there website here or download the app here to get started!
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