Art on the Cheap!

A long time ago, before a family of my own was even a blip on my radar, I met a woman who had the most wonderful taste in art. It was very abstract and cool. Great big paintings on her living room wall. When I asked about them she told me that the artist was her daughter when she was a few years old. I was instantly taken with the idea. I swore that when I had kids of my own, I would do the same.
Fast forward a decade and here I am with two kids. I have several samples of their work strewn throughout my house. I have framed some of it, like their first finger paintings. I bought small canvases and had them make their handprints on it... a permanant reminder of how small they were (see picture). Some is taped to windows. I keep an archive of each child's work in file boxes. Each piece is like a window into my children's personalities. My son, who tends to be cautious and thoughtful, took great pains with his handprints not to smudge them. He only overlapped them because I told him that it was okay. My daughter, a free spirit who is more reckless, smudged most of her handprints. She looked at it as a chance to get messy! I think I managed to get one semi-clear handprint on hers.
Not only does it provide inexpensive art work, it also sends a message to my kids. It shows them how important their creativity is to me. It shows them that what they do has value in our family. And even this cheapo can't deny that the effects these lessons will have on my children are too priceless to measure.