My Latest Mom Hack: A Genius Way to Save Kids’ Artwork (Without the Clutter!)

This genius way to save kids artwork post was sponsored by Artkive as part of an Influencer Activation and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

If you have younger kids, you will no doubt have a season when they produce a ton of artwork!  Dylan loves his pencil sketches (and can draw some crazy cool cartoon characters!) while Mei loves everything colorful with markers and paints.  As a mom, I truly do cherish all of their artwork but it definitely becomes a problem when I have stacks of papers everywhere!

I recently learned about a company called Artkive and absolutely love that they are in the business of turning free-floating pictures into beautifully bound art books!

Genius Way to Save Kids Artwork

What Is Artkive?

Artkive is a service that solves the problem for parents of what to do with their kids’ art and at the same time, reduce clutter!  When you order from Artkive, they provide you with a sturdy prepaid box that you then fill with all your kids’ art and ship back.  Once Artkive receives your box, each piece of provided artwork is then professionally photographed, organized, and finally turned into an incredible hardcover book or custom-framed mosaic print.  (*You can opt into getting your child’s artwork returned afterwards, too!)

It’s THE best way to take care of all the free-floating artwork that you probably have from your little ones and turn them into something beautiful that you can share and enjoy.  It takes care of the growing piles of paper that start accumulating from saving all your kids’ artwork and it was such a joy for my kids to see their work getting “published” too!

How Does Artkive Work?

Artkive makes the process super simple, and thank goodness too cause I never have enough time on my hands!  The Artkive process can be broken down into 3 steps:

1. Go to Artkive’s website and order an Artkive box.  Artkive will send a large (24″ x 8″ x 4″) crush-proof cardboard box direct to your home in around 5-7 days.
2. Fill the box with art and send back to Artkive.  Inside the box are a resealable bag to protect the artwork, a prepaid return shipping label, and a tips/tricks sheet for organizing your art.  Once you decide on the artwork to include, just send it in to Artkive — it’s free shipping within the continental US!  If you want to get the artwork back, there is an option to have Artkive return the pieces once the finished product is completed as well.
3. Approve the proof, pay, and enjoy!  Artkive does all the heavy lifting once the box is in their hands.  The artwork is professionally photographed with studio lighting and edited with state-of-the art equipment.  You’ll receive a digital proof of the Artkive Book where you can make additional changes before having the book sent to production.  Once everything looks just the way you like it, complete your payment and you’ll have the finished book in your hands in a few weeks!

My little girl, Mei (6 years old), has always LOVED creating art and I can’t even think of a day when I didn’t receive at least a couple original pieces of art that she worked on for the day.  Some are quick little drawings of rainbows or smiley faces that she’ll cut out and place on my desk when I’m not looking, and other times they are large full-page works that filled with color and creativity.

I started saving these works initially in a folder and then quickly moved it to a drawer once I started running out of space in a few months.  The drawer was definitely starting to overflow so discovering Artkive couldn’t have come at a better time!

We spent about an hour one morning just going through all her works that I had saved up (over 600 pieces of paper, omg.. ) and picked out our top 200 that I decided we’d publish in our first Artkive Book.  Artkive books can fit anywhere from 20 to 200 pieces of artwork — I decided to max it out at 200 and really give it a go! 😆

I received an email once Artkive received our box and in 5 days I received a notification to approve the proof copy of our book!  I logged onto a dashboard where I could approve or delete pages. change the book cover, and reorganize the sort order if I wanted.  Once I approved the final copy, it was off to the presses!

What Is The Finished Artkive Book Like?

Ok, I have to say that I was absolutely blown away by the finished Artkive book!!  The quality is just incredible as the book itself is a thick hardcover while each page inside is on premium cardstock pages.  The finish of the pages is glossy and smooth, with artwork that’s rich in vibrant colors that really stand out.  Each page is set with an individual piece of artwork, making it have the look and feel of artwork on display!

I was especially impressed with how each piece of artwork was so beautifully captured.  I know from personal experience how tricky it is to reflect true colors and have digital images capture the beauty that you see in real life.  Artkive hands-down impressed me with the quality of its images and captured the details in the artwork that I wanted to preserve forever.

Doesn’t the cover almost look multi-dimensional??  It’s like I could actually see the cutout heart and the layering of mediums that were in Mei’s artwork.  Artkive really does take into consideration all the details when creating your book and the finished product is absolutely beautiful!

We have our Artkive book set out on the coffee table, and it’s been such a great way for us all to enjoy looking at the artwork Mei has created over the years.  Mei even loves to join us whenever she sees one of us going through the Artkive book and tells the story behind the art on each page.

Our Artkive book is truly a work of art and there is so much thoughtful design that goes into the creation of each page.  I love that the entire process was so easy (like a white-glove experience!) and the result is a keepsake that I will cherish forever.

Artkive also makes a wonderful gift and is 100% a service that I will continue to use the future.  Try it out on their website and use my promo code CUTENLITTLE20 to save $20 on your first order!