Repurposing kids art into gifts

Do you keep your kids art in a big stash somewhere? I must confess, I often toss it in the recycling bin when the kids aren’t looking, but not without a twinge of guilt. There are some fabulous pieces that I do keep. Some of them get pasted into art diaries that I keep as a record for the girls, and others I keep as spare gift wrap. Of course, we also display many masterpieces proudly on every wall in the house, but that space soon gets filled up, and you simply can’t keep everything they create, can you? Here are a few ideas that you can do with some of the pieces you are reluctant to part with, but have no place left to hang. They are all pretty simple and will take up very little of your time, and also will add that personal touch to any gift…

#1. Make a pencil tin by wrapping a recycled tin can in brown paper and then covering with a strip cut from a kid’s piece of artwork. As a pretty optional extra wrap a feather and bead around it.

#2. Make a bookmark, by sticking a section of the artwork onto card stock and then cutting it into a bookmark shape. I used the bookmark template I created for this post here. Decorate the bookmark further with some string, a feather and bead.

#3. Create a card by cutting a square cut from your child’s painting and sticking it on to card stock that has been folded into a card. As an optional extra you could stick a cardboard shape on to the top of this but you may well not need that.

#4. Turn the piece of artwork into a unique, personalised gift bag by following this simple tutorial here.

#5. Put a new spin on using artwork as gift wrap by wrapping your gift in brown paper first and then either layering with a strip of the artwork and some string or cutting a detail from the artwork to stick on as a feature.

#6. Stick a piece of the art onto card stock and then cut it into a gift tag shape to use as a cute, personalised tag.

Of course, there are many more things you could make but this gives you a pretty good start, right?

For lots more cool ways to recycle and repurpose all sorts of things, check out my Recycle and Repurpose board on Pinterest.

You might also like:

• Repurposed cereal box bookmarks make fabulous kid-made gifts
• These polymer clay pendants also make lovely gifts
• Use our cute printable templates to create kid-made cards for mothers day (or any occasion!)

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