Kids Art Wall

we've recently combined our kids into one bedroom and turned the old bedroom into their new play room.  i've been having a lot of fun scouring pinterest for decorating ideas to make it fun and functional.  my latest project has been coming up with a way to display all the wonderful art my kids love to make.  usually it spends a week on our fridge and then gets bumped by something new and finds it's way on top of a shelf somewhere.  not ideal.

i thought, how cool would it be for the playroom to have a wall of my kids own artwork on display?  so off i went on searches of other people's ideas.  here are a few:

ikea tension curtain rods with clips

i like it, it makes the art easily interchangeable, but i find it a little bit chaotic for my neat-freak perfectionist tendencies.

{source}

uniform framed artwork
this is my favourite idea because it looks so neat and professional but it would take more effort to change the artwork in the frames and the artwork going on display isn't always a perfect 8x10.

{i'm unsure of the original source - if it's you please let me know so i can give credit where credit is due!}

cork boards
 i love this idea but have concerns about kids mixing with thumbtacks.

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clipboards
this office has a very tidy clipboard wall set up, making all the snippets and clippings look organized.  i'll bet that would work great for kids artwork, too!

{again, i'm unsure of the original source, here's where i found it through pinterest: source}

so google it i did, and the winner is: clipboards!  of course!  perfectly interchangeable, neat and tidy in a line, and can fit art smaller or in different shapes than just your standard 8x10 paper.  i love it!

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i LOVE this "every child is an artist" pablo picasso quote!

{source - complete with a tutorial for putting words on the wall}

using microsoft word i put together a couple of fonts for the picasso quote:

{"every child is an" and "pablo picasso" in the font "quicksand" (free download here)

and "artist" in the font "halo handletter" (free download here)}

i printed it out in the size i wanted it to be on my wall.  i have jennifer at insideways to thank for the "how-to" side of transferring my letters from paper to the wall using the home-made carbon paper technique (like she did on her diy scrabble tiles in this post) - thanks jen!

{source}

a little sharpie (for a nice crisp straight outline), some black paint (to fill the letters in... because it turned out sharpie and a painted wall weren't quite as made for each other as i'd hoped), and a little bit of patience later i had the quote up on the wall.  the hubby came in handy at hanging time and up went the  clipboards and some of the cutest artwork i've ever seen (even though you can't quite make it out in the photos i took...but trust me, it's cute!)

so, without further adieu...

using a couple of the above ideas - voila!  here is our new art wall in the play room!

we're so happy with how it turned out.
thanks to all those whose ideas led me to this finished product even though you had no idea you were even doing so!

stay tuned for a play room tour in the next few days!