Artists and authors

It's no secret that encouraging our kids in what they are doing is the best way to keep them doing it. This seems especially true with kids and their work.
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One of my favorite ways to do that is by “publishing” books for them. This can be as simple and inexpensive as taking their writing and art and cutting and pasting it into a cute journal from the dollar store. Or just giving them a small, blank scrapbook to create a book. I keep a whole box of these, ready for the taking. There's not a book in here that cost more than $1.

Also in this box are inexpensive photo albums that they can slide their individual book pages into, easily making a hardbound book of their own.

Here is a book that we made just by folding some cardstock, punching two holes in the center, and tying yarn through it to bind it. So simple

This one was a scrapbook, turned into a poetry book with a little cut 'n paste.

Keep your eye open at Dollar Tree and the dollar section of Target and when you see some, stock up. Don't let them scare you off if they have a Christmas tree or something on the front, we just cover that up by gluing a paper with the title of the book and art onto the cover.

Sometimes you can catch photo websites such as shutterfly.com and snapfish.com when they are having a free book deal. I used one of these opportunities to publish a book Riley had worked really hard writing. All I had to pay was shipping.

This was fun also because I could add stuff like a "Meet the Author" page.

I also try to treat their art very seriously. If it is something really special to them, I like to frame and display it. That doesn't happen as often as they would probably like, but I try. Here are a few of ours.

Here is my new favorite. Cole made these pictures for me. He drew my favorite coffee cups. I love this so much.

I want them to know I think their art is worth a lot to me. Plus, it’s adorable! Be on the lookout at garage sales and dollar stores for frames for this, too.

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Something about having your story in book form, or your painting on the wall, makes you feel like your work was worth the trouble and makes you eager to do more.

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It can be cheap and doesn't take much time. It's worth the extra effort!