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From Piles of Paper to Family Keepsake – Preserving Kids’ Artwork with SouvenarteBooks – And a GIVEAWAY!

Disclosure: SouvenarteBooks is a client of Mom Central Consulting.

With schools on hiatus for the summer, Moms everywhere know they have a decision to make. Nestled at home amidst the worn-out backpack, battered trombone case, and nearly out-grown gym shoes lay a mound of construction paper, ceramic sculptures, and paper-mâché creations.

A year’s worth of art projects represent so much to Moms – even more than the beauty of each individual piece. These collections showcase our kids’ creativity, their passions, and their cognitive and emotional development. We can page through everything from mixed media pieces to charcoal sketches to first writings and see how much they’ve grown and evolved by looking at what they created at the beginning of the year and what they produced by the end.

Even young toddlers in preschool begin building up a large body of artwork. I remember when my daughter started day care at 15 months. By week’s end, she had so many sheets of brightly colored paper with all sorts of collages and drawings. Fast forward and you can imagine what five years of day care will bring! An amazing collection of artwork that you will want to save (at least some of) – all before the start of kindergarten! While you might not have room to save every scribble or handprint, SouvenarteBooks will make a very special book of your favorite pieces marking milestones and preserving memories of special moments.

But as much as we love our kids’ artwork – we all wonder what are we going to do with those staggeringly high piles? We want to keep every crayon scrawl and every glue-and-glitter masterpiece – yet with each passing year, many of those special pieces of art will fade and disappear. And the thought of throwing any of it away – even covertly – feels gut-wrenchingly wrong. Doesn’t it?

Fortunately, SouvenarteBooks offers a solution that doesn’t include making furtive, middle-of-the-night trips to a dumpster across town or turning the spare bedroom into archival space. Susan Berman, founder of SouvenarteBooks imagined a better way that allows us to turn our kids’ artwork into a bound book worthy of any home.

SouvenarteBooks

Here’s how it works: first, you select the size of the book you’d like: 10 x 8, 13 x 11, or 12 x 12, then, you choose any number of pages you’d like so you can decide how large you want the book to be and how many art pieces it will include. You or the staff of designers at SouvenarteBooks can decide what you’d like to include-ranging from crayon drawings to watercolor sketches to even 3-D dioramas or clay pieces. You can create a totally customized book from cover to cover.

Once you send your selected artwork to SouvenarteBook’s New York office, they will then transform your pile into a beautifully bound book with archival paper. Costs range from $170 to $390, depending on the style and size of the book you select. Even better, families can be as involved in the process as they like – choosing to work with a SouvenarteBooks designer to curate your book’s selection of artwork or sending explicit directions to their studio on how you’d like the art to be ordered. All books come with a display stand and book jacket where you can include your child’s photo and place an artist’s bio or statement. All art is returned with your book as well.

But even more than a solution for keeping our kids’ artwork organized and under control, the books offer families a permanent way to keep and preserve memories. In my own family, we’ve gone all digital – storing virtually all of our photos online, in the cloud or on a DVD – but nary a photo album in sight! And yet I have wonderful memories of how much I enjoyed pulling out my grandmother’s photo albums and sitting around the dining room table together paging through years and years of family photos. Now, SouvenarteBooks allows our families to connect and have the opportunity to step back, slow down, and remember our son’s kindergarten self-portrait or how proud our daughter was when she began signing her own artwork.

SouvenarteBooks ensure that these memories will be accessible – no more digging through an attic storage area for a dusty shoebox full of second-grade drawings. SouvenarteBooks provide families with an enjoyable way to look back on their kids’ childhood years – pointing out favorite holiday art projects or milestone pieces such as the one that was in the big 5^th grade art exhibit. Moreover, SouvenarteBooks offer kids a great way to share their memories and accomplishments with grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends. SouvenarteBooks makes a perfect memorable birthday gift for grandma.

SouvenarteBooks

Any Mom knows how fast kids grow up – now with SouvenarteBooks, we can create a window in time to preserve memories of our kids’ love and creativity.

To keep up with the latest news and deals follow SouvenarteBooks on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SouvenarteBooks.

Win a SouvenarteBook!

We’re giving away the chance for one lucky Mom Central reader to win one SouvenarteBook. (Giveaway value approximately $170.)

To enter, leave a comment below on what you do with your child’s artwork. Giveaway ends at midnight EST on July 9, 2014. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email.

* You must be 18 or over to enter for a chance to win and a resident of the U.S. By entering our giveaway, you must have read and understand our giveaway rules.

Giveaway ends at midnight EST on July 9, 2014.