There’s a war going on inside my brain.

Half of me loves to be surrounded with artistic expression, beautiful creations, color, texture, in every size and shape. I love putting different styles and mediums together to create something new. Some fancy things, some fun things. Some from thrift stores. Some from galleries. Some homemade, some artist-made.

The other half of me is a minimalist. I like everything in its place. I like clean drawers and closets and desks. I like straight lines and simplicity and I hate clutter. I throw away and I clean out and I organize, daily.

I’m a bit of an odd duck in that way, I guess. An artistic anal retentive.

Where the war rages heaviest is with the masterpieces my kids bring home from school. The watercolors, the stick figures, the paper mache flowers, the coloring book tear outs. 3 boys x 24 cumulative pre-school/school years = an overwhelming amount of child art.

So I’ve set out to find simple solutions that appease both of me…my artsy fartsy side and my neat nick side.

Here’s what I found. Maybe it will be helpful to you.

1. Jan Eleni Collage – This is my A #1 favorite. I LOVE this concept and am going to get my hands on this. Its a collage created from tiny images of artwork. Love!

Photo courtesy janeleni.com

2. Scrapbooking – As a scrapbooker, I’m all about preserving and telling a story. Use your kid’s artwork to enhance a school page or show development. Cut small pieces of the artwork or use as a photo matting. In 30 years, it will be so much more meaningful than any embellishment.

3. Snapfish Photo Books – You know how I love me some Snapfish. But I hadn’t though of using photo books in this way. Next week on her new show “Unstapled”, Carnie Wilson will demonstrate how she preserves her daughter’s artwork in photobooks. (And if you like this idea, you can use promo code CARNIEBOOKS to buy one get one free.)

4. Frames – A simple yet dramatic solution. Purchase neutral/white colored frames in varying sizes and shapes. Off center and crop art in interesting ways.

Photo courtesy Country Living Magazine

5. Greeting Cards – Here’s a thought. Share their art with grandparents, aunts, uncles. Simply create a card by adhering the artwork as the main design, cropped in an interesting way.

6. Binders – Simple. Purchase a big thick binder and clear plastic sleeves. Slip two pieces in each sleeve, facing out. For bigger pieces, crop down or fold to fit. I love these by See Jane Work…

7. Cable System – Clip it up like this:

Photo courtesy style-files.com

with these from Ikea:

8. Li’l DaVinci Art Cabinet - I think this is ingenious. Store and display from 1 to 50 pages…

9. Wrapping Paper – Remember wrapping birthday gifts with the funny papers? Add some personality and charm with the larger pieces of artwork.

10. Finally, maybe the best idea of all…pick the best to display and keep, and don’t feel guilty about tossing the rest (into the recycling, of course.)

Any ideas to share? Please, chime in!

Thank you once again to Snapfish for supporting me for Blissdom ‘10!