Repurposing toddler 'art'

So lovely. I think it's a green field at sunset. Or ponies. Who knows.

My daughter loves to paint. In about 10 minutes, she'll whip up between three and five masterpieces, then declare she wants to watch Dora. But for 10 blissful minutes, she was doing something other than asking to watch TV.

But after that 10 minutes is up, I look at the wonderful, gallery-worthy pieces she has created and think to myself, "Where can I hang these now?"

I am not being serious here, folks - she literally slaps paint on paper and calls it a day. So then I'm left wondering, for real, what the heck do I do with these? I admitted recently to someone that I just threw them out - after all, she's learning from doing the painting, right? The only thing she'd learn if I kept them is that hoarding is good. That person didn't think it should just be garbage, but also didn't give me any suggestions on what to do with the "art."

Well, I figured out one way to use it - repurpose it!

There are a few things I strongly believe in: pie crust should be made using lard unless you're knowingly feeding a vegetarian (only then can you use shortening), you should make an effort to stay in touch with good friends, and you should always send a thank you note.

My daughter is still too young to write, so using her artwork will allow me to put a personal touch on thank you cards for her upcoming birthday and I won't feel any kind of mom guilt for just throwing out her "paintings." Plus, her proud aunts, uncles and grandparents will probably go nuts for these!

Here's what I did - I had a balloon punch I bought at Michael's a while ago. I cut out balloons from her paintings. I double-sided taped them to a card, wrote THANKS using a black sharpie, and ... done.

I'm all about easy crafts these days.