Our Motivation Monday for you…

Things were getting out of hand. Every time my girls wanted to color (not even take on a big art project) I was getting stressed. There was no system. And the clean up would be too much for us all. I already had the great coloring mat idea (this is our favorite coloring mat - cheap & easy!), but I needed a place for that to live along with all of their markers and other mediums. I was stressed, they were stressed and the worst part was that my kids didn’t have their creative outlet comfortably when they were home.

I couldn’t take it anymore. There needed to be some way to manage the madness! I had remembered in my Home folder on Pinterest I had pinned the Ikea Art Cart. Originally I was thinking this would be great for other home organizational projects (like our home office). I loved that it was on wheels and consolidated.

So, I took this idea and ran. I ordered us the art cart and went on Amazon to reasearch galvanized utensil holders. After measuring, I realized 2 of the holders would fit perfectly on the top layer of the cart! They are a great way to keep the markers, stamps, pens/pencils, erasers, crayons, even paints in their own compartments. Also, as you can see below, the holders act as a great mat holder when the girls are creating at our table. They are right there with me in the kitchen! The girls have lived with this system now for a few years and it is second nature. Key word being “system” - just love the fact that all of these loose ends have a home and the girls know exactly where to find them and exactly where to put them away. The wheels on the cart make it so easy for us to move it in-and-out of the way. Lots of times when we are having a big group of kiddos over we will roll the cart into a closet so we don’t end up with marker on our walls or furniture. Phew and amazing.

A few times a year we go through the cart and clean it out. A lot of the papers and projects the girls create are not worth keeping - like the torn out coloring pages from inexpensive coloring books they get at a birthday party. We also go through and test all of our markers on a piece of paper (which ends up being art in-and-of itself!), check to make sure our colored ink pads are still alive and sharpen any colored/regular pencils.

We bought our cart when we lived in our old house. I am so happy we went with a light, neutral color. However, now Ikea is offering it in this amazing teal color (you know how obsessed we are with teal for home decor right now hah!). Stunner of a color, right…

We hope this motivates you to get your art supplies in order so your kids are inspired to create!