Last week I shared the finished tour of our living room makeover, how we got it ready in time for baby and all the family that will be coming in for the holidays. If you haven’t seen it yet take a peek here and you will see this custom artwork we made for the space, which is a fancy way of saying we made it ourselves. ha But really, creating art has been my favorite thing to do since I was a wee one. I still remember when my kindergarten teacher held up a drawing I did of a dinosaur to show the class and I’m not sure I have been prouder of anything since. Of course a lot of the work I do for a living is creative, and is some form of art, but freely drawing and trying new mediums just for the sake of fun can sometimes slip through the cracks but I am ALWAYS so happy when I do get a chance to.

One step better than doing it by myself is sharing the arts with my son Archie (2.5 years old). Drawing and painting with him and being able to do an activity together, that we both love, at such a young age is priceless. Now, it can be super easy to draw and draw together and then tuck the pages away somewhere and never look at them again but when a company like Framebridge exists that makes framing art SO easy, there is no excuse not so get some up on the walls. So I am thrilled to have teamed up with them to show you just how simple it is.

When it comes to creating the artwork, these paint sticks, are AMAZING. They are like giant crayons but it is paint so the color goes on really easily, nice and thick and without a ton of effort. They are also more controlled than a brush and paint so it makes it extra easy for little hands to create something that looks more sophisticated than  your average toddler drawing/painting (like that abstract portrait framed piece on the bottom left in the first photo… archie drew that!).

And that is basically all you need. Put a pad of paper down and let them go.

Shown above was our planning stages for the art (and archie in action mode with the paint stick). While Archie drew, I was using masking tape on the wall to plan out ideal frame sizes. Masking tape is the easiest tool for laying out gallery walls right in the space and planning  artwork scale, and since Framebridge sizing is completely custom, you don’t have to worry about trying to fit an odd shaped drawing into a standard 8×10” or 16×20” frame etc. They create the frame around your art which means you can create a piece of art to the exact size you’d like on the wall. It may seem like working a bit backwards but it also saves so much time from trying to search down something to fit in the space.

Once you pick your favorite piece, when it comes to printing or framing the artwork, Framebridge offers two simple options. You can 1. Send in the original artwork. They ship you packing materials and a pre-addressed, pre-paid return shipping label so you just pack it up and send it off and they send it back framed, bam done! OR option 2 you can turn your art into a digital file and upload it to their site, and they can print and frame it.

I utilized both services this time around. The black and white one shown here is an original Archie drawing where the process is pretty self explanatory. He creates the art, I put it in the mail and it comes back all framed and ready to hang.

The two prints hanging on the wall in our living room were digitally printed. I drew out the top one and the bottom print is more of a mama and Archie collaboration in that he drew it himself but I took a photo of it, to create a digital version, and then I tweaked the color to match the palette of the house. Sneaky! If you want to try this at home just make sure to take a photo of the artwork with the highest resolution possible and then you can crop and edit it using your favorite photo app (I used Photoshop). I did ask him if he minded if I changed the color and it was fun showing him his original artwork, the process I did to create a print, and how mama does this kind of thing for work a lot. Sharing such a passion of mine and making him a part of it is kind of the best thing ever.

Traditionally framed photos are always appreciated gifts by family members (which framebridge is also great for), but I have to say, being able to gift art created by a little tyke is also super special.

The great thing about making digital files of the artwork is that you can easily print and re-print multiples for gifts. I ended up printing the artwork Archie and I made in a couple different colorways and frames in order to match the style of the person I plan to gift them to.

Shown in our house we used the Marin frame.
Shown in the prints to gift I used the black Mercer Slim frames.

Use code SSS15 to get 15% off your first Framebridge order. Code expires 01/31/2018.

Additional Sources: See this living room post for all the furniture and accessory sources
Wallpaper: Sarah Sherman Samuel x Lulu and Georgia

Thank you to Framebridge for sponsoring this post, as always all thoughts and ideas are my own.