Artkive - Save space while displaying your child's artwork!

 

It is no secret that kids love to create art whether it is drawing you a card or painting a picture & as a parent of two I've been given lots of artwork by my children. Between their personal art pieces, they've done at home & artwork they've brought home from school, there just isn't enough space to keep everything. I've kept quite a bit of it & have a box full of artwork in the closet, but I always feel bad there isn't a lot of room to display some of it. That is where Artkive comes in! 

One of the services they offer is that you can send in a stack of your children's artwork, which will then be professionally photographed and made into a hardcover book which can be pulled out & looked at any time you want. I recently received the opportunity to work with them to see how the process worked. I was offered a twenty-five-page book in exchange for my review & both of my kids along with my husband and myself were excited to have some of the kids artwork in a book. I sat down with both of my kids to go through some of the artwork we've saved so we could pick out what we wanted in the book together. The kids also decided to give thirteen of the pages to my oldest & twelve of the pages would display my youngest's work.  

So how does it work? The first step is to head to their website & start the book process which will include paying a first initial payment then waiting for a box to be sent to you. The box has a plastic bag to place your artwork so that if anything happens to the box the art is still safe, along with a prepaid label. Books start out at $75 for twenty-five-pages and additional pages cost extra. If you use code MOONLIT20 you will get $20 off your book order. After you send in your artwork, you will receive updates via email letting you know where your book is at in the process. Our book got stuck for a little while on one of the steps, but everything was sorted out. It takes about two months from the time you send in your artwork to the time you get your book back.

Before they send out your book, they will send you an email asking you to proof the book. This step allows you to adjust the lighting on any photos if you wish, add a description under the artwork, and select a cover photo. When you hit submit, your book will be printed & mailed back to you. I thought the process was very simple to understand & was easy to use. Our book turned out great, I love being able to grab our Artkive book off the bookshelf to flip through the artwork. When we've had family over, we've been able to put it out on the coffee table & they've enjoyed looking through it as well. 

The point of these books of course is to free up some space in your house, so unless you select to pay an extra return free the original artwork will be recycled. My kids are ages eleven & fifteen, so they didn't think it was that big of a deal not to get the original work back since we had a copy in the book. However, some people are more attached to things like this and may want the work back, so it is completely up to you. These books would make a great gift for a family member or as a gift to yourself. Along with kids art books they have an option where you can get it turned into a framed mosaic. There is also another option called cards by Artkive where they will do the same as they did with this book, but with old greeting cards instead.

Does this sound like a service you'd use? 

Disclaimer- Artkive provided me with an art book for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Great Middle School Reads from Candlewick Press!

 

A lot of the books I receive from Candlewick Press are better suited for younger children, however sometimes a book comes across my desk that is great for older readers as well. Today I wanted to share a small assortment of those books with you!

Anatomicum: Welcome to the Museum (Retail $35) - This book is not only great for teens, but many adults will love this book as well. In fact I gave this book to my brother during the holidays because it is right up his alley. He likes things that are creepy, spooky and relate to human anatomy so this book was perfect. 

This 112 page book is packed full of information and illustrations of the human body broken down into sections, you can see how the muscles are laid out or see how some parts of the brain work. A book like this is quite education and interesting to read through, a younger child can read this as it is easy to understand however it is up to the parent and their level of comfort as some of the genital photos are detailed and many of the images in this book are realistic in nature. I also want to note that this book is big! It measures in at almost 15 inches tall and 11 inches wide.

The book is over all quite fascinating, the amount of illustrations and information packed into this book make it a worth while buy for a classroom or personal collection. 

Lost in the Imagination: A journey through nine worlds in nine nights (Retail $19.99) - I have to be honest with this one, when I pulled this out of the package and started flipping through it I became pretty excited. This is the type of book I enjoy reading! The illustrations in this book alone are worth purchasing it, the illustrations are beautifully detailed, packed with color and textures. This book is filled with some magical worlds and creatures. There is a lot packed into the pages of this book, my daughter and I look forward to reading this one. 

The adventures in these pages take you to nine different worlds, each with their own unique qualities. I've always been interested in strange creatures, other realms and fantasy books so this is the perfect combination between those. Some of the illustrations give me a bit of an old time/steam punk vibe as well due to the type of art style and colors used.

The Language of the Universe; A visual exploration of mathematics (Retail $24.99) - While I have never been a huge fan of my math classes, this is a pretty interesting book that shows math in a new light. Not only is this a good book to have at home but I think this would fit into a class room setting quite nicely and may help a child who doesn't like math interested in wanting to learn more about what this book has to offer. This book explores how math fits into the world around us and not just in the sense we are used to, through out the pages you will discover how math fits into the world in ways you may not have realized before.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Candlewick Press for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Holiday books from CandleWick Press!

While a few of these books are more suited for the holiday season, it is never too late to read a good book. Today I wanted to share an assortment of books with you that I got from CandleWick Press that are great for Kindergarten and older. I will also be sharing an assortment of non-holiday related books that are perfect for any time of the year.

Dinosaur Christmas (Retail $16.99) - This cute book is part of a series about dinosaurs, in this book they are on a mission to help save Christmas by helping Santa out of a snowstorm that has caused his sleigh to get stuck in the snow. Will the Dinosaurs be able to help Santa get his sleigh out in time for Christmas? You'll have to read this fun adventure to find out. 

Gigantosaurus: The Holiday Party (Retail $5.99) - On the shortest day of the year (winter solstice) most of the dinosaurs are feeling the winter blues and are all feeling down so Tiny decides to throw a last minute holiday party to cheer everyone up. Tiny manages to get everything together for the party in the small amount of time that they have and it really helps cheer everyone up. This is a cute holiday book, it is short and sweet perfect for a beginner reader plus it comes with Stickers!

Mouse's Night Before Christmas (Retail $17.99) - It was the night before Christmas and everyone was sleeping except for a little mouse who lives in the grandfather clock. If you are a fan of stories where cute little creatures help Santa deliver holiday presents then this book is for you. The cute little mouse helps Santa deliver presents and in the end his Christmas wish of having a friend comes true so he no longer feels like a lonely little mouse. We thought this was a adorable book and we enjoyed the holiday story.

Christmas Is Joy (Retail $14.99) - This is a very sweet and short story, it is almost more of a long poem or at least that is what it reminded me of. This book is from the point of view of two reindeer and their love of Christmas. I think this book is perfect for Kindergarten and first grade.

Paper Peek Animals (Retail $14.99) - This nifty little book features animal cut outs and patterned paper behind the animal that features a number of animals found in that region of the world. For example the North America cut out below shows skunks, moose, beavers, foxes and more. I thought this was a neat way to showcase to kids the different animals around the world and where they can be located. This book is recommended for ages 0-3. 

This Is A Book Of Shapes (Retail $8.99) - This is another great learning book for children age 0-3, it helps introduce them to new shapes along with some fun colors and it has a non-shape related page or two to keep the book interesting and fun.

My Favorite Color (Retail $15.99) - I really enjoyed this fun and colorful book. This board book features a number of pages with dozens of colored squares some of which are cut out windows, each window showcases a different color. On each page you'll find one color range, for example all blues will be on a page and the following page will have all greens. Having each small sheet thin and see though makes it to where you can lay the colors over each other to create new colors, it is a great way for kids to learn dozens of new colors and shades. Some of the colors in this book I'd love to have as paint! 

See The Cat: Three Stories About A Dog (Retail $8.99) - This is a great book for my son who is in second grade, the book is long enough to keep him engaged and the stories are entertaining. While at the same time the story isn't overly long so your child won't get distracted or lost reading the book. Each story is a fun adventure for the dog and it has some cute illustrations to go along with each story. 

Peppa Pig & The Day Of Giving Thanks (Retail $12.99) - It isn't every day that you find a Thanksgiving related children's book so it is neat when you do come across one. This book features a favorite character of many children - Peppa Pig! My kids aren't a big fan of Peppa Pig as they are a bit older now (7 & 11) but we still thought this was a fun book. As an added bonus if you take off the book sleeve cover there is a poster on the inside that your child can color in and have fun with. 

The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol (Retail $19.99) - This book has some absolutely gorgeous illustrations through out it, many features found through out the pages have been embossed with gold or silver coloring which really makes the page pop. I tried to get a good photo to show how much it sparkles but it was hard trying to capture how pretty it looks in person. This is a really neat book that is perfect for young kids who celebrate Hanukkah or children who are interested in learning more about the holiday. 

Candlewick Press sells all of these fantastic books along with hundreds of others that are perfect for all holidays and occasions, they will have pretty much any category or subject you are looking for. Most of the books I shared today are geared more towards children under the age of ten, however I will be making a post soon with some great books for older children (and even adults!). 

What are some of your favorite children's books? Would your children enjoy any of the books I shared here with you today?

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Candlewick Press for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.