The Art Cabinet in the Dining Room is CLEAN

I finally went through it.

It was -30 degrees outside and I had no energy for actually starting the car to get to anywhere.

So I started pulling shit out of the cabinet and trying to see if any of it was salvageable artwork from a toddler.

I took this "before" picture after I had already pulled all the shit out of the bottom shelf.

As it turns out, little scribbles that I totally thought I would remember really mean nothing.

I ended up recycling and trashing almost all of the "little scribbles" that I thought were so precious. Last January I gave The Monkey my old college art drawing book so she could have something to color in - she actually filled the whole thing up. So I'm going to label it with her name, the year 2014 and then put it in one of her storage boxes. When she's older and needs some inspiration for her own art, then she can pull that out at any time and take a look back at what she did. I also saved one painting where I really liked the colors and one foam sticker art project because she LOVED doing that. The rest went goodbye...

Not quite finished yet - I still need to clear the top and swap the larger "napkin basket" with Bimmer Man's "biking stuff basket."

Top shelf = paints, stickers, art project supplies

Middle shelf = napkins, playdough

Bottom shelf = loose paper, foam sheets, dot stampers, markers, craft supplies

Art easel with basket of coloring books and paper

Washable paints came out of a bin and into a metal basket - the old shitty paintbrushes went into the trash. Every time I rinsed them I would have to re-glue the bristles to the handle. Stickers, buttons, and other craft items went into one basket, markers into their own, dot stampers into their own. I pulled out all of the coloring books and larger paper pads and put those into a basket by The Monkey's new art easel.

I can't move the napkins because it's The Monkey's job to get everyone a napkin before each meal - it needs to be at her level. I saw an immediate response to art organization because all we did that day was art projects and she was able to get out what she wanted to make what she wanted. In fact, she really just wants to color in her Princess coloring book with her markers so I'm thinking I might buy myself coloring pencils and a coloring book from Pocket Posh.

With it being organized I'm no longer shoving used paper back into the bottom shelf, stepping on fallen art supplies or continuously getting out paper for The Monkey to color. It's awesome.