How to Make a Portfolio for School Papers and Artwork

This post is an introduction to step-by-step directions I wrote for a client.

It’s a school day somewhere. Are your child’s school papers spilling over yet?

If you’d like to keep a few momentos of your child’s stories and creative talent, but don’t want to set up a scrapbooking session to do so, this post is for you.

I wrote directions for this nifty paper bag portfolio over on the Rhea Lana blog.

Read on to see why I like this solution for at least some of what comes home with my children.

How Are Those School Papers?

The papers at our house flowed up and over and out last year, but I’m making sure to keep things at a manageable level this year. That means no stuffed-full wall pockets of school papers come May.

‘Ain’t nobody got time for that.

I am not much of a scrapbooker. I am not particularly crafty. I do enjoy displaying my children’s work around the house (which usually means I’ve mask-taped it to a cool-looking ladder). But cornering it with special stickers in acid-free paper? Not so much.

My child’s name, date, and grade written on some corner of the paper tells me all I need to know. And tells them all they need to know when they look over these papers some day.

Why Paper Bags?

I first learned about a portfolio made out of paper bags when I was a teacher. I like this version because:

It holds papers bigger than 8 1/2 x 11.
It stores somewhat flat.
It allows children/parents to decorate it as they like.
The kids are involved in creating it.
It becomes a momento itself. A functional one. Set it out on a coffee table when family is visiting. The grandparents will love it.
The porfolio can still be stored in a legal-sized file/memory box.
This portfolio can be emptied out and reused. Keep the papers for one or two school years, and then store them in a file box if you like. Use again for the next school year.