Michael Tortello recently published a New York Times article on one of the challenges parents of young children face: What do I do with all of this artwork?

Some of those interviewed and some the comments expressed the same sentiment that brought about GlitterDuck. We don’t like having to discard our children’s work, but we also don’t want our homes to look like something out of an episode of Hoarders. What can we do?

Often times we’ll do some filtering and a few pieces will reach the place of honor on the fridge and eventually be moved into a storage container. But what about the rest? As a fan of B-side work there is often times a lot to appreciate and remember in the other work. Sometimes they perfectly capture a time, an age, or an event. Other times it’s fun to watch the developmental progression of our children’s skills.

GlitterDuck lets you archive as much of the work you feel is important and capture those memories while keeping your house from busting at the seams. Choose what you would like mailed back or what can be recycled. GlitterDuck is currently in beta and will open its doors soon.

Check out the site, learn more, and sign up for a beta invite or to be notified when the service is ready.

Wonderful Clutter

As a parent of two young children in daycare and kindergarten my home is packed to the gills with artwork. Art is constantly pouring in through our doors and off our kitchen table. Wonderful artwork. Stuff I would love to share with friends and family who don’t happen to close enough to see our cluttered refrigerator.

As many of you know the artwork builds up. The shear volume along with the square footage of our home prevents us from keeping it all. I have to admit throwing out our kids’ work is painful. Sure, there are a few scribbles here and there as well as teacher-created artwork that can be cleared out, but those are the exception. I hate throwing out their work!

GlitterDuck

This problem is how GlitterDuck was born. GlitterDuck allows you to easily digitally archive all of your children’s artwork and let’s you jump ahead to the fun parts: browsing, sharing, and enjoying. If you’ve already tried you know digitally scanning artwork can be a tedious chore and this is what GlitterDuck tries to make easy. Drop the art in an envelope and send it to us.

I hope to make it easy for you to store and share your little ones’ creations. GlitterDuck started as the service that I thought would be great. Let me know how we can make it better!