FREEZE! You’ve Been Framed! Crayola's Innovative & Creative Art Framers!
Written: Mar 10 '03
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Pros: Colorful borders, thick paper, rips easily from the spine, artistic suggestions provided.
Cons: Only 36 sheets per pad so you run out quickly.
The Bottom Line: Want to show off your little artist's accomplishments? Check out the Crayola Art Framers today!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Crayola Art Framers Draw and Paint |
If you have little artists in your house and want to give them a real treat pick up a few of the Crayola Art Framers and watch them go crazy. My boys aren’t the most artistic kids on the block but from time to time they will get a burst of creativity. When I saw the Crayola Art Framers at Wal-Mart I couldn’t resist picking up a few of them to keep on hand. These are great for either boys or girls since the designs are colorful but don’t slant towards being too girly or boyish.
Crayola Art Framers
This 36 sheet, twelve by nine art pad is a great investment for your childs artistic accomplishments. Priced at about $1.99 at most stores I picked these up at the end of the ‘back to school’ sale for under a dollar each. Even at full retail price these are well worth the money because they give your child a nice border to work with as well as a nice thick sheet of paper. The paper isn’t as thick as I’d like it to be and Crayola doesn’t list the actual weight but I am guessing it is 20 pound since it is about the same thickness as the paper I use for the computer printer.
There are three designs within the booklet, each of them colorful and whimsical. Each of the designs are in succession in the book so you won’t have to leaf through to pull out pages if you want to round up all the same design for a project. There are twelve pages of each design so you have enough of each if you want to create a series of pictures but at the same time versatility and a bit of variety. The three designs all carry a very colorful party type theme but my favorite one is the first design. A purple border background with pastel colored crayons and streamers mixed in with confetti. The second design is a blue border with stars and crayons and very cute swirls / tails of shooting stars. The last design is a nice purple border with large colorful swirls and – of course – crayons. The width / depth of the borders varies from design to design as well as on different parts of the page. For the most part, the border is about one inch wide / deep.
Mediums
Since this is a little thinner than the paper in the Crayola Sketch Book so you might have to skip using paint on these and stick with markers and colored pencils. The paper is thick enough to use with glue sticks and for decorating with glitter and puffy paints but using water colors will leave it wrinkled or warped. Using this in the computer printer was a breeze but you will need to adjust the plastic guides to accommodate that larger than normal sized paper. If you are leery about how a piece of this art paper will do I suggest using the last sheet as a test sheet to see if the markers or pens will bleed through to other pages.
Uses
Since these are 12 x 9 sheets of paper they are great for general drawings but you can also use them in your printer for making signs or small banners. It might take a little bit of planning and measuring out the borders but it is well worth it! My suggestion is to measure out the border and then print a test sheet on plain paper. Take the test sheet and place it over the Crayola sheet and hold it up to a window to see if there is enough margin area so the printed material doesn’t overlap the border design. Since each of the designs in this book are different sizes or shapes you may need to purchase multiple books to get enough sheets.
These also make great placemats for birthday parties. Again, pop them in the printer and you can personalize each of them so the kids will have something cute to take home with them. If you are a scrapbooker then you will have a ball using these providing that your scrapbook is large enough to accommodate them. I used these to make cute little signs for each of the boys doors. At first they weren’t too crazy about them because they deemed them “kiddish” but after I added some rocket ships and ‘boy stuff’ they gave me the thumbs up.
I’ve also found that these art framers are great for sprucing up small awards, photo frames and chore lists. . Each week I print out a small list of chores that the boys are assigned and tape it up on the refrigerator. When they complete a chore I put a little foil adhesive back star in the block and at the end of the week they get paid for their efforts. This looks a lot better than a plain sheet of paper and since I added the colored stars its turned into a competition to see who can get the most within the week. I know, its only a matter of time before they get bored with it but for the time being I don’t have to ask to have the cans taken to the garage, the garbage to be taken out or the silverware to be put away.
The Bottom Line
Like I have said in previous reviews, my boys aren’t the kind of kids that will just sit down and start to draw. They usually have a plan or design in mind before they start working on something – but there are a few times when they will get the urge to just draw something. When this happens I try to make sure that they have tons of different things to use – be it markers, art paper or other supplies. This art pad is great for kids of all ages and can also be used for previous drawings. Simply cut the piece of art to fit within the borders and glue it to the page using a glue stick. I’ve found that glue sticks work better than bottled glue since it doesn’t warp the page but feel free to use whatever you wish.
When you sit down and think about it, these have unlimited uses around the house and for the price – it’s something that everyone can afford. I’ve come up with some pretty cool uses for these and plan on picking up some more when they go on sale again during the ‘back to school’ sale at Wal-Mart. If you have the chance to pick these up I highly recommend them for boys and girls of all ages.
To see more products from Crayola, please visit their website and online store at www.crayola.com
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Other Crayola product reviews …
Crayola Blunt Tip Scissors
Crayola Twistables Crayons
Crayola Click Em On Washable Markers
Crayola Sketch Book
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): See Review
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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