* We will email you a settlement statement. This will show you a detailed record of all the purchases that your families have made.
* It will also show the cost prices of the products and the balance we owe.
* You will supply us with your bank account details and we will pay you the balance owing.
What comes with your D.I.Y. Packing Kit?
We will charge $0.75 extra per product for this service and your order will be delayed by up to 2 weeks. This is because once the order completes production, it then needs to go into our Packing queue which can get quite large! If the queue is small, then we may be able to get the order dispatched within a few days, but we would recommend that if you want your order out faster, opt for the DIY Packing option.
Orders are recorded and paid for over our website, so the most important things for you to do is to promote your event and stay contactable to both Kids Art Works and your school community.
The website records each parent’s purchases when they pay online. You can:
When your order closes, check then approve the Order Summary we email you. You do not need to check every single row on every page, but we do want you to at least check the details on the first page, which includes your Delivery Address and the School Branding we will print.
How the families will order
Families can view their child’s artwork and place orders in two convenient ways.
Option 1: Enter the unique code that is printed on the parent order forms. (eg KA1234ABC)
Option 2: Enter your school code (eg KA1234), then select their room and name from a drop down box,
If students have existing artwork, you can use this and upload it using our Pix Tool. We recommend:
* Make the canvas/paper size the same as our art paper. (ratio 1 to 0.635…. eg 1000 x 635 pixels)
* Save the file as a jpg, high resolution (300dpi), name the file as the students name.
Here are our top tips to help with the artwork creation.
* Use the art paper we have supplied in your starter pack, as it matches the proportions of our products. You can also attach the unique sticker codes to the art paper to speed up the upload process. (note: only apply the stickers once you have been supplied a room checklist from us)
* Create art in landscape orientation, as landscape art looks the best on our products.
* Don’t have any important text or art around the border. While you should fill the entire page, keep in mind that a slight crop may occur during production.
* Use our artwork library, to help the teachers and students with inspiration
* Share the ‘Teachers Area’ with your teachers, here they will find helpful information and learn about common art creation mistakes that can lead to production issues.
Even teachers that have been doing this for decades should find something helpful here!
What comes with your D.I.Y. Packing Kit?
We can pack your order for you, using the DIY Packing Kit
Ordering Online
Receiving Your Fundraising Profit
For 30 years we’ve been requesting each piece of art work is individually labelled, organised then shipped to us before scanning. Each year some unlucky school’s art is lost, delayed or damaged in transit. It also adds days to the production process depending on where in the country each school is based.
Our PIX tool is an online app that automatically crops both sections of our special art paper helping to create the perfect pictures we can use for the products. It will work on any landscape art or photo, but best results will come when using Kids Art Works unique art paper.
How PIX works:
1) Scanning is done at school. It can be done by 1-2 senior students during their lunch break. We’ll send instructions for best practices, and can schedule a call to check your first scans to make sure everything is correct.
2) Drag and drop each picture into our Pix app – and select the correct student.
3) Pictures can either just be uploaded, which takes about 5 seconds per student, or to save the most money, you can work through our quick approval process.
We have three emails drafted below to use:
View a completed example email of this email here
Subject: It’s calendar art time again! A message from [TEACHERNAME] from [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
[ADD PHOTOS AND/OR VIDEOS HERE]
Parent order forms are going home this [INSERT DATE] and orders are open until [INSERT DATE]
Payment can be made by…. [INSERT DETAILS]
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: A friendly reminder, it’s calendar art time again in [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
We’re half-way through the ordering period and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child’s own art has the opportunity to…
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
[ADD PHOTOS AND/OR VIDEOS HERE]
If you do not yet have a parent order form, please reply to this email.
Order close on [INSERT DATE] and payment can be made by [ADD DETAILS]
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: Last chance – orders close tomorrow! Calendar art in [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
This is a reminder that orders for Calendar Art close tomorrow!
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
[ADD PHOTOS AND/OR VIDEOS HERE]
If you do not yet have a parent order form, please reply to this email.
Orders are closing VERY soon so please don’t delay.
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: It’s calendar art time again! A message from Ms Griffiths from Room 23.
Hi families of Room 23,
The children of Room 23 have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
This term our inspiration was Kandinsky’s abstract art. We loved the bright, bold and beautiful colours. This is connected to the arts aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
The children really enjoyed experimenting with different colour tones and figuring out which tones work well together. Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
Please note these photos are just indicative, they do not relate to this email or any schools we work with.
Parent order forms are going home this Monday 21 August and orders are open until Monday 4th September.
Payment can be made by….
If you have any questions please reply do this email, do not email the teacher directly.
Thank you for your support!
ABC School Parents Group (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: It’s calendar art time again! A message from [TEACHERNAME] from [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
The order is open from [OPEN DATE] until [CLOSE DATE].
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: A friendly reminder, it’s calendar art time again in [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
We’re half-way through the ordering period and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child’s own art has the opportunity to…
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
The order is open from [OPEN DATE] until [CLOSE DATE].
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: Last chance – orders close tomorrow! Calendar art in [ROOMNAME]
Hi families of [ROOMNAME],
This is a reminder that orders for Calendar Art close tomorrow!
The children of [ROOMNAME] have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
[ANSWER TO “WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION…” QUESTION]. This is connected to the [ANSWER TO “WHAT ASPECT OF THE CURRICULUM…” QUESTION] aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
[IF THE TEACHER HAS ADDED ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMENTS, ADD THEM HERE] Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
The order is open from [OPEN DATE] until [CLOSE DATE].
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
[ADD ORGANISER / GROUP NAME HERE] (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
Subject: It’s calendar art time again! A message from Ms Griffiths from Room 23.
Hi families of Room 23,
The children of Room 23 have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable customised Christmas gifts made from your own child’s art.
This term our inspiration was Kandinsky’s abstract art. We loved the bright, bold and beautiful colours. This is connected to the arts aspect of our curriculum.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
The children really enjoyed experimenting with different colour tones and figuring out which tones work well together. Here are a couple of photos of what we were doing.
Please note these photos are just indicative, they do not relate to this email or any schools we work with.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
The order is open from Monday 21 August until Monday 4th September.
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please do not email the teacher directly, rather reply to this email.
Thank you for your support!
ABC School Parents Group (on behalf of your lovely teacher)
If Kids Art Works entered the first order you sent in this year into the website, we would not have typed the student’s name into the rooms table. We would have recorded the picture code you had allocated to the student, as the student’s name.
So, if you have already had an order produced for a student, e.g. Sam F, and you had allocated Picture Code 16 to Sam, then if you get no results when you type Sam into the Student Name field for this 2nd order, try typing ’16’ as the Student name, and then completing the row as instructed above.
1. Click + add Purchase (ensure you are in the correct room)
2. In the Student name field, you can type the picture code you allocated the student in your previous order
3. Enter the required quantities of each product then click the tick.
4. You should see this happen if the code matches a record we have in our database. You will notice Student Name 46 has resulted in Picture Code 46 being used later in the row. You can check the picture by clicking the [eye] icon, edit the row, or delete the row.
If you are wondering how to find picture codes that have previously been used:
These instructions will help you ‘find’ a student and their picture when we have already received their picture in a previous order. This means you can add an existing picture to a new order, without needing to send in the artwork again. Please note, this does not apply to previous years’ pictures, only the current year.
Related article: Finding pictures for student’s you have already sent with previous orders
3. Once you enter the quantities of each product ordered, and then press the ‘tick’, you should see that Picture Code 4 has now been allocated to this row. If you want to view the picture, you can click on the [eye] icon. If you have made a mistake, you can delete this row from the Room and start over, you will not be deleting the picture or any records from previous orders.
4. Complete the order following the instructions from step 1 above.
5. If you are comfortable with this, you can now go back to the first instructions on how to place a 2nd order.
If you are re-ordering from pictures we already have on file, you will need to know the students: Name, Classroom & Picture Code (refer to your Sorting Sheets)
If we have already made products from a child’s picture, we should have this on file. Here are some quick guidelines: How to reorder for a student when we already have the picture from a previous order.
Do you have Art to send us for this order?
Australia
Kids Art Works
PO Box 8691
Carrum Downs
Victoria 3201
New Zealand
Kids Art Works
PO Box 132 182
Sylvia Park
Auckland 1644
Do you have NO Art to send us for this order? i.e. you have only uploaded pictures into each room.
These include all details that have been entered into this order.
Australia
Kids Art Works
PO Box 8691
Carrum Downs
Victoria 3201
New Zealand
Kids Art Works
PO Box 132 182
Sylvia Park
Auckland 1644
i.e. you have only uploaded pictures into each room.
1. Confirm your payment method. Online payments are preferred.
2. Complete the fields within your selected payment method so that we can match up your payment when it arrives.
3. Finalise your order by clicking Finalise and follow the instructions provided.
NOTES
Please note, there are two videos here.
Add a purchase to the room manually
Record each student’s purchase into the appropriate classroom.
How to edit the row once it is saved:
Before you can record purchases you need to confirm all of your order settings.
1. Once you have selected the order, the Settings need to be confirmed.
2. Before you can progress to the next step, all 6 sections need to be Confirmed.
3. Once all 6 sections are confirmed, you will need to Confirm the page. This button can only be clicked once all other sections are confirmed.
Note: If you go back and edit one of the settings after they have been confirmed, you will need to re-confirm the page.
NOTES
1. From your Dashboard, you can open an existing Order by clicking on the row. There may be more than one order in your list.
2. Once you have opened your order you will come to this page with this at the top of it.
Summary:
Each of the above round buttons can be clicked on to take you to that part of the order. For example. If you click on Purchases, you will go to a page showing you a list of what has been purchased for each student or from each parent.
3. Once you have opened your order you can view the order quantities from any page by clicking on the small down arrow as shown:
Once expanded, you will see both the breakdown of the quantities and the prices:
Below is an outline of the different ways you can process your order at Kids Art Works when using our Traditional method. You should decide on the questions in blue, before you start to Promote your Event, as your decisions here will influence the steps you take.
The Picture Code stickers have to be stuck to each piece of art listed on the Room Checklists. Please follow the instructions below when sending in Art for an order.
We only need the pictures that you have received purchases from, therefore you may not be stickering all pictures – just the ones listed on the room checklists.
You will need:
How it works:
1. Find the Room Checklist and artwork for the room you first want to process.
2. Using the below example, you will want all art from room 1.
3. You will then need to find the first students art, in this example, we are looking for Matty Templeman’s.
4. Matty has picture code 1 allocated, and therefore you need to take the sticker with Picture Code number 1 on it, and apply it to Matty’s art work.
5. Once you have applied the sticker, please tick the box to confirm you have included this piece of art.
6. After you have applied all stickers for this Room Checklist and have ticked each corresponding row, count how many pieces of artwork you are sending and write that number at the bottom.
7. To complete the room, initial the Room Checklist, place it on top of the art and put it inside the package to be sent.
Images you can use in your communications
(You can right click on an image and “save image as”)
It’s Calendar Art time again!
The student’s have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable Calendars, Cards, Diaries, Mouse Mats and Sketch Pads.
Each product is made from your own child’s art.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ*….. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name when prompted
The order is open from [open day] until [closing day]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
This is a reminder that we’re currently taking orders for Calendar Art.
We’re half-way through the ordering period and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child’s own art has the opportunity to.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ*….. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name
The order is open until [closing day & time]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
This is a reminder that orders for Calendar Art close tomorrow!
Each product is made from your own child’s art.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ*….. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name
The order is open until [closing day & time]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
Using alternative paper is one of the biggest causes of production issues.
Recommendation: please, please, please use our art paper.
Note: If you have some A3 artwork, but everything else is on our art paper – one option that you can do to speed this process up is scan or photograph it at the school – and supply the art digitally. Please review the risk guidelines on how to supply files digitally, and then you can upload the digital files directly to our website against the correct student.
This applies to both coloured pencils and standard grey lead pencils.
Generally, when student’s use pencils they are trying to a get a more subtle and detailed outcome. If they press down firmly, it will be OK, but often pencils are used while pressing lightly.
Unfortunately, scanning does not pick up this detail well. We have had great looking art where after scanning, there is only about 25% of the actual picture visible 🙁
If we try and increase the contrast, the rest of the colours change too much. If we had 15 minutes for each picture to try and manually improve it, it’s still only a 50/50 as to whether or not we can. Unfortunately, we just do not have the time to spend 15 minutes on an individual picture. We have two recommendations:
1. Please avoid using pencils for any significant part of the art.
2. If someone does use pencils and the art is really great, it might be worth scanning it at your end (or pinning it to a wall and photographing it), spending time with the colour control tools in a picture editing program and then uploading the art to our website as a photo – or emailing it through to us.
We suggest you find one helper for every 50 bags you have to pack. This will mean the job can be completed in about an hour. Of course, every order & helper is different – so times will vary.
Making sure each student (& family) gets what they ordered into accurate bags, ready to hand out is definitely a task. But it’s also something that if you can get a few helpers to each do some classrooms – it will be a lot faster and will mean you have more fundraising profit left over. If you cannot get any helpers and expect a good sized order, we’d recommend you request we pack the order for you. But if you can get some help, it is much more manageable. It’s also something that a few senior students can help with, under supervision.
A lot of organisers enjoy the packing process so they can check everything off themselves, and get to see all of the amazing art.
It’s included as part of the Online service cost, there is no additional fee on top of that.
We can pack your order for you, using the DIY Packing Kit.
We will charge $0.75 extra per product for this service and your order will be delayed by up to 2 weeks. This is because one the order completes production, it then needs to go into our Packing queue which can get quite large! If the queue is small, then we may be able to get the order dispatched within a few days, but we would recommend that if you want your order out faster, select the DIY Packing option.
You can make your selection when you are setting up your Order Pricing. So:
Please note, you can change your selection from one order to the next e.g. one setting for your Main order and one for your Repeat Order, but you cannot change your selection once an order has opened.
If you want further guidance on this, feel free to contact us at info@kidsartworks.com
Right-click on your mouse, on the picture you want, and select ‘save as’ or ‘copy image’
We have a system that allows parents to order only using your school code, rather than the full entrance code that is allocated.
This means that the entire school can be sent the same instructions via email, examples are below.
However, we highly recommend you sent home the physical forms as well – not everyone will get the printed forms, and not everyone will get the email – but using both together gets a much better result.
It’s Calendar Art time again!
The student’s have been busy creating art work that can be made into affordable Calendars, Cards, Diaries, Mouse Mats and Sketch Pads.
Each product is made from your own child’s art.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: K….. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name when prompted
The order is open from [open day] until [closing day]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
This is a reminder that we’re currently taking orders for Calendar Art.
We’re half-way through the ordering period and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child’s own art has the opportunity to.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: K….. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name
The order is open until [closing day & time]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
This is a reminder that orders for Calendar Art close tomorrow!
Each product is made from your own child’s art.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: K…. (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. “KZ3452”)*
3/. Enter your child’s room & name
The order is open until [closing day & time]
Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.
If you have any questions please contact the school on [contact details]
(for traditional orders)
In production, in order for the print to get right to the edge of the products, we need to make the print larger than the products.
This means that what is on the edges, will most likely get cut off.
Basically, there is a very high chance that if there is anything important in the outside 1cm of the art (on all edges), it will get cut off.
Recommendation: do not put anything important around the edge e.g. no text, no photos of people, no detailed frame.
Summary of risk:
Pictures get the best reproduction results when they are made from vibrant paints, colours and materials.
Similar to the description in Highlighters and Fluorescents, colours that are made to be transparent, do react with the light in scanning and become more transparent and “washed out”.
For example an azure blue, as shown below, would probably lose 25% of the vibrancy and may go a little green-greyish
The main issue we face with this is when the photos are small, and not printed well – the processes of scanning then printing leads to a further reduction in image quality which can disappoint.
If you do want to use photos, we recommend they are professionally printed and quite large so that the quality remains high. Alternatively, you can create the picture digitally. For example, if you want to create a picture with the student’s handprints, a photo of the student and a poem:
This way, we will have a very high quality copy of the file and it should reproduce much closer to the original, than creating it on paper.
Summary of risk:
This one is pretty simple – things that are sharp, or course, will scratch the glass scanning lens.
Sand is an issue, it scratches and it also gets into the machine and can cause it to malfunction.
Wood, for example ice block sticks – these are fine, and they look great! Whereas thin branches off trees, these are not recommended.
Stones, nails glued to the paper – please keep the kids away from these for the art process!
Summary of issue: Usually we get a couple of kindy’s or schools (or individual rooms from a school), who send us art that is not 100% dry.
We understand that sometimes it’s a last minute rush to get everything done, but this is one thing we see where it really damages the art. Also, we know that occasionally the paint just doesn’t dry well at all.
In these cases, we need to carefully peal apart the pages, and the white from the paper on top, has literally glued itself to the paint underneath – so that the art work underneath now has white patches all over it.
There is nothing we can do about this – and often important elements are now hidden or look like they have a white cloud covering them.
If you are using a lot of paint, please give yourself an extra few days for drying.
If you are late, and in a rush to get it completed – try to avoid heavy painting 🙂
Summary of issue:
Usually it is preferred that the student writes their own name and age. Parent’s love it because it shows their development over the years – as they like to keep the laminated prints. Even with letters written back-to-front, it’s super cute – it’s authentic!
Also, if paint has dripped over the section, or similar, and it’s a bit messy, that’s just what people expect on creations from their children. It’s totally fine 🙂
Sometimes, we get an adult completing this in their neat handwriting – this is also totally fine. It’s not quite like the student’s doing it – but it does look nice and of course, much younger children need help.
The issue is when the student might write their first name, and then an adult writes their family name – so we have two distinct styles of handwriting. We scan and print this section, which means whatever is written there – will be printed. We strongly recommend only one person fills out this section.
If you have 2 student’s in the same room, and both only write the same first name e.g. “James“, we recommend that you write their surnames on the back of the paper, just to make your life easier.
Summary: Highlighters once scanned go significantly duller. For example, it’s the same as if you photocopy a document with highlighters on it.
This is definitely something that we are working on, but there are no scanners that we have found that get a better result. We are looking into different photographic technology, but this is not an simple option.
Recommendation: student’s can use these, but just be aware they are much less vibrant. Below are some examples:
Summary: the students have completed their art work on other paper, and you are wanting to glue this to our art paper.
Firstly, this is appreciated, because it is significantly easier for us to handle than art supplied on other paper. For example, to just send in the art as it was, perhaps on A4 paper, this will take about 4x as long to scan and we will likely need to crop a lot off the top or the bottom.
Things we see that cause potential issues you should be aware of
1. If the A4 paper is stuck directly to our art paper (without cutting it down) and so there is about 2cm extra sticking out the top. We will need to crop at least 2cm off either the top or bottom. It would be better that you trim a bit off the top and the bottom so that it fits our art paper – this way you can decide what gets removed.
2. The paper is not glued properly and has dog ears.
Another option we see, which can work well, is when teachers cut the black strip off the bottom of our art paper, and glue that to the A4 artwork, along the bottom. This is essentially turning your A4 paper, into our art paper.
This is not a major issue, using glitter does come out well, but the issue is the speed of the order going through production.
We need to clean the scanner after every 1-2 pictures because after each piece of art – the glitter goes everywhere – all through the scanner.
Ideally, if you do use glitter, please use plenty of glue and once it is dry – shake it well, so that all the loose glitter is removed.
Better yet, the glitter pens which is a mixture of glue and glitter – these generally don’t result in a lot of loose glitter.
On the scanned picture below, you can see where some of the glitter still looks… glittery (gold – green – red), whereas the blue and silver are a lot duller.
On some pictures, after scanning, it can be quite hard to see that glitter has been used. This is probably where the glitter is quite thin. Again, looking at the picture below, where the glitter is thickly applied, it is quite clear it’s glitter, whereas when it is thin, and especially around the edge of the paper, it looks more like coloured sand.
The Detail
Page size: this is really important because if the size is wrong, it just will not be good on the products. It’ literally won’t fit and will need cropping. In the program you are using, they may call “page size” other names such as “canvas” size, or the “art board” size.
In some of the free online apps, they only have preset sizes designed for screens – this is not ideal, we need to be able to set a custom size.
Page size settings: 1000 long, to 635 high. Or any variation of that ratio. For example…. in inches it could be 10 inches to 6.35 inches. In centimeters it might be 20cm x 12.70cm (which is doubling both number).
We also want for the design to be landscape, this is important because the calendars are landscape.
Now that you have the shape and size correct, you will have solved 90% of the issues we encounter with digitally supplied files.
When you are saving the file, we would like it as a JPG.
We want for it to be saved with a high picture quality – some apps may just have a simple description like high, medium and low quality. In this case pick: High.
If it is a more advanced system you are using, it may be labelled as ‘resolution’, if this is the case, then please select 300dpi.
Another option you may be asked when saving is the colour settings to use – some will ask this – some won’t, if they do – it would be good to select RGB.
When you send us the files, we would like you to name the file the name of the student.
If you have multiple rooms to send it, please put each room into a different folder.
Lastly, what will give you a lot more control over the process, is to upload the images directly to our website. You won’t need to send them into us, you won’t need to name them, you won’t need to wonder how we will crop them – you can check this all yourself
Summary:
Page size ratio: 1 to 0.635 e.g.
Output file type:
Name each file with the students name.
If there is a frame or border added to the art work, we may need to crop completely inside of it, i.e. remove it entirely.
While it may look nice on the art, it may create issues in production. Often the result of this is parent’s contacting us, asking us to remake the product.
We definitely recommend having something covering the background e.g. a solid colour, newspaper glued to the paper, or some other background effect, but nothing that will affect how we can crop the art.
Any border or frame will impact our ability to crop and therefore the end product.
Recommendation: do not use a frame or border.
Personalised Artwork Calendars, Cards, Diaries, Mouse Mats & Sketch Pads – A School Fundraiser
If you are running a Repeat Order:
Orders close (insert date here) —there will be no extensions
If you have any that you’ve found have worked really well, please share them so we can let other schools know 🙂
What is the date you would like the website to open for parents to place their orders?
To get the best results from the students’, we want the teachers to all have access to the same information and steps.
We’ve created www.kidsartworks.com/teachers to hopefully help this process along.
In italics we’ve drafted an email you can copy & paste (or use as a starting point), to invite the teachers to the website.
It’s a work in progress, so if you do have any ideas on how to improve it, we’d love to hear.
It’s calendar art time again.
It is a very popular event with the families and especially helpful at times like these as the products make such meaningful, cost-effective gifts at Christmas.
Soon we will be passing out the art paper so you can get underway with the students.
We would like for you to spend a short amount of time familiarising yourself with the 3 steps at www.kidsartworks.com/teachers
There is a brief introduction to the process, dozens of art ideas (and more are being added all the time), and then a list of common issues (risks) that can cause reproduction issues.
Even if you have your art plan in place, we still recommend you quickly go through the introduction and risks sections.
We would like to have the art returned by [insert date here].
If you have any questions please contact [name & contact details here].
Thank you again for your efforts with the students for this event.
In case the first invitation was missed, or forgotten, it’s probably worth sending out a quick reminder about www.kidsartworks.com/teachers to the teaching staff.
In italics we’ve drafted an email you can use (or use as a starting point), to invite the teachers to the website.
It’s a work in progress, so if you do have any ideas on how to improve it, we’d love to hear.
Just a quick reminder about calendar art.
Sorry if you’re already well underway and went through the information in our first email.
Just a quick reminder that we recommend you spend a short amount of time familiarising yourself with the 3 steps at www.kidsartworks.com/teachers
We would like to have the art returned by [insert date here].
If you have any questions please contact [name & contact details here].
Thank you again for your efforts with the students for this event.
Making sure you get the art back on time is really important. You may need to send out a couple of reminders.
Just a quick reminder.
We would like to have the art returned by [insert date here].
It’s important that all of the art has each student’s name & age written in the appropriate place on the art paper, but if the student has not written their surname, please don’t add it on the front in different handwriting. You can write it on the back of the paper.
Also, if you have somehow ended up with the numbered stickers – please do not apply them, rather just hand them back to us, I need to stick them on much later in the process.
If you have any questions please contact [name & contact details here].
Thank you again for your efforts with the students for this event.
Your School List is a spreadsheet of all the students at your school and their rooms. This needs to be uploaded to our website so it can allocate a Picture Code per student. We can help you with this.
The file is imported into our website and then provide you with a document where we have allocated a Picture Code to each Student.
This relates to who organises the products before you hand them out. Click on the row to expand it and see the detail.
Included in this kit:
Instructions on how to use the kitPrinted labels listing each student's name & what items go in each bag.Packing checklistsBags to pack each purchase before handing them out.
Effort required:
Making sure each student (& family) gets what they ordered into accurate bags, ready to hand out is definitely a task. But it's also something that if you can get a few helpers to each do some classrooms - it will be a lot faster and will mean you have more fundraising profit left over. If you cannot get any helpers and expect a good sized order, we'd recommend you request we pack the order for you. But if you can get some help, it is much more manageable. It's also something that a few senior students can help with, under supervision.
A lot of organisers enjoy the packing process so they can check everything off themselves, and get to see all of the amazing art.
We will use the DIY Packing Kit and each purchase will be bagged for you, ready to hand out directly to the students.
You can make your selection when you are setting up your Order Pricing. So:
Create your Order in our websiteIn the Order Settings, when you get to the Pricing section, click the Edit button and you have the ability to select your Packing option here.At the bottom of the Order Settings, you can save these selections as your default settings.
Please note, you can change your selection from one order to the next e.g. one setting for your Main order and one for your Repeat Order, but you cannot change your selection once an order has opened.
Once you have finished placing orders for the year, we need to settle your event. We will do this by way of a Settlement Statement which is a summary of all transactions and orders.
Usually, with an online order, Kids Art Works will have collected more than the invoice for the products. In this instance, we will be transferring funds into the school bank account. On some occasions, the School will need to pay Kids Art Works to settle the account.
The Settlement Statement will itemise every purchase and payment so that you can see exactly what is required and why.
The steps are in the same order as the Traditional, whether you use E-Pay, or not. There are a couple of differences though:
Run out of Art Paper? Your Organiser may have spares or you can download a copy here
Misplaced your Teachers Guidelines? Download a copy here
Still not sure how your art idea will look once scanned and printed?