Where to keep the keepsakes?
I like to hang on to things my kids have done in school, but I often wonder if it will matter to them, or am I just collecting clutter? I have stuff from my childhood. I am glad that my mom kept it, however it's in no order, just in boxes. I want to keep things for my kids, and let them decide later if it is special to them. But I'm stuck on how to keep it all. I have scrapbooked in the past, but I'm not sure this is a method that would truly work for me. Plus how would I fit in those construction paper projects that are half the size of my refrigerator?
What do you do? Scrapbook? Any other really creative, easy-to-maintain ideas for storing away those keepsakes in an organized fashion?
I'm also torn on what to keep? So far, I've kept everything!! My kids are still young, so it seems like every project is special, but none really stand out as being the most special, you know what I mean? So that makes it hard to weed a few out. I want to pass on keepsakes to my kids, but I also don't want to pass on box after box after box.
What's your method? How much do you keep? How do you store it all??
taking pictures. . . .
I do like to scrapbook, but sometimes I have also had the problem about wanting to save things or remember things that will not fit in a scrapbook. Sometimes I just take pictures of those things . . . my sons first painting, his favorite books/toys at age one, their first snowman, etc. There are lots of things that you could scan or take a picture or so you don't have to actually save the whole thing. Then they would more easily fit in an album or scrapbook. Of course you will want to save some of his/her actual projects so they can have them to look at when they are older but you would only need to save a few if you scrapbooked other things along the way!
Monica
Mom to Brian, Wesley, and Curtis
Wife to Lavon
www.monicasbooks.com
This is my area! Since I've
This is my area! Since I've been a teacher, I tend to collect everything as well. Then I realized what I wanted to remember was the pieces that showed me he/she learned something or made a discovery. I also never keep anything that includes something biological (macaroni, beans, rice), or outside items (leaves, sand, rocks). They may have a shelflife of 100yrs, but I don't want the risk of critters. I bought each of my children a large artist portfolio. Everything fits in it, even the refrigerator sized stuff. At the end of the year together we layout all pieces on the floor and take sevderal pictures of all of it. Then each child gets to choose 3-4 pieces to keep forever. After I scrapbook what I want i recycle what I can and the rest goes in the circular file:). The portfolios stack or lay flat in a closet or under the sofa. They aren't allowed to get them out until the year is over. We love doing this one on one.Lynn
Great idea
What a great idea! I am in the same boat, so much stuff to keep, no idea what to do with it! I love the portfolio idea! I would have to let someone else throw the un-used art work away...I couldn't do it :)
If you do decide that scrapbooking could work for you, here is another idea. Take apart the artwork and incorporate those into your scrapbook pages. Example - my son did a picture at preschool where they took a green strip of paper and the kids cut slits on it, they glued it to a big white piece of construction paper and used it as grass. I could take the grass off and use it for a spring-themed page in his scrapbook. He also drew some clouds, so I could cut them out and add it to the top of the page. Another example is an easter basket picture he did. You could pull off the eggs your child cut out and do an Easter page in his scrapbook. The rest of the picture wasn't his work anyway, other than probably glueing it together. You are saving the artwork, but recycling it. You could probably actually save most of the stuff your kids do this way if you get creative.
Managing the keepsake school work
One thing I used to do is one big,clear rubbermaid container to store the bigger art projects. I would store the items for one school year and then go through the box at the end. It helped to weed through them at a later date and decide what to keep and what to toss. Once my child got old enough he helped decide what meant a lot to him and what items he didn't mind throwing away. Smaller things I incorpated into his school scrapbooks and the bigger items are still stored away in ONE rubbermaid container. If you need help scrapbboking I do scrapbook for a reasonable price. Or if you know anyone else that needs a book done. Hope this helps you :-)
Keepsake - trash or treasure
To be honest before we moved to this state 3 weeks ago I didn't think about all what we had collected. Until we had to pack it all up. One day of packing I asked myself what is important and what isn't. Being a photographer all pictures are important to me. So the kids and I sat down in front of the chest and went through each piece of art work, paper, etc (took a whole day so have patience with them) and we choose together what would come with us and what would go "bye bye". When I wanted something but they didn't care about it I asked myself a question... Will they change their minds in the future about it? If not it went bye bye. It was a fun thing to do due to the fact we got to relive some memories before moving here and making new ones.
Joni Lochtefeld
Unique Creations
Photos, Photo Montages,
Day Care Cameras
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