The memory keeper

Do you keep your babies memories and milestones ?  I do and let me tell you why i do and give some tips on what to keep.

The end game is all about keeping what you want and love so you can enjoy those items now and in the future. And share memories with your kids when they are older.

So today I want to chat about the items and memories recorded that you are saving for your kids. There are many many ways to preserver your kid's memories from online documents , to time capsules to photo books to memory box the ideas are endless. However try to keep in mind where are all these memories going to go ? 

I recently read an article  which had a good point , does your kid really want 18 boxes of childhood memories when they are an adult?  And suggested using three rules when saving kids memories :   What do they want ? , what do you want and when do they want it ? Of course you are going to save things let’s just figure out what, for whom and how. (Yip this is a hard one for most of us including me as i love the keep sake stuff)

So these are my solutions to help you and myself not clutter up our storage and later our kid's storage with memories, without feeling guilty that they just might wont that one. 

First off i'll tackle :

1. memory/ scrap book files or folders : This is one of my favorites as  i love going down memory lane with my own kid hood folders.  So yip i'm guilty i keep two folders i have a memory keepsake book that i purchased that i update with memories as well as i'm creating a "My family book " for my kid. The thought behind it is to create a file/book of memories from new born till she leaves school. I've kept it simple and pretty user friendly. For My first year of your memory file/book click here.  The idea behind this is to keep memorable but only the first. The rest you can scan or store online this way not cluttering your storage or passing on items that are not wanted later on in life. One could either do it through a blog or keepy    or canvsly. (Depending on what your need are to which one you'll want to use.)

2. Photo books - Family year book and or kids art work : I love the idea of photo books for a year book however they can get quite costly, but it is a great way to save and share memories. Special since we all take photo's with digital cameras or cellphones these days , which most get uploaded to as pc and left. To make a photo book is easy now days as most photo book companies have an online free software which you can design your book. Some of the companies that i've used and have been happy with are - Blurpix , studio22 and rapidstudio. I personaly feel that adding your kids art into the family year book is great and decrease the amount of books you have. However some parent prefer to create an kids art work book which is also a nice keepsake. 

Ps: if your anything like me , i have a hard drive to save my photo's and clips on as i take stacks - in the first year i arranged them by month and there after by year.

3. Journal : When my journey  of motherhood started, i must say i thought this was a great idea and is, if you have the time to write daily or weekly. But as i found out my life was far to busy for this and my journal started off strong for the first two days and then it fell flat and next i new it it was months on non entries. I do however keep a journal for special memories and moments that i like to record. I call it my memory journal which i've added to the end of each of "My family book/file" ,as mentioned above. I've add it as a heading under my chapters. Click here for my basic journal pages

4. Make blanket or teddy from kids old cloths : I love both these ideas. They both have there advantages. The teddy only takes a few item anything from one - ten so it easier to part or cut up, however the blanket could be an on going memory in which you could add photo's printed on material to. I personally like the blanket concept which i haven't started yet, only because i feel guilty cutting up and wasting good cloths. So i'll leave them in my sewing to do box a little longer . 

5. Memory box : Another great idea, but with this one you have to be careful as you can get carried away. Just the other day my folks gave me some of my favorite toys that were in good condition for my little one to play with. It was a great trip down memory lane and even a great feeling have my little one super chuffed to play with the items. 

Other general ideas i found along my way :

•  Imprint a damaged teddy before throwing it away , by applying a light coat of paint to the front of your kid’s teddy and pressing it against craft paper.
• Turn your kids drawing into a key ring or soft toy 
•  Shadow frame - box frame that you put some of the baby's items in and hang on the wall.

Oh and then remember what you do with the one kid you should do for the rest. Happy memory keeping : )