I have to admit something - I can be a bit of a pack rat. As a kid I NEVER threw anything away, everything held a memory for me. You can imagine all the junk I accumulated over the years! As an adult I have tried hard not to continue to do this but it seems when I finally decide to purge, whether it be my closet or my craft room, I come to regret getting rid of something as time goes by. Keeping vs. pitching - it's a fine balancing act.
I really thought as a mom I'd want to keep everything. Surprisingly, I don't! I have kept their first scribbles on paper, and I have kept their best art work from school and their first 100% on a test. Besides that, it all goes to the recycling cart.
To keep that niggling feeling of "I'm being a bad mom by throwing this out" I make photo books of all their Kindergarten art projects. In preschool there are a lot of scribbley drawings brought home, nothing too noteworthy. But in Kindergarten they bring home actual cut and paste and color projects. At the end of a unit they have each brought home grocery sacks full of their projects. I pull those out, take a picture of each one, and at the end of the school year compile them all into photo books. I ordered mine from Shutterfly but so many online and instore photo companies offer them.
I got smarter with Brennan's and added some pictures his teacher took of the class, plus a few pictures of him I took myself. I am so happy with how his turned out!
I put their first day of school picture on the front cover, and their last day of school picture on the back cover. Then I can open it flat and compare the difference, and there is a big difference in Brennan's!
Here are some of the pages.
I love looking at these books, they make me smile every time! "Like" Shutterfly on Facebook, they post sales on their photo books often, and you can make your own, too!
This is not a sponsored post, just telling you what I use.
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an awesome idea! I'm already feeling guilty about recycling some of the handmade items Marcus has "made" for me for holidays and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteThis is the perfect way to save all those sweet memories without taking up much space!!
This is SUCH a great idea - love it!! I'm not a pack rat, at all... I lovelovelove throwing stuff out and simplifying... but I do have a lot of the kids schoolwork. I've gotten better at throwing it out but every school year they each have a bin of stuff to keep. I may just have to do a photo book like this so I can purge even more. Thanks for the idea!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't thrown any art away in the 6 years Carter has been in school because I "intend" to do this book but never get around to it.... I am a slacking mom. I could most likely make a book of his art for when he graduates high school...lol This is sooo cute though.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this idea on Pinterest. I think it is definitely something I am going to have to do. G is big into making stuff for mama. Just Monday night, she drew me about 6 pictures of me and her holding hands!
ReplyDelete