A Mother's Keepsakes

As a girl, then eventually as a woman, I have always been sentimental.  Becoming a mother has has vastly intensified this.  Now, it's not only my keepsakes and my parent's or grandparent's hand-downs, it's also the joys I experienced with my babies that are our filling storage shelves. I have become the curator of their history museums.  Self appointed.
Things breed memories.
For all of us.
But some of us have a more difficult time parting with things - some crazy back part of our brain is telling us that if the thing is gone, so goes with it the memory.

This 'sentimental' part of me is constantly fighting with the 'organized' part of me.
The organized part of me knows that yesterday's things can get in the way of today's life.
Literally.
Tripping over, wading through, pressing aside those "memories" is time consuming and stressful.

This post, however, isn't about why you shouldn't keep everything you or your family has ever owned.  Instead, it's a lovely solution to displaying some of the sentiment that you have decided to keep.

Not too long ago, I found myself in the possession of some of my own baby clothes. At this time, my mom told me the history behind an adorable sweater that I had worn. I too had kept a beautiful sweater that may own daughter had worn.  It was a baby gift from a family friend, purchased at a store that was well out of our budget.  Lily wore it for her first winter - I just couldn't get enough of it.  Realizing I had these two items packed away in bins - never to be enjoyed - I started brainstorming ways to change that.  To complete the set, I asked for and received a sweater that my mom had worn as a baby - it was hand knit by her grandmother.

I love how this project turned out - and it was actually very easy.  Shadow boxes purchased from Michael's Crafts (using the 40% off coupon, of course!).  Sweaters pinned inside.  I purposely chose to have the descriptions hand written because I think that adds to their charm.  My mom wrote about her sweater and I wrote about mine.  Once I had all of the components in one place, this project literally took 30 minutes.  It is admittedly feminine with all the pink so I had to find just the right space.  The display now hangs in our guest room, where I keep many of our family's antiques.

This is Lily's sweater, stick-pinned to the inside of the shadow box.

The final display.  I added a little pair of
matching shoes to my sweater.

Shadow boxes are underutilized in preserving our memories.  Done correctly, they can tug at our heartstrings while being a lovely art statement.  Just think of all the possibilities!