Recently I've been trying to go through our house and sell or donate things we no longer need, use, or want. While I was doing this, I had the idea to start a memory box. This thought was further enhanced when I was making our mini wedding card scrapbook and found extra programs and invitations. I knew I needed a safe place to store these keepsakes.
As you know, I really enjoy scrapbooking as a way to document special events and vacations. But as life gets busier, it's becoming harder and harder to find the time. Not to mention that there are some things that don't really fit into a scrapbook. That's where the memory box comes in.
Now that I was fully on board with this idea, the first step (obviously) was to find a box. I started by checking the inventory at Target and Home Goods. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized how much I wanted the box itself to have meaning. I searched our house, but didn't see anything that could work. Then one weekend, while at my parent's house, I found an old wooden box in the basement. It was being used to hold some old family movie reels, but it looked to be about the right size. The box had a lock on it, and no key, but luckily the top had been unscrewed so it was still functional. When I asked my dad if I could use it, he told me that he had actually made it when he was in high school. That was the meaning I was looking for, plus it had the rustic look that matched our decor. I was thrilled, and Dad said it was mine for the taking!
Once I brought the box home, I needed to fill it up of course, so I went from room to room collecting odds and ends. I found some of Dan's childhood things in our basement, including his stuffed lion, varsity sports letter and high school yearbook. These were perfect for the box. He even had some hand-painted plaques his grandmother made for him. So sweet.
I also found some sentimental things from early on in our relationship that didn't fit in the scrapbooks I had made. For our first Valentine's Day together in 2005, I had written out on post-its several reasons why I liked Dan and stuck them around my dorm for him to find. When he had collected them all, we put them in a heart-shaped box. So when I found this box in the basement, I knew it was the perfect addition. It was also fun to re-read the notes. Lucky for him, most of the reasons in that box are still reasons why I love him to this day. Awww.
Now I needed to find something to corral all of the smaller sentimental items like our wedding invitation, postcards, etc. I found another box at my parent's house which Dad said I could have. I filled it up with things like my Bentley graduation tassel, vintage coins Dan got from his grandfather, and remembrance cards of loved ones who have passed. This was turning into a special box.
The last step was to return to my parent's house and secure some of my childhood mementos. I had a box under my bed in my old bedroom so I took that home and went through it. There were a few things in there I didn't want anymore, but most of it I kept. It was a trip down memory lane for sure. I found old Bruins programs, some Eeyore figurines, photo key chains, and my old blanket. I even still had some ash from Mount St. Helen's we got in the 3rd grade.
Some of this stuff fit in the smaller white box, and the rest fit into the larger wooden box. It's pretty full, but it does offer some room to grow. I love that I have one place that houses our special memories. Now I just have to find somewhere to display the actual box.
Be well,
Our downstairs bedroom is the largest in the house, the real master. It's nestled between the office and the living room and has become what I like to call "Dan's Dressing Room". This is where all of Dan's clothes are kept, since I've taken over the upstairs.
It was a blank slate when we moved in - white walls, brown trim, basic blinds on the windows. We started with the same approach we used in most other rooms in our downstairs: we painted the trim white. For the walls, I knew I wanted some sort of gray. We picked up a gallon of what I thought was gray, and I hated it. It was very blue and I wanted a true gray. My loving husband had already painted 3 walls before I decided it wasn't right.
So I trekked back to the hardware store and consulted with a staff member. He told me that depending on the light, gray paint will either look blue or green and there were only a few colors that were a true gray. He showed me my three options and I settled on Smoke Embers. Dan got to work...again...and I knew immediately that this was a million times better.
Once the walls and trim were painted, it was time to move in some furniture. Nothing in the space is new other than some of the accessories. We reused or re-purposed everything. The bed was taken from the guest room in my parent's house. My father wanted a queen sized bed for his guests so we gladly took the full. He was also gracious enough to give us the dresser. Back in the day, my mom painted my brother's dark brown bedroom set with crisp white. I must have gotten my love of white paint from her. I knew it was perfect for the space, but I hated the knobs. So we picked up some cheapies from Home Depot and changed them out. The simple change made all the difference.
We also put a coat of white paint on the wooden shelves Dan's grandfather made years ago. I wanted to stick with the blue and gray theme so I picked up some decorative glass bottles and a candle holder at Ikea.
The other accessories we got at a cute little boutique in Newburyport one summer. It was actually the inspiration for the entire room. I wanted a beachy them with crisp whites and pops of gray and blue. We picked up the bedding and sheets from Target. The pillow was made by my mother-in-law using some old napkins from my mother.
The final piece of the furniture puzzle
was put in place when we found the little end table at Home Goods one
weekend. It was the perfect size and color so we snapped it up. The drawers provide some much needed storage too. I
shopped the rest of our house for the additional accessories and the
room was as complete as it was going to get for the moment.
It sat in this stage for months. For my 30th birthday, my boss had given me a print that perfectly matched the room, along with a gift card to have it framed however we wanted. However, when we went to the frame store, the cost to frame it was triple the gift card. I was sure I could find a frame at Michael's or AC Moore, but boy was I wrong. I literally looked for months at several different stores, and I couldn't find what I wanted. In the end, I did end up going back to the frame store. It turned out to be a little bit less expensive than I originally thought. Plus, it has a lifetime warranty, so if anything were to ever go wrong with it, we can exchange it. They really did a great job and I can't believe how perfectly the print matches this room.
While we were at the store, we brought in a world map poster I've had for ages. They were able to dry mount it to some thick poster board for only a few dollars. I ended up putting it between the window and closet door. We used to have a linen board there, but it just wasn't working for me anymore. Things would constantly fall off of it and it didn't seem to fit in this room. So we replaced it with the map. I still have to get colored pins so we can mark where we've traveled to and where we'd like to go, but I haven't found anything I like yet.
So this is how the room stands now. It definitely feels more complete with the recent artwork additions. I also got a new lampshade at Target for an old lamp I've had since college. I do eventually want to change out the base or spray paint it, but for now it'll do. I'd also love to add some crown molding down the road. I think that will really finish it off. I also have plans to replace the over-sized chair in the corner, but not just yet.
Be well,
Over the last few years, I've been making mini scrapbooks using greeting cards from events like our engagement, our wedding shower, and my 30th birthday. It's been a great way to collect and display different items from these special occasions. The last piece of the mini album puzzle was making one from our actual wedding. Every time I went to start it, though, I was overwhelmed with all the stuff we had collected from that time in our lives. I had tons of leftover Save the Dates, invitations, menu cards, etc. So I found myself opening the bin containing everything, looking through it for a few minutes, and then packing it all back up.
With all the snow we've been getting around here lately, I've been home a lot more, so I knew it was finally time to tackle this project. I started by laying everything out and making a rather large toss pile. Did I really need 25 extra programs? Plus, you may remember that I made a wedding shadow box a few years ago, so I already had some of our favorite wedding things preserved in that. Anyway, while sorting, I decided to keep one program and invite to store in our memory box (new post on that coming soon!) and then deconstructed the others to use in different parts of the scrapbook. I did either shred or recycle a good amount of stuff which felt great!
Once I had decided what to keep and what to purge, I set to scrapping. I used a gray file folder to make the pages and just cut them to the size of the largest card. For the front cover, I took the flower, monogram and announcement from our invitation as well as the pink paper. I found a "We tied the knot" embellishment I already had and used my heart shaped hole punch for the mini hearts.
For the inside, I cut out the pocket from our invitation and slipped our Save the Date, photos of our parents we displayed on our wedding day, and the infamous watermelon swatch from David's Bridal. I carried that thing everywhere for the majority of the time we were planning our wedding so I really wanted to keep it. I also added our engagement announcement from our church bulletin. On the next page, I used our thank you card, a picture of the church we got married in, and part of our program cover.
On the back, I added our thank you page and a quote from our program as well as one of the tags my mother-in-law made to go with our Alzheimer bracelet favors. I also took one of our table number and just punched holes it in so I could include the whole thing. If you didn't know, we named our tables after places in Alaska where we went for our honeymoon, so I included the one for Ketchikan, one of our favorite stops.
I also included one of our menu cards which had the same pink and gray flower as our invites.
The last step was to punch holes in all of the cards. This was the hardest (it's really hard to punch through some of the thicker cards) and most cumbersome part, but it was also fun to reread messages from our friends and family.
Once everything was punched, I took some leftover pink ribbon and tied everything together. I had used this ribbon for a bunch of wedding stuff, such as to wrap the jewelry I gave my bridesmaids.
All in all, I'd say this book took me about an hour to an hour and a half to complete. I'm so happy to finally be done with this simple project and can now add it to the collection.
Be well,
