Tuesday, April 13, 2010

From Memorabilia to Embellishments

Three out of four of us in the Davis household will celebrate a birthday in May, June, and July. Jackson is up first with his second birthday on May 9. I know I say it every year but seriously, where in the world did the last year go. I'm so not ready for him to be two...

or Drew to be five...

or me to be 30! Eek!

Every year I plan and plan and plan Drew and Jackson's birthday parties. Sketching out the cake design, buying and making fun decorations, coming up with a menu, trying to find the perfect gift, and I love it! Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little weird though because the party ends and I've managed to attach some sort of sentimental string to my heart with the left over party gear. Does anyone else do this?

All the cute theme plates, cups, napkins, hats, streamers, balloons, etc. I can't seem to throw it away. And it's kind of a pain in the ass. It never makes it to the "home" in the right closet right away. For the first few days after the party it usually sits on the edge of the kitchen counter in a neat little pile. Eventually I clean up the kitchen and the stuff is carted into our bedroom and either sits on the floor beside the door or on top of the dresser. Then Mike sees it and puts it back in the kitchen on the top shelf of the pantry. Finally, after a month or so I actually put it in the right box with all the other keepsakes.

Well, after Drew's last birthday I went to put up the party leftovers and opened the lid to the box to find that it was almost overflowing with keepsakes. Eventually those boxes were going to pile up. I decided then and there that it was time to do something with those keepsakes. Something that was putting them to good use so they weren't just sitting in a plastic box on the top shelf of a closet collecting dust.

And this layout was my solution. Why am I not using those keepsakes on my scrapbook pages? It was a major "duh" moment.

• as seen in Creating Keepsakes magazine

Hello! (Insert heavy sarcasm here.) Scrapbooking and memorabilia together? What a brilliant idea.

The "Curious George" title was from a cup, the blue "Curious George" balloon was from a plate and George in the bottom right corner was from a party hat.

Not only am I using the keepsakes from the party but I've also got super easy embellishments that fit the pictures and theme perfectly AND now I don't feel bad for throwing away what was left over. Now that sentimental attachment is preserved on something that we enjoy looking at, not hiding in box. Plus I don't feel silly for keeping a scrapbook page. A paper cup, however, is another story. :)

13 comments:

Erica Hettwer said...

Thank you for posting this! (Says the girl with a box of first birthday schtuff sitting on the dining room table.) :D

Now if only I could fit a cupcake holder on a layout...

dawn said...

Hi Allison,

I saw this in CK and thought how cute this layout is. I love drew's faces in all these, he is clearly loving the cake.Thanks for sharing the story behind the layout. I only save things from their 1st, 5th,10th,13th,16,18 bdays if that helps at all. I still have a small box from my 1st bday that my mom gave me even the carefully unripped wrapping paper. I'm sure there are a lot of moms that save all this stuff.

Scrapthat said...

LOL Way to go girl!! Now you can enjoy it instead of feeling guilty about a box!

Amy13 said...

Duh! Wow..what a revelation. Why has this not occurred to us before? FABULOUS idea. Will definitely be filing this one away for later us. THANKS!

connie said...

What a great idea! love the lo.

Julia Gulley said...

Love the layout and the use of all that "stuff"!! LoL!!! My children are 27 and 23 and I still have boxes of "stuff" in the attic waiting to be put to some good use!!! Fabulous idea!!!

Now what about all those really cute samples of their writing...help!!!! LoL!!

Luv2talk said...

I remember this one from CK. It's a great solution to your problem. (And come on, admit it; it's a lot more meaningful way to preserve those memories!)

Amy from KC said...

I still remember your post about Drew's birthday cake that you ordered that turned out all wrong. I think that is when you decided to do birthday cakes yourself.

Several b-days ago I made a monkey head cake for my Nathan, who also turns 5 this year. It was so fun, and he kept telling people, "My Mama made that..." My mother-in-law made all of my husband's cakes when he was growing up, and I know Nate will have the same kind of fond memories that he does.

Now about those decorations...yup I've got some too. I always buy too many, and then we use them up until they are gone - except for one or two that I NEED to keep. (When they build his presidential library, they will really appreciate having those early childhood mementos to put on display, right?! Just kidding!!!) :)

Do you worry about the fact that the party paper goods on your layouts are not archival? Do you treat them with that spray? I flip-flop back and forth on that issue.

Allison Davis said...

Erica, LOL!

Dawn, I love the idea of keeping only the big birthday stuff. If only I could make myself do that. Maybe I'll stop when they're 18!

Julia, you might try scanning them and then printing them out in a small size to put on a layout. I did that with some of Drew's artwork and my mom did that with some of my sister's awards that she won in high school. :)

Amy, I've always been a big "make the cake myself" person. Just like your mother-in-law, my mom made all of my cakes and I remember each and every one. I wanted the same for my kids. The cake your talking about was the first year that I was going to have a bakery make a base cake and I was going to make a smaller Lightening McQueen cake to sit on top. I really need to get that story on a layout...it was so frustrating! lol

As for the archival stuff, I honestly sometimes forget about that. I tend to get caught up in the fun and forget that I should be using acid-free and if not an archival spray! I'm going to buy a bottle of that spray asap! I'm glad you said something! I don't use non-scrapbooking items on my pages very often but it would be nice to have that spray on hand for when I do. :)

Christel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christel said...

What a wonderful idea! I love Curious George with the balloons. I just came across some Strawberry Shortcake birthday decorations/extra party favors up in the attic the other day from my daughter's 2nd birthday - crepe paper rolls and all. Hmmm.... looks like I'll have to get a can of that archival spray. I'm been meaning too anyway for emphemera like ticket stubs, etc.

Lydia said...

Such a great layout, love the pop of the monkey!!

AndreaFriebus said...

You're so clever and you made that cake!! You are one talented and creative mama!!!